WEBVTT - Ep. 205: THIS COUNTRY LIFE - A Tale of a Few Books 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:09.200 Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:13.680 from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living. 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.040 I want you to stay a while as I share 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:18.479 my stories and the country skills that will help you 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:22.360 beat the system. This Country Life is proudly presented as 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.880 part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:29.960 outdoor podcast the airways have to offer. All right, friends, 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:33.080 pull you up a chair or drop that tailgate. I 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:38.440 think I got a thing or two. The Teacher A 0:00:38.600 --> 0:00:43.720 tale of a few books. I've been influenced by different 0:00:43.720 --> 0:00:46.560 folks in my life. Places, I've been, things I've seen 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:49.479 in experience, but there's been a lot of books that 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:52.160 I've read over the years that have done the same. 0:00:52.760 --> 0:00:54.240 I'm going to talk about a few of them that 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:57.160 I've enjoyed reading multiple times in a couple that might 0:00:57.240 --> 0:01:01.440 surprise you. But first I'm going to tell you story. 0:01:06.920 --> 0:01:09.520 The alcove at the back of the church sanctuary was 0:01:09.560 --> 0:01:13.280 where the cool kids sat on Sunday morning. Mostly high 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:16.240 school kids and their friends and girlfriends took up the 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:18.880 last few pews and if there was room in the 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:22.399 first couple of rows that allowed us younger kids to 0:01:22.440 --> 0:01:27.160 see you had to stay on alert, however, because thumping 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:30.640 ears was a big thing back then, and elementary school 0:01:30.640 --> 0:01:33.640 boys with short hair and ears poking out like wing 0:01:33.760 --> 0:01:37.959 nuts offered a tempting target for the upper classmen, and 0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:41.600 I didn't understand why until I became one of them, 0:01:41.720 --> 0:01:45.200 and then it was clear some ears just begged for it. 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:47.640 And what better place to do it than in the 0:01:47.640 --> 0:01:49.840 house of our Lord, where the victim had to remain 0:01:49.960 --> 0:01:54.480 silent or face repercussions for interrupting the service at school 0:01:54.520 --> 0:01:58.160 the following day for being a snitch, and the perpetrator 0:01:58.240 --> 0:02:02.600 could seek forgiveness for his transg It was mighty convenient 0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:06.400 for all involved. On this Sunday, there were several older 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:09.440 kids absent. The main ear thumper was one of them. 0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:12.080 I was glad too. I didn't know where he was. 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:16.359 I hoped prison, but doubted i'd be that lucky. All 0:02:16.400 --> 0:02:19.440 I knew was on this Sunday. I had a plan 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:21.919 that I had formulated in haste as we got out 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:25.040 of the car for church, and the thumper being gone 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:28.520 was only going to help me with my mission. I 0:02:28.560 --> 0:02:31.880 was twelve, wearing a coat and tie, and in the 0:02:31.919 --> 0:02:35.640 sleeve of my suit coat the latest issue of Field 0:02:35.639 --> 0:02:39.200 and Stream was wrapped around my forearm, hidden from everyone. 0:02:39.360 --> 0:02:41.880 Set me in Jesus. I was reading it when I 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:44.840 left the house that morning, all the way to town 0:02:44.880 --> 0:02:47.760 from the farm, and just before we pulled into the 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:51.640 parking lot, I decided to take it with me. While 0:02:51.639 --> 0:02:54.600 everyone else was listening to the sermon, I'd be reading 0:02:54.680 --> 0:02:58.200 Jean Hill talking about quail hunting. We still had quail 0:02:58.280 --> 0:03:01.120 back then in Southeast Arkansas, oh quail were mentioned in 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:04.400 the Bible. That's how I justified it in my head 0:03:04.400 --> 0:03:08.000 that reading an outdoor magazine in church wasn't a bad thing. 