We Aren't Good At Everything Ladies

If you sit around a campfire long enough with a group of men, one of them will inevitably tell a tall tale. I'm not sure what's in our DNA that causes this to occur, but given the opportunity we just can't seem to abstain from embellishing a story now and then, at least to some degree. If fishing or hunting is the subject matter, the ubiquitous tale of "the one that got away" is going to pop up and probably has been popping up since the first male human beings figured out how to start a fire and then sit around it. It's anyone's guess as to who told the first tall tale, but it was likely some guy named Klietus, Zeb, or maybe Wiley. My guess is we don't set out to do this on purpose-it just kind of happens. And if beer or some other adult beverage is involved, you can bet the tales will get bigger and better as the night wears on.
Yes, we aren't good at everything ladies, but when it comes to telling a story a little bit better than it probably actually occurred in real time, you can count on us to give it our best shot: it's just part of the many services we menfolk provide, and typically at no additional charge!

Satisfaction

~Irish cows off the Dingle Peninsula 

Human beings have many inherent flaws. One of our short comings is we have insatiable appetites for just about everything we deem appealing. If we have a decent place to live we want a better place to live. When we have a used vehicle we want a better newer vehicle. A 36" TV makes us want a 48" TV and the 48" suites us fine until we walk through Walmart or Best Buy and notice the 60" model, and so on.

This insatiable appetite for more and better often times pertains to the people in our lives as well. It's probably safe to assume that when people get married, most of the time they do so with the intent of their marriage being permanent. Often times, however (they say around half), after some time goes by and the bliss wears off, a lot of married people apparently find themselves wanting a better spouse. I doubt many would admit it, but if they were truthful with themselves they'd probably agree with my conjecture. I'll be upfront that this is in fact merely conjecture on my part as I have no experience personally with trading-in a spouse or shopping for a new one. I'm also not judging anyone who is or has: there are likely myriad reasons why people are unhappy in their marriage. Ultimately though, when the dust settles, I'm betting most divorces occur because at least one spouse came to the conclusion...they could do better.

On this subject of being satisfied with what we have, I think we can learn from the cow. Of all earthly creatures, the cow seems more content than most with what it has. If you observe the midwest cow, the northern cow, and the cow that lives by the sea, each of these cows seems equally content. Who knows for sure what a cow is thinking, but to me they all seem to be OK with what they've got. If that's true, then we should strive to be more like the cow. And if we did, there'd be fewer reasons to lock our doors at night and wars would not exist. But then again, neither would Walmart or Best Buy.

Crack Me Up

The last time we were in NY, I had a difficult time making decisions: Armed Forces Recruiting Station or Starbucks; Armed Forces Recruiting Station or Starbucks. In the end I went with Starbucks. Once I found out they rarely start anyone out at Major, it was an easy choice. I'd also heard that guys over 50 rarely do well in bootcamp and the other recruits are likely to call you Grandpa to your face and Old Dude behind your back. Too, I knew I'd miss my wife as well as all the benefits that go along with having one.

I snapped the second picture (now there's a generation-disclosing phrase: snapped a picture) not because I like seeing strange butt-crack, but because I found it interesting that a person could show that much of it and either not be aware or just not care. It's likely this Goomer was both aware of the infraction AND didn't care about making it. Or, perhaps he smoked a boatload of it the night before and this is the result. In any event, it's too late now to pull his pants up: he's been exposed to the readers of Old And Ridiculous!

Where's My Woman!

My wife has been away on a trip now for over a week. She gets home tonight and I for one am glad. This is a family friendly site for the most part, so I won't go into all the reasons why I miss my Sweet Baby: the reasons are nearly too numerous to mention. In a nut shell though, I miss her company and the house seems empty without her here. I also miss seeing her smiling face right before we turn out the light to go to sleep and I miss seeing her smiling face the first thing in the morning when I wake up to go to...well, when I wake up. Here are a few more reasons I miss her:

