WEBVTT - Ep. 141: THIS COUNTRY LIFE - Kids and the Outdoors (Part 2)

0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:09.240
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves

0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:13.720
<v Speaker 1>from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.

0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.040
<v Speaker 1>I want you to stay a while as I share

0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:18.479
<v Speaker 1>my stories and the country skills that will help you

0:00:18.600 --> 0:00:22.360
<v Speaker 1>beat the system. This Country Life is proudly presented as

0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.880
<v Speaker 1>part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best

0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:30.000
<v Speaker 1>outdoor podcast the airways have to offer. All right, friends,

0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:33.120
<v Speaker 1>pull you up a chair or drop that tailgate. I

0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:38.839
<v Speaker 1>think I got a thing or two. The Teacher, Kids

0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:42.720
<v Speaker 1>and Outdoors Part two, I'm passing the platter with a

0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:46.000
<v Speaker 1>second helping of kids and outdoors. It doesn't take a

0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:48.199
<v Speaker 1>lot to get them interested, and you can be a

0:00:48.280 --> 0:00:52.040
<v Speaker 1>minimalist or go all in with what your activities are.

0:00:52.200 --> 0:00:55.840
<v Speaker 1>The key is to just find something that they'll enjoy

0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:59.880
<v Speaker 1>and benefit from and get gone doing it. I've got

0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.920
<v Speaker 1>some good information to share, so y'all get easy and

0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:08.680
<v Speaker 1>listen up. But first, I'm going to tell you a story.

0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.600
<v Speaker 1>Since we're talking about kids and outdoors, I figured i'd

0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:20.800
<v Speaker 1>share this one. Tams boys, my nephews, were fourteen and eleven,

0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:23.679
<v Speaker 1>and wanted to go coon hunt with me. One night

0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:27.280
<v Speaker 1>thirty years ago. I was hunting with a friend of mine,

0:01:27.440 --> 0:01:30.400
<v Speaker 1>David Boudra, the same friend that I was hunting with

0:01:30.440 --> 0:01:33.160
<v Speaker 1>a few months later when we saw a mountain lion

0:01:33.640 --> 0:01:37.520
<v Speaker 1>less than two miles from where this incident took place. Now,

0:01:37.560 --> 0:01:41.120
<v Speaker 1>that was the second sighting of my existence and David's first,

0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:45.119
<v Speaker 1>but that's another story. David and I had driven down

0:01:45.160 --> 0:01:48.760
<v Speaker 1>to Thames to hunt the bottoms behind his house. David

0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:51.680
<v Speaker 1>lived an hour away and our work schedules only allowed

0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:54.120
<v Speaker 1>us to hunt a few times a month, so we

0:01:54.200 --> 0:01:58.040
<v Speaker 1>tried to take advantage of every opportunity. I didn't have

0:01:58.080 --> 0:02:01.000
<v Speaker 1>a dog then, and as long as it wasn't you

0:02:01.040 --> 0:02:04.080
<v Speaker 1>could just about bet we were going to go. Had

0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:06.560
<v Speaker 1>we been able to hunt more, I'm sure we wouldn't

0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:09.960
<v Speaker 1>have gone that night because the wind was howling like crazy,

0:02:10.480 --> 0:02:14.720
<v Speaker 1>but it wasn't raining, so we were going. We stopped

0:02:14.720 --> 0:02:16.960
<v Speaker 1>at Thams to visit before we cut loose, and to

0:02:17.000 --> 0:02:20.480
<v Speaker 1>get Matthew and Will. Nothing could have made me happier.

0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:24.600
<v Speaker 1>These two hooligans were and are just like my own sons,

0:02:24.919 --> 0:02:27.360
<v Speaker 1>and taking them with me was going to be just

0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:29.639
<v Speaker 1>as much fun for me as it was going to

0:02:29.680 --> 0:02:33.919
<v Speaker 1>be fun for them, or so I thought. The boys

0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:36.960
<v Speaker 1>each had a couple of decailed flashlights, and it didn't

0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:39.960
<v Speaker 1>really matter. David and I had good lights and they

0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:42.560
<v Speaker 1>were going to be walking with us anyway, So we

0:02:42.680 --> 0:02:45.720
<v Speaker 1>left the house on foot, walked across the gravel road

0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:49.040
<v Speaker 1>next to the creek. David cut his old hound Spot loose.