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:12.440 Twice the Good Lord save the Israelites by giving them 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:16.760 a big mess of quail to eat. And the fishing articles. Well, 0:03:17.400 --> 0:03:20.400 those fishers of men that were the apostles, four of 0:03:20.440 --> 0:03:24.280 them started out as fishers of fish. A twelve year 0:03:24.280 --> 0:03:27.560 old had justified reading Filled to Stream in church with 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:32.919 the lukewarm knowledge of the Bible. One of my friends 0:03:32.960 --> 0:03:35.120 sat beside me and his eyes bugged out of his 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:38.160 head when I slipped that glossy periodical from the sleeve 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:42.040 like a magician. I smiled at him, knowing that during 0:03:42.040 --> 0:03:45.240 the next forty five minutes he'd be sitting still, wishing 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:48.640 he had his own magazine, and I'd be quail hunting 0:03:48.640 --> 0:03:52.640 and fly fishing for the duration of the service. He 0:03:52.680 --> 0:03:54.200 poked me with his elbow and asked me to let 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:57.440 him see the magazine. I whispered to him to kick rocks. 0:03:57.800 --> 0:04:00.480 But if he could read fast enough, he could read 0:04:00.600 --> 0:04:02.760 with me. But I wasn't going to read it to 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:05.840 him or wait for him to catch up. When I 0:04:05.880 --> 0:04:08.720 got ready to turn the page, the page would be turned. 0:04:09.840 --> 0:04:12.280 I gave him one last smug look before I turned 0:04:12.320 --> 0:04:15.520 my attention back to my magazine. He looked a little sire. 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:21.080 Too bad, my magazine, my rules. Now this went on 0:04:21.160 --> 0:04:24.320 for a little while, me reading him trying to read, 0:04:24.360 --> 0:04:27.520 and me flipping the pages, knowing he hadn't finished the paragraph. 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:31.080 I thought it was funny. The holder of the sneaked 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:35.279 in magazine holds more than just a magazine. He holds 0:04:35.320 --> 0:04:39.320 all the power as well. And I wielded my power selfishly, 0:04:39.400 --> 0:04:43.000 with no regard for my friend, who desperately tried to 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:46.200 keep up the pace. I'll admit some of the articles 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:49.040 I didn't finish reading before turning the page, just to 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:52.680 aggravate him. I'd catch him out of the corner my eye, 0:04:52.760 --> 0:04:57.120 his eyes feverishly following along and write in mid sentence. 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:01.640 I turned the page just to see the frustration building here. 0:05:01.720 --> 0:05:06.040 It makes ol a big puff of air. But absolute 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:09.800 power corrupts absolutely And after torturing him for thirty or 0:05:09.800 --> 0:05:11.520 more minutes, when I looked out of the corner of 0:05:11.520 --> 0:05:14.599 my eye, I saw my friend holding his Bible and 0:05:14.680 --> 0:05:19.200 watching the preacher contently. I was trying to contain my 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:22.160 laughter looking at him paying attention in church Like all 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:25.880 the other kids, we made fun of whatever loser. I 0:05:25.920 --> 0:05:28.480 looked back at my magazine that I kept lowering my lap, 0:05:28.880 --> 0:05:31.600 just in time to see a shadow cast over the 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:34.360 top of the page and a pair of women's dress 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:37.560 shoes appeared on the ornate carpet where my legs dangled 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:41.880 above the floor. Those shoes looked like my mama's shoes. 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:45.840 I was going to pay dearly for this. I looked 0:05:45.839 --> 0:05:48.159 over at my buddy, who would have seen her coming, 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:51.240 but didn't say a word or warn me in any way. 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:54.280 He had the most innocent look on his face as 0:05:54.320 --> 0:05:57.280 my mama snatched that magazine away from me, laid it 0:05:57.320 --> 0:05:59.560 on the seat, and ushered me to the family pew 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:03.760 about halfway between the alcove and the pulpit. As I 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:06.960 scooted past my grandparents on my walk of shame to 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:09.920 take my seat, I looked back at my buddy, who 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:14.360 was smiling at me my fielding stream. Opening his hands 0:06:14.760 --> 0:06:17.400 barely visible above the back of the pew in front 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:21.120 of him, he bowed his head to read my magazine. 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:24.760 I took my seat, and I bowed mine to pray 0:06:24.839 --> 0:06:28.640 I'd lived through this, and that's just how that happened. 