Head, Heart, Hands, Health. 4-H Stories, Part One: No Mony Mony, Ever.

Standard language warning, it is me, after all.

Do I need to explain 4-H to people?  I have no idea if this is a commonly understood thing anymore, or if it was and is the near-sole province of farm communities.

"TURN IT OFF!!! RIGHT NOW!!!"
The words boomed shrilly across the exhibitor's hall on that late June night as the County Extension Agent, Ann, stomped toward the PA system, looking for all the world like she was preparing to commit murders.  Ann was normally smiling and working to get various kids' attention and participation in activities and conversations, her enthusiasm for these things seeming to me to be a little over the top, but wow, was she mad right then.  The cause of her sudden rage?  The first 4 seconds of this:

Life With Crazy Larry (Don't ever call him that to his face)

Buckle up, friends, this is a long one.

Good walls make good neighbors, and good fences take a chainsaw and a solid morning's work

I was, maybe, 21, having a couple beers on a Saturday night, when I ran into my friend Bloach and he poleaxed me by telling me, in not so many words, that my Dad was proud of me for building him a fence.  The wording of the compliment my father paid me, told to his friends and relayed to me secondhand, was so utterly Dad that I'll remember it until I die.  "I guess they do grow up sometime."  I laughed at those words that night, but remembering it now brings tears to my eyes.  Knowing Dad, knowing the man he was and is, and knowing what I’d both put him through and been through with him, that was about right.

On timing, chains, timing chains, and me slacking

To my tens of loyal readers:

Apologies on the lack of anything substantive this week.  The timing chain on my car's engine broke late Sunday/early Monday morning.  If you're unfamiliar with the mysteries of modern internal combustion engines, this means that the engine suffered catastrophic damage, leaving me without a way to get around on my own.  My time this week has been swallowed by alternately crapping my pants, breaking out in cold sweats, and finding a new vehicle.

As of yesterday afternoon, I am back on the road, thanks in large part to an unexpectedly strong support network who got me in touch with the people I needed to 1) find a car, 2) get an excellent rate on a car loan, and 3) haul my ass around until I got things squared.  You people know who you are, and you have my thanks.

I should be able to get something new slapped together over the weekend.  To the 13 people who checked my blog this week hoping for something new and interesting, I apologize.

I'll be back soon, so bear with me,

Doug