Family, Food, gardening, Uncategorized, work

Got Out Of That One

30 Comments

Husband and I used to erect three, 10 foot long, steel hog panels in the garden for the peas to grow up. We secured the panels  to thin, plastic coated metal poles using  wire. The panels worked great,  but they got too heavy to move and too bulky to store, so, the for past couple of years we have used plastic poultry netting stapled to wooden poles for the peas to grow up.

This year the wooden poles are tall, thin, and not very straight or stable. I put the fence up, and it looks very crooked and  has lots of  droopy gaps. The finicky, Dutch part of me cringes when I look at it.  It will do for the peas,  though, and I have every confidence that no rancher in his right mind will ever ask me to help him with fencing.  It is nice to think that is one responsibility I will never have.

What skill do you lack that you either wish you had or you are glad you don’t possess?

30 thoughts on “Got Out Of That One”

  2. I am glad I have no desire to be an administrator. My agency has been searching for a regional director for more than a year. People assume that because I am the most senior and most qualified professional at our agency that I would be a shoe in and should apply. It would mean that my agency would have no psychologist, I could do no clinical work, and I would be in countless meetings in Bismarck. Take me out and shoot me first.

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  3. Rise and Shine Baboons,

    We are back home again with sore feet and backs from miles of walking on concrete. Renee, wear walking shoes when you go to NYC in the autumn. Thanks for the tip on the TKCS half price booth tim. We saw Beautiful which was really wonderful.

    I am ever so grateful to have never had the skills to be a bookkeeper or CPS (no eye for the visual detail needed for transferring numbers from one place to another). I also have not the stomach for tolerating the various bodily fluids and substances nurses must work with. I worked at both of these things in college and found I was hopeless at both.

    Thank. Goodness.

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    1. Typo—not CPS, CPA. Accounting is not my thing, and I also have found I do not get along with accountants easily. Most of them seem to have “control issues” about things and details that just do not matter to me.

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      2. Having spent ten years of my life working for two different accounting firms, Jacque, I agree with you. To be successful as a CPA you must be extremely detail oriented and adept at adhering to all kinds of rules and regulations.

        Toward the end of my stint with KPMG I took a battery of tests at the U of M in hopes of determining what might be a better fit for me. The first question I was asked by the person who was tasked with interpreting my test results was: “Are you happy in your current job?” When I responded I was not, she smiled, and said “Well, you shouldn’t be! Accounting is probably the worst possible match for you. You’re a risk taker and would be a lot happier as a race car driver, or working with musicians.”

        A few months later I took another job as a legal administrator! To my big surprise, lawyers were a whole lot more fun and creative to work with.

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        1. that’s like preferring to have teeth pulled to having surgery with scalpels

          if you throw a cpa and a lawyer off a 40 story building at the same time which one hits the ground first?

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        2. That’s what I used to think, too, tim. And I was wrong, and so are you. I have met some lawyers that I didn’t like, and I have met some CPAs that I did like, but taken as a group, lawyers are a whole lot more fun and creative, at least in my experience.

          Liked by 1 person

  4. Nice post Renee.
    We put up snow fence every fall. We’re at the point we can leave the posts up and just add the plastic snow fence (with only a few post having to be reset). But It’s not a straight row and that used to bother me a little bit. Now it’s been there long enough I don’t really pay attention to it.
    When Kelly helps the plastic fencing is fairly tight. If I do it myself it sags. At least until the wind blows, then it’s tight. And in January, who really cares about any of that?

    I wish I was a better scenic painter. I didn’t get this job because I could paint. I’ve learned a lot and I’ve gotten better. But I’ll never be as good as some of the people I call to come help me when I need it.

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  5. It is my understanding that fencing is backbreaking work. Some cattle ranching friends of ours got a new cattle dog that had been trained with sheep. Sheep herding dogs are trained to bring the sheep to the rancher. Cattle dogs herd cattle away from the rancher. Teddy the sheep dog did his best his first time at work for our friends, herding the cattle right to our friends, the cattle going through quite a lot of fence that had to be repaired. Teddy turned out to be a good cattle dog with a little training to correct his sheep herding tendencies.

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    1. On steamy hot days, especially, I’m glad I’m not on a road construction or repair crew. The stench of the tar mixture is bad enough all on its own, but it’s dirty, heavy and backbreaking work, I wouldn’t last fifteen minutes.

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  6. I do not seem to have the stamina for prolonged physical labor. The only job where I can remember getting a poor review was when I was toting 30# boxes of fruits and veggies as a produce coordinator at the Wedge Co-op. Now whenever I see people – esp. roofers, or landscapers hauling rocks – esp. on a hot and humid day, I am glad I don’t have to do that!