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:44.400 Literature was my favorite subject in high school, along with girls, Agriy, forestry, 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:49.320 girls again, and football. In high school, if you took Agriy, 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:52.400 you had the option to join the FFA, the Future 0:06:52.440 --> 0:06:55.240 Farmers of America. To join, you had to go through 0:06:55.240 --> 0:06:58.440 a week of school sponsored hazing at the direction of 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:02.240 the upper classmen. It wasn't demeaning or dangerous just to 0:07:02.279 --> 0:07:05.279 write a passage during that week. The pledges were known 0:07:05.279 --> 0:07:07.120 as green hands, and for a week you had to 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:10.480 wear a cardboard painted green hand pinned to your shirt, 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:15.280 a spiney pine cone adorned a haystringed necklace that you 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:18.440 wore around your neck. Your shirts were worn inside out 0:07:19.000 --> 0:07:20.920 and along with the pockets of your blue jeans or 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:25.560 your overalls, A myriad of silly requirements and meaningless tasks 0:07:25.560 --> 0:07:27.760 that green hands and during the week to be counted. 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:32.160 When Friday came as a full fledged member, now everyone 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:36.160 who wanted to participate did so and no one complained. 0:07:36.320 --> 0:07:40.000 I loved it. We went on field trips and FFA 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:45.400 sponsored contests at in state colleges summer camps, and got 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:47.680 to get out of school and out of town, off 0:07:47.720 --> 0:07:50.040 the farm to see things and go places that at 0:07:50.040 --> 0:07:53.480 the time were a big deal like the State Fair rodeo, 0:07:54.440 --> 0:08:00.200 similar activities, but English class, especially literature and composition, and 0:08:00.240 --> 0:08:04.440 that was my favorite. I lived agri class. My life 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:08.400 was the same as a FFA sponsored field trip every day. 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:12.320 The only added bonus to actually being in FFA was 0:08:12.360 --> 0:08:16.600 getting the witness at somewhere else. In fact, some of 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:20.560 those FFA field trips when I was in school was 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:24.120 at our forum, like the time I raised catfish through 0:08:24.120 --> 0:08:28.000 a study sponsored by the Extension Service. I promised this 0:08:28.120 --> 0:08:30.080 episode is about literature, but let me tell you about 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:34.559 this project first. The University of Arkansas System Cooperative Extension 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:38.520 Service is a state wide network associated with the University 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:43.280 of Arkansas's Division and Agriculture. Their mission is to provide 0:08:43.360 --> 0:08:47.880 research based information through non formal education to help all 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:52.080 archansms improve their economic well being and their quality of life. 0:08:52.120 --> 0:08:56.600 Whether it's AG or four ahe family, consumer science, or 0:08:56.720 --> 0:09:02.000 community development. Whatever the government and they're here to help. 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:05.880 But when they say it, they actually mean it. Now. 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:09.599 Miss Jene Frisbee was the Extension Agent staff chairman for 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:12.600 Bradley County and Warren, Arkansas, and she had held that 0:09:12.640 --> 0:09:16.800 position since God was a child and retired in nineteen 0:09:16.920 --> 0:09:21.640 ninety five. Her specialty was home economics, and she'd greet 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:25.839 me every morning on radio station KWRF when I stayed 0:09:25.880 --> 0:09:29.480 at my grandparents' house in town. I'd be sitting at 0:09:29.520 --> 0:09:34.360 the table eating breakfasting He'd come Miss Jene with good morning, mister, 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:38.920 and missus homemaker, it's time for your second cup of coffee. 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:42.600 Then she had expounded on whatever her topic was for 0:09:42.679 --> 0:09:45.960 the day on a program. But the Extension Service was 0:09:46.000 --> 0:09:50.520 doing a fish farming study around commercial catfish farming. They 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:53.880 supplied the material to build a floating cage similar in 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:58.160 looks to a shark cage, with styrofoam floats supporting a 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:02.920 two before framed Mashon enclosure that the fingerland sized catfish 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:07.400 swam around in. Now. The county agent, mister Paul Cooper 0:10:07.800 --> 0:10:11.000 helped me build it, and I fed them according to 0:10:11.400 --> 0:10:16.280 a strict schedule. I made