Bruh, working land will kick your ass.

[Alphabet]

We're putting in a range and a grass airstrip at work.


All I did was run a Kubota all day long, brush hog, fell 2 pines with a chainsaw, and I am nuked. And I'm in good shape.

Going to be worth having a few private outdoor ranges though.

[babihutan]

We're putting in a range and a grass airstrip at work.


All I did was run a Kubota all day long, brush hog, fell 2 pines with a chainsaw, and I am nuked. And I'm in good shape.

Going to be worth having a few private outdoor ranges though.

This has always been my world, working like a dog long hours in whatever weather conditions. Last few years been mostly doing office work, but still staying active and in shape. Now, the odd time when I have to slug it for a day of honest work, kick’s my ass.

I will tell you though this type of work can be physically and spiritually rewarding, where I feel much more accomplished at the end of day compared to running an office. And you won’t fry your brain doing this either. The corporate grind is real and harsh! Most days I’d take a shovel in the hand and dig a big fucken hole rather than deal with the politics.

[ROB]

I have worked hard for the right to be a fat slob that does neither hard labour nor office politics.

[Alphabet]

Not even really in my lane, but I volunteered for it to get me away from the morning Zoom meeting with Lumbergh, Karen and Sha'nee'Qa alone.


Was worth every drop of sweat and mosquito bite.



*Posting from a bathtub full of hot water and epsom salt, with my balls floating freely. You're welcome for that image.

[Kurt]

We're putting in a range and a grass airstrip at work.


All I did was run a Kubota all day long, brush hog, fell 2 pines with a chainsaw, and I am nuked. And I'm in good shape.

Going to be worth having a few private outdoor ranges though.

I used to do farm work in the summers when I was a kid and in college. There are two kinds of "in shape" There is "in shape" and there is "farm shape". A "farm shape" person is "in shape" but an "in shape" person may not be in farm shape.

The toughest farm jobs are the "taming the land" variety:

Laying drainage tile, "picking rock" (picking rock is the most horrible of them all), stump removal, getting rid of an invasive species.

Bailing hay and straw are tough but eventually you get used to it.

You did it with a Kubota and are knackered. I did it with a Farmall and was fucked. My grandfather did it with horses. My great, great, great grandfathers did it was an ax and a work crew made up of relatives. Anything beyond a 1948 Farmall would leave me as a whimpering, quivering ball of pain.

[Alphabet]

We're putting in a range and a grass airstrip at work.


All I did was run a Kubota all day long, brush hog, fell 2 pines with a chainsaw, and I am nuked. And I'm in good shape.

Going to be worth having a few private outdoor ranges though.

I used to do farm work in the summers when I was a kid and in college. There are two kinds of "in shape" There is "in shape" and there is "farm shape". A "farm shape" person is "in shape" but an "in shape" person may not be in farm shape.

The toughest farm jobs are the "taming the land" variety:

Laying drainage tile, "picking rock" (picking rock is the most horrible of them all), stump removal, getting rid of an invasive species.

Bailing hay and straw are tough but eventually you get used to it.

You did it with a Kubota and are knackered. I did it with a Farmall and was fucked. My grandfather did it with horses. My great, great, great grandfathers did it was an ax and a work crew made up of relatives. Anything beyond a 1948 Farmall would leave me as a whimpering, quivering ball of pain.

I'm picking up what you're putting down. Day 2 and I'm working through some serious discomfort. But, I'm kind of happy for the shake-up.

It's also mentally taxing. We're working some swamp land, and some southern pine. I can't step off the tractor to take a piss, or walk 15 feet without having to constantly scan for a rattlesnake, gator, wasps, yellowjackets, banana spiders, cottonmouths, wild boar. Florida is nature's blender of death.


Fucking warzones were easier.

[Kurt]

My best tip for farm labor is eat the food that farmers eat.

In the Midwest we had "hot dish" known as a Cassarole every place else. It's usually starch, meat and peas baked together all at once and washed down with a huge glass of milk.

I never have milk as a drink for anything these days except for mixing with brandy before bed but it works with hard labor.

One of my hobbies over the years was converting midwest food made with two cans of Cream Of soup, tator tots and ground beef into basic ingredients. So hit me up if you want to try either the quick and easy soup based recipes that lazy moms like mine did or the fancy kind that I make for people who never touched a straw bale here in NYC. Eat either for lunch break and you will wonder you bothered eating anything else.

[babihutan]

Them are some good stories Kurt! And truth is your farm shape analogy, couldn’t agree more.

Alphabet, as for Florida.....I hear you on all your creatures to watch out for. I worked the land/swamps there for a year and remember my first fire ant attack. I didn’t even know what they were, but by the time I felt my first bite, I already had dozens all over my legs biting and jabbing their venomous asses into me over and over again. That was my ‘welcome to Florida’ officially. I was attacked on average once a week by them.

Gators were not a problem at all, would be in the water with me totally cool. The locals’ advice was if you are gonna be in the swamp, have as much of your body in as possible so the gator knows you’re too big.

