Oh where to begin?
My father was a cop who mostly worked nights, so my days growing up were spent with my Granddad who was a gardener for the city we lived in. He looked after two parks, one cemetery and three schools. From the time I was old enough to help, I spent my weekends and summers as his helper. We loaded and unloaded his truck at each location, lugging hoses, garden tools, wheelbarrows, bedding plants, bags of fertilizer etc. as we used them at each location. Flower beds to be dug, lawns to be cut with a push mower. First real physical labour I did which began about the time I was 10 and continued uninterrupted until I was 18 and he finally retired. He had to as I took a job at the newspaper and he was too old to do it without me.
Working in the production department of the newspaper was a tough grind. Things were still letterpress in those days and with lead being the main raw material, lifting it daily had me in the best physical condition of my life. Not to mention unloading and stacking one ton rolls of newsprint without the benefit of a fork lift each month and bundling and tying, then stacking 9,000 newspapers twice weekly.
Also helped my father build a cabin at the lake when I was between 14 and 18. Felled huge Tamaracks to use as the foundation, erected the frame and hammered fully half the nails in a 20 x 24 foot building. Everything hauled in and cut by hand without benefit of any power tools. My job was the rafters as dad didn't like heights.
Then there were the three homes with unfinished basements that had completely finished basements when I sold them. I did everything myself with the help of my wife. Framing, insulation, wiring, heating ducts, flooring, plumbing, drywalling, ceiling stipple, trim, carpet, etc, etc. Also building fenced yards at each location, along with outdoor storage sheds, decks, patios and even one garage.
And the cars. I had a collection of vehicles and rebuilt most of them from the ground up. I would buy, rebuild and sell one to get another. Then make enough to get two more and wound up with four at one time. Still have one. Rebuilt motors, transmissions and rear ends. Brake jobs, tune-ups, broken springs and axels repaired. Body work and prep for painting as well.
Owned a third interest in a fly in fishing lodge in the early 80s and my two partners and I spent hundreds of hours building log guest cabins using raw materials available on site. An addition to the main lodge, a generator outbuilding, boat houses and docks. Plane load after plane load unloaded and lugged from the dock up the hill to the camp. Cut an air strip out of the bush with chain saws and a stump puller to avoid more costly float plane service for clients. That was one of the toughest challenges and took two complete summers with work crews of a dozen or more friends helping. They got free fishing privileges for their assistance.
Nearly forgot my after school/Saturday job pumping gas at the local Chrysler dealership. Clean all windows, check the air pressure in all tires including the spare, check the coolant level and the oil. When the pumps weren't busy, fix flat tires and detail trade-ins before they hit the used car lot. Used to repaint all the rubber with a solution of 90% gas and 10% black paint to make stuff shine like new, but dry quick. Same thing under the hood and in the trunk. Got high on those gas fumes many times. No smoking anywhere near a detailing car for that reason. Full wax job on each one too. I did hundreds over the years.
Yep, I've had a callous or two in my day.