0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:53.120
<v Speaker 1>It wasn't long before he struck in trailing a coon. Now,

0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:56.000
<v Speaker 1>normally we would have just stood our ground and listened

0:02:56.000 --> 0:02:58.760
<v Speaker 1>for him to tree, and then casually walked to him,

0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:01.480
<v Speaker 1>picking our way through the easiest route through the woods,

0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:05.080
<v Speaker 1>but the wind was blowing so hard that we basically

0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:07.600
<v Speaker 1>had to go with the dog to hear him. Some

0:03:07.680 --> 0:03:10.240
<v Speaker 1>of the walking was good, but some of it was

0:03:10.320 --> 0:03:13.960
<v Speaker 1>pretty rough. Briars and old tree tops from where some

0:03:14.320 --> 0:03:16.480
<v Speaker 1>timber had been cut a year or so before made

0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:19.600
<v Speaker 1>it challenging for me and David, much more so for

0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:23.040
<v Speaker 1>Matthew and Will. Add the fact that we were having

0:03:23.080 --> 0:03:25.120
<v Speaker 1>to move at a pretty good pace to keep up

0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:29.640
<v Speaker 1>with Spot greatly enhanced the degree of difficulty. We followed

0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:32.000
<v Speaker 1>that hound for the better part of an hour, back

0:03:32.080 --> 0:03:34.639
<v Speaker 1>and forth and in circles, trying to keep up with him.

0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:37.520
<v Speaker 1>We'd walked close to a mile by then, I'm sure,

0:03:37.960 --> 0:03:40.360
<v Speaker 1>but we hadn't moved off the same twenty acres that

0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:44.040
<v Speaker 1>we started out on. Spot eventually made a tree in there,

0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:46.440
<v Speaker 1>and when we got to it we saw a big

0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:49.320
<v Speaker 1>old hole in it. We looked and looked for that coon,

0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:52.080
<v Speaker 1>but never found it, figuring that he was in a den,

0:03:52.400 --> 0:03:55.000
<v Speaker 1>which is where we all should have been. The wind

0:03:55.160 --> 0:03:59.760
<v Speaker 1>hadn't let up an inch. David pulled Spot off that tree.

0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:03.440
<v Speaker 1>He recast him, and he didn't go far before opening

0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:05.520
<v Speaker 1>up on a track and took off like he was

0:04:05.600 --> 0:04:08.240
<v Speaker 1>late for work. We were fixing up to get the

0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:10.560
<v Speaker 1>wagon hitch to keep up with him, and there was

0:04:10.600 --> 0:04:12.800
<v Speaker 1>no way those boys were gonna be able to go.

0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:16.800
<v Speaker 1>So I made a decision, a decision at the time

0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:20.280
<v Speaker 1>I thought was right and best for all involved. To

0:04:20.360 --> 0:04:26.279
<v Speaker 1>this day I regretted. I walked to a little gap

0:04:26.320 --> 0:04:28.800
<v Speaker 1>in the trees and pointed to the night light that

0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:32.120
<v Speaker 1>was visible and what I thought would be an easy

0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:35.080
<v Speaker 1>five minute walk, and I said something to the fact that, boys,

0:04:35.720 --> 0:04:39.000
<v Speaker 1>there's your house. Me and David are going to have

0:04:39.040 --> 0:04:41.520
<v Speaker 1>to chase this dog, and y'all ain't gonna be able

0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:44.200
<v Speaker 1>to keep up. You can get home from here, can't you.

0:04:45.560 --> 0:04:48.080
<v Speaker 1>I wished a million times over the years that I

0:04:48.160 --> 0:04:52.920
<v Speaker 1>had that opportunity again. They were my responsibility. My brother

0:04:53.080 --> 0:04:55.880
<v Speaker 1>had allowed me to take his only two children into

0:04:55.960 --> 0:04:59.400
<v Speaker 1>the dark of night, feeling confident I would take care

0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:03.960
<v Speaker 1>of him, and I didn't believe me when I say

0:05:04.000 --> 0:05:06.760
<v Speaker 1>I almost didn't tell this story because I'm ashamed of it,

0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:10.640
<v Speaker 1>what little forethought I put into it. I've trained my

0:05:10.720 --> 0:05:15.440
<v Speaker 1>whole professional career for the worst case scenario, evaluating and

0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:20.080
<v Speaker 1>considering every possible negative circumstance that could occur, and to

0:05:20.240 --> 0:05:23.520
<v Speaker 1>recognize and worked through the problem for the best solution.

0:05:24.560 --> 0:05:26.960
<v Speaker 1>It didn't matter if it was a simple traffic stop

0:05:27.000 --> 0:05:29.680
<v Speaker 1>on the highway or a high risk entry into a

0:05:29.720 --> 0:05:32.680
<v Speaker 1>nest of bad folks. I was supposed to be thinking

0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:36.680
<v Speaker 1>two moves ahead, but this was just a coonhut. What

0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:41.200
<v Speaker 1>could go wrong? If I had that opportunity again, I'd say, boys,

0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:45.239
<v Speaker 1>there's your house, y'all come with me, and David's gonna

0:05:45.279 --> 0:05:48.400
<v Speaker 1>go with spot, and that's where this story would have ended.

