Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

You'll probably be cleaning up a lot of oil in the months to come there Jake. Watch your back as Kira says, when it goes, it's gone.

I've spent the last 30 years doing farming/ranching... 'nuff said...

Since I was 15 and a half did busboy, janitor, some construction (roof, bricks & cement mostly – with a little asphalt thrown) then got into drafting and PCB design a& customer support… the remainder is history!

My first job was as a janitor after school starting at age 15. Did it for a few years. Also was stock boy and cashier at an Eckerd's drug store (sort of like a smaller Walgreen's) for a while. I still do my own yard work, firewood cutting/splitting/stacking, and whatever else needs doing around the house. It's cheaper than a gym membership and I get fresh air, too. Well, except for the chainsaw part. A little hard work is good for the soul.

I've only had two full time jobs in my life. My first was for a company where I started out in packaging but before long was loading trucks all day. Lots of that entailed stacking 60 pound buckets of concrete repair material/admixtures and moving (often by hand) 500-ish pound 55 gallon drums. I moved on to production where things were a little less physically demanding. Eventually I ended up in the company's lab where I tested concrete and concrete repair materials so I was always lugging heavy concrete test beams and cylinders around after I'd make 'em and some days I was lucky enough to have to shovel tons (literally) of concrete aggregate (sand/stone) from giant piles into drums and buckets. I did this between the ages of 16 and 27. It was easy to stay in shape and eat whatever I wanted.

For the last 14 years I have been a police officer in the fine ghetto that is known as Cleveland. Most days involve driving around in the car with my partner chatting and laughing about whatever and handling mundane radio assignments and associated paperwork......but those days can turn interesting and extremely physically demanding in a flash of time. I'm getting a little older and it's harder to recover from the physical confrontations than it used to be. Staying in shape is not as easy as it once was either......and I'm not right now but am getting back towards where I should be (slowly) since a health scare last year placed it higher on my priority list.

As far as physical labor goes I bought a small-ish farm (small by farm standards anyway) at the beginning of the year and just maintaining the property along with typical house projects (and some not so typical like installing a hardwood floor through the whole house) have been keeping me exhausted as well. All in all I couldn't be happier though. Nothing like some good ol' fashion hard work to make you feel truly satisfied and as though you've actually accomplished something.

Lawn mowing jobs when 13, grocery bagger, ditch digger with city utilities, destruction crew leader/laborer, cement pouring crew, and carpenter for 2 weeks (long story). Builds character and keeps you in shape. Have at it, Jake.