Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Ron of all trades!!! Actually you sound a lot like me!

Some of what I've done,

Car washer
Lab assistant (food testing)
Cafe assistant
Circus groom (horses) & dancing lion (no, not kidding! )
Stable hand
Motel cleaner X 3
Poultry breeder
Horse trainer
Barefoot hoof trimmer
Donkey breaker (yes, as in horse breaker, not broken donkeys! )
Farm sitter
Market stall holder
Artist
Craft maker
Industrial sewer (car industry)
Lab assistant (again!)

Currently:
Carer
Junk mail distributer
Student

T.B.C.

Software Engineer

Tip scrounger [and not bad at it eather]

after school i was a scout(19D) in the army for 6 years, now i work at a air force bombing range as a metal fabricator.

Well, I don't think I'll be able to top Ron, but here is my basic Bio.

I grew up on the same place where I still live. My family moved here in 1963 when I was about 4. My folks bought an old schoolhouse (three rooms, but about 30 x 50 in size) which my Dad, brother, and oldest sister remodeled. Dad wound up having a severe heartattack in 1967 (?) and had to retire. He spent most of his time gardening, hunting, doing woodwork, occaisionally doing a little carpentry, plumbing and electrical work. Then he took to managing the property for the man who owned the farm that joined our acreage. Somewhere along the line he got to managing a feedlot on the property, as well as working in a packing plant that the feedlot operator owned. When I was a kid, pre-teen, I worked with Dad on the feedlot property. I helped build fence, vaccinate, move and sort cattle, cut/baled and hauled hay. When I was around 14 I worked in the packing plant on the kill room floor, my first paying job was to wash the carcasses, weigh them, and put them into the cooler. When I was 15 I worked as a farm hand for some non-resident owners, I mowed grass and kept an eye on the cattle. At 16 I worked as a parking attendant and traffic control assistant at the State Fair. From 17 to 19 I drove a shuttle bus at the Fair. I graduated High School at age 17 and went to college. I studied Criminal Justice Administration, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in it. While in college I also worked as a dorm cafeteria floor cleaner (I never realized that 500 young women could be so messy!). My internship was as a State Park Law Enforcement Ranger, and I worked for an additional period of time after that as one. I worked for awhile at a shop center for an organized crime owned security company (foxes in the hen house!) and left that when my Dad died. I got a job working for the state as a security officer at a state mental hospital. After about a year of that I decided to go back to school and work on a Master's degree, this time in Recreation and Leisure Services. While I worked on my Master's I worked as a graduate assistant in the library recatologing the curriculm collection from the Dewey Decimal System to the Library of Congress System. While working on my Master's also picked up my state Law Enforcement Basic School certificate, and an Emergency Medical Technician's certificate. I worked again for a summer as a Park Ranger, and returned to school where I hit a bump in the road. I failed a course in statistics and it lowered my GPA to two hundredths below the accepted level for Graduate students, so I had to drop out for awhile. When I was ready to return to my Graduate studies the University had underwent a revision of available degrees, and since the program had so few degree seeking students in the area I was persueing, they dropped it. I was unemployed for about a year, and went through a period of depression before going to work at the Internal Revenue Service as a Tax Examining Assistant. I worked there for about five years, before I became so stressed by the job that I had to quit. I then went to real estate school and got my license as a salesman. I had a real estate license from 1990 to 1998 when I let it lapse. During that time I probably earned less money than what I spent on fuel showing property. I did get the experience of being the Board of Realtors Ethics chair for one year. I got my commercial driver's license and drove a school bus for five or six years, and then I had an opportunity to drive a bus at the 1996 Olympic games transporting security forces and drivers. While I was in Atlanta I had a friend call to see if I would be interested in a job driving a truck with the company he was working for. When I came back I went to work driving a truck transporting the mail, and I continued driving the school bus, and carrying a real estate license. After a few months I quit the school bus, and then allowed the real estate license to lapse when it came up for renewal. I have been driving a truck now, for the same company, on the same route, for the past eleven years.

I am single, never married, no kids, no significant other, but open to the right lady. My interests include the American Civil War, historical re-enacting, photography, hunting, fishing, cooking, acting (been on PBS, and in movies), reading, firearms, woodworking, metalworking, travel, nature and of course good times with family and friends.

Until last year I was the primary care giver to my mother. She had congestive heart failure, diabetes, and macular degeneration. In the end she passed away on July 9, 2006 due to a series of "mini" strokes. My sisters passed away in 1999 and 1997 from cancer. We all lived together until thier deaths, so other than one brother, two nephews, a niece and her husband and son, my only other family are some cousins and aunts and uncles. At 47 I am starting out as a single man, looking for both the right person and a future. Hopefully life hasn't totally passed me up!

My interest in AP is due to a life long interest in science, and a desire to live a more self sufficient life.

Kevin

an ecclectic mix there Kev.
C1

Yep, maybe that is why I'm bald! I lost all my hair from changing hats!

hehe and save a fortune on shampoo and conditioner and brushes.
Not like me

And to think I remember when I used to get my hair cut by a stylist, used a blow drier, had a light blue "leisure" suit, and shook my groove thing!

Well mate my old man is 55 this year and he has jsut found the (new) love of his life so there is hope for everyone

Good luck

shipwright by trade worked on the big boats for rich pricks it pays the bills

Born a farmer, never ever wanted to do anything else! first enterprise selling frogs and tadpoles to the kids at school, moved up to guinea pigs then kelpies.
Left school asap and went out in the shearing sheds as a rousie, then classer and some shearing.
Fencing and weedspraying contractor with dear hubbie for ages, even worked in a convent doing their computer work while the kids were young, (it was so peaceful)
Finally bought our own place but had to move to the back of Bourke to do it. Never been happier. Now muster feral goats, trade sheep and breed goats inbetween hilarious hours in the schoolroom on School of the Air with youngest child. ( a year an a half to go)
I'm studying rangeland management part time because I love to understand the ecology of this land.
I'm into understanding animals, natural horsemanship, working dogs and taking stockmanship to a higher level.
I also love to fish!
Chrissy

Hi Chrissie

What is a "rousie"?

I know what a "ringer" is .. I helped write a song about Aussie Ringers!

http://www.mp3.com.au/track.asp?id=75287

j7au, A rousie is the person/people in a shearing team who clean up after the shearers i.e. pick up the fleece and throw it on the table for the wool classer to class, clean up after the shearers, sometimes pen sheep etc.

roustabout