I was born and raised a city boy, and I got a city boy job that required city boy skills.
Never in a million years did I dream that I would be working on a ranch way out west, living among cowboys.
It started with winning a four day trip to a dude ranch, which at the time was something I never knew existed. Never one to turn down a free vacation, I went to this rustic ranch and spent 4 days living in a cabin and doing farm chores. I realized I didn’t want to leave, so I made a pitch to the owner — with my HVAC certification and experience I could handle all the ventilation and cooling systems for the entire ranch. She liked me, but told me that even with all of the ventilation systems and HVAC units they had on the premises it wasn’t enough to warrant a permanent full time position. I asked her what else I could do, aside from the HVAC work, to earn my keep, because at this point I was intent on staying. We ended up agreeing to a three month trial run, and after an initial inspection and assessment of all the HVAC systems we would evaluate how to use the rest of my time. I spent an entire week meticulously looking at every air conditioner, range hood, air vent, and exhaust fan on the entire ranch. Surprisingly most of them were in very good shape, and I knew the boss was right and they just didn’t have enough need for a full time HVAC tech.