Employment and Labor

Neighborhood Lawn Mowing

Like many other children, my first real job came in the form of mowing grass for others. At the time, I thought it was hard work and learned my initial lessons on receiving money for labor. With that came the first efforts of learning to spend what I had earned.

State Park

When I began attending college, I also began volunteering at a State Park to help maintain the trail system. This soon led to a part-time job with the State Park System which I had until after college was finished. My primary duties included mowing grass, grounds keeping, and trail maintenance. My secondary duties included helping with special events and public presentations to the public on animals and nature. Through my time there as volunteer and staff member, and more specifically through the different supervisors and managers I worked with, I saw the value of caring for others and working as a team.

Township County Park

After college was over, a search began for a full time job. I took a job position with the county park system which had the promise of becoming a naturalist who presented public programs but which initially would require some grounds keeping duties in mowing and preparing athletic fields for daily use. I was not made aware that the naturalist position was an idea in the making by the township trustees. When the political smoke cleared, there was no position created and I was let go in an uncaring fashion. This was my awakening to the realities of the political realm and all of the games that are played therein.

Country Club

I eventually found work at a private country club. At first, I was on the grounds crew caring for the golf course, but because of my college education with plants, I was soon made the clubhouse gardener. For five years I planted and maintained about 3,000 square feet of flower beds as well as 50 large flower pots at entrance ways. This was a difficult and demanding job because of the quality that was expected and because of the pace at which it had to be done. There were many interesting things to learn about people and human nature as I watched, from behind the scenes, the interactions of those who are considered rich and those who are not. Overall, although some are dressed in more expensive clothes, people are people, everybody has problems, and they all react the same way be it good or bad. There were also many lessons to be learned on not taking criticism from my supervisor (rightly or wrongly) personally.

Elder's Fine Art Photography

During my university years, photography was primarily a hobby. Afterwards, it had grown into a side business for my artwork and I made some effort to go semi-professional with some work-for-hire. I had initially gone into photography, instead of the other art mediums, because I thought it was faster and easier. However, when I was actively displaying my work and was producing archival quality photographs for sale through my own darkroom work, a finished photograph could easily have a few dozen hours within the making. Through this I learned that many things are a process that cannot be rushed because the results become less than desirable. I also learned that although I may have some technical skill with photographic techniques, I am not a businessman and selling things is not a good endeavor for myself.

Vehicle Restoration

I also spent some time in these years helping someone who had a business restoring antique vehicles. This work was out of character with most of what I worked at as it was heavily mechanical. I would strip paint, take things apart, put them together, polish, or almost anything else that is done to make a vehicle look nice or like new. Both in the tools and on the vehicles, I learned that some things are built to last and others are built to be replaced. I also had to learn not to put helping others ahead of taking care of my own immediate family.

This page is under construction. My apologies for any misspellings, repeated text, missing references, etc. Please visit again later for a more complete treatment of this topic.