Water moccasins I had two close encounters with, both times I just froze and slowly backed away. There are these small round bugs that live in the swamps and bite like a motherfucker, never did find out what they were. Saw grass had me looking like I came out of a knife fight. Multiple wasp stings. Everything in Florida is out to get ya, even the lonely old ladies who prey on unsuspecting young male workers on their multi million dollar lakeside properties.

[Alphabet]

Kurt: It is Florida. It is Summer. Carbs for a normal human = hours of vomiting up your lunch. Much less a ripped God like me who cries like a little girl at just the sight of fried whatever. Carbs in Florida in Summer? Might as well shoot me into the Sun. The best thing is that wild boar are an invasive species here, so not only is there no season or limit, but 200lbs of pork can be got for the price of a round. Winning.

Babihutan: For all of Florida's bullshit, they get one thing right down here. Whomever makes the most money, pays when things go to shit. So, it is an advantage to be a ripped as fuck male, banging some old geezer lady who went to middle school with jesus, and has a lot of money. "I'mma silver panther!"....Nope, you're a lottery ticket.

[Kurt]

Find what the local farmers eat then and eat that.

Farmer Shape = Carbs.

That is why once everyone in the midwest moved to the city they got fat. They kept the same diet but stopped doing the physical work.

[seektravelinfo]

[quote="Kurt"]Find what the local farmers eat then and eat that.

Farmer Shape = Carbs.

That is why once everyone in the midwest moved to the city they got fat. They kept the same diet but stopped doing the physical work.[/quote]

For the first time in my life I began receiving unemployment compensation in December. Around January I started thinking of another job, was gonna look into working at one of our swank downtown hotels, even went and bought a suit for interviews, then Covid hit so back to the store the suit went. Hunkered down with the isolation but the physical inertia became alarming, plus worry about what the job market was gonna look like down the road, so I went and got a job at Amazon. Joke on me, as soon as I got hired but before my start date Unemployment Comp dropped $1800 into my acct (3 weeks worth of the extra $600 per week that recipients get). Had I not gotten an hourly wage job I’d have been making more staying home.

Still, I don’t regret it. My job is physical labor, not impossible, just relentless. 10 hour shifts of lifting and climbing and stowing and walking. Carbs are essential, within reason. My diet consists of hard-boiled eggs, Triskett crackers, cheese (gouda or cheddar), 5% yogurt with berries & granola and one Mexican Coca-Cola daily. On my days off I indulge in coconut macaroons from Aldi which are the bomb. I find that it’s sensible and comforting to eat the same thing all the time. I’ve forgotten what it’s like to eat a hot meal.

[Alphabet]

I honestly don't think any of you recognize what the heat index vs potato lunch intake in Florida, in summer, actually involves.

We're going through 24 packs of water between 2 men, a day, down here. And we aren't doing olde timey farming. I'm "lucky" if I can put down a small chef salad at noon at this point.

The AC on the Kubota is going full blast. If you step to me and try to open the door on it, you might get an AR pistol in your face. It is 'pocsyclypse heatwave here now.

I'd take more shit from ANTIFA and BLM beating the shit out of my car than I would someone opening my tractor door that at this point.

[Kurt]

The AC on the Kubota....

AC?

If I were not sitting in a comfy office chair with the AC set to 60 but the temp at a comfy 74 I would be tempted to do one of those "back in my day" speeches about my farm work life in the 1980s about almost being run over by a Farmall when I did not retard it properly while using a hand crank to start it.

Consarn it!

[Alphabet]

The AC on the Kubota....

AC?

If I were not sitting in a comfy office chair with the AC set to 60 but the temp at a comfy 74 I would be tempted to do one of those "back in my day" speeches about my farm work life in the 1980s about almost being run over by a Farmall when I did not retard it properly while using a hand crank to start it.

Consarn it!

There are two things I have no problem being considered "less than a manly man" about.

1) Not being able to deal with extreme humidity. Call me whatever you want, I will gladly laugh it off in the comfort of my enclosed AC bunker.

2) Getting help with my load on a road march. I would gladly accept a push from an 80 year old lady in a powered wheelchair if it helped take one ounce of weight off my back. Triple that if I'm humping in humidity.

The turkey and wild boar aren't even moving down here it is so hot. We ran up on 2 turkey today trotting down the road, and they didn't even attempt to fly off. Saw a huge boar soaking in a mud puddle 10 feet from a pond where we have confirmed a 15 foot gator. Neither literally gives a shit about becoming food at this point it is so hot.

[Kurt]

My second cousin taught me how to drive a tractor in 1978. I remember I was upset because she interrupted me watching Scooby Doo.

I enjoyed it though, it was a John Deer with an enclosed cab and it had a heater and an AM Radio.

When I got back to Grandmas house I told her that I learned how to disk the fields (preparation for spring planting) and that I did so while listening to rock music with my teen aged cousin.

Grandma was like: A radio! A radio in a tractor! Roy is spending too much money on tractors. She then offered me some coffee because she assumed I must have gotten cold and I said it was warm because it had a heater in it too.

She made it seem like I had just returned from a fancy hotel.

Anyway, heat knocks me out and turns me into a quivering mass of complaints and sweat. My Norwegian genes just cannot take it.