By Ashley Schumacher
Okay, so let’s start at the beginning. It’s Thursday night, about 7 or so, and I get a text message from Becky.
“Hey Ashley. Tomorrow let’s have you do a ride along with Noah! Meet at the house at 8:00.”
“Okay, sounds great. I’ll be sure to wear my best sleeveless T!” (In joking reference to Noah’s traditional outfit of jeans, work boots and his classic red cut off sleeve Hurley Ranch t-shirt.)
But really, what would I wear?! Would I be swinging a hammer? Using power tools? I had no idea what the day would entail. I knew Noah was going to be helping our landscapers get started on a home we built in Janesville… so maybe I’d toss some seed. (Insert shoulder shrugging emoji girl.)
The potential for the day was virtually endless.
Apparel
Since we recently moved to a farm, more and more of my clothes are transitioning to “work clothes,” so finding an old pair of jeans and a sweatshirt was not a problem. But I also didn’t want to look too unkempt. Being a girl is hard, ya’ll! (Let’s be honest here, nobody cared what I wore.)
I had a few expectations of what I WOULD encounter. I’ll list those here.
- Noah runs on coffee and air (as his wife lovingly jokes).
- His phone would be ringing off the hook.
- A bunch of dudes.
The reality.
- Coffee, air and Clif bars. I found this to be 110% correct.
- Again, this was accurate. His phone was ringing, beeping or buzzing all day. (How did it not need to be charged? My phone was half dead and I had only used it to make two calls, check email a few times and snap a few pictures!)
- Correct. I was the only women I saw all day. That’s fine. It’s a man dominated industry.
Miles
Hurley Ranch is building homes in Evansville, Janesville and the Mount Horeb area. Noah visits all of these job sites almost every day to check on the progress, double check floor plans and keep things running on schedule.
We put on a fair amount of miles that sunny Friday – 143.3 to be exact.
Where did we go? Well, I mentioned the landscaping job in southern Janesville. From there we visited our other houses in the Rockport Ridge subdivision. Part of the tasks to be completed included taking two of the dump trailers to, well, the dump. So back and forth we went from the house to the dump, back to the house to drop off the trailer, over to the other house, back to the dump and back to drop off the trailer. We spent a solid 90 minutes on garbage delivery.
And it was only 10:45 am.
After surviving the seagulls at the dump, we headed back to Evansville. Nothing too exciting – stop by city hall to pick up some permits (hello, bathroom break!), out to the west side to set elevations for a couple new digs, quick swing by the office and on our way out of town we go!
Dane County
We are also building a house outside of Mount Horeb on a beautiful 30 acres. Noah and I ran out there to hang the permits and see how the concrete guys were fairing. It was a pretty hot and sunshiny day to say the least. Because of the placement of the house and the angle of the concrete truck, one of the pourers had to straddle the sides of the spout and push the concrete out of the shoot. I was grateful to not be in his position in that moment.
Recap
I always thought I was a fast walker, but man, Noah really cruises around the properties.
What I was wearing was totally fine. (Again, nobody cared.)
He visits almost all (if not all!) of the houses each day.
Guzzles a gallon or so of coffee.
And maintains a smile and positive outlook.
This is a typical day in the life of Noah.
And for the record, I did not swing a single hammer. (Bummer, I’m really good at this. Ha.)
**All of these events did actually happen and were not embellished for a good story or humor.