0:05:48.880 --> 0:05:53.599
<v Speaker 1>But that's not what happened. They looked at me and said, yes, sir,

0:05:54.080 --> 0:05:57.120
<v Speaker 1>we can make it. There, we can go, and off

0:05:57.160 --> 0:06:00.160
<v Speaker 1>they went, in a beeline straight for that night light.

0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:02.880
<v Speaker 1>That was burning in their front yard, their flashlights leading

0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:06.039
<v Speaker 1>the way until they got out of sight, And when

0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:09.160
<v Speaker 1>they did, I turned my back to them and took

0:06:09.200 --> 0:06:12.600
<v Speaker 1>off to catch up with David and that dog. Now

0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:15.800
<v Speaker 1>it wasn't like walking in a park. They had to

0:06:15.839 --> 0:06:18.880
<v Speaker 1>cross a shallow creek and weave their way back to

0:06:18.920 --> 0:06:22.440
<v Speaker 1>the gravel road. Will got hung up in some sawbriers

0:06:22.800 --> 0:06:25.960
<v Speaker 1>and waded water over the top of his boots, and

0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:30.039
<v Speaker 1>then the batteries and the flashlights started fading out. Then

0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:33.279
<v Speaker 1>they lost sight of the night light, and they got

0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:37.280
<v Speaker 1>turned around, and then they got scared, and I would

0:06:37.320 --> 0:06:40.440
<v Speaker 1>have been to. The night was black as four foot

0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:45.080
<v Speaker 1>up of bulls behind, and the wind was relentless. Their

0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:47.880
<v Speaker 1>daddy had always told them if they ever got lost

0:06:47.880 --> 0:06:50.240
<v Speaker 1>in the woods around their house that all they had

0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:53.120
<v Speaker 1>to do was walk till they hit the road or

0:06:53.160 --> 0:06:56.400
<v Speaker 1>found the creek. If they hit the creek, all they

0:06:56.480 --> 0:06:59.599
<v Speaker 1>had to do was follow it downstream and it would

0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:02.400
<v Speaker 1>pass right in front of their house. Now that was

0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:06.160
<v Speaker 1>one hundred percent truth. But they weren't in the woods

0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:09.800
<v Speaker 1>where they normally played. They were across the road from

0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:12.240
<v Speaker 1>their house, and on this side of the road, the

0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:16.040
<v Speaker 1>creek forked and one went to the road and one

0:07:16.080 --> 0:07:18.720
<v Speaker 1>fork went deeper in the woods toward a big beaver

0:07:18.840 --> 0:07:22.800
<v Speaker 1>pond nearly a mile away. Well guess which one they took.

0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:27.760
<v Speaker 1>And they didn't make a choice and take the wrong fork.

0:07:28.080 --> 0:07:30.880
<v Speaker 1>They were walking down the creek in the dark, and

0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:35.040
<v Speaker 1>that's just where they ended up going. Forty five minutes later,

0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:37.720
<v Speaker 1>Dave and I had spot by the collar and we

0:07:37.760 --> 0:07:40.560
<v Speaker 1>were walking back toward the road when I thought I

0:07:40.600 --> 0:07:44.360
<v Speaker 1>heard someone holler. We stopped and listened, and every now

0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:46.280
<v Speaker 1>and then we could hear through the wind, we could

0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:49.920
<v Speaker 1>hear a man hollering. I thought it sounded like Tim.

0:07:50.760 --> 0:07:53.600
<v Speaker 1>Then I got scared. I hollered back, and I took

0:07:53.720 --> 0:07:56.600
<v Speaker 1>off toward where he was. When I got to the

0:07:56.680 --> 0:07:59.000
<v Speaker 1>road and saw the boys weren't with him, my heart

0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:01.280
<v Speaker 1>sank out of my chain and I felt sick to

0:08:01.360 --> 0:08:04.640
<v Speaker 1>my stomach. David and I headed back toward where we'd

0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:07.520
<v Speaker 1>last seen them, and Tim took off around the other

0:08:07.640 --> 0:08:09.960
<v Speaker 1>side of the block of woods we were hunting, and

0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:12.240
<v Speaker 1>on the road that went on the other side of

0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:15.440
<v Speaker 1>the beaver pond. I've been scared a few times in

0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:18.520
<v Speaker 1>my life as a direct result of my profession. Sometimes

0:08:18.640 --> 0:08:21.240
<v Speaker 1>with no warning I'll think about one of those times,

0:08:21.240 --> 0:08:24.320
<v Speaker 1>and when I do, they give me the chills, and

0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:27.000
<v Speaker 1>for a moment, I'm right back in that place again.

