That first job

There may be nothing as rewarding as earning your first paycheck. My first paying job -- the first regular paycheck I remember earning -- was working for the city of Alexandria after my freshman year of high school back in 1970. I don't remember the name of the program under which I was hired, but I do remember a little about that first job. There were a few kids my age who worked for the city -- about four, I believe. We did odd jobs -- mowed, picked up garbage or cut weeds at the ball park, painted fence near Greenhill Cemetery, and even helped clean up around abandoned houses. One of our favorite chores was emptying the garbage cans down at Lake Hanson, where we'd linger to watch the girls sunning themselves on the beach. Bud Wenande and Cliff "Putt" Mayhew were Alex's city workers, and I recall sitting around the city office talking with these guys from time to time, or riding in the front seat of the city's old, beat-up dump truck. It's kind of sad not to remember more about this job but that was 42 years ago. Thus began my contribution to the working world. After that city job I worked a summer hauling bales for several farmers, including Leona Egland, Kenny Letcher and Laverne Schoenfelder. I recall we would sit around the edge of the flatbed and ride out into the fields where two would pick up the bales and one on the flatbed would stack them. I hauled bales with several different kids that summer, but I remember in particular hauling bales with Roger and Duane Letcher. Stacking bales was an art form. If they were stacked correctly, a flatbed held many layers of bales interwoven into an almost solid unit. But if done sloppily, the stack would weave like an accordion -- or worse. Sitting on the stacked flatbed was common on the way back to the farm, so the tighter the stack, the better. Sitting on a carelessly stacked flatbed could be downright dangerous. To this day the smell of fresh-mown alfalfa reminds me of those days. And I can still smell the sweat-stained leather gloves we wore. Leather gloves were, of course, a necessity. With lots of practice one could throw bales several layers high to the stacker; but, of course, it also depended on the quality and cutting of the hay. Some bales weighed 50 pounds or more, while others -- depending on the time of year, amount of rain and the field itself -- would weigh less than half that. Then came the fun part -- unloading the bales -- sometimes outside on the ground, sometimes in a hayloft or shed, which could get very, very hot and dusty. I attributed hauling bales with my improvement of adding nine feet to my best shotput throws between my junior and senior years. I spent the summer after my freshman year of college working for Intercounty Electric in Mitchell. This meant riding up to Mitchell every day to meet the Intercounty crew at their shop on Mitchell's north end. I rode to work with Mr. Jon Wessel, who had been my football coach in high school and was now working for some outfit in Mitchell. I assisted one of the several crews who were headquartered out of Mitchell and drove every day in the Davison-Hanson-Miner-Sanborn county areas to set electrical poles, establish electrical connection or do any of dozens of other chores that were required of the electricians. The next couple of summers I worked for Hanson County's road crew, mostly helping to remove, install and fix fence with Berno Haiar and Leonard Tuschen. One summer I remember we worked most of the summer just a few miles east of Mitchell, where the county was widening a road. That meant tearing out the existing fence and then putting in new fencing along the widened roadway. The work day started early -- 7 a.m., and then we worked until 4 or 5 p.m. I remember, too, riding around in the county's old black maintenance truck with Berno usually behind the wheel. One job that wasn't really a job but I enjoyed immensely was riding along with Rog when he worked for Folsom's Store in Alexandria. Rog delivered milk and dairy goods to many area farms, along with Krumm's Tavern in Farmer and Cremer's Store in Spencer. Rog would let me accompany him in the small panel truck as he delivered dairy goods to those places, and I would get an ice cream bar as an added treat. But between my junior and senior years in college I spent six weeks in officer training at Ft. Lewis, WA, sandwiched in between shorter stints still working for Hanson County. Then after my senior year at SDSU I was commissioned and began my active duty tour with the Army. That's another story in itself, and may be the subject of another blog.