We worked together, easily, as a team that day. 

He was 16, maybe 17.  I was 21 years older.

The conduit was trenched in, and the wire was laid out on the ground, ready to be pulled in.

Two runs of 2/0 copper, 120 feet long.

One run of 1/0 copper, 120 feet long.

One run of #1 copper, 120 feet long.

We set the shop vac by the pole, used a temporary plug spliced into the main for power, and vacuumed a length of twine through the conduit.

Next, we attached our pull rope to the twine and pulled it through.

Finally, we set the tugger up at the pole, taped the four runs of wire together, slid the grip over them and fastened it to the rope.

He had the hard job, dragging the runs of wire along the ground and feeding them into the conduit.

I had the easy part, winding the rope around the capstan, making sure it didn’t double on itself and keeping a close eye on the progress at the other end, watching for any tangle or hiccup, upon which I would immediately loosen the rope to stop the inward pull.

All went well, and in a few minutes, the grip appeared at my end, and I pulled several feet of wire through, enough to hook up to the service main.

I asked him which side he wanted to hook up, house or pole, and he chose pole.

He grabbed the ratchet and put an allen wrench attachment on.

With a final word of caution to make sure the power was off before he started hooking up, I went to the house to start my side of the hook up. 

Somewhere, one of us cut the power before I cautioned him to cut power, and neither of us remembered it.

When he went to hook up his side to the pole, he threw the lever the opposite way, thinking it was on and he was switching it off.

But it was off, and he switched it on.

For some reason, he didn’t verify power that day.  Today, I see him do it every time, sometimes even twice.

I finished my side and came out to see him finishing his side.

He told me, “This ratchet wrench keeps getting so hot, I can’t figure out what’s going on.”

Horrified, I saw the lever in the ‘on’ position.

Tonight, when I read Ephesians 1:8, I thought back to that day, and believed what I read.