The lazy farmer is actually lazy nowadays...

It is hot...

It is never hot in Oregon this time of year. 

It is going to be 90 degrees at 12 midnight tonight. I should have been hooking up lights on all the tractors. Years ago we had similar weather and I just basically switched to working at night. 

Now I have this job as a groundskeeper and when I get home I am so tired from the heat I just don't feel like doing much. Pretty sad. I really am becoming the lazy farmer.

Last week I turned down a better job. It paid $2 an hour more. I suppose  I had good reasons.

1. It would have cost me $1 an hour to drive the distance. The reason this is a big deal is I live close enough to my current job that I could drive home for lunch. Switching to a 40 minute commute on a highway I hate was daunting.

2. They made me an offer. I asked for 45 cents more to meet my goal. They said that HR had a computer program to determine pay equality and after working for my current college I understand the codewords. The code word is F... You. They are coating it in Jesus language instead of social justice and diversity. Actually I think at the new job I would be getting a double dosage of both.

3. The President of my current college invited me for coffee to discuss my mental state. I went to his office. The ladies in the office acted weird like I should not be there or I was getting fired. Turns out he was on vacation. I was invited to his house.... 

I really felt I should go to the back door as it is the president's mansion on campus. He calls me in and his lovely and gracious wife brings me coffee. We have a great chat, the cheers me up. We agree on a strategy. I ask for what I want, which is pretty reasonable and based on the wages of local groundskeeping companies. If they don't give it I walk. I have a job.

And that is what I did.

I am still a little depressed. I just cannot seem to boost my motivation. It will be a long summer.

I have been driving dump truck in the evenings. It gets me more behind with fixing farm equipment but $30 an hour is pretty nice. Plus, they are so happy for my help. The excavator guy has a truck load waiting for me at 4:05 pm. I haul it to the farm where I am dumping it and try to make it back by 4:45 pm. He quits at 5 so that gives him time to load me. Then I try to get two loads in myself. I am down to loading in 20 minutes. (I am getting better with the excavator. )

I try to make it home by 7:30. So far I have only ran the stacker one evening. I worked till 10 p.m. and thought I was done but didn't realize there was another field. The problem with this is that while it is nice in cool in the stacker, the next day I can't stay awake on the lawnmower because of the heat. 

I am afraid I am getting old. I have no idea how to deal with that problem...