The famous motto of Oakland Raiders’ owner Al Davis is somewhat ironic considering the Raiders do everything but win. However, those three little words perfectly describe how almost every American sports fan feels about his or her team.
I am a fan just like you and frankly, I’m sick and tired of the expectations that are placed on me. I don’t need to hear another coach, player, owner, executive, or media member call me out for not being supportive. Here’s how this works: You (the team) create a successful product, and then I show up. I’m not going to show up if there’s nothing in it for me. Selfish? You betcha. Wrong? Nope.
There’s no way athletic directors Joe Castiglione and Mike Holder enjoy seeing thousands of empty seats at Lloyd Noble and Gallagher-Iba, but the fan is the last person I’m going to blame for those arenas looking no better than junior high gyms. Nobody is expecting Oklahoma to turn into a basketball crazed state anytime soon. That being said, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect the Sooners and Cowboys to make the NCAA tournament four out of every five seasons. These are schools with a decent amount of basketball tradition. They are big-time universities with big bucks coming from big boosters trying to get into a tournament that’s anything but exclusive. If Jeff Capel and Travis Ford can’t give me something to look forward to, then why should I pay through the nose to watch a team hoping to sneak into the NIT?
Good economy or down economy, fan dollars are stretched thin. If I have to pick and choose carefully, why am I going to pick a loser? Some claim the Thunder is taking dollars away from the college basketball teams in this state. I think that’s right, but it’s not because of over saturation in the market. One team is on the rise and sells out; the other teams flounder around .500 and hear crickets during home games. Fans will go see a winning product, period.
As I was sitting around with my friend Amanda, waiting on an appointment, we flipped through the Stockyards City Cookbook. I decided to let her pick the recipe for the week.
I usually steer more towards deserts because April usually has the main course planned ahead for girls night. Amanda loves banana pudding and we decided that Banana Pudding Pie was a nice twist on the recipe!
I have to say it’s not the healthiest desert ever…the girls on Weight Watchers about booted me out of the house after I told them it had heavy whipping cream in it ;)… but it sure did taste good! This is a very rich recipe and some of my girlfriends shared a piece. The whipped topping definitely helped balance out the heaviness of the pie. I also bought the pre-made crust, the one that is slightly bigger and offers 2 extra servings.
While my wife was pregnant with our little girl last summer, I spent a lot of time thinking about certain things I wanted for her in life and continue to do so today, now that she’s almost five months old. And as the father of any little girl will tell you, one of the things a dad thinks about from the very earliest days of his daughter’s precious existence is who will some day replace him as the number one male in her life. While it would suit me just fine if my daughter was single all of her life (sort of “the Mother Teresa” approach) I realize it’s more likely than not that a young man will come along and want to date her Last summer, with these things in mind, I composed the following 15 rules (technically they’re more like principles) that any young man would be wise to heed if he wishes to pursue courtship and romantic involvement with my daughter.
People who are having difficulty meeting people to date may click here.
1. You must read this blog in it’s entirety. Not only is it full of wisdom, but what better way to a young woman’s heart than through the mind of her father?
2. Your automobile must be brand new and equipped with the latest safety features. Driver, passenger, side, and curtain airbags must come standard on your car. Dynamic traction control is a plus, as are roll bars, reinforced steel door pillars, anti-lock breaks, and crumple zones. When you come to pick her up for your first date, please bring a copy of either the Car and Driver or Motor Trends safety report for your trusty rubber-footed steed. I will read it while we sit and wait on my daughter to finish getting ready. If I have questions, I will ask you. Do not speak until you are spoken to.
3. My daughter is always to be returned in better condition than when you picked her up. I call this the return policy. Violate it and I will charge you a steep re-stocking fee.
This snowfall in 2011 has really wreaked some havoc on my daily schedule, but in keeping with my Ranch Hand Guide for 2011, I’m just going with the flow. I took advantage of a snow day last week by cleaning and reorganizing my craft closet. This of course, affected other closets in my home, but I found some words that made me smile.
By “cleaning” I mean I dumped items out onto the floor and separated them into one of three piles: estate sale, burn pile, and trash. If I could justify keeping it, I put it in a container and moved on. Eventually, I made my way upstairs and started going through my folder from all of my years of teaching. I took a little time to reorganize my work history, and then I opened a file folder that I had named “Love Letters.”
