Best Job Ever
An unlikely part-time job changed my life.
When You Open Yourself to Change, Amazing Things Can Happen.
You never know when a random, seemingly insignificant event is going to change your life. I certainly didn’t expect a phone call to a friend to change the entire course of my life, but that’s exactly what happened.
Digging Out of a Hole
In August of 2022, I found myself in an uncomfortable financial situation. It wasn’t anything dire, but I had a couple of credit card accounts that were going in the wrong direction.
I have several credit cards in my name that I have for emergency use only. About twice a year, I make a small purchase with them and pay them off immediately to show activity on the accounts. One of the cards, though, I use to auto-pay all of the household accounts and subscriptions, etc. Normally, I pay off the full statement amount each month and avoid paying any interest on the account. Late spring and early summer didn’t exactly go as planned. Unexpected expenses in April and May, followed by a family trip in June (that stayed mostly within budget), and a very expensive birthday gift from George, my husband, led to major disruptions in the payments on the household card. I carried a balance on the account for four consecutive months, leading to outrageous interest charges.
The amount of debt on that card wasn’t an insane amount, but it hovered just below the $2k limit for two months, so the interest fees were giving me anxiety that was keeping me awake at night. (If only George had not spent the money I told him we didn’t have on that birthday present, I could have paid the account down to just a couple hundred bucks. That’s what I really wanted for my birthday.)
I started asking around our small community about doing some kind of seasonal work, housekeeping, or home care (including asking a previous employer if there were any home care attendant openings in or near my area). The jobs I was trying to luck into weren’t going to make much of a difference in my debt, but an extra $50/week might let me fall asleep 30 minutes earlier at night. I just needed to do something other than nothing without getting a job at one of the stores in town. George didn’t want me tied to a regular job, so I was doing my best.
After exhausting every other avenue, I called my friend, Lady J, (she and I founded an animal rescue for our town together) and asked her if I could fill in for her housekeeper until she returned from time off… Unfortunately for me, the housekeeper was already back.
Then fate stepped in. My friend’s husband had heard our conversation (we were on a speaker) and offered me $15/hour to spray herbicide on mesquite trees on their cattle ranch… I could work as many hours as I was willing to spend on a 4-wheeler in the August heat in Texas. I jumped at the offer and agreed to start two days later.
Not What I Signed Up For
On the agreed morning, I showed up dressed for the heat and sun, carrying a cooler of water and a sack lunch, but I didn’t spray any trees… My new boss, I’ll call him Mr. B, needed me to ride along and help with a few things on the ranch. Fifteen bucks is fifteen bucks, so whatever.
First, we loaded hay onto his pickup and went to feed cows. His method for feeding was to put the pickup in gear, then climb onto the bed and distribute the feed while the vehicle drove itself. Not at all dangerous.
Once the cows were fed and we checked that they had water, we moved on to another project. Moving a ramp on a trailer. Sounded easy enough… Until he said that I had to drive the big trailer because he needed to take a skid steer to load the ramp. Okay. I can pull a trailer… Then I saw the trailer and told him that I did NOT know how to handle one that size. He just told me to “make really wide turns” and sent me down the road.
As if to prove I didn’t know how to pull that trailer, I rubbed a tire on a post turning into the parking lot at my destination. He didn’t look happy when he noticed the paint transfer on the tire, but he took that chance when I told him I wasn’t qualified for the task. He couldn’t argue with that.
If I thought the trailer was big, it was nothing compared to the ramp… He was able to load it with the skid steer, but not without me standing on top of the front of the ramp as a counterbalance. Terrifying? Absolutely. Did I think I was going to be launched into traffic on the highway right next to us when the ramp busted through one of the boards on the trailer? Again, absolutely.
To top off the whole experience, I got to drive the ramp to the ranch. Not at all nerve-wracking… When we got back to the ranch, he said, “See you in the morning. Enjoy your afternoon,” and sent me home.
The Accidental Ranch Hand: Inexperienced & Unqualified
The following days were pretty much a repeat of the first, with a few exceptions… I replaced the non-existent “self-driving mode” while he fed from the bed of the pickup, which may or may not have been safer. It takes a bit of practice to drive at a smooth pace in a cow pasture. I’m sure I almost threw him to the ground more than a couple of times.
After feeding, we’d get into some kind of sketchy project that involved one or both of us gambling life and limb in all kinds of ways OSHA would not be pleased with until about noon, and then Mr. B would send me home.
That started out at about 4 hours a day, Monday-Friday. However, cows eat every day, so before long, I was helping feed seven days a week. It was almost too late in the season to spray those trees I was hired to kill by the time Mr. B assigned me to that task.
As time passed, I just stayed on with feeding and caring for the cows. The cows are good therapy. No matter what was going on in my world (like George spending money as fast as I could pay down the balances on the credit card… To be clear, though, George’s income covered all the bills. I was just trying to pay off the interest and balance from when we had fallen behind) or whatever mood I might be in on any given morning, the cows always set my attitude right and get me off to a good start. They are my anti-depressant, for sure… Especially the ones who like people and want to interact. You’ll be meeting some of them.
By February, when the cows started having their calves, I had learned enough about caring for them and the infrastructure of the ranch that I could be responsible for managing the day-to-day without supervision, and the boss could take a break now and then. Practically a ranch manager… I kid. When I discovered the first baby had been born while I was in charge of the ranch, I all but made up my mind that I want to be a part of that for as long as I am able.
Best Job Ever
Most Overpaid Ranch Hand in Texas
In March of 2023, a house on the ranch became vacant when renters moved into their own home and I was offered the opportunity to move into that house as part of my compensation. Am I qualified for that kind of offer based on the experience I brought with me? Not a chance. Do I make up for it with enthusiasm to learn? I think I do. Do I sincerely care about the livestock that I have become responsible for? Absolutely, 100%.
The most valuable thing about living at the ranch isn’t the paid housing and utilities, the ranch vehicle, or any other material benefits. Having all those needs met through my employment has given me an independence I have never had before. I can have opinions and boundaries in my own home, and no one can threaten to put me out or leave me unable to pay the rent if they don’t like the idea of not being in control of me. That security has given me the ability to begin a season of healing and growth that began almost the moment I moved to the ranch. That’s a value that can’t be measured against an hourly wage.