Rock guide, Electrician, Engineer, House Keeping?
Summer life in Joshua Tree for a rock climbing guide:
This summer, I have been working as an electrical contractor, aka electrician. What does that mean? Essentially, crawling through/sweating in people’s attics with a headlamp on, working in breaker boxes, chopping up and repairing stucco, adding spa circuits, and meeting lots of interesting desert dwellers.
new old work
Here is a picture of a breaker box after I got done rewiring it and updating all of the breakers. That was the entertaining/straight forward part of this particular job. The rest of the job involved spending countless hours in this client’s attic, sifting through insulation while tracing down an electrical circuit problem.
The very next day, I worked a rock climbing session from 6AM-10AM. My client contacted me the day before and asked “are you sure we should start so early?”. Yes. I am sure. By 10AM, we were definitely past the best part of the day weather wise. My clients had a fabulous time, pushed themselves outside of their rock climbing comfort zone, laughed, engaged with each other, and reached mental and physical exhaustion by the end of the session. Success!
Summer Joshua Tree rock climbing session
That afternoon I cleaned the airbnb behind my residence in preparation for a new guest. What does this entail? Lots and lots of laundry, changing the bed, vacuuming the floor, using sanitary wipes on all hard surfaces, putting out a bottle of wine, and vacuuming/mopping the floor.
Apart from all of this work, I spend at least half of my time with my daughter doing daddy things.
Let’s jump!
My daughter, now 4 years old, is at a beautiful age. Her imaginary world is rich with adventure, wilderness, unicorns, and talking animals. We spend hours playing together, going to the park, and eating at (her) favorite restaurants.
Summertime in Joshua Tree is not my favorite time of the year, and often I find myself dreading the ever approaching furnace months of July and August. For now, I will try to focus on doing my best to be a present father, dream-fulfiller (as an electrician), hospitable airbnb host, and rock climbing instructor in my community.
June 22, 2023. Posted by: nelsonday