I remember making that folder.
This folder holds my motivation for going to work every day. I am a teacher. We are up against scrutiny from every direction, but every once in a while we make a difference. Even less often, someone thanks us for it. Even less often than that, someone actually writes a note expressing his or her gratitude. Those notes from parents and students written to me expressing some kind of thanks for something I did for them are in that folder.
I read every one.
The topics of the notes had nothing to do with the subject I taught at the time. Parents wrote about getting their kids through “a difficult” year; students wrote about getting them through “a difficult” year. Neither group mentioned a noun, verb, or essay.
Editor’s Note: We are happy to welcome Nancy Osborn, a lifetime okie and owner of Cordero Farms, to the RDC. She’ll be contributing a series she’s entitled the “Red Dirt Dives” approximately once a month. Glad to have you on board, Nancy!~ RDK
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Sometimes you try a restaurant because a friend has recommended it. Other times it’s because it’s close to where you live or where you are the moment you get hungry. Still other times something pulls you there, like the billboards every five miles on I-90 in the middle of South Dakota praising the virtues of Wall Drug. In the case of a little barbecue joint on Douglas north of Waterloo, it was the sign: a big yellow sign on Waterloo proclaiming “Railhead BBQ.” I loved the name and am a sucker for barbecue, so it was a no-brainer—Railhead BBQ immediately became our lunch destination.
What we found when we went 2 miles east and a half-mile north of the Waterloo exit was a low slung, rust colored concrete building that contrasted with the McMansions across the road. The parking lot in the back was empty, so Max had plenty of room to pull a 180 and park the truck and stock trailer. Inside, there was a room with two TVs blasting sports, each on different channels, and fifteen clean simple tables laid out in a grid. We grabbed a seat and started to dig into the menu. In addition to the standard barbecue fare, they featured a whole rotisserie chicken, a whole fried chicken (eight pieces, “a la Eischen’s”), and a selection of burgers and sandwiches. I really wanted the fried chicken but the menu indicated it would be a minimum of 20 minutes to prepare. I chose barbeque instead, thinking it would be faster and knowing Max needed to get home by 2. I ordered sliced beef, Sue ordered a two-meat combo with ribs and pulled pork, and Max also got the ribs. We all ordered sweet tea, a primary barometer of how I’m going to judge any restaurant.
As we waited for our baskets, I looked around. The décor tended towards the railroad theme with a 35 year-old railroad map of Oklahoma on the wall below a chalkboard train bulletin from the old Marlow station. But there were also pictures of sports and rodeo figures, some autographed, some not. Combined, it created some interest in what was otherwise a pretty basic room. I had lots and lots of time to look around, because it took almost 20 minutes for our dinners to arrive at our table, and by then, I was wishing I’d gone ahead and ordered the fried chicken! Even though it took awhile, it was sure worth the wait…
It’s still hard to believe when I look out my window. Oklahoma has been completely dumped on by the full force of Winter’s wrath. I feel like I’m back living in Canada minus the snow plows, sand trucks, knowledgeable drivers, and overall preparedness by society to continuing functioning.
Your kids have been out of school and on the Xbox so long, they’re losing brain cells faster than you can shovel the white stuff off your driveway. Maybe you feel trapped and helpless. Maybe you’re going stir-crazy and watching the Price Is Right got old after day three. Warmer temperatures are on the way, but in the meantime here are few ways (some are even legal) you can rid yourself of the boredom and embrace what remains of winter.
These are sports, er…activities. Some can be enjoyed here at home, others might suit you if you’re really, really, really, into winter…and sharks.
1. Skitching
This is kind of like sledding, only illegal. Skitching is the art of being towed by a car while on skis, a snowboard, a saucer, or even boots with no tread. Almost any neighborhood or side street is the ideal venue. The great part about skitching is how many options you have. If you don’t have rope, just grab onto the bumper. You’ll inhale a good amount of exhaust and run the risk of sliding under the vehicle, but I never said skitching was without risks. A length of rope or chain gets you out of the exhaust fumes, but it can also set you up to be whipped around a corner into a telephone pole. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: pay attention while skitching. Any sudden braking by the driver can lead to the most common skitching injury known as face-on-tailgate. Choose your skitching method wisely and keep a healthy supply of band-aids close at hand.