~I can't find my truck keys
~I found my truck keys but now I can't find my truck
~I know there are clean dishes in the dishwasher, but I can't figure out how to get the darn thing open
~I wanted to surprise her by vacuuming the entire house, but I can't get the vacuum cleaner started (on my lawn mower the gas tank is labeled)
~Some guy in a little white truck keeps leaving assorted sized envelopes in the brick thing next to our drive way
~I'm thinking seriously about getting a puppy
~Can't remember if the cold is on the left or right--Sue knows these kinds of things without even thinking about it
~The Girl Scouts came to the door selling cookies and since I couldn't find the check book I traded the couch for a box of snicker doodles; I don't think I ought to have done that
~I know daylight savings time kicked in recently, but I don't know if we lost an hour or gained one so now I have to do everything 2 hours early just in case
~I baked a pizza last Wednesday night and can't for the life of me figure out how to turn off the darn oven
~Mary's Painting showed up at the house and since I didn't have a clue I told them to just paint everything orange
~I'm out of underwear and even though I have like 40 pair I'm still out of underwear
~I'm thinking seriously about getting another puppy
~I thought I was doing her a favor by watering all the house plants (they look so real)
~She made a real nice meat loaf for me before she left along with a huge batch of pudding...I should have rationed it
~Two 50 mg sleep aids look exactly like 2 Advil every 4 hours. I missed Friday through Sunday (turns out the only way you can tell them apart is to read the label....seriously?)
~The only thing I can figure out on the DVR is fast reverse. Once I got it going it took forever to get it stopped and now all I can find on TV is "The Lawrence Welk Show" and "Hee Haw"...the darn thing is stuck in 1971
~I had completely forgotten how much work a puppy is---much less two...I really miss you Sweet Baby!

~Grandma and our Little Minchie Bug

Right, Wrong, I'm Sorry

~Dingle Peninsula, off southwest coast of Ireland, County Kerry (Taken on our Nikon D5000)

 Be forewarned: this particular post has nothing to do with Pioneer Log Homes of BC. Although I've written quite a bit about them lately and will continue to do so, this subject stands on a platform all it's own.

The subject I have in mind is that of being wrong, being willing and able to admit when you are, and having the intestinal fortitude to say "I'm sorry" when appropriate. I personally consider it a virtue when someone is forthcoming about being wrong, regardless of the topic or venue. It's my personal observation that these virtues are largely lost on many folks-particularly the male gender of the human species. I know and have known a number of people-moslty men-who just cannot bring themselves to grasp the concept that, like all other human beings on planet earth, they actually don't know everything and sometimes, like myself and others, are just going to flat be-gasp-WRONG.

I've seen more than one relationship scrapped because one or more individuals in the mix can't/won't stand up and say I was wrong; I messed up; I was out of line; I wasn't thinking clearly; if I had it to do over again...; I'll try not to make that mistake the next time and (oh my Lord here we go with the big one)....I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry and would you please forgive me?!

I could go on and on but I won't. Regardless of who you are, if you're still reading this than you likely fall into the same category as I often do of being wrong and making mistakes. The difference between you and me and many others might come down to....do you have the guts to admit out loud when you are and ask to be forgiven if appropriate? If you feel you're never wrong, you don't make mistakes and you don't see any reason to ever say you're sorry, than I am flattered and honored beyond all words in my vocabulary, to know you are reading my blog....Dear Jesus!

~Cliffs of Moher (I know this looks like all the other pictures you've seen but there's really only one spot/angle from where you can take this picture unless it's from a plane or boat)

Old Friends

~RollaBoys L-R: Randy Warren, Larry Hodge, Rick Miller, Author, Dave Pierson, Dirk Draper and Vic Davolt on the ground in his pajamas (Vic's sweet K9 Miss Daisy is 2nd from the left--the one with the pink color)

"You can make a new friend every day, but you can never go back and make an old one." I don't know how many of my old sayings are original, but that one is.

One day toward the end of my 29 year corporate gig I was sitting at my desk day dreaming about the good things in life. I thought about some of my lifelong friendships and decided I was going to make an effort to get some of my old friends back together for a reunion. Fast forward to present time and we'll be having ROLLABOY REUNION #12 this Fall. I'm not sure where we'll be but I hope most of the guys will be able to make it this year. It's been a different group each Fall for the most part as each of our lives are at somewhat different stages. Most of us are now grandpas but a couple of the guys have kids who are still in high school, and some college age. As a result, things like sporting events and school functions sometimes preclude attendance--as they should.

Life seems to be largely about decisions and priorities. Several years ago I made the decision to include old friends on my list of priorities and I'm glad I did. If you don't have any old friends it's not too late, but you better get to work: old friends aren't made over night!

Post Script: The date on the picture was off by about 4 years: not a photography guru in the bunch!

