The last laugh

[Kevin Mienke]

Can do most of 'em. I've navigated 40 a b and c pretty well, since my wife is a pretty brunette. But the question that trips me up every time is "What are you thinking?"

I feel your pain.

My wife, bless her heart, after 21 years has finally grown weary of my incomplete answers to that question.

Now she leans more toward "Do you feel like talking about whatever is on your mind?"

You see it's been simplified to a yes or no answer then. Bless her heart.

[NNICKB]

Can do most of 'em. I've navigated 40 a b and c pretty well, since my wife is a pretty brunette. But the question that trips me up every time is "What are you thinking?"

[Kevin Mienke]

I have mastered most of it.......with the exception of # 40 in particular! I have had some issues with hanging a door correctly the first time. ;~})

Bruce,
Remember that if you are exceptionally good at #29 or #34, then #40 is no longer a great concern.

[Bruce]

That's Some List

I have mastered most of it.......with the exception of # 40 in particular! I have had some issues with hanging a door correctly the first time. ;~})

[Kevin Mienke]

Will,

Dogs are easier to train than wives. Adjusting a carb goes hand in hand with reading the manual.

About #40, it is imperative that you do not waiver in your answers. For instance, when she asks you "Did you think that girl was pretty?, you must answer no and stick with it. She will press you and you must be prepared.

It will go like this if you are not prepared:

Did you think that girl was pretty?

No.

Oh come on, I know you like brunettes.

I like brunettes because you are a brunette.

So you admit you like brunettes?

You have now lost.

Stick with a resolute NO and you will be fine.

[W_A_Watson_II]

9) Do CPR
11) Tie a bowline knot
20) Read a manual Read? Who me?
21) Fold a flag
24) Adjust a carburetor Not worth a darn
33) Train a dog A Dog, I can't even train my Wife!
38) Carve a turkey Why when I smoke them they fall apart, no need to carve.

Well I'm close, but some of these I'm not sure about, particularly # 40. Those answers could end in death or divorce!

[Kevin Mienke]

My old friend Herschel Henry once told me “If you can’t identify the fool in your first ten minutes in a room, then you’re the fool.” I have complied a list of the things I think will keep us from finding ourselves to be the fool.

They are mostly simple things, accomplished with hands, brain, and simple tools, yet they make us worthy men in a world where so many things are jobbed out.

Know how to:
1) Frame a wall
2) Back up a trailer
3) Start a fire
4) Put out a fire
5) Wire an outlet and switch
6) Sharpen a knife
7) Find North with a compass
8) Find North without a compass
9) Do CPR
10) Do Heimlich maneuver
11) Tie a bowline knot
12) Shoot a firearm
13) Clean a firearm
14) Bait a hook
15) Change a tire
16) Change oil and filter
17) Bleed brakes
18) Fix a toilet
19) Climb a ladder
20) Read a manual
21) Fold a flag
22) Use a soldering iron
23) Drive a manual transmission
24) Adjust a carburetor
25) Hang a door
26) Use a framing square
27) Use a stick welder
28) Use a torque wrench
29) Make a meal (a good meal)
30) Jump start a car
31) Drive in the snow
32) Pour a pad of concrete
33) Train a dog
34) Give a massage
35) Fell a tree
36) Console a crying woman
37) Calm a crying baby
38) Carve a turkey
39) Get the family out of a housefire
40) Be able to answer common questions like:
A) Do these clothes make me look fat?
B) Did you think that girl was pretty?
C) Who was the best lover you ever had?

[Bruce]

Local Boy

After the book was released, the local Time's Dispatch did a review of the book, review was OK-good. I thought it was a fair read? BTW, It's available @ amazon, new & used.

http://www.matthewbcrawford.com/

[NNICKB]

My original thought was more about the man than the machine. What has happened to the man? Why can't he go out in the blizzard when there is a need? Why is he not prepared to take care of his family?

My answer to these questions is possibly over-simplified but here it is...A man becomes a man when a man is needed. Men have not been needed in my neighborhood for a long time.

One of my old friends was (and is) the consummate woodsman. We always said that if you placed him in the middle of the woods, perhaps with a knife or ax, you could come back a year later and find a cabin there, with a nice fire and a bearskin rug. Today he is married to a corporate executive, and is able to buy and sell these types of things. But he is not really "needed," and, I suspect, not very happy.

Which is why the "thing" is not so important. If it was, men without indoor plumbing would be superior in character to the rest of us, instead of just dumber. We have a lot of Amish around here, and they live under all these rules on what they can and can't have. They are always trying to get around them.

There are at least five Honda minivans within my extended family. They are fast, good handling, and have racked up six figure odometer readings without any problems. As far as snow travel is concerned, they are at least as good as any of the other 2WD vehicles that most of us have in our stable. Their owners are mostly respectful of the vehicles that I drive, even if they consider me to be somewhat eccentric. We have visited Starbucks together on a few occasions, though usually when at least one of us was on an expense account. If your life is good, you might as well take advantage of it.

