Farmer in the dell...

....0r how about "roll on highway..."?

Yesterday, I was a truck driver and a farmer! And a campground manager! And a Deputy! And a chef! Wow...what a day.

So the day until about 7:00 was pretty normal - I was a campground manager (and deputy, obviously. That distinction doesn't just go away.) And I baked a yummy cake - hence the chef. Then about 7, Jeff called and said he was at the grain elevator and he could pick me up if I still wanted to go cut wheat with him and the farmer. Well, yeah! So he drove to the park in Sam Zook's truck and picked me up. Riding in a semi, you feel pretty important. I'm not a girlie girl, unless you are classifying a girlie girl but the numbers of lotions she has, but I imagine that's what it feels like to be the Queen in a parade! It was really cool! In the truck, Jeff let me untarp the wheat , release the air brakes and blow the horn. You know when I have that stupid grin? Well - I grinned like that for pretty much the whole time. So when we got to the farm (which is just a couple of miles outside of town), Sam Zook's wife had brought supper :) Just like in Little House on the Prairie, but in a Toyota. She hadn't counted on me, but it was ok, because for one I was too excited to eat (I probably would've thrown up) and for two it was tuna sandwiches, yuck! After we ate, we drove a small load back in to town (where I got to talk to the people on the scale at the elevator), then back to the wheat cutting. When we got to the field where Sam was driving him combine and cutting wheat he asked if I wanted to ride with him. Uh, yah! So I rode in the combine. There are two seats, it's got a radio and an air conditioner and you sit about as high as you do in the semi. The combine blade was 25' wide and it kinda works like a electric razor for shaving dad's head. Except that it shuffles the cut stuff from 25' to a 4' opening then it goes in and separates the actual grain from everything else, then it spits the crap out in a line and another machine comes and bales it all up for bedding for cattle. All the grain is stored in a bin that is about 1/3 of what the truck can hold. So once it is full, he dumps it into another bin while driving - the two machines go parallel to one another and the auger from the combine empties it into the next bin, while driving. Did I say while driving? It's like a mid-air fueling on Air Force one! :) So then that 'middle man bin' gets driven to the semi - and augered into there. At one point the 'crap shoot' (HA!) on Sam's combine got clogged and I had to help him pull the stems and weeds out. :) So we did about 17 acres in about an hour and a half with the 25' combine. Then we were done with that section and the truck was about 2/3 full. So we (Jeff and I) had to take it to the elevator. He let me help to open the chutes on the bottom of the truck and you would not believe the dust cloud that came from dumping! You know black lung? I think we both had white lung! Then back to the farm and call it a day (on the way there, Jeff let me pull the air horn!) - it was about 10:30 before we were home and they are cutting wheat again this afternoon. I will have to pass, because my other hats have to be worn, but it was pretty exciting.

I think there is a massive disconnect (at least with me) between what I chose in college and what I really want to do day to day. I mean how am I supposed to know I don't want to be a farmer without seeing and trying it? But you have to pick and you have to pick relatively fast it seems to me looking back know. I just know I didn't like sitting in a cube. At first I thought it was cool, but probably within a couple of months I would've said I like the people I work with but not my job. I just wish there was such a thing as career camp. This is something I invented in my head last week - although something like it probably exists, because it's not that creative. There should be a camp (and at this age, I think it should be open to all ages) that lets you test careers. I definitely have an aptitude for computers - I'm not going to sell myself short and say that I don't have that skill. And I even enjoy them to a degree. But does that mean I have to spend the rest of my life with them? I don't want to be a farmer, or even a truck driver. But doing something different? And learning how the wheat was cut was really really cool. It was something I could've read, but instead got to do. I guess that's the point of all this. I want to DO stuff. I want to LEARN stuff (preferably without student loans!) I guess I have to surround myself with nice people who know way more than me and will show me. :) Anyone know a career where I can do this?
Love you all!
-Farmer, Deputy, Marketer, Manager, Chef, Student Cassie