Wednesday

In the past....

I made my living as a cook. A couple of years after High School I decided to go to a Vocational Technical School and go through the Food Service Industries Course. I did pretty well and after the 2 year program I landed a job as the cook on the Spear-O-Wigwam guest ranch outside of Sheridan, Wyoming. I spent 3 summers cooking there. In the Fall I would cook for a hunting ranch out North of Sheridan, the NX Bar. Wyoming's only privately owned elk herd. In the winter I would go back to Billings, Montana and wait tables. I am not a good waiter, I have very little patience with people and how they treat people in the service industry. One winter I did cook out at the PK ranch on Soldier Creek, that's just west of Sheridan. There were 8 guys that lived in the bunkhouse plus 4 others that came for breakfast and lunch. Twelve hungry cowboys can eat a lot of food.
After that I spent two years at the Ucross Foundation east of town. An artists colony. It was a restored ranch that was backed by a rich oilman and had space for 4 Artists at a time to come and live. They were housed in what was once the town school house and I provided their meals, lunch and dinner. For breakfast they were on their own.
It was there that I got interested in ceramics and then went off to Casper, Wyoming to attend the community college. I was there for a year and a half. The restaurant where I was waiting tables burned down and I decided to just get the hell out of town. I was pretty miserable there.
I went back to Billings and after a few days of staying with my folks I found a job up in West Yellowstone for the snowmobile season. Two months of hell later I up and moved to Portland. I had wanted to go to Seattle but couldn't get a hold of a friend I knew there and so I called a friend in Portland. She said yes, come on out, but you can only stay for a couple of weeks because the babies coming.
After a year of waiting tables I found a job at the Tile Factory here. I was in a ceramics course out at the Oregon School of Arts and Crafts, which is now the College of A. and C. , my class went for a tour of the factory and I applied. I'm still there.

5 comments:

Der Geezer von Tampadorf said...

Heilige Kuh!

Eine was für Geschichte. Ich hoffe, daß Sie ein Tagebuch hielten und das dort Lose lüstern Eintragungen sind. Erfuhren Sie Heim auf die Gebirgskette oder Hölle auf die Gebirgskette?

Git along lil' doggies, git along . . .


Der Geez von Tampa (traurig genug, haben wir keine Hündchen hier!)

Günter said...

Du bist ganz schön herumgekommen. Wirst du hier in Portland jetzt bleiben?

Lars said...

Geezer, keine Tagebuch, nur meine Erinnerungen.

Günter, ja ich bleibe hier, nach 17 Jahre Portland ist jetzt meine Zuhause.

thegrouch said...

@ Geezer: another German speaking American? That's cool! :)

@ Lars: it's really a bless to have someone at home who knows how to cook - I know that. Good food is an awesome thing. :)

Lars said...

Grouch, heutzutage koche ich fast nie, Geoff ist zu wählerisch und so er kocht selbst. Und darum klage ich nicht.