job decision/what would you do

[flyer1]

I would take the job at DIA. I have worked a steady, with benefits job for 34 years. My pay is 1/3 of my sisters pay. Yet, now I am close to retirement and can go and my sister who is 7 years my senior still needs to work 2 or 3 more years. She did not plan well with all the extra money she made. It just kind of slipped throuh her fingers. Her retirement is 1/3 of mine. Take care of family first.

[tinsnips]

My uncle drove 120 miles per day for 43 years to the same job so I asked him if the drive bothered him. His answer was no it was the best part of his day. No one bothered him at all while he was driving to an from work. A lot can be said for a steady job good luck.

[troyboy]

No reason to sweat an hour commute. Time to get out of oil and mining.

[country gent]

I drove a little over an hour each way to work for years the big thing is learning to use the commute to your advantage. While driving I was also thinking things thru and deciding what was needed for things. If the traffic isnt bad it can be quite enjoyable. I bought a convertable and in summer got a lot of sun LOL. Providing for your family and making sure they have what they need is the only issue. Also dont hesitate in bad weather to use the cheaper hotels for a night or 2. A 30.00 or even 50.00 room is cheaper that a wreaked car and or injuries. There were 4 guys who drove farther than I did and they rented a small house cheap together to stay the week and went home weekends, holidays or special occasions.

[Ural Driver]

Take the airport job.

[EDK]

I lived 10 miles from my job UNTIL the divorce. Then I drove 40 miles one way...mostly good two lane..for 17 years. I retired with a little less than 42 years with the power company. (Unfortunately, got divorce papers after 8 months of retirement., but that's another story.) I was lucky that I enjoyed my job MOST of the time and same thing on co-workers. It was getting a bit too politically correct for an aging dinosaur/veteran/red neck, but that's the way it is everywhere.
You need to take care of the family and have a job with benefits and a pension. The fact that you can continue to live on the ranch is super. I had to put down my Appaloosa/Arab gelding, age 31, 8 years ago. I bought his mother (by mail) as a yearling while I was in Viet Nam in 1969. My dad and I farmed flood control land in Illinois for years.
One of my last bosses at work drove 80 miles each way for four years. He had started with the power company late in life and needed to get his pension ramped up so he took the foreman job. He said the quiet time on the road was pretty good most of the time. Incidentally, he lives in the house he was born in.
I'd leave the uncertain oil field job and jump on the airport. Keep the ranch going for another generation and have a decent retirement check and some benefits for yourself and mom.

[dragonrider]

I did a 40 minute drive each way for 35 years, job was good, pay was better, nothing closer that paid as well. I know it is not a hour but you will get used to it. As said above family first.

[Blackwater]

As we get older, I think it becomes more important to do something we just plain LIKE doing, rather than what pays the absolute best. I've read where most folks today have 3 or 4 different careers today, on average, so many face the spectre and opportunity of a change in mid-stream. Money's always important, but it's not all there is to it, and there are many things to balance in making these decisions. Over time, I've never known anyone to really regret going with the job they enjoy more, rather than the one that paid better but required a lot more of them, and was harder on the demands it made on their time and emotions. The time we spend at work in necessary. The time we have left over is our "real life," the part that makes us who we are and lets us be that. Only each of us individually can balance all these factors out. You can't take the money with you, but you CAN take a lot of memories of being with family and friends.

Probably the best thing about these situations is that there really is no wrong answer. Just simple choices. Wish I could help, but I'd be the last to try to tell someone what to do in this situation because we all have our values and skill sets and desires, and they're all different, so it'd be in appropriate for any of us to give you much serious advice, really, though it does often help to get opinions from others to help us make up our minds. My only advice would be to go with your heart, rather than the money. I suspect you're much more likely to be happy doing that, but even that's no guarantee. We pays our monies an' takes our choices, an' either way, it's gonna' work out less well than we'd hoped sometimes, and occasionally, even better than we thought. We always have to estimate what the future's going to be like, and none of us seem to hit that one dead on. Try to keep your options open, too. That's always a good thing.

[Boaz]

I broke out roughnecking on drilling rigs doubling for hands wanting a day off while I was in high school (rigs ran 7 days a week , no relief , no time off) . Drove rig up trucks , drilled , blacklegged , ran work over rigs ,.............whatever .
Started a rig mechanic field service in 1977 , making $18.00 an hour , overtime before 8 in the morning and after 5 in the evening , double time on weekends and holidays , 50 cents a mile driving time , all expenses paid . Yea , I was making doctor's wages ..........thought I was gonna get rich and then ...
The boom cratered in the spring of 79...........2 years later I was welding up trashcan racks under my carport and peddling them door to door with free installation . Waiting for a boom to come back is very self defeating , been there . Looks like oil is done for a while ...

