This is so tantalizing. All this work you are reporting on and NO pics. I guess you are moving too fast.
Anyone interested in a Chevy Citation? Local to me for sale. What was the other smaller one Chevy Chevette? I've been picking away at the cherry split pile. Did a half row over the weekend. Had to climb over the front row rack and I was placing the longer splits on the bottom. Front row stacking this evening took about an hour. This is what is left of cherry pile 1. I'll split the rest Saturday and fill the rack and then some. Still two more piles out back. Should be about 3 cords when done.
How much for that baby Jon? Them were a good cheap car back in 83. My sister destroyed one of those in the day, but that was one of many for her.
With was a typical Monday with pita reports. Left work, at 4, got to Meijer to get my covid shot. Guy the j&j so I can be done and fully vaccinated in 2 weeks. Wearing a mask at work is getting old. On Friday, corporate direction was that of you are fully vaccinated, you don't need to social distance or wear a mask as of today. Well, the tone until Friday was that even with the vaccination, weed still need to continue to wear masks. Glad they made the change, but wish they'd have said that earlier. I'd have gotten the shot earlier. Got home, planted my started from seed plants in the garden, and played with Hayden.
My wife was able to get the garden all ready on Saturday and Sunday after I finished playing blocks with the M6040. I added a few more buckets of good topsoil for her and then several heaping ones of well decayed manure/hay mixture. That was then all mixed in with a rotor tiller . The big rock that took some heavy work to get out of the ground and then pushed over and into position. Then great neighbor positioned the smaller ones around in a semi circular pattern. I still haven’t added the topsoil for the flowers yet, but will do today or tomorrow. Should make a nice rock garden. Rocks need to be rinsed off. Still mud all over them. Hard to tell how big and heavy that rock is from the picture, but the M6040 could not lift one side to flip it over.
I hauled some more wood today from that which was cut during our GTG. Danged stuff is heavy!! Found one log that was full of carpenter ants. That was expected as the tree was hollow several feet up. Lots of wood to move yet. Maybe I'll get a picture or three if I can remember.
A couple weeks ago I decided to apply for a maintenance position at a nature preserve. I've been working in manufacturing for over 20 years now and desperately wish to be outdoors more. So I saw this position, the requirements and responsibilities and said wow, this is PERFECT. A little lawn care, trail maintenance, logging in the winter, maintaining equipment, basic carpentry, etc. I filled out the application and attached a brief letter explaining my hobbies/interests/skills outside of my chosen career. Well, I heard back from the hiring manager yesterday. He was very interested in having me come in immediately for an interview, but was upfront in clarifying that the position pays considerably less than what I put for a desired salary. No surprise, really. I wonder if there's a guy working there like me, wishing he could be working indoors, that applied where I work and felt deflated when he found out an entry level job is out of reach given his current financial situation? Either I need to change my perspective on my current career.... or dive into schooling, setting myself up for better marketability in the future. I.E. become a certified forest practitioner or something along those lines.
I've always looked at those type of jobs of maintaining historic buildings and grounds. I like to work outside and use carpentry skills. I realized years ago that a steady job, not affected by the economy or more recently covid, is what pays the bills. I certainly understand the working at what you like to do can bring happiness. The national park service had jobs at a few sites in our area. Once you figure in travel time, mileage, gas costs, etc, quite a bit less in reality. But who can repair a water wheel for a mill for their everyday job?
You're absolutely right, having a solid career that functions independently of all the BS in the world is key. I've been lucky in that regard, in that even during economic downturns and reduced hours I always carried a full time job. There's always the reasoning that what we do to earn a paycheck doesn't define us as a whole too. I'm sure there are mechanics that can paint a masterpiece. Or a janitor that's a genius with the stock market and investing. What we fill our free time with matters a lot.