Have you ever thought about making something for your sweetheart for Valentine’s day? It is next week you know! I’m not talking about cheesy crafts. How about a candle light dinner? Why not make it a tradition and have a candle light dinner for the whole family? It’s crazy trying to eat out on Valentine’s day, much less find a sitter for the kids.
How about this year you plan a special family dinner and a fun family night at home before your kids get old enough to have their own plans? Then you and your sweetie can go out for a quiet dinner for two a day or two after the actual holiday. Today I am going to share a very simple cookie recipe that is quick and even includes a “kiss” just for Valentine’s day. I hope you like it as much as my family and I do.
Last weekend, I went bouldering at Joshua Tree National Park. If you are unfamiliar with what exactly bouldering entails, let me enlighten you.
Bouldering, by definition is “a style of rock climbing undertaken without a rope and normally limited to very short climbs. It is typically practiced on large natural boulders or artificial boulders in gyms and outdoor urban areas. However, it may also be practiced at the base of larger rock faces.” Thank you Wikipedia for that one.
In the simplest of terms, bouldering is basically just walking around, up, down, over, and under a bunch of big rocks. Rocks like these:
With Valentine’s day just around the corner, more than a few of you might be getting a little anxious. There is often big pressure to do something special for the day and a lot of the old ideas seem outmoded or just plain over done. Here are some new ideas with the old traditions:
Flowers Pro: They’re beautiful. Cons: They can be expensive, they don’t last long enough and some people are actually allergic! Solution: Origami flowers are beautiful, as affordable or expensive as you want them to be, and last as long as you want them to. Make your own, or if you’re less crafty buy a bouquet online.
Candy Pro: Everyone loves a treat! Cons: It can be seen as impersonal and sometimes too commercialized. Go to any store around and you’ll see hundreds of the same candy boxes over and over. Solution: Bake a treat of your own, cupcakes perhaps. If you’re not comfortable in the kitchen you can pick up some cupcakes locally, with so many flavors available you’ll be sure to find something special.
Stuffed animals Pro: They’re cute. Cons: They take up room, collect dust, and are generally useless. Also, they have the same problem as candy, they’re mass produced. Solution: If they’re an animal fan take them on a date to the Oklahoma City zoo, there is free admission on Mondays in February. If a zoo trip is not optimal donate to a charity in their name.
Date night Pro: Quality time is a great way to celebrate your love. Cons: Sometimes you just get stuck in a rut. Solution: Try something new like date night at The Plaza district. Events on February 11th (Friday night) include everything from free Salsa lessons (starting at 9pm followed by a Salsa Social) to art shows to live music to open mic night to an 80’s themed prom complete with karaoke, something for everyone – really!
Bottom line, think outside of the box to make this holiday one to remember. Your special sweetheart will thank you for the effort and you’ll feel like a superstar for doing something extra special for them.
The country life is so different from the life I lived in the city. The one thing both places have in common is they both have their own kind of trouble. Some of it just shows up and is hard to avoid, yet there is that certain kind of trouble that we bring on ourselves. I guess I need to rely on one of our former presidents Teddy Roosevelt for some help with this one: If you could kick the person in the pants responsible for most of your trouble, you wouldn’t sit for a month.
The Seed
One of the worst situations I can recall since I’ve been living out in the country happened the summer my dog, Mae (Pay It Forward), made her appearance on our front porch. It never occurred to me that a mean dog could show up as well. One rainy afternoon, a full-grown pit bull appeared in our backyard.
We called the police (it’s a small town…that’s what you do), and the policeman told me that they had recently passed a law banning pit bulls in my county unless the owners complied with the provisions stated in the resolution; I lived on the county line, and the policeman guessed that someone had just traveled there to get rid of the dog to avoid the $100,000 liability insurance required to keep it.
