Sully - a lazybones?

[Maritza]

No, lazy he was not at all. When a job was needed to be done, he did it. He just didn't always have a steady job, but he always manages to find something and after he married Michaela, he really started to have more steady income in the way of going away at times for work such as a cattle drive. Prior to marrying her, it was all about just caring for himself, so he just basically did odd jobs here and there and sold his trappings. I'm sure he even still sold some of his carvings when he needed to. Remember, Michaela was paying rent for his old homestead so I assume, he just use that to improve the place for her since there was no way she was going to permit not paying rent to him. Apparently, he earned big buck on those cattle drives to last him a few months before he goes off to anther job. But he was needed more often at home, so I'm sure he did construction work around town and working for Robert E when he wasn't in some steady work. Yes, he appears to be lazy by today's standard, but no he was not. He just didn't care to earn riches, just enough to be comfortable for himself and his family later on. Of course, when he was face with the reality of needing more steadier income, I think he must have panic and felt less of a man thinking he is failing Michaela who was use to so much more and he couldn't always exactly give her have of that. But apparently, he managed.
And I'm sure colleges weren't as expensive as today and surely Elizabeth must have helped a little towards her college and she must have worked some, though I'm sure Sully wasn't thrilled about it, but he had to accept that at it was for her education.

[Geertrui]

Yes, he wasn't a business man like Loren, Hank and of course Preston. It was not his goal to become a rich man. The purpose of working for him was only to make it comfortable, to take care of himself and his family, and to defend the rights of the Cheyennes. I think we get the impression that he’s lazy because of the fact that he shows up from nowhere a lot when Michaela (or someone else in the family) is in danger.

Originally Posted by Gemma

Sully was an artist, the "wilderness Renaissance man", but at the same time an activist and he also was at hand when needed, and Michaela needed the whole family in some of her operations. He was fighting against the injustice as Zorro did but without the mask. How could he get a steady job then? Being an activist fighting for human rights in the XIXth century had to be hard work. That's the reason why I think he worked harder than Mr. Ingalls and minus sleeping time, and sometimes not even being able to come back home at night like in third and fourth season finale working on the behalf of Native Americans. Sully nowadays would be a social worker and that is an exhausting and difficult job if you take it so seriously as he did.

Great point! I don't undervalue his work neither

[Gemma]

According to what we see in The Heart Within he got quite a steady job for the government. It seems to me he became kind of a civil servant.