MJ's Meme Answers

Hey there!

Remember my friend, MJ? Here's her list!

1. 4 jobs I have had...Worst jobs really is the way to go. I could go on and on with stories about each of these jobs. I’ll try to keep it short. In no particular order:
Hot Air Balloon Chase Crew—actually this was kind of fun. You would crew very early every morning and at dusk, when the winds were calmest. We’d put the balloon up, then jump in the open back of a pick up truck and drive over miles of dusty dirty country roads following it. Only one pilot I worked for in 3 years of crewing had a walkie talkie. When the balloon would land we’d run out and pull the envelope (the balloon part) down by the seams, brush the grasshoppers off and stuff it back into a bag. They liked locals to help navigate the roads but I wasn’t too much help there. I got to fly sometimes to help navigate. That was the best. On the navigators map some farms had a big red X over them meaning you couldn’t land there. One friendly farmer liked to shoot warning shots into the air if you got too close.
Corn Detassler—arrive in the field before sunrise. Cold dew runs off the corn soaking your clothes. Feet pick up 5 pounds of mud. Sun comes up steaming you in your wet clothes. Corn leaves are like razors and cut you up with a million little paper cuts. Foreman is a jerk and makes you redo your row because he found too many missed tassels. I lasted one day.
Catering Director of a little hotel, now out of business.-We were woefully understaffed and under-equipped but I didn’t know any better. The crabby chef cooked and I did everything else. Very physical work with no carts at all and I was preggers. Can you imagine catering a lunch for 100 and carrying everything by hand into the room on the other end of the building? I went on maternity leave and came back to find someone else’s business cards in my desk. Apparently I couldn’t type fast enough for the reservation part of my job and they gave the catering job to the chef and the head waitress. I went home to my new baby in the new apartment we couldn’t afford and cried. Then my husband left me and I moved home with Mom and Dad. Dark days.
Farm Work for my dad—As the youngest child, when my brothers all grew up and left, I got to pick up the farm work slack. Dad didn’t seem to notice I was a girl. Some fun jobs I remember—Baling Hay: throwing bales from the field up onto the rack then stacking said bales in a dirty-dust-filled-stifling-hot barn loft. You had to wear long sleeves and jeans or your arms would be ripped to shreds. Cows: Castrating calves: yum! The doggies love those testicles. pulling calves (if you don’t know what this is, trust me, it’s awful) doctoring calves (one died in my arms-sniff), and dumb cows that decide to drop their calves in stupid places (like right next to a flooding creek). In the spring the fresh grass gives the cows diarrhea and makes herding them through tall grass extra fun. Dealing with foundered cows (cows so gassy from fresh food that their stomachs could burst. You have to poke a cut off garden hose lubed with cooking oil down their throat and try to find the right stomach then pour 7-Up down the hose to make them burp). Building fence is fun. I once knocked myself out while attempting to pound in a fence post. The best part about all this, is this was my dad’s hobby. He ran the frickin’ utility company in our state!
2. 4 movies I would watch over and over again
Best in Show
Star Wars Movies (yes, I’m a geek)
Gone With the Wind (Don’t we all kin
Local Hero
3. 4 places I have lived...:
Small town Minnesota
Indianola, Iowa
Des Moines, Iowa
Ames, Iowa
4. 4 people who email daily.....
Work—I work mostly at home. How boring.
5. 4 favorite things to eat.........
Cheeseburgers or grilled rib eye steaks
hot bread with good butter or really stinky cheese or both
really good milk chocolate with or without hazelnuts
stuff eaten while I’m barefoot in my garden—a really good tomato, a couple of peas, some green beans, radishes washed with the garden hose, some “volunteer” lettuce late in the fall or way too early in the spring, sprigs of herbs.
6. 4 places I would rather be....
on beach with gorgeous warm water lapping at my toes
Traveling anyplace new with my friends
Snuggling with my sweetie in the morning
At my folks cabin on the deck with a good book in the fall
7. 4 things I look forward to this year....
Kitchen redo
Summer on the lake
Taking my peeps to Beech Lake
Getting more organized
8. 4 people I will tag... Not gonna tag! I already bugged people with a list thing recently.