The policeman stated that the dog appeared to have been abused and was a trained fighter. I was scared and sick to my stomach when I heard the gunshot in the dark. The policeman guessed how upset I would be. He came in and told me how sorry he was that he had to put that poor stray down in my yard. It had attacked his partner. Trouble visited that night, and it was something that I could not control. (Note: I have nothing against pit bulls. This dog just happened to be one of the many unlucky pit bulls that had a heartless owner.)
Germination
My dog, Mae, spent her first summer with me as an outside dog, but because we don’t have a fenced yard, we decided to kennel her when I went back to work. We still spent lots of time outside, so when she took an interest in the farm road in front of our house, I saw how Trouble was interested in visiting again. My dog was great, but she was stubborn and would not come when I called her. She thought it was a game and would run away…sometimes down the middle of the road. I can’t tell you how many times I would have to stand in the middle of the road hoping the cars saw me just so I could protect her. I know. That was stupid. I realized I was offering Trouble a chair by continuing to overlook this flaw in my dog. No. It was a flaw in how I trained my dog. This was my fault because she was my responsibility.
Well I have to agree with my mom…there are a lot of reasons besides watching football to get together for the Super Bowl. I do like football, but I prefer college over NFL so I really don’t have a team to root for. I love to cook and entertain and can’t wait to have a place big enough to have more get togethers!
I decided to try out some hearty recipes for entertaining as well. My menu includes:
GW’s Deer Chili
Black Bean Salsa
Sausage Stars (not in the cook book)
I am thankful for guy friends who like to hunt otherwise I’m not sure where I would find deer meat!
GW’s Deer Chili
By Katy Davis
1 lb. ground venison
1 link venison sausage
olive oil
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
2 tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 c. chopped onion
2 jalapenos , minced
1/2 c chopped red and green bell peppers
1 c. smashed tomatoes (or diced)
chopped cilantro
2 tsp. chopped garlic
1 can kidney beans
1 can pinto beans
4 c chicken stock
Heat the oil in a large heavy pan over medium/high heat. Add the ground venison and brown. Add chili powder, cumin, salt and cayenne pepper. Break up the meat. When meat is browned and seasonings well mixed, add the onions, bell peppers and cook until vegetables are soft. Add the tomatoes, cilantro, jalapenos and garlic. Cool for 5 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients. Bring the mixture to a boil, turn heat to low and simmer. Cook uncovered until the mixture begins to thicken, approximately 45 minutes .
I only had the ground venison and that was enough meat…I also added alot of extra cayenne pepper (my mom told you we love cayenne!) so it was spicy!
If you’re like me, you have no dog in the fight in this Super Bowl. Packers vs. Steelers may not do much for you, so you need something other than clever beer commercials to keep you entertained. The solution for you is prop bets. Yes prop bets, those wagers on the coin toss and everything else that could possibly happen before, during, and after the big game.
So, if you have loads of disposable income and a compulsive gambling problem, prop bets are for you.
How many times will FOX show Jerry Jones during the game?
Over/Under 2.5
I am not a betting man, but 20 bucks seems like a no-brainer here. Two and a half? They’ll have three shots of Jerry before the end of the first quarter. The game is being played in his stadium without his team. The TV cameras are going to try get him frowning, squirming, and half-heartedly applauding every chance they get and I have a feeling there will be no shortage of opportunities. You can bet on all of this and more with online betting sites, where they’re offering odds on everything. Just be sure to look for a reputable platform for safe betting, as there are plenty of 먹튀사이트 out there looking to take advantage of unsuspecting players. To explore more casino games like slot gacor maxwin, you may visit an online casino.
Who will FOX show first during the game?
Jessica Szohr (Aaron Rodger’s girlfriend)
Ashley Harlan (Ben Roethlisberger’s fiancée)
I know you’re thinking what I’m thinking. Ben Roethlisberger has a fiancée!? The same Ben Roethlisberger whose escapades include allegations of sexual assault on two different occasions within two years? The same Ben Roethlisberger who nearly killed himself when he wrecked his motorcycle which he was driving without a license and without a helmet? The same Ben Roethlisberger who could win the award for “Doughiest Dude to Play Quarterback in the NFL?” That guy has a fiancée and I can’t get a third date with a girl? I’m rooting for Jessica Szohr here because seeing Ashley Harlan will just make me mad.
