Thursday, May 1, 2008

What's in Your Job Description?

When it comes to the home, what would be in your job description? If we were to actually sit down and put pen to paper and start listing the responsibilities under the heading of Domestic Engineer I think we'd find ourselves with quite an impressive list.

I'm pretty sure we share alot of job titles, but because of our diverse lifestyles there are going to be other tasks that are unusual.

I thought about this for awhile and here are a few of my tasks that would fall under "other duties as assigned" in this household:

Lawn Care Specialist - Responsible for mowing 2 acres, including following up with a lawn sweeper if necessary. Pruning, trimming and feeding 23 trees, spraying fruit trees. Maintaining large perennial borders and secret garden.

Carpet Cleaning Specialist - Spot cleaning and large operation cleaning up after 1 cat, 2 dogs and me, the klutz.

Construction Manager - Buying materials for basement rehab. Hiring and supervising all tradesmen. In charge of personally handling all grunt work that doesn't involve special knowledge, to include scraping carpet glue off 600 sq. ft. of concrete floor WITH A PUTTY KNIFE! Allowed to throw hands up in the air and declare the other 500 sq. ft. does not need scraping.

But, probably my most unusual job as home manager is:

WATER TREATMENT FACILITY MANAGER

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Yes, we have well water and that means we have our own water treatment facility in our basement. I'm not quite sure what all this gadgetry does, I simply turn the dials, fill the bleach tank and pray for the best. There's a water softener and a chorination unit and something else.

I love living out in the country but well water is one aspect that I could do without. How is it that I remember crystal clear and cold as ice water from my aunt's well in the Florida panhandle? Maybe we didn't dig deep enough.

I'd love to know if any of you have wierd things on your job description. I'm sure some of you who keep livestock have some doozies!!

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Well, I'm off to cycle Tank #3 because if I don't we're going to have sludge in the bathwater!

NOTE: I'm off in a few hours to visit my daughter at college. She's invited me to a picnic her department is having to celebrate the end of their journey through the Master's Program! I'll be back sometime late tomorrow afternoon and we can catch up with each other.

8 comments:

Vee said...

Have great fun celebrating with your daughter today! What a wonderful accomplishment for her!

You certainly do have an odd assortment of jobs. My oddest job is changing the water filter at my parents' home. They have a new well that has too much sulphur in the water.

At my own home, keeping the sump pump going is my current oddest job. That and keeping the cat out of the basement until it dries out!

Vee said...

I'm back to steal your playlist for the morning.

Say, have you ever noticed that there's a heart in the wires in the header picture? I notice strange things, don't mind me.

Anonymous said...

Daughter finishing her MA? That is wonderful! What field is she in? Good Job!!

My job description: 1)milker-of-uncooperative-beef cow (on demand only), 2)feed distributor for spawn, cattle, horses, dogs, cats, birds, spawn's friends, husband 3)skid loader operator extraordinaire 4)indexer of nonfiction textbooks (a REAL job), 5)operator of a rural vacation home (a REAL job - www.countryschoolretreat.110mb.com)6)visionary (but no one has really asked about this one so I guess it doesn't count! 8-) ).

Angela @ Cottage Magpie said...

Goodness, that looks complicated. You know, I have always wanted to live in the country, but being a child of suburbia, I am ill-equipped! Hopefully should I ever be able to make it happen I'll be able to figure it all out!
~Angela :-)

BittersweetPunkin said...

My main jobs are some that others I am sure others share as well: school teacher, plumber, cook, maid, taxi driver, personal shopper, currier, gardener, pet groomer, hairdresser, secretary, interior designer, bookkeeper,laundress, inventory control specialist, family psychologist, nurse,and sometime mechanic. I'm sure I missed a few.

Paula B. said...

hmmm...apart from the more common jobs that many name, I think "Chief Eviscerator" is my most unusual. Has nothing to do with upper levels of WoW or book censorship...has everything to do with 100+ cornish cross chickens. 'nuff said.

I am thankful to add that I don't have to fulfill this title every year!

life in red shoes said...

I've told my husband there's no way he could afford me, then I read what you do. I'm a total slacker. Thanks for the nice comments you left on my blog!

C.C. said...

That is quite a list! Mine is your fairly typical suburban-housewife-mother-of-two-boys list. I would add "beagle wrangler" to the list though. Toby is a beagle in need of wrangling! Congratulations to your daughter!