There is a book on the market that all of you should read. It is called "Shop Class as Soulcraft, an Inquiry into the Value of Work," by Matthew B. Crawford. The book has a little too much 'zen" in it for my taste, but nevertheless makes some very important points. Specifically, that the most satisfying jobs require both intellectual AND physical challenges. And, although the author strives to be somewhat 'gender neutral,' the book has more obvious value to men than to the opposite sex.

The book starts with a criticism of the elimination of shop classes from academic programs. You know, back in the '70s, where they built all these vocational schools, and told the "smart" kids they had to be accountants, and the "dumb" kids they had to be bricklayers. I have been very critical of this educational model for most of my adult life. All it has given us is suburbs full of accountants and bricklayers who are convinced it is not within their capacity to do anything else.

The book points out that the many of of today's "craftsmen" work in service type industries like plumbing. You cannot get someone from China to come and fix your sink. These guys have a high job satisfaction, much of which comes from the fact that they are well paid.

We now live in an "information age" where manufacturing has become a dirty word. Our Power Wagons were designed and built by men with brains, and of physical strength. They were no doubt proud of what they created. Now we are being outsmarted and outworked by men in foreign countries. It is the number one problem facing our country, and no one wants to admit it. It is much easier to sniff about how THEY are ruining our lives, not US, or that everything we do and make is somehow better, even if it is not. And, at the risk of sounding "political," it has given us a level of socialism far more ominous than that which our forefathers fought against and sometimes died to prevent us from living under.

The measure of a man is what he can do, not what he has. Work is what makes men (and boys) happy. The central unit of society is the family, not the state. If I can pass these notions on to my sons, I will have been successful in life.

The great appeal of what Gordon has given us in his magazine is that men who make and fix things can also write and speak of them, if they are given to. The trucks we drive speak to our minds and souls, not just our hands. Like great books, they are the lives and works of those who have gone before us....

[Bruce]

I'm With You 100 %

But that burnt star $'s coffee, I gotta cut it loose, never enjoyed it, probably never will.
Not many bears around here now, but the coyote is rebounding by many leaps, look out you lesser chef's...........

[Kevin Mienke]

Having purpose could be a subject in and of itself. George Bernard Shaw said, “This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and grievances complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.”

I have given a great deal of thought to the subject of purpose lately and it occurred to me that the men I have admired all had purpose in their lives, meaning a point on which the soul could fix its eyes.

Could these men drive steel like John Henry? No. Could they fall a tree like Paul Bunyan? No. But they could get the firewood that they needed, and they could swing a hammer well enough to build a house. They were men who had a sense of purpose and who learned to become involved in their purpose.

I had a good hunting dog who developed health conditions that stole his ability to go in the field or to the marsh. He lost his purpose and it was a daily struggle to make him happy. The dog was wise enough to know that his purpose in life had gone and together we found a new purpose for him.

My dog was not willing to go to the scrap heap before he was thoroughly worn out. Men are not that wise. Their purpose is being stolen beneath their very eyes and they are unaware.

When I retired from firefighting there was a great void in purpose. I still had my family to care for and this was no small blessing but there was a hard change in how valuable I felt and it was causing pain. I chose to not spend too much time studying this pain before I found other things that I recognized as being valuable. I did not want to be thrown on the scrap heap before I was worn out either.

Men don’t seem to have that sense of purpose anymore. Women can drive minivans just as good as a man. They can call a serviceman when the furnace goes out or take their car to the shop when it breaks down. Nobody has to gather firewood for the gas fireplace, and nobody has to build their own house. Everyone is seeking more leisure time. Man is getting lost in this. His purpose is getting lost in this.

In the end, he has no idea that he would be better served to throw away the leisure that he seeks and find work. The Toro power shovel ended up on the scrap heap where it belongs. I hope my neighbor doesn’t find himself there too.

[Kevin Mienke]

...A man becomes a man when a man is needed. .

I think that is a John Steinbeck quote or maybe Teddy Roosevelt, I can't be certain. I know it is not my own. I have heard or read it somewhere.

[OLD DODGE]

...A man becomes a man when a man is needed.

I like that thought. Very true.

[MasterYota]

I must confess though that I had a cup of Starbuck's yesterday and it was really good. I wonder if I should try a latte?

We've got Grizzlies up here, and they do have a tendancy to weed out the dimwitted, foolish and mis-informed. We also have "gated communities" - much like suburbia but with a gate at each end of the street. It lends a false sense of security for those who can't sleep in the real world. And the bears could care less if there was gate.

Good on you for having the patience to tolerate suburbia. I would have a very difficult time with some governing body telling me what I can and can't do in my own yard. I would be smuggling bears in for entertainment...

Your views on the needs of todays man are spot on as well. Although I'm sure that even John Wayne and Grizzly Adams would both enjoy a good cup of coffee. Good coffee is a sign of good taste, and is nothing to be concerned about.

[Kevin Mienke]

I must confess though that I had a cup of Starbuck's yesterday and it was really good. I wonder if I should try a latte?