notations on a daily log, 0:10:16.360 --> 0:10:18.360 and after a period of time several months if I 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:23.040 remember correctly, another extension agent involved with the project came 0:10:23.080 --> 0:10:27.640 to the farm. My forestry class came out for that trip, 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:30.520 and we took samples from the enclosure wage and measured them, 0:10:30.520 --> 0:10:34.960 and that was it. Then all the fish were mine. 0:10:35.080 --> 0:10:37.000 I turned a lot of them, loosened the pond, but 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:40.199 kept some in a cage at any time for several 0:10:40.320 --> 0:10:43.800 months afterwards. That we wanted to mess a catfish, I 0:10:43.920 --> 0:10:47.000 just go down and dip up another for supper, kind 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:49.160 of like what Tim and I do now in the 0:10:49.240 --> 0:10:54.240 Arkansas River, except that project was a lot easier anyway. 0:10:54.840 --> 0:10:59.720 As many places and trips I took physically during school 0:10:59.800 --> 0:11:02.760 and FFA or any other class that afforded me the 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:07.120 opportunity to step on a bus and go somewhere, none 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:12.079 compared to English class in there. I traveled at any 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:14.240 place I wanted to go, and some I was told 0:11:14.240 --> 0:11:25.920 to go and I never left the schoolhouse. In the 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:29.240 eleventh grade and Miss Pat Hayworth's English class, we read 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:32.960 The Red Badge of Courage and I was immediately transported 0:11:33.000 --> 0:11:35.240 back in time to the darkness that was the War 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:40.520 between the States, which fed and inspired a lifelong fascination 0:11:40.600 --> 0:11:43.280 of history in the battles that were fought near where 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:47.440 I grew up. I've always been a reader. My maternal 0:11:47.480 --> 0:11:52.560 grandfather was accurately described as a voracious reader. He read everything. 0:11:53.320 --> 0:11:56.280 My brothers both read a ton and I was no different. 0:11:56.400 --> 0:11:59.599 Still am. The impact of some of the books that 0:11:59.640 --> 0:12:02.960 I read has had a profound effect on my life. 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:06.760 They garnered and fed a passion for exploration, an adventure, 0:12:06.800 --> 0:12:09.480 and helped shape me into the man I am today. 0:12:10.480 --> 0:12:13.360 Robert Ruark's The Old Man and the Boy is a 0:12:13.360 --> 0:12:17.839 prime example. It's about a boy in his grandpa's relationship 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:21.520 hunting and fishing. The old man is the boy's teacher, 0:12:21.920 --> 0:12:25.040 and just like the boy in roue Ark's book, I 0:12:25.120 --> 0:12:28.400 played that part in real life, with my dad playing 0:12:28.400 --> 0:12:31.240 the part of the old man as he teaches the 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:35.240 boy how to hunt and fish and just general life lessons. 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:40.719 He teaches him conservation, responsibility, and stewardship of the resource 0:12:41.360 --> 0:12:44.440 all things I was taught at an early age. That 0:12:44.520 --> 0:12:49.040 book is profoundly good on several levels. It first ran 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:51.840 his monthly articles in Field and Stream magazine and was 0:12:51.880 --> 0:12:55.080 compiled as a book afterwards in the late nineteen fifties. 0:12:56.320 --> 0:12:59.040 I first read that book in high school. The best 0:12:59.040 --> 0:13:01.800 part about reading the book so young is that when 0:13:01.920 --> 0:13:05.080 reading it now, I get to see that story from 0:13:05.080 --> 0:13:08.120 the old man's point of view. When I first read it, 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:11.000 I only had one frame of reference, and that was 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:14.600 from the boy. Here's a couple quotes that have stuck 0:13:14.640 --> 0:13:19.160 with me over the years. Anytime a boy is ready 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:22.920 to learn about guns is the time he's ready, no 0:13:22.960 --> 0:13:26.120 matter how young he is. And you can't start too 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:30.840 young to learn to be careful. I've told stories on 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:34.040 here about hunting by myself when I was in elementary school, 0:13:34.320 --> 0:13:36.960 you know, ten or eleven years old, Like the time 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:40.360 on a cloudy evening when I lost my horse after 0:13:40.400 --> 0:13:43.400 I dismounted and ran on foot from tree to tree 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:47.360 behind our squirrel dog, Prissy, as she followed a timbering 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:50.960 squirrel that was doing its dead level best to avoid 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:54.360 