BOONE LIFE: Building a work ethic

HARRISBURG – To make some extra cash, Randy Calvert, 16, and Ian Rich, 13, spend a windy and cool Saturday morning splitting wood on a Harrisburg farm.

They are working for Calvert's high school coach's dad. The weather and the work aren't new to the two teens. Doing odd jobs, such as shoveling snow-covered driveways and mowing lawns, has given the two young men opportunities to build work ethic.

Simply put, “it makes you not be lazy,” said Rich, an eighth grader at Harrisburg Middle School.

Gusts of wind swirl about the land as nearby horses and sheep ignore sounds of the wood splitter's engine. Piling pieces of already-chopped wood onto the machine, the device comes at the wood, splitting it down into halves. Calvert and Rich add to the pile of wood stacked up beside them. They have about three hours of work left.

It’s the third Saturday the duo has worked together. Calvert is trying to save up money to buy a windshield to replace the one on his Chevrolet Cavalier.