Editor’s Note – When we began this Stockyards City Cookbook Cook Through, I asked Jani and Whitni to tell it “straight up,” so our readers would know whether or not to try the recipes. It looks like we’ve hit a few “don’t try” recipes, and I think that’s good to know…Thanks, Jani, for publishing the good AND the not-so-good!
Is the Super Bowl really about football? Hold the phone!! I know there are some diehard football fans that have already disagreed with me or else stopped reading. But think about it – if it were really just about football and nothing else, we would be happy to sit in our homes and watch the game without all the fanfare. Right? I personally think it is about so much more than football. Of course it is about football, but it is also about food, fellowship and lets face it, the commercials!
Now that I have established that February 6 is more than just a football game it is time to start planning your menu. So for the next two posts Whitni and I are going to share some recipes out of the Stockyards City Cookbook that you might want to serve at your Super Bowl Party.
Here is our menu for this week;
Slow Cooked Ribs
Great Potato Skins
Chex Party Mix Microwave
Chocolate Chip Cookies (with Bisquick)
So, lets get started.
Slow Cooked Ribs by Celeste Rule Nelson
3-4 lb. Browned Country Style Pork Ribs
1 (12oz) Bottle Chili Sauce
2 T Worcestershire Sauce
2 T Hot Sauce
1 Can Cherry Coke
1 Jar Maraschino Cherries with Juice
I grew up in a pretty straight-laced family. My mother would put my hair in pin-curls and make me wear the whole puffy dress, tights, patent leather Mary Janes getup for every school picture. She would claim that it was the one day a year I looked “like a normal little girl.”
My friends and in laws have often asked me how someone like me came out of the family I did. One of my friends was a little unnerved at the idea that I even had parents, much less that they were very conservative and did things the “socially acceptable” way. I have an explanation though. Recently I got some old pictures of my grandmother in the mail. The first one in the stack? Grandma in a dress and tennis shoes. It was then that I remembered her telling me as a child “never wear shoes you can’t run away in,” and I never do. Maybe quirkiness skips a generation.
I really try to be normal. It’s hard. Sometimes my abnormality is cute, and other times it makes me the social pariah. In elementary school I was more interested in architecture than Barbies. I remember being at my friend’s birthday party and she received a beautiful doll house. All the girls gathered around exclaiming, “Oh, it’s got a baby bed!” and “Lookit! The oven opens!”…my contribution to the conversation? “The dormer windows are nice!” Dead silence. Everyone in the room stopped and looked at me. My friend rolled her eyes and said “Joey, stop saying nerdy things,” and everyone uncomfortably picked up their chatter again. I wasn’t invited to any parties for a while.
I tell you this because I have a confession to make and I hope you don’t shun me for it. I hate snow. I don’t think it’s pretty or magical or fun or exciting. I hate it. While most of my friends are taking their kids out sledding, making snow ice cream, building snowmen, or having snowball fights, I’m huddled up in the house praying for it all to go away. Snow is cold, messy, boring and a big inconvenience if you ask me. If it never snowed again I would be happy.
There was a time when my youngest would tell people that when she grew up, she was going to be a bear. She did not mean that she would dress up like a bear, or that she would be aggressive, or that she would marry someone and change her last name to “Bear”….she meant she would literally become a bear. If you pressed her a bit she would tell you that she was going to be a “Brown Bear” like in Eric Carle’s book. She was 2.
I often became annoyed with people who would tell her that she could not, in fact, “be a bear” when she grew up. I felt like either she already knew this on some level and they were underestimating her intelligence, or she really did believe people could become bears and they were squashing her childhood wonder. I often battled back and forth between these two poles in my anger toward the idiots who would say “people can’t be bears.” This was amplified by the fact that just about any of them would turn around a few minutes later and tell that she could be “whatever she wanted to be” when she grew up.
The child wanted to be a bear. I was not going to tell her she couldn’t. I was interested in finding out how she planned to do this.
She is now 7 and if you ask her what she wants to be when she grows up she will tell you that it is “a stupid question.” Everyone knows, or should, that “…she is queen of the world. While she’s not technically ‘in office’ at the time being, her existence is not predicated on popular opinion of her political power. She is queen of the world. When she is older, everyone will realize this. Right now, we’re all too stupid to ‘get it’ and for that she pities us.”