riding out in my saddle bags. Once I finally got 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:57.080 him shot out of a tree. I realized that I 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:00.439 didn't know which direction I'd been running, and to walk 0:14:00.480 --> 0:14:03.760 out to get back to my horse before dark. I 0:14:03.800 --> 0:14:06.040 told Pricy to go find my horse, and in short 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:10.000 order she did just that, running slap out of sight 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:12.920 in the opposite direction I thought i'd come from. After 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:16.240 circling tree after tree, looking up trying to find that 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:20.480 running squirrel, she barked about one hundred yards away, and 0:14:20.480 --> 0:14:22.680 when I got to her, she was standing on a 0:14:22.720 --> 0:14:27.000 stump beside my horse. A large majority of the people 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:29.880 who have lived a life far removed from my own 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:32.320 that I've told that story to, when I get to 0:14:32.360 --> 0:14:35.720 the end, they don't even remark that Prissy the squirrel 0:14:35.800 --> 0:14:40.120 dog could understand English. They want to talk about how 0:14:40.160 --> 0:14:43.560 a ten year old boy gets a twenty two rifle 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:47.440 and goes hunting by himself, which to me is the 0:14:47.480 --> 0:14:51.200 most insignificant part of that whole story. My age didn't 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:54.120 have anything to do with it. I was taught from 0:14:54.120 --> 0:14:58.360 the beginning about gun safety. It was like learning to 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:01.640 walk or tell time. I assure you, had I not 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:04.960 been responsible enough to do it, my father wouldn't have 0:15:05.040 --> 0:15:10.160 allowed it. Here's another quote from that book. A gentleman 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:13.760 starts down at his boots and works up to his hat. 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:18.920 A gentleman is first of all polite. A sportsman is 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:23.080 a gentleman first. But a sportsman basically is a man 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:27.560 who kills what he needs, whether it's fish, bird, or 0:15:27.560 --> 0:15:30.880 an animal, or what he wants for a special reason. 0:15:31.160 --> 0:15:34.800 But he never kills anything just to kill it, and 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:37.440 he tries to preserve the very same thing that he 0:15:37.560 --> 0:15:41.440 kills a little from time to time. The books call 0:15:41.520 --> 0:15:45.240 this conservation. It's the same reason why we don't shoot 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:48.680 that tame covey of quail down to less than ten birds. 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:53.960 Ruark references a gentleman in another passage like this, A 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:58.200 gentleman never talks down to nobody, or even to anybody. 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:03.800 That says anybody instead of nobody. A gentleman ain't greedy. 0:16:04.120 --> 0:16:08.160 A gentleman don't holler at anybody else's dogs. A gentleman 0:16:08.240 --> 0:16:11.200 pays his score as he goes. He don't take what 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:14.680 he can't put back, and if he borrows, he borrows 0:16:14.680 --> 0:16:19.600 from banks. He never troubles his friends with his troubles. 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:23.680 Now I get what he was saying in the last 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:26.400 part about not troubling his friends with his troubles. But 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:29.760 in far bid from me to correct one of the 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:33.320 greatest writers I admire most. But I take the last 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:36.880 line somewhat loosely. I want my friends to come to 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:39.920 me first with an issue. If they're a true friend, 0:16:40.520 --> 0:16:44.400 I'm going to go to them. But Riarck talks about money, 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:47.160 and hear's something about money that I learned from my 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:50.840 dad when I was young, kind of in the same 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:53.000 theme of the old man and the boy. But I 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:56.320 worked for a fellow once that made promises he didn't keep, 0:16:57.040 --> 0:16:59.800 and he stole money that was meant for me through 0:17:00.080 --> 0:17:03.520 handshake deal, not a contract, so I had no legal 0:17:03.640 --> 0:17:07.639 recourses when we parted company. I stewed on it for 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:11.760 a long time, quite some time. Times were pretty