Spud harvest.

Not only am I not in school, but I have no money. I'm poor and bored. A friend of mine thought up the great idea to work potato harvest. For those of you not familiar with potato harvest, I'll give you a brief rundown.

Potato harvest is an Idaho only thing. It might even be a Rexburg, Idaho only thing. The schools get out for about a week to a week and a half to harvest potatoes. I'd say about 25% of the kids actually work. It's a pretty big deal. It's the window for all the potato farmers to get the potatoes out of the ground and put them in giant cellars. They temporarily hire tons of Mexicans and high school kids to deal with the filthy vegetable. And because potatoes are not glorified enough, this brief period of time is called spud harvest.

So I get hired. I'm kind of pumped because you make a lot of money due to the fact that you work 13 hour days. I arrive on the scene very ill prepared. I did not bring warm clothes or gloves. Mistake. Gloves and coats are a necessity. Once I obtained these items I'm good to go. One thing people do not realize is that shovelling is extremely labor-intensive. My task for 13 hours was to shovel dirt. I move a pile of dirt from one place to another. Why? No idea. After a long day of that my hands hurt to make a fist. But it's worth it right? Right...

Here's the thing: the potatoes rushing past you on multiple conveyor belts is nauseating. It truly is. You stare at them for so long that when the machine is turned off and you have ringing in your ears, the potatoes look like they are moving slowly in the opposite direction. Intense vertigo. Another point, the smell of dirt and "spuds" is kind of pleasant. They're like an old friend greeting you and reminding you that you will never be done sorting potatoes. See, but it's all a trick. You think it's a nice smell and that very well may be true. But imagine this, you get home and strip off your many layers, you get in the shower and see the dirt running down the drain, the shower is as hot as it will go and it's burning your skin but it's still not hot enough, and to top it all off you blow your nose and the mucus is completely brown and crusty and hurts. Cool. That "pleasant" dirty smell has now turned into a bloody nightmare in your nose.

Anyway, this better be worth it and I mean I better make big money. I don't want to strain my groin just for a couple of bucks. Let's just say: Yay Spud harvest!