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    1. Yes, there’s a workman here today. Our condo association is starting to replace crumbling driveway aprons. I watched this workman carry a large, heavy saw about a hundred yards or so. He was drenched in sweat. I do not envy his job.

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  7. I used to spend the first week of November with my farcher friend, Larry. (A farmer-rancher is a farcher.) One year he had an emergency need to build a cattle containment out in a remote area of his land. The containment would consist of wire fencing strung around a rectangle of posts. My buddy Bill and I agreed to help him. After all, we were staying for free in his home, eating his beef and drinking his coffee.

    I somehow ended up with the task of driving the posts. We used metal “T posts” that I sank deep with a manual driver, trying always to keep them straight. To the astonishment of everybody, I sank about 24 posts that day. Larry had trouble believing his soft city friend could do manual labor. That evening I was so stiff and sore I could barely hoist a fork to my mouth. I slept the sweet sleep of a manual laborer that night, having added a skill to my resume: writer, photographer, editor and (gasp!) pile-driver.

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    2. I read that first sentence three times, trying to figure out what kind of typo this was, before I decided to read on and hope I’d be able to figure it out from the context. And there, in the very next sentence, was the explanation. Fun word, but not one I’m like to need very often.

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  8. I really love being a nurse. I never thought I would feel that way about it back in 1989 when I decided to take the training for practical nursing. I thought it would just be a good job with good pay and benefits while I worked on finishing college. As the years have gone by, and after a pretty negative experience at the MN DNR, I realized how much I like it. I enjoy the cooperation between my coworkers. I care about the people I’m assigned to care for, sometimes deeply. I don’t mind working until 11 p.m., like I did last night. I like trying to find a solution to a problem someone is having.

    I don’t like the administrative jobs. I found that out at the DNR. I wouldn’t ever want to be a supervisor. I lack the ability to compromise with people or to ingratiate myself to someone above me. There is respect and there is brown nosing. I can respect someone who has earned my respect but I’d likely throw up before I could, forgive me, suck up to someone else due to their administrative status. I have a dim view of some of the unwritten requirements of those jobs.

    I don’t do math well. Numbers and financial planning make my brain go numb. My brother and I are very different in those areas. I’m glad he’s responsible for my Mom’s finances and I’m responsible for her health care. We’re a great team that way. We disagree, however, about how much should be spent on Mom’s current living situation and comfort. I would spare no expense and let the chips fall where they may. He complains about every dime she and I spend on her comfort. “What if she outlives her resources?” I just don’t envision it. I just make her comfortable in this moment, today.

    I don’t have a lot of money but I have most of what I need. I’m content.

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  9. I’m just handy enough to be dangerous. Unfortunately not handy enough to really be handy. So sometimes I think I’d like to be more handy so I can be more self-sufficient with jobs around the house and sometimes I think I would like to be less handy so I don’t even attempt stuff.

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  10. OT – Don’t know if this is of interest to anyone, but it sounds like an opportunity for a fun evening that isn’t extravagantly expensive.

    Music by Johann Strauss | Sung in German with English dialogue

    Die Fledermaus (“The Bat”) is Johann Strauss, Jr’s most enduring piece and a staple in the operatic repertoire. With beautiful melodies such as the “Du und Du” Walz and gems like “Adele’s Laughing Song”, it comes as no surprise.

    Opera on the Lake is taking the story out of 19th century Vienna and setting it in the here and now. Get ready to dive into a world of pranks, mistaken identities, and colorful characters sung by cast of international and local opera stars.

    We promise, this is a night you will not forget!

    July 24, 7:00p.m.
    July 26, 7:00p.m.
    July 27, 7:00p.m.

    Como Lakeside Pavilion
    1360 Lexington Pkwy N
    St. Paul, MN 55103
    CAST:

    Rosalinde: Anne Wieben

    Gabriel von Eisenstein: Wesley Frye

    Adele: Alicia O’Neill

    Prince Orlofksy: KrisAnne Weiss

    Falke: John Allen Nelson

    Alfred: Laurent Kuehnl

    Frank: Alex Adams-Leytes

    Dr. Blind: Nicholas Nelson

    Ida: Maggie Burr

    Musical Director: Marcoantonio Real-d’Arbelles

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      1. BiR, don’t expect a “wild chance” to provide the opportunity. Make plans and make it happen. I’ve already bought my tickets.

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  12. Pingback: Glossary, Almost Two Decades into the Millennium | Trail Baboon

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