Hand Crafted Log Home Bench

~Our log bench prior to being stained

If you played sports as a kid you may have at some point spent at least a little time on the bench. I'm betting good money, however, it wasn't a log bench. If by some outside chance it was a log bench, I'm doubling down that it wasn't a handcrafted log bench carved into the butt-end of a 38 foot long 200 year old western red cedar tree that ran completely through one side of a log home and protruded 8 feet or so from the southeast corner of the log home it was part of...more than likely.

If that description comes even close to describing the bench you sat on while you were a sophmore playing basketball for the 1975-76 Rolla Bulldogs, than we'd have at least one thing in common. Now, back to the bench...

Not everyone wants an integrated log bench on their log home, but I've found most do. Of all the people who've seen ours over the past 10 plus years, most think it's pretty cool and certainly unique. It makes a nice conversation piece as well as a fun and reasonably comfortable place to sit. Most folks who've sat on our log bench were sitting on one for the first time in their life.

I made the mistake of not staining our log bench when I initially stained the house logs. I thought that leaving the log it's natural light color would look nice against the stained logs, but as I found out later, the un-stained log weathered and turned somewhat gray over time due to exposure to the UV rays bearing down daily on the front of our south facing cabin. I ended up touching up the log bench 2 times before hiring a friend of mine, "Super Elias" to do it the right way. Super lightly sanded the bench down to bare wood (the wood was as good as new after 9 years exposure to the elements) and re-stained it with a water based product out of Canada called Sansin. Now it looks better than ever.
Going forward, a clear maintenance coat brushed or sprayed on every two or three years should keep the bench looking like new and keep me from being a log home Goober; that is, investing in a nice handcrafted log home and not taking the necessary steps to keep it looking it's best.

I didn't put captions on all of these pictures but I'm hoping you'll get the idea. A log bench serves many purposes and over time will likely become part of a good memory for those who sit in it...or perhaps just stand next to it!

Yes, I was intentionally puffing out my chest and pulling in my belly in an attempt to make Chris and Craig look much, much older than me. Then again, maybe I was just a little proud of our Pioneer log bench...did I mention it was handcrafted?

A Hand-crafted Log Home With A View

Can you imagine sitting in your awesome handcrafted log home or cabin while sipping a fresh hot cup of coffee and looking out over a view like this? A lot of fortunate people are doing just that right now and even more are in the process of achieving that dream as I write.

~You guessed it: another awesome home by the masters at Pioneer Log Homes of BC
www.pioneerloghomesofbc.com

You don't have to live in the Rocky Mountains, Northern Alaska, or the pristine wilds of British Columbia to enjoy a similar experience. Several people right here in Arkansas as well as just to our north in the great state of Missouri are currently having that kind of experience on a daily basis. A couple of fine folks in Pittsburg, Kansas are in the process of having their log home dream fulfilled. Their handcrafted shell will be set up on their building site in just a few short weeks. Their hope is that their new home will be completely finished by years end, so they'll be able to enjoy next Winter's snow falls from the warmth and comfort of the home they custom designed from scratch.

Like most log home owners will tell you, there's something special about the experience of living in a home that was crafted from mother-nature's trees. And it doesn't have to be a home large enough to house the Brady Bunch AND the Partridge Family: the experience of a log cabin with just a few hundred square feet can be just as enjoyable.

If you've dreamed of designing and building a log home, Pioneer Log Homes of BC can help you make that dream come true. The first step to getting started on the fulfillment or your dream, is to visit the Pioneer web site at:

www.pioneerloghomesofbc.com

Sweet Log Cabin Dreams

~Our Pioneer Log Cabin

These pictures were taken recently at our place in Barry County, Missouri. When it came time to choose a builder for the shell of our log cabin, I chose PIONEER LOG HOMES OF BC. I'd dreamed for a long time of some day building a little log cabin "in the woods". I had considered about every milled log home company on the planet at one time or another, but after discovering Pioneer at a log home show in Springfield, Missouri in the early Spring of 2003, I quickly gave up on any consideration of building our cabin out of milled timbers. There's nothing wrong with a milled timber log home, but for my taste and money, the difference between milled and handcrafted/fully scribed is night and day.

~A recent Sunrise at "The Ranch"

~Our 10 year old dog Max (he prefers being referred to as a "K9" for some reason)