Quiet night in the Paddocks

[Oldbushman]

Wow ! The drought we're suffering from is really starting to play havic with my work routine ! I seem to be spending more time driveing out to work than I am shooting ! I've got a Young bloke out with me for a week doing Work experiance ,from our local school as his interested in becoming a Roo shooter ! I'm glad things are hard at the moment as it gives him a idea it's not all Beer & skittles ! Mind you I think it's been something of a culture shock for the young fella ,as his met a couple of other Shooters at the Chiller when we knocked off I get the nasty feeling this lads lived a somewhat sheltered life


Dave

[Baldy]

It will do him more good than harm if that is so Dave. Trouble with most kids over here is they never have to eat what they kill. They learn that life is not a bed of roses, and we are at the top of the food change. Life is not a pretty picture all the time. Freedom is not free. These are some of the things a young lad needs to know at a early age and he will a better man.

[Oldbushman]

The whole work experiance concept is very interesting ! Students in their 10th year of schooling ,several times during that year must find a career that they are interested in & then go & work there for a week to get a feel of it ! Most go on to yr 11 & then 12 & then off into university or get apprentiships ! Though there are those who want nothing more than to just get out of school! I'm trying to keep my step kids in school as long as possible ,so they don't fall into the lack of education trap that has kept me where I am all these years ! It's a different world these days ! The young Bloke I'm taking out at the moment wants to continue his schooling & eventualy become a ranger with the national parks & wild life !

Dave

[versifier]

It never hurts any youngster to get out and learn what a day's work is all about. Especially when it involves a job that requires real work. When I was a working electrician, training apprentices was usually fun, always interesting. Pulling cables through a 12" high crawl space was not for the claustrophobic, then the next day might find you on top of a 40' extension ladder mounting exterior lighting, temps ranging between -25*F to 100*+, wind, rain, sleet, snow. Most work was in unheated shells before insulation. Then you got the wonderful breaks changing a few outlets or upgrading a service for good people that wouldn't let you leave without feeding you. Most of the kids that were hired had just gotten out of high school and didn't want to run a cash register or clean motel rooms for minimum wages. But many were just out of college and unable to find any work in their chosen careers and still had bills to pay. Like in anything, some did very well, others not. Education doesn't hurt, but without the willingness to try new things and give them your best effort, the world will pass you by, just like it always has, no matter how well educated you are. You have to make your own opportunities sometimes. There are a lot of over-educated burger flippers around here.

I wish we could ship you some of our rain, I'm getting sick of it. The water table is so high my buddy had to use a gas powered water pump to bury his dog in the back yard! It looks like we're going to get a few days break over the holiday so we can get out into the woods. Maybe there's a bird or two in my near future.