A little background novel for anyone who's interested (AKA bored at work on a Thursday afternoon, or recovering from your shot like me).
After returning from WW2, SWMBOs Grandparents (MIL side) bought several thousand acres of land and started a tree farm. Fast forward 50 years and most of that land was mature woods. They had cleared and sold off many smaller (5+ acre) lots near the roads, and developed lanes through the woods to access the rest of the land, selling off many larger wooded lots as well. While they had a number of other tractors and backhoes at their disposal, this tractor was purchased due to the small size and 4x4 to allow them to drag logs out of the woods in the dense, hilly areas of the land (Mohican area of Ohio, it's pretty hilly, atleast for Ohio).
Fast forward another 10 years and I start dating SWMBO. I'm working at subway (high school job) learning the important life lesson that you don't want to work with the general public. I finally get fed up with the BS from the bosses at subway and quit.
I worked at a truck wash for a while but couldn't get many hours unless I could work overnight, which I couldn't since it was still during the school year. I made pretty good money doing day labor for farmers in the area, but most of those jobs are a couple weeks at most.
Summer break was coming and I'm trying to find something more full time without having to work overnights at the truck wash. I had realized that while chuckin’ hay bales and milking cows is much harder and dirtier work, I'd rather do that than fast food/retail/bussing tables. Not only did I have more of a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day, the atmosphere was much less toxic. Everyone just wanted to get the work done and have a good time doing it.
One evening I head down to hang out with SWMBO and while I’m nervously making small talk with my FIL I mention I think I have a job lined up at an apple farm for the summer. It was only about 15 miles from home, but in the opposite direction from school (which was 35 miles away from home) so I’d probably have to quit come next school year. I was especially bummed because it would limit how much I could see SWMBO over the summer given the hour + drive after work, but I didn’t mention that to him.
FIL asks “You can drive stick, right?”
“Yup, our pickup is stick, and I’ve driven a few grain trucks that were stick. Even drove a semi once, but I was at a gravel pit and I didn’t go very far”
“Ever run a chainsaw?”
“Yup, we heat with wood so we cut and split 6+ cords a year”
“Ever hurt yourself with the saw?”
“Nope”
“You’ve driven a tractor before, right?”
“Yup, mostly dragging stuff around or moving hay or cow E36 M3.”
“If you want a job clearing land on the farm, it’s yours. My friend’s son is also going to help out this summer, but he’s totally green so you’re going to have to do a lot of the skilled work while teaching him, but he’s a linebacker so you can make him do all the physical stuff.”
