Country Time - Story and Art by Sandra Russell

Country Time - Art by Sandra Russell

Country Time

Story and Art by Sandra Russell

I heard someone use the phrase “I'm on Country time!” This was said in exasperation over how much our present-day business mode requires so many of us in our jobs to apply an inefficient method of working to complete a chore from beginning to end. Our work is scheduled to be interrupted. We are multi-tasking ...giving simultaneous short-term attention to various tasks, while superficially attending zoom meetings, texts, emails, and other sorts of communication about how to do our jobs better? Really.

Well According to this person, I better understand some of my rural relations getting angry with me for working in 'shifts'. For them, if you are painting the porch, you 'paint the porch' you don't work on the porch for 3 hours and then work on the barn, then go home and comeback next day to finish the porch...No...you paint the porch, then you go home. Of course depends on the size of the porch, some take 3 days no matter what, but you take my meaning. You don't milk half a cow. You milk the cows…Cows are done, then move on to shelling the peas for dinner and so on.

I tend to multitask naturally, and also to sort of drift mentally if given too long a tiresome chore without a break. But I think there really is something to be said for 'country time' thinking too. With a couple coffee breaks and a lunch. I think I would 'get er done'!