Work and Reward

Back in the day when youngest son was 8 or 9 ( he turned 37 yesterday ) and his sidekick nephew was 4 or 5, we were  living out in the country on the farm on Buffalo Ridge. One day I was looking out the window I could see that the wind or the dog had tipped over the burn bin so the yard was a mess.
About that time a friend stopped in and the boys asked if he would take them fishing.. He saw the messy yard and said ,"well if you boys clean up the mess in the yard I will take you fishing". The boys got busy and soon was tired of carrying a piece of garbage at a time, so geniuses that they were, they went and got an old plastic sled that had seen better days and started filling that with the mess. Both were boys scuttling around picking up the stuff and putting it in the old sled did not notice one important thing. The dog was running behind them and taking everything out of the sled that they were putting in.
Now that was funny to watch, then feeling sorry for the boys I told them to put the dog in the barn while they worked and they were amazed at how much faster their job went. AND they got to go fishing.
Now both boys do not rememeber that day, but the lesson they learned stayed with them, "When you are doing a job and things aren't working, stop and see how you can make it work". They are both successful men with families and I hope they pass on that little bit of knowledge to their children.