Brianna knows that we wanted her to get a bike, so she hasn't been shy about asking. We were delayed when we had to get a refrigerator when our old one died after 14 years. Yesterday, the day finally came where she got her beloved bike. I took her out on her first lesson. I taught her the same way I learned. I would go down hills because you don't have to work so hard at pedaling. & I wanted her to pedal down a grassy hill so that she wouldn't get scraped up if she fell (which is pretty inevitable when you first learn).
So, we went to this park not far from where her grandpa/my FIL lives. She learned quickly!! So quickly that I was really surprised. Then she said something pretty funny. I said, "Brianna, you are doing a great job!"
She associated "job" with being "paid", so she asked, "Do I get $3?"
I replied, "Brianna! I just gave you $54"
"What?"
"$54 was the cost of the bike!"
"Oh".
So, she kept learning and doing well. I was very impressed and now Brianna passed one of those little milestones that a kid goes through!
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MY PAST
When I was a growing up, I lived on a dairy farm. It was a good childhood, because there wasn't a better way to learn a good solid work ethic than working as a kid on a dairy farm. There were high expectations, and my parents and older brothers and sisters were not shy about telling me if my work fell below expectations. The lessons have helped me a great deal even now!!
Well, last night I saw a new show that will be on weekly on the HISTORY CHANNEL called Pawn Shop. The story is of a grandfather, his son and the grandson running a pawn shop. Seeing the dad chew out the son really seemed like a flashback of the old times during the 70s when my father and Jerome, my brother, would get into a bitter argument. It was amazing, the argument would on a rare occasion seem to last the entire time of milking (about 2 hrs.) Usually when they fought, it was "only" an hour.
Last night the young son was approached by a man who wanted to sell him a boat for $25,000. They haggled, and he bought a boat for $16,500, and the motor was shot on it so it couldn't move in the water. Thinking he made a terrible deal, his dad was furious with him, and the son knew there was going to be a big argument. Of course, the big argument happened with plenty of bleeping and deleting of swear words. The son also was knocking stuff off of the drawers. But lo and behold, everything worked out! They son took the boat to an expert repairman who charged him $4,000 to make the boat run again and make it look like new. The repairman said the boat was really the Cadillac of boats so they shouldn't have any problems getting $30,000 for the boat. (That would be a $10,000 profit for their pawn shop).
There was a scene where they were riding on this grand boat and father, son and friend were all smiles. It made me smile too! I wonder how many times Jerome and Dad were all smiles??
Another similarity was that the 3 men all gave a damn about their business wanted the business to succeed. So, I would be very surprised if they have an episode where they are having a hard time making a profit.
That's the way our father was, and his wife, sons and daughters also wanted the farm to succeed! Most of the time Dad was working, it seemed he was worried. Usually it was about a good cow that was sick. One time when we were milking, he said something that I would never forget. The 70s were a very good time for dairy farmers, much better than the 80s. He looked at the brothers and I and said, "You really have to be a screw up to not make money at dairy farming." He didn't talk much (except when he was arguing w/ Jerome), but that was one time when he didn't have to. It was one time when Dad really seemed content that he was a farmer. I later learned that there were many times that he was happy to be a farmer. One of the best college projects I did was interviewing my parents. My father told to me he loved being on the field and planting and harvesting crops.
When I was a growing up, I lived on a dairy farm. It was a good childhood, because there wasn't a better way to learn a good solid work ethic than working as a kid on a dairy farm. There were high expectations, and my parents and older brothers and sisters were not shy about telling me if my work fell below expectations. The lessons have helped me a great deal even now!!
Well, last night I saw a new show that will be on weekly on the HISTORY CHANNEL called Pawn Shop. The story is of a grandfather, his son and the grandson running a pawn shop. Seeing the dad chew out the son really seemed like a flashback of the old times during the 70s when my father and Jerome, my brother, would get into a bitter argument. It was amazing, the argument would on a rare occasion seem to last the entire time of milking (about 2 hrs.) Usually when they fought, it was "only" an hour.
Last night the young son was approached by a man who wanted to sell him a boat for $25,000. They haggled, and he bought a boat for $16,500, and the motor was shot on it so it couldn't move in the water. Thinking he made a terrible deal, his dad was furious with him, and the son knew there was going to be a big argument. Of course, the big argument happened with plenty of bleeping and deleting of swear words. The son also was knocking stuff off of the drawers. But lo and behold, everything worked out! They son took the boat to an expert repairman who charged him $4,000 to make the boat run again and make it look like new. The repairman said the boat was really the Cadillac of boats so they shouldn't have any problems getting $30,000 for the boat. (That would be a $10,000 profit for their pawn shop).
There was a scene where they were riding on this grand boat and father, son and friend were all smiles. It made me smile too! I wonder how many times Jerome and Dad were all smiles??
Another similarity was that the 3 men all gave a damn about their business wanted the business to succeed. So, I would be very surprised if they have an episode where they are having a hard time making a profit.
That's the way our father was, and his wife, sons and daughters also wanted the farm to succeed! Most of the time Dad was working, it seemed he was worried. Usually it was about a good cow that was sick. One time when we were milking, he said something that I would never forget. The 70s were a very good time for dairy farmers, much better than the 80s. He looked at the brothers and I and said, "You really have to be a screw up to not make money at dairy farming." He didn't talk much (except when he was arguing w/ Jerome), but that was one time when he didn't have to. It was one time when Dad really seemed content that he was a farmer. I later learned that there were many times that he was happy to be a farmer. One of the best college projects I did was interviewing my parents. My father told to me he loved being on the field and planting and harvesting crops.
The farm did very very well and earned trophies and many plaques because our cows gave so much milk. We had one cow who, during her lifetime, gave over 200,000 pounds of milk. We had another cow that gave over 32,000 lbs. of milk in 1 year. Our farm earned a number of plaques when they found out the average cow on our farm in 1 year would give 700 lbs of butterfat (cream) and over 20,000 pounds of milk.
1 comment:
CONGRATS for Brianna for learning how to ride a bike so fast!
Well, you've got such an interesting childhood. R2 was also raised in a farm as his parents were farmers. However, he disliked the back-breaking job in the fields, esp. during summer when other kids were playing.
I don't know anything about farmwork, but I can imagine that it must be tough. Your parents' farm must have been quite a farm!!! :-))))
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