[rockrat]

Go for the Airport.
My daughters fiancee works for a fracking company and I worry about him and his job.

[bedbugbilly]

Sometimes "less" can be "more" . . . . . .

[daniel lawecki]

Steady income and benefits are very important and does the new job have a retirement package.

[rancher1913]

thanks for the replies. I would love to just stay on the ranch but after the drought a few years ago I was forced to sell down the heard as my pastures were being pushed to hard and my crops all failed, now that the weather is cooperating I could rebuild the heard but will need about 100 grand at current heifer prices and I refuse to borrow money. if calf prices would stay like they were 2 years ago I could survive but that was a fluke. at 55, I still have a long way to retirement and may have to work until I die, the plan was to build the ranch up to support us in our old age so we don't have any retirement funds but everything we have is paid for. all my coworkers have said the same as you guys, take the job and in a few years you can always come back if need be. as for traveling in bad weather, that won't be an issue--when a storm hits you don't leave til the runways are clear and I would be spending long hours in a plow truck, all my years of operating equipment were what got me the job.

[Boaz]

thanks for the replies. I would love to just stay on the ranch but after the drought a few years ago I was forced to sell down the heard as my pastures were being pushed to hard and my crops all failed, now that the weather is cooperating I could rebuild the heard but will need about 100 grand at current heifer prices and I refuse to borrow money. if calf prices would stay like they were 2 years ago I could survive but that was a fluke. at 55, I still have a long way to retirement and may have to work until I die, the plan was to build the ranch up to support us in our old age so we don't have any retirement funds but everything we have is paid for. all my coworkers have said the same as you guys, take the job and in a few years you can always come back if need be. as for traveling in bad weather, that won't be an issue--when a storm hits you don't leave til the runways are clear and I would be spending long hours in a plow truck, all my years of operating equipment were what got me the job.

These decisions are hard and even harder as you grow older knowing your options lessen . Talk to your family and talk to GOD . I know everyone here hopes you do well , many will pray for your situation .

[pmer]

I'm seasoned commuter and 1 hour is doable. I do field service and commutes can vary to more or less time. Ergonomics in the drivers seat is more important to me over the years. I like my shoulders back and down and upper legs more horizontal. It promotes good spinal posture. A car or truck with a nice adjustable seat really helps for repeated long trips. I average more than 4 hours a day sitting in the service van.

[Plate plinker]

Good choices rancher. Hope your ranch becomes more profitable again it is definitely difficult to buy back a herd right now. Your on track with the breed your way back in mentality. Could you perhaps rent out pasture to other ranchers or bail up grass/hay for more income?

[Fishman]

Airport job and careful planning/budgeting. The extra driving hours added to your work hours are still less than the current work schedule. Use the time spent not working for a paycheck to work on your ranch, which should make it more profitable. Find some interesting podcasts to listen to on the commute. Get a small fuel efficient car that is cheap and save your big 4wd truck for real work. Those of us who have a steady job that want to live away from town have to commute.

[Hardcast416taylor]

After working construction jobs for quite a few years I lucked into employment as an industrial pipefitter/plumber. I worked that job for the final 35 years before I retired. I drove a 50 mile stretch, 1 way, that took on average of an hour +/- weather conditions both ways. Then there were the `rush - rush` jobs that I worked 12 - 16 hour days for weeks on end. I got very nice pay and benefits that was great for my family and me when medical problems started settling on me. I`d take the airport job as people will always be using an airport rather than an oil well that goes dry, or shut down.Robert

[Nicholas]

The solid foundation to your family security makes the airport job better. It frees up some time to feed your entrepreneurial activities on the ranch and maybe other possibilities that you might develop. Depending on your personality, driving time can be a relief from a hectic life. It would be miserable if you spent the time racked with worry, though.

[runfiverun]

i'm in Brighton right now working in the patch.
why?
cause right now Colorado is where all the work is.
once it slows down that's pretty much it.
yeah some other places have a little work here and a little there and our camp is getting by right now picking up those jobs in Texas, and Colorado, and Wyoming.

unless your willing to travel and stick [eke] it out until the next boom i'd bail, especially for a job near home.
if I could get on with the mine or whatever near home right now, i'd jump for sure, and I have been doing this for 12 years now.

but I know my crew has a customer [contract] waiting on us for the season [where i'll only be 3 hrs away from home] so i'll stick it out.
in your case i'd bail.