0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:31.080
<v Speaker 1>That night is one of them. David and I didn't

0:08:31.080 --> 0:08:35.440
<v Speaker 1>find them, but Tim did. They heard him yelling, and

0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:37.600
<v Speaker 1>they walked out to him on the road, nearly a

0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:41.720
<v Speaker 1>mile from where they'd gotten turned around. Other than being scared,

0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:45.640
<v Speaker 1>they were okay, but I wasn't, and I'm still not.

0:08:46.880 --> 0:08:49.920
<v Speaker 1>The lesson hears this. We should prepare our kids for

0:08:49.960 --> 0:08:52.959
<v Speaker 1>these scenarios, and had they been prepared, it wouldn't have

0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:57.160
<v Speaker 1>been a problem. Sending them off without proper equipment was

0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:00.400
<v Speaker 1>my fault. The least thing I should have done was

0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:03.240
<v Speaker 1>give them my light, but I didn't think their lights

0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:06.760
<v Speaker 1>would start going out, but they did. I also didn't

0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:09.280
<v Speaker 1>think they'd lose sight of that night light and get

0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:13.920
<v Speaker 1>turned around, but they did. Adding to the confusion was

0:09:13.960 --> 0:09:17.280
<v Speaker 1>the wind that made it nearly impossible to communicate from

0:09:17.440 --> 0:09:21.280
<v Speaker 1>very far away. Now, the biggest thing was I didn't

0:09:21.320 --> 0:09:24.920
<v Speaker 1>hold up my end of being the adult. I had

0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:28.280
<v Speaker 1>checked those two rascals out of my brother's inventory, and

0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:31.000
<v Speaker 1>it wasn't up to them to check themselves back in

0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:35.160
<v Speaker 1>that was all on me. In spite of everything I

0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:38.760
<v Speaker 1>failed to do that night. They lived. Now they've got

0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:41.920
<v Speaker 1>a house full of youngins too, and believe it or not,

0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:43.960
<v Speaker 1>none of them have ever asked to go coon hunting

0:09:44.040 --> 0:09:47.120
<v Speaker 1>with me. It was a wonderful act of inclusion to

0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:50.040
<v Speaker 1>want those boys to go with me, and a terrible

0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:53.800
<v Speaker 1>lapse in judgment that could have gotten them hurt. I

0:09:53.880 --> 0:09:57.079
<v Speaker 1>learned a valuable lesson that night, and that's just how

0:09:57.120 --> 0:10:08.600
<v Speaker 1>it happened. In Part one of Kids Outdoors, I gave

0:10:08.679 --> 0:10:12.000
<v Speaker 1>a few basic ways to pry those grocery goblins off

0:10:12.000 --> 0:10:14.400
<v Speaker 1>the couch and out of the house. If you're just

0:10:14.480 --> 0:10:17.600
<v Speaker 1>tuning in, it's a simple recipe. Find something that they

0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:21.200
<v Speaker 1>can do with you, and go do it. Remember it

0:10:21.240 --> 0:10:25.480
<v Speaker 1>don't have to be technical or labor intensive. Nature walks

0:10:25.480 --> 0:10:27.760
<v Speaker 1>are just sitting on the porch watching the world go

0:10:27.800 --> 0:10:31.520
<v Speaker 1>by beach just about anything on TV, except, of course,

0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:34.480
<v Speaker 1>for that one show that's based out of Montana. It's

0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:37.160
<v Speaker 1>about a group of folks going outside in places all

0:10:37.160 --> 0:10:40.040
<v Speaker 1>over the world, getting close enough to nature to literally

0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:43.960
<v Speaker 1>take a bite out of it. It's my favorite. Oh

0:10:44.120 --> 0:10:46.920
<v Speaker 1>and the guy that started it all published a book

0:10:46.960 --> 0:10:51.280
<v Speaker 1>about getting kids outside. It's called catch it crayfish, count

0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:55.560
<v Speaker 1>the stars. It's pretty sporty. And he'd be the first

0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:59.920
<v Speaker 1>to tell you get outside first and watch us second.

