The contractors came-and-went yesterday.
One of the members of the crew lives north of Sparta, Michigan and commutes every working day to the south side of Brighton, Michigan. It is 140 miles, one-way and an honest two hours time when the weather is good and there are no accidents or construction.
Today's first job (mine) took him half-way back toward home. The next job will take him into the city of Detroit. From there he had to return to the south side of Brighton to drop off his equipment and then drive back home. He has ten grandchildren and likes to play golf. He carries a 9mm handgun.
Another member of the crew has a young child of about 6 months. His child is colicky and not eating well. The doctor finally sorted out the issues and surgery is required. That member of the crew is sleep-deprived.
A third member of the crew only works for "the boss" three days a week. He has his own business. Most bosses would not put up with that situation but this guy is an absolute artist with heavy equipment and they schedule jobs around his availability.
MOSTLY, I didn't try to help them. MOSTLY, I was successful.
The boss sets the tone. He was still in-transit when the first two guys showed up. I went out and greeted them. The first guy who I described was on the phone with the boss.
They started the job (i.e. working) before he showed up, which I considered pretty amazing. That is evidence of a level of trust that can develop when the same people work together over a period of time.
Other than NOT HELPING, I didn't do anything productive all day.
Today's work-tickets
I am not going to lift at the gym today. I am woefully behind in pulling weeds.
I intend to get in three hours pulling/cutting weeds.
I intend to cut the grass and move brush for an additional hour.
Core Strength
This video is long and boring and mentions a number of exercises that I never heard of.
The link should pop you into the video at their #1 choice for improving core strength and it was something I understood.
Farmer's Carry is their #1 choice. Also known as "Lugging buckets of water in the orchard".
In terms of fitness, I suspect core strength is often overlooked. Your core does not inherently make you look pretty, but it helps you do some pretty amazing things.
ReplyDeleteTo avoid lengthening your arms when carrying, you should use a yoke. You don't want to be dragging your knuckles into church.
ReplyDeletesam
Dragging my knuckles as I walk into church is a risk I am willing to take.
DeleteIf memory serves, Jesus picked fisherman (Peter, Andrew, James and John...and possibly Thomas, Nathanial and Philip). I bet their knuckles dragged from hauling nets and rowing.
Matthew was a tax collector and given the times, may have been a thuggish character.
The pastors of one of our local churches repaired trucks, heavy-equipment, plows and salt/gravel spreaders to put food on the table before he became a full-time preacher. I bet he came home with grease under his fingernails more times than not.
You are fortunate that you’ve got that “FarmFit” thing automatically built into your day. Kudos to your willingness to also work on your fitness (walking and the deads) at the fitness center. This probably helps keep you from injuring something during your daily chores.
ReplyDeleteI actually found the core video useful. Thank you for it.
I am glad you found value in the video.
DeleteEven though the presentation is as dry-as-dust, it is well organized and the three presenters do a serviceable job of spanning the universe of "beat-up, old dude", "hard-driving middle-aged dude" and "middle-aged, fit, chick".
Both of those features, the video's organization and supplying perspectives from three very different viewpoints does give the video value.
Sounds like a 'good' crew, and a better boss. And yes, core strength IS critical... thanks for the links
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