She is told over and over by any adult around her (save her father and me) that she can’t “grow up and be queen of the world” because it’s not possible. There is no queen of the world. She will of course explain to them that not only is there a queen of the world, but they’re looking at her right now.
I tell you this because I think it’s a symptom of our bigger problem. Not only do we think that things are the way they are because they are “supposed to be that way” but we fail to imagine that anything will really ever drastically change. This type of willful amnesia annoys me the most.
It’s true. Two summers ago I literally did not follow this rule; the horse went left and I went right…and down. I did a complete flip (well, almost) and landed on the rock hard ground as dust billowed up around me. My insides gelled together while I checked for feeling in my legs. This rule is not really about horses, but rather the fact that our world is constantly changing; we need to make sure we are changing with it.
The Seed
Change is constant. Do you remember when you first encountered a new piece of technology for the first time? A few years younger than I, my graduate school project partner insisted that the way to eject a disk from a Macintosh computer was to drag the disk to the trash. Really. Does that make sense? No. I know it doesn’t. I was so very far out of my comfort zone on that day. I eventually realized that this thing called the Internet might be sticking around for a little while, and I probably better get it figured out.
Germination
Change is constant. My example of the change in technology over the years is just one tiny little blip on the world radar. It’s true that just a few years after I watched the virtual disk drop into the virtual trash can and then watched the actual disk pop out of the computer, I was teaching others to create web pages. But then the world as I know it changed again. I moved wwaaaayyyy out into the country. I could barely get an Internet connection. WiFi? Not out here!
I was pondering on what to cook this week when I possibly got a little carried away. I thought I would kill a few birds with one stone and I ended up going pumpkin crazy!
I spent the afternoon making a few different pumpkin dishes. It actually becomes harder to find pumpkin in the store after the holidays. The way the grocery store is laid out does not make sense to me sometimes! Anyway, after finding the canned pumpkin (under the cake mix boxes?) I was able to begin!
If you add “cream cheese” or “cream cheese frosting” to anything, I can guarantee it will be eaten! All of these items were extremely easy to make and since they had a lot of the same ingredients. If you have a couple of parties or a family to take a meal to these are all great….even the kids will like them!
When the Bachelor/Bachelorette started all those years ago, I tuned in just out of curiosity. Well, that and because I went to college with the host Chris Harrison and wanted to check out his new project. Over the years, I have watched every season. Some were obviously better than others. I cried along with the fairytale of Trista finding her Prince Charming in Ryan. I laughed at Bob’s goofy antics but was pretty grossed out as he mugged down with every female in close proximity. I was bored to tears as Prince Personality searched for his princess. I wanted to gouge out my eardrums as Wes sang his “special love song” to Jillian for the 437th time. I screamed at Jake through my TV and begged him not to pick Vienna but he wouldn’t listen! Now, with Brad in his second turn as the bachelor, I am firmly hooked once again.
If you untangle yourself from all of the drama and take a step back, you will see that the Bachelor/ette concept is also a pretty interesting social experiment. During the Bachelorette, the men are certainly no angels. They remind me of the many National Geographic shows I’ve watched about animal behavior. You know the ones where the little tiny bird puffs up and swaggers around, his magnificent feathers on full display as he proudly and somewhat desperately struts around, trying to get the attention of the female.
I’ve been blessed to have two really good grandfathers in my life. I love, and loved, both of these men very much.
One of them who is still with us was an engineer for most of his life. Growing up, I was always really impressed by how sharp and analytical he was (even if I had no place in my vocabulary for the word analytical back then).
There was no problem tmy granddad couldn’t solve. There was no complex issue he couldn’t get his mind around.
He could fix just about anything whether it was his car, his mower or his boat. As a really young boy, I fondly remember sitting in his garage and watching him tinker with his 1970s Chevy pickup truck, or as I called it back then, “Papa’s Kickup.” He was a great grandfather and I will always cherish the time he spent initiating me into the world of manhood.
Unfortunately, while he was gracious enough to pass on his analytical and problem solving skills to me, his skill and ability with all things mechanical was not. And while I could write a whole series of posts about masculine skills and values of one generation that are lost by those that follow, that’s not where I am going. In fact, this post isn’t even about him.