0:11:01.240 --> 0:11:04.160
<v Speaker 1>So I learned something this week. Y'all remember my friend

0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:06.960
<v Speaker 1>Terry Garner. He was the guy who met trout fishing

0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:10.840
<v Speaker 1>that I talked about in my podcast entitled The Power

0:11:11.040 --> 0:11:14.600
<v Speaker 1>of Hello. If you haven't already, I suggest you listen

0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:17.439
<v Speaker 1>to it. It's one of my favorites. But until you do,

0:11:17.880 --> 0:11:21.000
<v Speaker 1>let me give you a quick review. I went fly

0:11:21.120 --> 0:11:24.680
<v Speaker 1>fishing one day after suddenly deciding I was a fly fisherman,

0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:27.840
<v Speaker 1>and I quickly found out I wasn't after seeing a

0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:32.600
<v Speaker 1>guy fishing near me gracefully catch fish like orchestrated ballet. Well,

0:11:32.640 --> 0:11:35.080
<v Speaker 1>I caught nothing and looked like I was sword fighting

0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:38.480
<v Speaker 1>with the invisible man. We met on the bank and

0:11:38.600 --> 0:11:43.800
<v Speaker 1>made friends, good friends. Terry married up. He out kicked

0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:48.560
<v Speaker 1>his coverage. As they say, his wife, Terry spelled taor

0:11:48.760 --> 0:11:52.040
<v Speaker 1>I is a Jedi princess of the fly ride herself

0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:57.520
<v Speaker 1>and a dynamo educator who retired after forty years. Her

0:11:57.520 --> 0:12:00.560
<v Speaker 1>retirement lasted about as long as my patience. The possum

0:12:00.600 --> 0:12:03.080
<v Speaker 1>tree and dog and she went to work for a

0:12:03.160 --> 0:12:09.319
<v Speaker 1>nonprofit called Outdoors Tomorrow Foundation. Man, I have been doing

0:12:09.360 --> 0:12:12.080
<v Speaker 1>some digging and talking to Miss Terry about it, and

0:12:12.200 --> 0:12:17.200
<v Speaker 1>this program is fantastic. It's a whole curriculum geared for

0:12:17.440 --> 0:12:22.160
<v Speaker 1>all students K through twelve. Okay, Brent, it's a good program.

0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:24.960
<v Speaker 1>How will it help my kids at home when they're

0:12:24.960 --> 0:12:29.240
<v Speaker 1>doing these activities at school? Well, I'll tell you simply,

0:12:29.280 --> 0:12:33.000
<v Speaker 1>by stirring their interest and getting them involved in projects

0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:36.920
<v Speaker 1>that creates motion in their bodies and exercises their brain

0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:40.640
<v Speaker 1>beyond cartoons and an app on a tablet, all while

0:12:40.679 --> 0:12:44.680
<v Speaker 1>teaching them a skill. Getting them interested in school will

0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:48.600
<v Speaker 1>keep them interested at home. It's a fact that kids

0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:52.560
<v Speaker 1>who spend more time outside away from electronics, have fewer

0:12:52.600 --> 0:12:57.960
<v Speaker 1>sleep issues, feel better about themselves, and have better academic scores.

0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:01.960
<v Speaker 1>Now that last one reques as a disclaimer from yours. Truly,

0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:05.800
<v Speaker 1>if you spend all your time outside and none inside studying,

0:13:06.320 --> 0:13:11.360
<v Speaker 1>it may negatively affect your academic scores. My problem in

0:13:11.400 --> 0:13:13.680
<v Speaker 1>school was I was more interested in what was going

0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:17.040
<v Speaker 1>on outside than inside, and that's true today for me.

0:13:18.240 --> 0:13:20.800
<v Speaker 1>But you can have a healthy balance of both. Apparently,

0:13:20.840 --> 0:13:24.480
<v Speaker 1>I've seen it from my kids, but children whose first

0:13:24.520 --> 0:13:28.000
<v Speaker 1>exposure to the outdoors is at school go home and

0:13:28.080 --> 0:13:31.880
<v Speaker 1>get their parents and siblings interested, and the next thing

0:13:31.920 --> 0:13:34.559
<v Speaker 1>you know, we got a whole new group of folks

0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:38.440
<v Speaker 1>participating and supporting all the things that we like to do.

0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:41.559
<v Speaker 1>It's like being in the major leagues and having an

0:13:41.640 --> 0:13:44.520
<v Speaker 1>endless supply of minor leaguers working their way up through

0:13:44.559 --> 0:13:48.320
<v Speaker 1>the system. Reva Hanson, the wizard behind the Curtain, who

0:13:48.480 --> 0:13:50.880
<v Speaker 1>edits this podcast, is going to put a link for

0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:55.360
<v Speaker 1>the Outdoors Tomorrow Foundation website and the show description, and

0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:57.400
<v Speaker 1>for y'all that are too lazy to look it up

0:13:57.880 --> 0:14:01.880
<v Speaker 1>or too technically challenged like yours, truly, get your pencil ready.