lean then, 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:15.600 and that money would have helped my young family. All 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:19.080 I could see was that clown stealing food from my kids, 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:22.960 not stealing money from me. Months later, I was at 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:25.840 my dad's barn putting up that more after more than 0:17:25.880 --> 0:17:28.520 one afternoon, and while I was making round after round 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:31.879 cutting grass, I had had enough and I decided that 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:34.640 when I finished the yard, I was going to drive 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:38.040 to that man's house and give my money or give 0:17:38.119 --> 0:17:40.840 him some boxing lessons until I felt he'd receive the 0:17:40.880 --> 0:17:44.960 amount equal to what he owed me. I was walking 0:17:44.960 --> 0:17:47.160 out to my truck when my dad drove up and 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:49.520 he asked me where I was going. I told him 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:51.200 I was going to so and So's house to get 0:17:51.240 --> 0:17:54.200 my money. He said, oh, he decided to make it right. 0:17:55.080 --> 0:17:57.920 I said, no, sir, I decided to make it right. 0:17:58.440 --> 0:18:02.080 He don't know I'm coming. My dad said, boy, you 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:06.080 sit down. We're gonna talk about and he asked me 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:09.400 how much the man owed me, and I told him. 0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:11.600 He looked at me and said, that's the best money 0:18:11.680 --> 0:18:15.040 you ever spent. I looked at him like a calf 0:18:15.160 --> 0:18:17.800 looks at a new gate. I didn't get what he 0:18:17.880 --> 0:18:23.439 was saying. He said, I have no doubt that you 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:25.320 can go to his house and give him the whooping 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:29.080 he deserves. But you're gonna get in trouble. You're probably 0:18:29.119 --> 0:18:32.600 gonna lose your job, you ain't gonna get any of 0:18:32.600 --> 0:18:35.359 the money he owes you, and he'll wind up getting 0:18:35.400 --> 0:18:38.159 some more out of you. And if all it cost 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:40.360 is what he stole from you, to find out what 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:43.159 kind of person he is and how not to do 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:47.440 business from now on, My son, that was money well invested. 0:18:49.480 --> 0:18:54.920 He was right, it was. I spoken more than once 0:18:54.960 --> 0:18:58.560 on how Wilson Rawls's book Where the Red Fern Grows 0:18:58.680 --> 0:19:01.320 snatched me up out of a desk by the gallaxies 0:19:01.359 --> 0:19:04.760 of my overalls in elementary school. The fire of that 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:08.359 atomic Wedges Parks is still burning today, just as bright 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:12.879 as it did then. I'm recording this and old whaling 0:19:13.000 --> 0:19:16.120 my tree, and walker Coonhoun is laying in his favorite 0:19:16.119 --> 0:19:20.440 spot beside my desk. Now, that passion was ignited by 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:22.560 the community in which I lived, in the love I 0:19:22.640 --> 0:19:26.520 already possessed for hunting dogs, and that book helped me 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:29.960 focus a portion of it toward coon hunting. And here 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:33.320 I am, forty six years later, just as enamored with 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:37.160 that practice, that book its message as I was when 0:19:37.200 --> 0:19:40.160 I first read it. Here's a few of my favorite 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:45.960 quotes from Wilson Rawl's wonderful book. It's strange, indeed, how 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:49.040 memories can lie dormant in a man's mind for so 0:19:49.240 --> 0:19:53.119 many years. Yet those memories can be awakened and brought 0:19:53.200 --> 0:19:56.840 forth fresh and new, just by something you've seen, or 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:00.919 something you've heard, or the sight of an old familiar face. 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:05.399 Now I have to tell y'all that is almost one 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:08.720 hundred percent how this podcast comes to life. Each week, 0:20:09.560 --> 0:20:12.160 as I'm stumbling on my way around on this planet, 0:20:12.400 --> 0:20:16.240 something will remind me of something else, maybe from yesterday, 0:20:16.400 --> 0:20:19.000 last week, or more than likely from years gone by 0:20:19.520 --> 0:20:23.160 that triggers a memory. My notebook and my pencil are 0:20:23.280 --> 0:20:26.280 always ready, and I learned the hard way that when 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:29.719 one of those occurrence happens, I have to log it immediately. 