I stopped off at the gas station yesterday on my way out to the field and spied a truck with a familiar survey outfit's name on the door. I use to know everybody over there, but most of them have moved on. I glanced at the fella sitting in the driver's seat and recognized him immediately. It was the owner, that I assumed had retired as I hadn't seen him in 5 or 6 years. We tied nails and cleared line together back in the sixties for $2.50 an hour. Our wives use to get together and share groceries so we could have a sack lunch on those last couple of days until payday.
Life has been particularly good to him in a financial sense. He and his wife enjoy travelling in their King Air and seeing the world. I was surprised to see him sitting behind the wheel. He assured me he still 'worked', mainly because his wife can't stand it when he's at home.
I had to note that with his means I would guess he could dine anywhere he desired. Instead I catch him at the gas station, sitting in a Ford pickup and eating a microwave burrito with an ice cream sandwich for dessert.
He told me, "It just doesn't get any better than this."
Once a surveyor, always a surveyor...;)
Amen, Brother Paden. Amen.
What your buddy described is the very reason my wife must continue teaching. It drives me nuts when she is home invading my working space. "Who was that on the phone?" "What did they want?"
My wife retired in June.
As she spends most of her time in OKC and I am spending most of mine working in Odessa, we don't have the problem of being in each other's hair. Not that I have much left on top of my head.
paden cash, post: 447376, member: 20 wrote: I had to note that with his means I would guess he could dine anywhere he desired. Instead I catch him at the gas station, sitting in a Ford pickup and eating a microwave burrito with an ice cream sandwich for dessert.
He told me, "It just doesn't get any better than this."
Once a surveyor, always a surveyor...;)
Brought a tear to my eye.
N
paden cash, post: 447376, member: 20 wrote: I stopped off at the gas station yesterday on my way out to the field and spied a truck with a familiar survey outfit's name on the door. I use to know everybody over there, but most of them have moved on. I glanced at the fella sitting in the driver's seat and recognized him immediately. It was the owner, that I assumed had retired as I hadn't seen him in 5 or 6 years. We tied nails and cleared line together back in the sixties for $2.50 an hour. Our wives use to get together and share groceries so we could have a sack lunch on those last couple of days until payday.
Life has been particularly good to him in a financial sense. He and his wife enjoy travelling in their King Air and seeing the world. I was surprised to see him sitting behind the wheel. He assured me he still 'worked', mainly because his wife can't stand it when he's at home.
I had to note that with his means I would guess he could dine anywhere he desired. Instead I catch him at the gas station, sitting in a Ford pickup and eating a microwave burrito with an ice cream sandwich for dessert.
He told me, "It just doesn't get any better than this."
Once a surveyor, always a surveyor...;)
Man, that's inspiring. Love to hear these stories. I looked at buying a small (financially) successful firm a few years ago, and the owner confided that he was "sick of it, to be honest." Really gave me pause.
Did your buddy make King Air money from surveying, or from investing or a side hustle?
FrozenNorth, post: 447425, member: 10219 wrote: Man, that's inspiring. Love to hear these stories. I looked at buying a small (financially) successful firm a few years ago, and the owner confided that he was "sick of it, to be honest." Really gave me pause.
Did your buddy make King Air money from surveying, or from investing or a side hustle?
Actually his wife's father left them a large oil estate some years back, including the King Air (probably a 6 million dollar plane). They decided to let the business/ estate keep the plane and use it occasionally.
I don't want that to shine a poorer light on my buddy, they would have been just as well off from surveying if they hadn't received the inheritance. I believe his wife has always liked flying and they eventually sold their Cessna 172 and kept the twin Beechcraft (and let the estate pay for the pilot and upkeep). 😉
When I mentioned to him I considered him "rich" he just laughed and told me that rich to him meant being able to buy an NFL football team. I guess it's all in your point of view. Rich to me is being able to buy two microwave burritos for lunch...;)
I guess it's all in your perspective... I don't need NFL owner money but it sure would be nice to be debt free; I'd feel rich if all of my mortgages, etc. were paid off.
paden cash, post: 447376, member: 20 wrote: eating a microwave burrito with an ice cream sandwich for dessert.
He told me, "It just doesn't get any better than this."
Please tell your aged compatriot that it does get better than that, oh yeah....definitely gets better than a nuke'm burrito.
Just A. Surveyor, post: 447434, member: 12855 wrote: Please tell your aged compatriot that it does get better than that, oh yeah....definitely gets better than a nuke'm burrito.
I can agree with that. I just pulled a chicken off the smoker and tasted a wing. MAN that's good. In another 3 hours or so I'll pull the Boston butt off. I'm a pretty dang good cook even if I do say so.
Andy