0:14:02.800 --> 0:14:11.679
<v Speaker 1>It's www dot g t F dot com. They've got

0:14:11.840 --> 0:14:16.600
<v Speaker 1>nearly forty activities that they teach kids. I'm positive there's

0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:20.720
<v Speaker 1>something in there for everyone. Show it to your kids, teachers,

0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:24.320
<v Speaker 1>your school board, the PTO, and get these folks to

0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:28.640
<v Speaker 1>look at it. It's really good. You know, my son Hunter,

0:14:28.680 --> 0:14:31.120
<v Speaker 1>who I talked about in part one, when the deer

0:14:31.200 --> 0:14:34.520
<v Speaker 1>ran out and jumped between him and me, Dad and

0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:37.440
<v Speaker 1>my brother Tim, he told me once that he felt

0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:41.000
<v Speaker 1>cheated not getting to grow up like I did, which

0:14:41.120 --> 0:14:44.160
<v Speaker 1>was basically fair, showing up at the trough at feeding

0:14:44.240 --> 0:14:46.560
<v Speaker 1>times and when I was finished, only to wander back

0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:50.320
<v Speaker 1>out into the wilderness. Unfortunately for him, I couldn't make

0:14:50.360 --> 0:14:52.920
<v Speaker 1>a living on a small farm like I grew up on.

0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:55.960
<v Speaker 1>With the job I had, we had to move occasionally.

0:14:56.520 --> 0:15:00.480
<v Speaker 1>He didn't have the opportunity to organically acquire the skills

0:15:00.480 --> 0:15:02.560
<v Speaker 1>when he wasn't with me the way I did when

0:15:02.600 --> 0:15:05.800
<v Speaker 1>I was out on my own roam in the countryside.

0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:08.680
<v Speaker 1>He was solely dependent on my schedule and when I

0:15:08.720 --> 0:15:11.560
<v Speaker 1>could take him. We didn't live on the old home

0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:14.080
<v Speaker 1>place or near any of any of my family that

0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:16.560
<v Speaker 1>could have substituted for me when I was off playing

0:15:16.600 --> 0:15:20.640
<v Speaker 1>cops and robbers. This program would have been tailor made

0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:24.480
<v Speaker 1>for him and others like him. I really encourage you

0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:27.640
<v Speaker 1>to get your schools involved to check this out. Miss

0:15:27.760 --> 0:15:29.880
<v Speaker 1>Terry will be glad to talk to any of you

0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:33.840
<v Speaker 1>and all of you and the school administrators. You can

0:15:33.880 --> 0:15:37.880
<v Speaker 1>reach her at Terry at goo TF dot com. That's

0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:44.680
<v Speaker 1>t A. R. I at go oo TF dot com.

0:15:44.760 --> 0:15:47.040
<v Speaker 1>All right, I've been rambling on and we've done gone

0:15:47.040 --> 0:15:49.160
<v Speaker 1>a long time without telling the stories. I'm gonna tell

0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:53.200
<v Speaker 1>you one. Hunter was badgering me one Sunday afternoon after

0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:56.360
<v Speaker 1>church to go fishing, and I eventually caved under the

0:15:56.360 --> 0:16:00.280
<v Speaker 1>pressure and loaded all our fishing gear, including his, and

0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:03.480
<v Speaker 1>we headed to the river. We stopped to visit it

0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:06.520
<v Speaker 1>with our friends at the bait shop and bought some crickets.

0:16:06.960 --> 0:16:08.920
<v Speaker 1>It was the middle of the afternoon, so instead of

0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:11.400
<v Speaker 1>taking a boat, we decided we'd just fished from the

0:16:11.600 --> 0:16:15.000
<v Speaker 1>new dock just down from the boat ramp. Hunter was

0:16:15.040 --> 0:16:18.840
<v Speaker 1>six years old and all boy. We got to the

0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:21.600
<v Speaker 1>fishing dock, we got our fishing poles ready and our

0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:24.680
<v Speaker 1>hooks baited and started fishing. And Hunter hadn't had his

0:16:24.760 --> 0:16:27.040
<v Speaker 1>fishing pole in his hand long enough to catch fish

0:16:27.080 --> 0:16:30.760
<v Speaker 1>when he decided he's got to pee. And being a

0:16:30.800 --> 0:16:33.680
<v Speaker 1>boy of six who was famous for waiting until the

0:16:33.760 --> 0:16:38.160
<v Speaker 1>last minute, he needed to pee right now. Daddy, I

0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:41.000
<v Speaker 1>got a pee. He threw his fishing pole at me.

0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:44.800
<v Speaker 1>I told him just pee off the dock. There wasn't

0:16:44.800 --> 0:16:47.280
<v Speaker 1>anyone around, and judging by the way he announced his

0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:50.760
<v Speaker 1>current condition, I don't think he would have cared or

0:16:51.000 --> 0:16:55.600
<v Speaker 1>had enough time to relocate. He let it rip red.