As I said before, I’ve been blessed to be have two really great men call me their grandson.
The other one, who passed away a little less than a year ago, worked in management at an AT&T factory on the west side of Oklahoma City for most of his time in the professional world. And while that job was a big part of who he was, this post is really more about the avocational side of his life.
You see, when he wasn’t interfacing between the engineers and end users of AT&T’s products, my mom’s dad was busy teaching himself the art of carpentry. By the time I was old enough to have a conversation with him, he was quite the skilled (and self-taught) carpenter.
If you needed something and it could be made out of wood, my grandpa could make it. He almost completely remodeled the house he bought after retiring. He built cabinets and card catalogs and all sorts of other useful wooden things for his church. I need two hands to count the number of things he made for me over the years: a really sweet contraption for cracking pecans, built-in shelves for my bedroom as a boy, more shelves for my first house, and cabinets for the laundry room of that same house are just a few I can recall off the top of my head.
Just like I was fortunate to see my other grandpa tinker and fix mechanical things, I was very fortunate to spend a lot of time with this one in his wood-shop or at my house as he sketched, measured, marked, cut, and built things out of wood.
And do you know what frustrated me more than anything?
He NEVER measured once. I’d watch as he’d take his tape measure or ruler and pencil and mark 8 or 9 different places on a piece of wood where he would eventually end up making cuts. That part took long enough as he was doing it the first time. But then, after he’d already measured it once, HE WOULD MEASURE THE WHOLE THING AGAIN!!!
As an impatient young boy, I remember thinking, “COME ON GRAMPS! CUT THE WOOD ALREADY!”
Yet he knew something I didn’t at the time.
I can count on one hand the number of times I recall him having to throw a piece of wood away after he started cutting it. The man NEVER made mistakes with his woodworking projects.
He always measured twice and as a result he never had to make more than one cut. He rarely got frustrated and had to start over.
As I got older I began realizing that this philosophy of measuring twice and cutting once was not just limited to his woodworking projects. It was something that flowed over into all other areas of his life. He was a man of precision and I will always appreciate that about him.
He taught me the importance of not going too fast; of slowing down and taking the time to be precise. He taught me that real men measure twice and only have to cut once.
I’m not a carpenter, and though I think I’d like to learn the skill some day, I’m not sure I have the aptitude for it. Fortunately, the idea of measuring twice and cutting once is a metaphor that applies to almost every other area of my life as well. It’s about making smart decisions. It’s about thinking long and hard before speaking. It’s about considering how what we do will affect other people.
At work, it’s about seeing all of the ramifications and possible effects of a new project or initiative BEFORE starting it. At home, it’s about thinking how what we do today affects who we become tomorrow.
I want to be a real man some day, and since a real man measures twice and cuts once, so will I.
I love my life out here on the ranch, but it is not without its hardships and disappointments. Everyone has his or her burdens to bear, but the key to putting them behind you is what Rule #3 is all about: choice and attitude.
The Seed
During college a friend of mine once commented on my “always up” attitude. He alluded to the fact that because my happiness always seemed so extreme that my sad times that he never saw probably had to be really, well, sad. I think he must have just come from one of those freshman psychology courses and wanted to be the first to diagnose me. It gave me reason for pause, and I waited for those “really sad times” to present themselves. They never did.
Germination
Last summer I attended a luncheon with a group of ladies. The hostess began our luncheon by reading “Complaining,” an excerpt from Wouldn’t Take Nothing’ For My Journey Now by Maya Angelou. Every person listened intently as the final part of the passage was read:
“Sister, there are people who went to sleep all over the world last night, poor and rich and white and black, but they will never wake again. Sister, those who expected to rise did not, their beds became their cooling boards and their blankets became their winding sheets. And those dead folks would give anything, anything at all for just five minutes of this weather or ten minutes of that plowing that person was grumbling about. So you watch yourself about complaining, Sister. What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it. If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. Don’t complain.”
Complaining. That’s what this rule is about. When I got home I quickly created a little tile with our picture and this excerpt written on it. I put it in my underwear drawer, so when I am getting dressed in the morning, I feel that tile. It reminds me to be grateful for waking up to another day.