Learning Why to work - First Jobs - 2 of 5

First Jobs 2.0  Learning Why to Work  

Learning why to work.  Have you ever thought about that?  Once you learn how to work, the next step is,  Why?  The availability of work, and the necessity to work puts you in places you didn't plan to be.  The challenge is to make the most of it, and keep going.  Through all of this, you learn and grow.  I kept working at the Minit Saver, and cutting grass as a teenager through my two years at Motlow.  I also took on some other jobs...

Tennessee Walking Horse Manure for Sale 

Ron and Donna Jackson had horses.  I helped Ron on his farm doing odd jobs.  We even painted his house once.  The main thing I did out there, was use a pitchfork and clean out his horse stalls and add that to the big pile of manure on the side of the horse lot.

One day I had a bright idea...maybe I could sell this to people for their gardens.  I had my drivers license and the old truck.  My Papa, Judson, had a trailer with tall sides on it.  Ron was agreeable to me hauling it off.  So I cleared it from the barn to the pile.  Once the stalls were clean, I'd load the trailer from the big pile.  I then parked the trailer full of manure on the far side of parking lot at the store, and delivered it and scattered it out in people's gardens for $30.  

The only person not real happy with this arrangement was my grandfather.  He said, I can't believe you're putting horse poop in my trailer.

Painting houses with Milan Hill  

Milan was a history teacher and worked with my mom at East Middle School.  In the summers, he painted houses and did odd jobs.  

Milan was afraid of heights, and even the bottom step on a ladder caused him problems.  He would hang on so tightly, that he could barely paint.  I was there for the high stuff, that is, anything that required the bottom step or more on a ladder.  Milan had, and still has, a great sense of humor, and loves to tell stories. It didn't really seem like work when we were out there.  We were painting a house on Carter Blake Road, and Milan was trying to paint the trim up by the gutters.  He was hugging his ladder and dabbing paint, and a tree frog jumped from the gutter onto his fore head. 

He hollered and cussed. He didn't fall, but it tore him up so bad he had to take a long break and smoke two or three cigarettes.                      

Farm Work

Pimento Peppers

There was a big field on the corner across the road from Boyd's grocery, in the community of Mt. Vernon.  Chuck's uncle Leighton Broadrick planted pimento peppers there.  

He talked me and Chuck into helping him with the harvest.  The rows ran the length of the field, We dragged burlap sacks down the rows, and picked the peppers.  The full bags were heavy, I'd guess 80  pounds or more.  This work had to be done during the hottest part of the summer, when the crop was ready.  There were four of us:  Uncle Leighton, another older fellow named Joe Buck, and me and Chuck.  Leighton and Joe Buck both kept a little bottle in the bib pocket of their overalls. They sipped as the day went on.  Chuck and I had to go across the road to Boyd's Grocery to get something to drink.  I remember Leighton had the best laugh, and could really tell a story.  Chuck and I worked pretty hard.  My favorite part about this job was listening to and just being around Uncle Leighton.

Digging Potatoes

When I was about ten, my dad had the idea to plant potatoes in the field by our house, and sell them at the Minit Saver. 

He had a neighbor with a tractor turn the ground up and Melanie, Sheri, and I, picked up the big rocks.  We planted long rows of potatoes, and tried to keep them hoed out and clear of weeds.  Once the plants matured, and the potatoes were ready, Melanie, Sheri, and I started digging.  I've never seen so many potatoes.  Dad bought some bags, and we weighed them up and he sold them at the Minit Saver.  One thing we did is put big ones, medium ones, and little ones in the same bag.  Sometimes the smaller ones fell through the webbing in the bag.  I remember at the store, a customer, Margaret Ann Cunningham, said, Mr. Stone, these bags are terrible!  I cant even get to the car without these potatoes falling out.  He told her, I know.  I can't make any money if I just sell them one time!  

Hauling Hay and Putting up Tobacco

Uncle Charles farmed and worked at the base.  My grandfather, Judson, and my Uncle George helped him on the farm, and also worked at the base.  During hay season, they got some of us youngsters to help.  Kevin and Kenny Davis were older than me and rode their dirt bikes from field to field.  I always thought that was so cool.  My uncles and grandfather were in their 60s and 70s and I was a pretty big teenager.  They were tough, and didn't take many breaks to cool off or drink anything.  My cousins Sarah and Nan drove the tractors and trucks we loaded.  They had one field down in the "bottom" as they called it, and I remember how pretty it was down there, and you couldn't see any houses or roads.      

Uncle Charles also put up tobacco.  We cut it, and put the spear on the end of a long stick, and pushed it on there.  Then we loaded them onto a wagon, and finally took them to the barn.  The hardest part was lifting the sticks up and hanging them in the barn.  Again, not a lot of water breaks or cooling off time.  If the guys in their 70's didn't have to take a break, us younger guys sure were not going to say we had to have a break.  They aggravated, and picked at each other, and were all three pretty hard to please.  Any real cutting up or laughing happened during lunch or days later.  

The best part of working for Uncle Charles was the lunches Aunt Lorraine made.  Her wilted lettuce, made by pouring hot bacon grease on a fresh pile of lettuce, is the best I ever had.  

She always had fresh vegetables from their garden, and a home made dessert. 

A lot of my growing up happened out there.  The time spent with my family making these kinds of memories are a big part of who I am today.