0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:57.760
<v Speaker 1>Adare could have put him to work putting out oil

0:16:57.840 --> 0:17:00.800
<v Speaker 1>well fires with what he had generating over there. I

0:17:00.840 --> 0:17:04.119
<v Speaker 1>went back to fishing, hypnotized by my cork that was

0:17:04.160 --> 0:17:07.120
<v Speaker 1>starting to get a little action. Then he hollered owl

0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:11.080
<v Speaker 1>some bit me. I looked over where he was standing

0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:13.159
<v Speaker 1>and I saw a red wash about the size of

0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:17.640
<v Speaker 1>a humming bird flying away. Oh no, the little man

0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:21.800
<v Speaker 1>has gotten stung. That turned out to be the understatement

0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:25.159
<v Speaker 1>of the decade. Where to get you, bud was the

0:17:25.160 --> 0:17:28.280
<v Speaker 1>blue jeans still around his knees. He turned towards me

0:17:28.600 --> 0:17:31.320
<v Speaker 1>and to look on his face told me exactly where

0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:36.320
<v Speaker 1>he'd been stung. Whammo, right in the wrong place to

0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:42.400
<v Speaker 1>get stung. I remember thinking this is not good. Hunter

0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.879
<v Speaker 1>started squalling and I wanted to After looking at that sting,

0:17:46.640 --> 0:17:49.560
<v Speaker 1>it looked bad, and I figured we're probably going to

0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:52.040
<v Speaker 1>have to get this looked at. So we loaded up

0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:54.520
<v Speaker 1>and we headed to the bait shop and a first

0:17:54.520 --> 0:17:57.359
<v Speaker 1>aid kid. Our friend at the bait shop gave me

0:17:57.400 --> 0:18:00.560
<v Speaker 1>some of those antiseptic ampules that you bring can apply

0:18:00.640 --> 0:18:03.520
<v Speaker 1>to this thing. They would hopefully relieve some of the pain.

0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:06.640
<v Speaker 1>I called ahead to the doctor's office to tell him

0:18:06.680 --> 0:18:08.880
<v Speaker 1>what had happened, and then we were on the way.

0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:12.200
<v Speaker 1>The male nurse that answered the phone asked me what

0:18:12.240 --> 0:18:14.720
<v Speaker 1>the problem was, and I said, well, my son got

0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:17.800
<v Speaker 1>stung by wash. He said, is he allergic? And I

0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:21.960
<v Speaker 1>said no? And he said is he getting nauseated or

0:18:22.000 --> 0:18:26.040
<v Speaker 1>having any trouble breathing? I said nope, and it was

0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:30.400
<v Speaker 1>just a wasp thing. I said, yep. And I could

0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:33.040
<v Speaker 1>sense his disbelief and why I was bringing a boy

0:18:33.560 --> 0:18:36.600
<v Speaker 1>to the doctor for a simple wasp thing when he

0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:42.240
<v Speaker 1>wasn't allergic showing any signs of being allergic. He said, well, okay,

0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:48.160
<v Speaker 1>where'd he gets stung? And I told him and he went, ooh, man,

0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:51.320
<v Speaker 1>got you y'all come on on the way to the

0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:55.000
<v Speaker 1>doctor's office. Hunter says that it's more comfortable for him

0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:58.240
<v Speaker 1>to take off his breeches. The blue jeans apparently were

0:18:58.240 --> 0:19:02.400
<v Speaker 1>applying pressure to his wound. Freedom he now enjoyed sporting

0:19:02.400 --> 0:19:05.920
<v Speaker 1>a wife beat her T shirt and SpongeBob boxers afforded

0:19:06.000 --> 0:19:10.439
<v Speaker 1>him the luxury of being mostly pain free. After driving

0:19:10.480 --> 0:19:12.520
<v Speaker 1>at the doctor's office, he settled in the chair in

0:19:12.520 --> 0:19:14.800
<v Speaker 1>the waiting room while I filled out the catalog of

0:19:14.920 --> 0:19:18.200
<v Speaker 1>questions that go with seeing the doctor. Finishing the history

0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:20.480
<v Speaker 1>of the world as I knew it for the insurance company.

0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:22.879
<v Speaker 1>I turned around to check on my little buddy, to

0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:25.639
<v Speaker 1>see him sitting in a seat with each leg spread

0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:28.520
<v Speaker 1>apart and resting on the arms of the chair, reading

0:19:28.520 --> 0:19:34.040
<v Speaker 1>a newspaper. Make yourself at home son. In relatively short order,

0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:36.560
<v Speaker 1>they called us back to one of the exam rooms.

