Toughest Jobs In The Treasure Valley

Number 1 will blow you away.  It's not what you'd think it'd be.  Thank you to everyone who puts in their 8 hours (or more) a day and makes the Treasure Valley the best place to live in America.  Happy Labor Day!

7.     Construction Men and Women - They take care of our roads, signs, lights, and a special thanks to those who took care of that Broadway Bridge Project so quickly.

6.     Technical Geeks - I hope you know I say that with nothing but love and envy.  I'm still trying to figure out what all the emoji's mean, but in this day and age it's important for our computer whiz generation to keep us all up to snuff so we can do what we do at our work.  I work with computers and buttons and digital imaging and sound every day, but I know nothing about fixing any of it when it goes wrong.  We have a wonderful engineer who takes care of all that.  Greg the Engineer, you're the man!

5.     Minimum Wagers - I remember making $3.85 an hour growing up in San Diego and I think I worked harder then, than ever.  To those of you just getting started or doing what you have to do to make it, we salute you.  Your tireless efforts for less than you deserve hopefully provides a pathway of opportunity for your future.

4.     The Firefighters - Idaho's a magnet for nasty wildfires.  The 300,000 acre Soda Fire was America's largest last year and currently our men and women are trying to get the Pioneer Fire under wraps.Triple digit heat, no sleep, and risking everything... it doesn't go unnoticed.

3.     Police and 1st Responders - A lot of negative press for these men and women this year.  My dad was a Sheriff so I feel a bit closer to this group than most.  I remember him coming home and sitting at the dinner table, telling us about his day.  One specific memory is when he was shot at multiple times while flying a helicopter chasing a thief.  Dad always left the worst of it, the nasty part of his job out.  It wasn't appropriate for us to hear about but I always knew it was there.  These men and women sacrifice everything for us.  Thank you!

2.     Military Members - Whenever I visit Mountain Home I notice a different kind of joy and pride with the families that live there.  And they should have that.  Be proud, because we're proud of you.  We often hear of deployments, or maybe the new kind of helicopter that's coming into Gowen Field but none of us can really relate to what these families go through on a daily basis.  They fight so we can be free.  It's that simple.

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