A Scandihoovian Lutren boy in Nort' west Minnesohda. Not the end of the earth, but you can see it from here.
"Suburban" St. Hilaire, MN
Joined April 2021
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Watching the Vikes game while simultaneously watching Packer Twitter's wailing and gnashing of teeth. LOL
I work with several conspiracy theorists. One is even a flat earther. Hoping they keep their yaps shut today.
A '63 Chey sedan with the roof cut off. Uncle had been pulling a grain auger with the bumper hitch, strong gust blew the auger over and V'd the roof front to back. I tamped out burning vinyl with a wet rag while he torched the roof off. Drove it in a wheat stubble field.
This photo popped up from a few yrs ago on FB. Friend drove his MG Midget to work. Thought about taking a test drive but.... oh yeah, did I mention I'm the short kid on mom's side of the family?
No lies detected. Spent 1 1/2 hrs once looking for a washer I dropped while on top of a 747 engine in the hangar for a heavy check. All the cowlings were off so I really had to find it.
My guy fixed my fence and told me the price. Then he said, "Cash?"
Not "do you have cash." Just "cash?" A question with one syllable that assumes the answer.
I gave him cash. He knocked forty dollars off. He did not announce the discount. He just handed back two twenties like he was correcting a rounding error.
I asked why cash is cheaper.
He said, "Card company takes three percent."
Three percent. He is not avoiding anything. He is declining to donate three percent of his labor to a company that did not build the fence.
Then he said the part I have thought about for weeks.
He said, "Also I don't want to be a business."
I asked what he meant.
He said, "The second I'm a business, I gotta have a truck with my name on it, and a website, and then I gotta charge more to pay for the truck and the website, and then I'm the guy who charges more."
He has done the math. He has looked directly at growth and decided against it.
In my country a man who does good work is expected to expand. To expand is to honor the work. A craftsman who stays small has failed to be taken seriously.
Here a man looked at expansion and said no, because expansion would require him to become the kind of man his customers call instead of a guy.
I asked how many customers he has.
He said, "I don't know. Same ones."
Same ones. For nineteen years. He does not advertise. He has never had a slow month.
He has no logo. He has no shirt. His truck says nothing.
The truck saying nothing is the credential.
I understand now that in this country there are two economies, and the one with no signage is the older one, and the men in it are not behind. They are refusing.
What does your guy's truck say. I want to know if it says nothing.
Most NSEW places I've been
N: Gol, Norway
S: Bissi Keda, Chad
E: Bissi Keda, Chad
W: Honolulu, Hawaii
So, our youngest was married last Friday. We weren't sure his mama would be there, as the previous Friday she'd ended up back in the hospital in Fargo with a blood clot in her lung post hip revision (original artificial out/new one back in 11 weeks later, after antibiotics). 1/2