0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:39.800
<v Speaker 1>Hunter's doctor walks in reading his chart, and as he's

0:19:39.840 --> 0:19:42.560
<v Speaker 1>sitting down on his stool with a slight grin, he says,

0:19:42.600 --> 0:19:47.200
<v Speaker 1>ooh man, what happened to you? Hunter never cracked a smile.

0:19:48.040 --> 0:19:51.440
<v Speaker 1>The little guy stood up, dropped his boxers to his ankles,

0:19:51.680 --> 0:19:55.800
<v Speaker 1>points and says, take a look at this, exposing his

0:19:55.880 --> 0:19:59.639
<v Speaker 1>offended appendage that now resembled an airport windsock on the

0:19:59.680 --> 0:20:04.119
<v Speaker 1>wind swept planes of Oklahoma. Then he starts telling the

0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:07.760
<v Speaker 1>good doctor of the story, beginning about his first birthday

0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:10.639
<v Speaker 1>and hitting most of the highlights and finally getting to

0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:13.360
<v Speaker 1>the park where the was stung him in the nether regions.

0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:17.320
<v Speaker 1>After about five minutes, the doctor's eyes were starting to

0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:21.040
<v Speaker 1>glaze over. When Hunter finally finished the story and seizing

0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:24.359
<v Speaker 1>the break, the doctor said, well, you're gonna be all right.

0:20:25.080 --> 0:20:27.120
<v Speaker 1>I'm gonna give you some medicine so you won't get

0:20:27.160 --> 0:20:30.760
<v Speaker 1>sick from the sting. It was just a waltz. The

0:20:30.800 --> 0:20:33.480
<v Speaker 1>doctor spun his stool around from Hunter and he was

0:20:33.520 --> 0:20:36.200
<v Speaker 1>reaching for his chart when Hunter tapped him on the shoulder,

0:20:36.200 --> 0:20:39.080
<v Speaker 1>and he said, actually, I thought a sniper got me

0:20:39.119 --> 0:20:42.959
<v Speaker 1>with a twenty two. I thought that doctor was gonna

0:20:43.000 --> 0:20:46.760
<v Speaker 1>have a stroke. Laughing, he fell off his stool and

0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:50.000
<v Speaker 1>was banging his fist on the floor of the exam room,

0:20:50.520 --> 0:20:53.480
<v Speaker 1>and I couldn't catch my bread. I looked over at

0:20:53.560 --> 0:20:56.800
<v Speaker 1>my son standing there with his drawers down to his ankles,

0:20:56.960 --> 0:20:59.280
<v Speaker 1>hands propped up on his hips, and grinning like his

0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:01.960
<v Speaker 1>next line was going to be thanks. I'll be here

0:21:02.000 --> 0:21:07.040
<v Speaker 1>all week. Be sure to tip your waitresses, kids, and outdoors.

0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:10.960
<v Speaker 1>It's a magical elixir for memories, and the good ones

0:21:11.200 --> 0:21:15.160
<v Speaker 1>will always outnumber the not so good ones. My wounded

0:21:15.200 --> 0:21:19.080
<v Speaker 1>warrior is a registered nurse now. He graduated nursing school

0:21:19.119 --> 0:21:21.920
<v Speaker 1>at the beginning of the pandemic and was thrown into

0:21:21.960 --> 0:21:24.520
<v Speaker 1>the fire work and ICEEU for a year and a half.

0:21:25.440 --> 0:21:27.840
<v Speaker 1>He'll be married in a few months, and one day

0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:31.800
<v Speaker 1>he may have some grocery goblins of his own. If

0:21:31.800 --> 0:21:33.919
<v Speaker 1>he does. I hope he looks back on those times

0:21:33.920 --> 0:21:38.800
<v Speaker 1>with me as much reverence as I do with him.

0:21:38.960 --> 0:21:41.200
<v Speaker 1>I texted him a few minutes ago and ask him

0:21:41.200 --> 0:21:43.880
<v Speaker 1>that now, since he's been a nurse, has he's seen

0:21:43.920 --> 0:21:47.199
<v Speaker 1>any similar injuries to people like the one he received

0:21:47.200 --> 0:21:51.239
<v Speaker 1>the day we went fishing. His ForWord response summed up

0:21:51.240 --> 0:21:54.200
<v Speaker 1>to severity of that wilderness trauma so many years ago,

0:21:54.359 --> 0:22:00.639
<v Speaker 1>perfectly none that lived. Dad. I thank you all for listening.

0:22:01.119 --> 0:22:04.320
<v Speaker 1>Get some kids and get outside. You'll both be glad

0:22:04.359 --> 0:22:08.480
<v Speaker 1>you did. This is Brent Reeves signing off. Y'all be

0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:08.920
<v Speaker 1>careful