0:20:30.520 --> 0:20:32.320 I'll pull over on the side of the road, or 0:20:32.720 --> 0:20:35.840 get up out of bed, or just stop whatever I'm 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:39.800 doing and write it down. Trusting myself to remember to 0:20:39.840 --> 0:20:41.760 make a note about it later has bit me in 0:20:41.960 --> 0:20:46.000 behind more than once. Here's another quote from that book 0:20:46.040 --> 0:20:51.000 that's one sentence long, but it speaks volumes about its subject. 0:20:51.000 --> 0:20:55.840 Here it is, I've learned that a hunting dog smells 0:20:55.920 --> 0:21:00.600 like a dog, and a sleeping dog smells all most humor. 0:21:01.800 --> 0:21:04.960 Now I read that, and to me, it's looking at 0:21:04.960 --> 0:21:08.560 the same thing with two sets of eyes, seeing the 0:21:08.600 --> 0:21:12.120 totality of what you're looking at. I think a lot 0:21:12.119 --> 0:21:14.800 of that ability comes from stacking birthdays on top of 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:18.800 one another. There's nothing more peaceful than a sleeping dog, 0:21:18.840 --> 0:21:23.280 and I'm looking at one right now. That book is 0:21:23.320 --> 0:21:26.800 about a boy, but it's told from a narrator's perspective 0:21:26.840 --> 0:21:31.040 of looking back as an adult, and mister Raw's statement 0:21:31.200 --> 0:21:34.160 was more about how his heart saw his dogs when 0:21:34.160 --> 0:21:37.800 they were hunting than at rest. It described the bond 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:40.040 he had with his dogs. Heck, it describes the bond 0:21:40.119 --> 0:21:43.359 I have with mine right now. I get emotional thinking 0:21:43.359 --> 0:21:46.880 about it. What better way to spend your time than 0:21:46.920 --> 0:21:51.360 with something that loves you unconditionally. You won't find that 0:21:51.400 --> 0:21:55.160 represented any more clearly than a four legged family member 0:21:55.200 --> 0:21:58.680 that doubles is a good hun dog. Now, I can't 0:21:58.720 --> 0:22:01.159 say that I learned all that from reading Where the 0:22:01.200 --> 0:22:03.679 Red Fern Grows, but I can tell you that book 0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:07.480 helped me understand and put a voice to what I 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:12.199 was feeling. My favorite of all is this one. People 0:22:12.240 --> 0:22:15.480 have been trying to understand dogs ever since the beginning 0:22:15.520 --> 0:22:19.240 of time. One never knows what they'll do. You can 0:22:19.600 --> 0:22:22.600 read every day where a dog saved the life of 0:22:22.640 --> 0:22:26.159 a drowning child or laid down his life for his master. 0:22:27.280 --> 0:22:31.600 Some people call this loyalty. I don't. I may be wrong, 0:22:32.160 --> 0:22:35.560 but I call it love. The deepest kind of buff 0:22:36.880 --> 0:22:40.000 It's a shame that people all over the world can't 0:22:40.040 --> 0:22:42.359 have the kind of love in their hearts. He said. 0:22:43.280 --> 0:22:48.440 There would be no wars, slaughter or murder, no greed 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:52.080 or selfishness. It would be the kind of world that 0:22:52.200 --> 0:23:01.160 God wants us to have, a wonderful world. A man, 0:23:01.240 --> 0:23:04.040 ain't that good? I sure think so. I hope you 0:23:04.080 --> 0:23:07.119 do too. I hope you think it's good enough to 0:23:07.200 --> 0:23:10.959 read those books yourself. And I didn't even get the 0:23:11.000 --> 0:23:13.800 surface scratched on the books that I've read or the 0:23:13.880 --> 0:23:17.600 poetry that I've enjoyed so much. Yep, I said poetry. 0:23:18.280 --> 0:23:22.000 Mss Mary Cupp, my twelfth grade English teacher, introduced me 0:23:22.119 --> 0:23:24.800 to a collection of poems by Robert Frost, a man 0:23:24.800 --> 0:23:28.560 whose work I enjoyed this day. There are others, too, 0:23:28.960 --> 0:23:32.119 but none I've enjoyed more than another Robert. But this 0:23:32.240 --> 0:23:35.280 one's nickname was the Bard of the Yukon, and his 0:23:35.400 --> 0:23:39.920 given name is Robert W. Servis. He was eighty four 0:23:40.000 --> 0:23:44.000 when he died in nineteen fifty eight. He wrote volumes, 0:23:44.080 --> 0:23:47.159 but a poem that he wrote titled The Men that 0:23:47.280 --> 0:23:51.199 Don't Fit In stands out to me the most I 0:23:51.240 --> 0:23:53.600 had read and reread that poem for years, And on 0:23:53.640 --> 0:23:56.719 my second trip to Saskatchewan for Bear Hunt Magazine as 0:23:56.800 --> 0:24:00.720 a cameraman for my old buddy Clay Bow make a 0:24:00.840 --> 0:24:04.280 non lethal shot on a bear and it would be 0:24:04.320 --> 0:24:08.600 the only shot we got all week. That bear lived, 0:24:08.600 --> 0:24:11.720 but I wasn't sure Clay would. It was a big 0:24:11.720 --> 0:24:15.040 investment for his magazine to come home empty handed. And 0:24:15.119 --> 0:24:17.320 we sat in silence on the bank of that lake, 0:24:18.200 --> 0:24:21.680 a two our boat ride away from camping, over two 0:24:21.720 --> 0:24:27.960 thousand miles from home. Clay was feeling defeated, disappointed in himself, 0:24:28.000 --> 0:24:30.840 and I'm sure wondering if what we were doing was 0:24:30.880 --> 0:24:34.359 what we were supposed to be doing. Now. That poem 0:24:34.400 --> 0:24:37.000 came to mind as I looked for something to cheer 0:24:37.040 --> 0:24:40.000