Nearly all of my life my father worked rotating shifts at the power-plant. Whether he was at Martinez, Oleum, Avon or Pittsburg our family routine was dominated by the 8-4, 4-12 and 12-8 schedule. As a child I liked best when he was on swing shifts, because he had time to play or garden in the mornings and my mother would stay up to have dinner with him when he got home late so the kids could eat pancakes or macaroni. I always knew to be extra quiet when he was on graveyards and sleeping through the day, and did my best not to have singing contests on the stairs or play chase in the hallway while he was in the darkened bedroom. I later married into shiftwork, although they now use 12 hour shifts instead of the familiar eight. I know that families work hard to adapt to these schedules.
Sometimes it seems like America pretends that everyone works a regular schedule of 9-5, of course this couldn’t be less true and Martinez workers are no exception. While supermarkets and gas stations stay open later than they used to, shift workers can feel invisible to the banks, or the DMV. It has occurred to me while I visit the beavers in the early morning, that Martinez is heavily represented by workers with rotating shifts. Whether its the refineries, or County hospital, EMT’s or the police and sheriff’s office, we have hundreds of employees that go to sleep in the morning, (or try to) and work weekends.
Stop by the beaver dam any morning and you will see shift workers on their way home, visiting the beavers as a last stop on a hard night’s work. Whether it’s the jaunty night nurse who walks home past the dam each morning, or the County Connections driver who stops the bus on particularly empty dawns to get out and check on the beavers, or the tired and gruff sheriff who stops with his buddy to look at the lodge before heading back to the station. Our beavers are a perfect natural attraction for shift-work. They are awake when everyone else is asleep, and they certainly know what it means to work nights.
I read a study once about the calming affect of looking at a fish tank. Apparently when we watching the swimming creatures our heart rates and blood pressure are lowered, our minds enter a perfect wave pattern and we are healthier for those brief moments. This is why you see fish tanks in your doctor’s office or waiting room. Certainly the same effect could be documented when watching beavers or any of the other natural residents of the pond. Just yesterday I watched a momma mallard stop and guide 8 fluffy baby ducks up and over the dam. The sense of calm and “rightness” one has from these encounters is unmistakable. I would guess that a visit to the dam sends our shift-workers home with a peace and sense of connection.
Maybe Martinez, shiftwork and beavers just belong together.
Heidi P. Perryman, Ph.D.
