The measuring stick by which most Americans measure the state of the state is whether or not they have a job. If for example, you go to bed hungry day after day, you might say to yourself "This is lousy, I wish I had a job." You wouldn’t give a hoot about the GNP, or the latest G8, G9, or International Moneychangers Fraternity news.

I recently became gainfully unemployed, and continued building my house with ferver, a little bit of money, and my kids and wife. The prospect of going back to my job was beginning to fade, and I thought that I might become just another nameless face in a sea of workless fathers. That is, until recently.

I was "on call" for my most recent job. Then I was contacted by a local man a few minutes after changing the baby’s diaper on the tailgate of our ’88 Suburban during a church service because my wife was playing the piano, and the baby began crying so I took him outside, only to find that as I was finished diapering and pulling up his little pants I was standing in a big pile of angry ants.

After I dusted most of the ants off of me, I was standing by the road and a "man of local fame" pulled up and told me that he needed me to help him with a job and that I would be "on call". Now I was "on call" for 2 jobs.

The following days (this past week) I was working on my house. Low and behold, a stranger walked up to me, talked about my house project, and asked if I was willing to do work on his new house. Not only that, he wanted me to come and consult about wind and solar energy for him because of the success of our family’s off-the-grid building project. Of course he wasn’t going to have me start right now, but I was to be "on call". Cool. Things are really picking up around here. Now I’m on standby for 3 jobs!

But wait. I was contacted by another gentleman and put "on call" for delivering mattresses. This is getting a little strange…

Oh. Even as I write this post, I’m supposed to call another guy about building a deck. I’ll be "on call".

So, to tie this all together, I guess that I’m a really lucky guy.  Never in my life have I been "on call" for so many jobs. The economy really is starting to turn around. Hang on. The phone’s ringing…