Just an Update

Discuss non-crawler related issues here (keep it sane, please)
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CuttingEdge
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Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2014 5:13 pm
Location: Maine

Just an Update

Post by CuttingEdge » Mon Jul 20, 2020 2:47 am

I have been really busy like everyone else I guess. I got called back to work in June, and so I have been doing that 5 days a week, but with no students, although we are opening today for a few to start. They will have to be in quarantine for two weeks, but after that, we can get them back in the shop and learning to weld. For the other students, we will continue to do long distance learning via Google Classroom.

As we waited for our reopening to students, the company decided to invest in our welding program, so we have a classroom that is much bigger now, and a new office that was moved so we can keep a better eye on the students in the shop and classroom area. Of course having some 300 cameras on campus also helps!

But no one wants to mow the sides of the road now because unemployment pays a lot better than $20 an hour to sit on a boom mower and make tall grass short. I only have the weekends to do that, but have logged some long days on the weekends trying to get as many miles of road ditch mowing in. I hope they find someone because so far this season, I have only mown 75 pass miles out of 1200.

Other than working full-time and mowing on my days off, Katie and our four daughters keep me busy the rest of the time, (3) of which now are teenagers! It just feels good to get back to my old self-again, and get some work done.
I have no intention of traveling to my grave in a well manicured body; instead I am going to slide into heaven with a big power turn, totally wore out with busted knuckles, jump off my dozer loudly yelling, Woo Hoo, another Shepard has just arrived!

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77 Ford
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Re: Just an Update

Post by 77 Ford » Mon Jul 20, 2020 6:58 am

Glad to hear life is getting back to normal for you. They just won't let the plandemic die here, our rates are so low it's laughable but they just keep trying to shut more down and pass more restrictions. It's beyond insane....
JD- 450C track loader
Serial #208336T

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Lavoy
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Re: Just an Update

Post by Lavoy » Tue Jul 21, 2020 9:15 am

You just made my day! I am so glad to hear that you are doing well and that Katie is still putting up with you. If you can survive teenage daughters, you will be just fine.
Thanks for the update,
Lavoy
Parts and restoration for antique and late model John Deere crawlers.
Owner and moderator www.jdcrawlers.com

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CuttingEdge
2010 crawler
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Posts: 534
Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2014 5:13 pm
Location: Maine

Re: Just an Update

Post by CuttingEdge » Tue Jul 21, 2020 4:10 pm

77 Ford wrote:
Mon Jul 20, 2020 6:58 am
Glad to hear life is getting back to normal for you. They just won't let the plandemic die here, our rates are so low it's laughable but they just keep trying to shut more down and pass more restrictions. It's beyond insane....
Yes, we are one of the first schools to have students back I think . They came in yesterday which is good, so as soon as they are out of quarantine, we get get back to teaching welding in the shop again!

A big part of that was our Covid 19 numbers here. We are at 3700 cases statewide, with 117 deaths, out of 1.25 million people. I think we have the lowest rate in the country because...well...you drive TO Maine and not exactly THROUGH it.
I have no intention of traveling to my grave in a well manicured body; instead I am going to slide into heaven with a big power turn, totally wore out with busted knuckles, jump off my dozer loudly yelling, Woo Hoo, another Shepard has just arrived!

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CuttingEdge
2010 crawler
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Posts: 534
Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2014 5:13 pm
Location: Maine

Re: Just an Update

Post by CuttingEdge » Tue Jul 21, 2020 4:28 pm

Lavoy wrote:
Tue Jul 21, 2020 9:15 am
You just made my day! I am so glad to hear that you are doing well and that Katie is still putting up with you. If you can survive teenage daughters, you will be just fine.
Thanks for the update,
Lavoy
Yeah, Katie is doing well too. She is working at a nursing home as a nurse and really likes it. They are pretty neat in that they have chickens and baby goats at the nursing home so the residents that were once farmers can go and pick some eggs every morning, and help with the baby goats. The upkeep is kept up by the nurses so that the residents do not have to fully care for the animals, but that is kind of unheard of for a nursing home, at least here anyway. But they treat the residents really well in other ways too, so it is a decent place for sure.

She works every other weekend, and on days when they are short-handed, so she can be home when the kids need a mother.
I have no intention of traveling to my grave in a well manicured body; instead I am going to slide into heaven with a big power turn, totally wore out with busted knuckles, jump off my dozer loudly yelling, Woo Hoo, another Shepard has just arrived!

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CuttingEdge
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Posts: 534
Joined: Wed Sep 03, 2014 5:13 pm
Location: Maine

Re: Just an Update

Post by CuttingEdge » Tue Jul 21, 2020 4:42 pm

One thing you learn quickly about teaching is, as important as learning a trade is for students, there is other stuff to teach them as well like soft-skills, and employability skills. I found out that 100% of our students have never had a committed relationship, which is very sad. I mean, everything I do is for my family, and you can see that in my posts, I talk about them a lot because it is important.

I asked a manager where I work, just how we could change that, and show the students who have never experienced what ends up being my biggest motivation for having a career, since they have not experienced either of those things yet, and got...CRICKETS from the man. He had no idea what to do, just corporate talk about "modeling values if you can".

I am not into idle talk about ideals...

I do a few things for the students, like always wearing my wedding band so they know I am wed, but I also plan to put a few pictures up on my new office wall so that they can visually see how having a solid career in welding, and having a committed relationship, can really be gratifying.

This is a photo of my youngest daughter, it announcing her birth when I worked at the shipyard at the time. She looks like a doll, does she not?

(Oh, and she was 7.1 pounds, 21 inches long for those that care about such things).

Image
I have no intention of traveling to my grave in a well manicured body; instead I am going to slide into heaven with a big power turn, totally wore out with busted knuckles, jump off my dozer loudly yelling, Woo Hoo, another Shepard has just arrived!

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