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Speaker 1: Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves

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Speaker 1: from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.

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Speaker 1: I want you to stay a while as I share

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Speaker 1: my stories and the country skills that will help you

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Speaker 1: beat the system. This Country Life is proudly presented as

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Speaker 1: part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best

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Speaker 1: outdoor podcast the airways have to offer. All right, friends,

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Speaker 1: pull you up a chair or drop that tailgate. I

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Speaker 1: think I got a thing or two to teach you

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Speaker 1: what's so good about living in the country. Living in

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Speaker 1: the country can mean different things to different people. To

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Speaker 1: my city mouse wife, if you're thirty minutes away from

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Speaker 1: a Target store, you're in the country. To me, it's

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Speaker 1: quite the opposite. And that's entirely too close to town.

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Speaker 1: But is it really. I'm going to talk about what's

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Speaker 1: so good about living in the country and it might

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Speaker 1: surprise you. But first I'm going to tell you a story.

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Speaker 1: The only thing this story has in reference to living

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Speaker 1: in the country is that the friend of mine that

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Speaker 1: involves when we were children rode the same school bus

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Speaker 1: I did. We both lived in the country. Here's the

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Speaker 1: story I reported to ford Sell, Oklahoma for Army Basic

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Speaker 1: Training on the seventeenth day of September nineteen eighty seven.

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Speaker 1: On the eighteenth day of September, I was seriously doubting

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Speaker 1: my ability to make cognitive decisions for myself. All my

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Speaker 1: thoughts leading up to that moment were sound, reasonable conclusions

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Speaker 1: to the path I wanted to take in life, at

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Speaker 1: least that's what I thought. Fortunately, for the next nine

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Speaker 1: weeks I wouldn't have to do anything for myself. For

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Speaker 1: all there was a drill sergeant at every turn waiting

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Speaker 1: to tell me what to do. And I don't really

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Speaker 1: know what all the hollering was about, because I went

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Speaker 1: everywhere they told me, when they told me, and how

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Speaker 1: they told me. Yet apparently I was always late. Her

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Speaker 1: Private was a phrase I heard continuously by the people

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Speaker 1: who were in complete control of my schedule. I was thinking,

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Speaker 1: why are y'all hollering at me to come over where

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Speaker 1: you are? Did you not just holler at me to

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Speaker 1: go over yonder where I am? Now? My dad had

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Speaker 1: warned me, telling me from his own experiences that they

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Speaker 1: were about to make me sit through some of the

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Speaker 1: dumbest stuff on the planet, but to pay attention anyway

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Speaker 1: and not do what he did when he went through

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Speaker 1: it back in the nineteen sixties. He told me about

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Speaker 1: sitting in a classroom for a class about how to

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Speaker 1: conduct themselves in the chow hall. He said, the instructor

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Speaker 1: was talking about how to eat with a fork. My

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Speaker 1: dad told me he didn't know about the rest of

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Speaker 1: them folks in there, since he just met them all,

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Speaker 1: but he been he been eating with a fork all

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Speaker 1: his life, and this looked like a good time to

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Speaker 1: take a nap. But it wasn't, he said, them focused

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Speaker 1: on cotton to nap. Son, pay attention when you told to.

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Speaker 1: So I did just what he told me. And on

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Speaker 1: top of the regular training schedule that started way before

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Speaker 1: breakfast and soldiers and training were signed to other duties,

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Speaker 1: including picking up trash and toting stuff from one place

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Speaker 1: to another, and the all familiar KP kitchen patrol, kitchen police,

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Speaker 1: whatever you want to call it. It was something every

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Speaker 1: budding soldier had to do. It was hauling out trash

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Speaker 1: or wiping off tables, mopping the floor, keeping the big

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Speaker 1: bags of sweet milk stocked in the milk dispenser, And

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Speaker 1: that turns out it was a pretty sweet gig. All

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Speaker 1: you had to do was standing at parade rest by

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Speaker 1: the dispenser and reload it with a big bag of milk.

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Speaker 1: When someone said, Private, there ain't no milk coming out. Well,

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Speaker 1: easy enough, and it was better than mopping the kitchen

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Speaker 1: or hauling out mounds of garbage bags of trash. In

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Speaker 1: the Oklahoma sun and heat. There were two milk dispensers

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Speaker 1: positions straight across from one another. Now that way, twice

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Speaker 1: as many soldiers could get their milk and get to

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Speaker 1: a table and commenced to eating when a drill sergeant

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Speaker 1: said it was time to get it done, which was

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Speaker 1: always rudely loud and urging folks to hurry up because

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Speaker 1: they were already late. Now that had become a redundant

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Speaker 1: thing by this point, but it would follow us through

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Speaker 1: the remainder of our training. Since there were two milk dispensers,

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Speaker 1: there were two privates standing at parade rest, facing each other.

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Speaker 1: For those that are wondering, parade rest is one step

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Speaker 1: below standing at attention. Your arms are behind you and

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Speaker 1: positioned in the small of your back, one hand resting

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Speaker 1: over the other. Your feet are twelve inches apart. Your

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Speaker 1: head is motionless and facing forward. And I was looking

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Speaker 1: at this fellow over there, and he was looking at me. Now.

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Speaker 1: Other than moving to change the big milk bags, That's

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Speaker 1: how the morning went. We just stood there staring at

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Speaker 1: each other for hours while the whole battery of soldiers

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Speaker 1: processed through eating breakfast. I don't know how long we've

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Speaker 1: been standing there staring at one another, and it seemed

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Speaker 1: like an eternity. But all of a sudden I realized

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Speaker 1: I knew that fella. I confirmed it by his name Tag.

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Speaker 1: He'd been a childhood friend that I had played with

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Speaker 1: from kindergarten to the second grade when we lived in

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Speaker 1: Rise in Arkansas. We moved to the family farm outside

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Speaker 1: of Warn, some twenty five miles away when school led

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Speaker 1: out the summer of the second grain, and I hadn't

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Speaker 1: seen him since. Not once since the age of eight

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Speaker 1: had I seen my old pal Jeff. And yet thirteen

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Speaker 1: years later, here we stood ten feet apart in an

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Speaker 1: army mess hall on the wind swept plates, Oklahoma. Now,

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Speaker 1: opportunities such as these exist only in the dreams of

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Speaker 1: people who wake up like I do in my own

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Speaker 1: little playground. We're having fun, is numero uno. I was

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Speaker 1: more than a little excited because lately, having fun had

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Speaker 1: become a real challenge the folks that owned the chow

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Speaker 1: haul and the ones that had me on milk duty,

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Speaker 1: it seemed to that. But finally breakfast had been served

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Speaker 1: and we went about the chore of mopping and getting

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Speaker 1: the mess all squared away from noon chow. Now Jeff

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Speaker 1: didn't have a clue who I was, but I knew

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Speaker 1: he'd remember me, or I felt like he would when

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Speaker 1: I eventually told him who I was. We'd been potting

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Speaker 1: us back in the day, and now we were the

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Speaker 1: only two folks in the chow hall mopping. Everyone else

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Speaker 1: was in the kitchen hauling out trash. We were side

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Speaker 1: by side. Even though we weren't supposed to talk, we

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Speaker 1: were close enough that we could whisper back and forth.

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Speaker 1: I started the conversation, Hey man, where are you from?

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Speaker 1: He said, A small town in Arkansas. You ain't never

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Speaker 1: heard of it. I said, well, don't tell me. I'm

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Speaker 1: pretty good at guessing stuff, well, not really guessing. I

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Speaker 1: have a gift. They say I can read minds a

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Speaker 1: little bit. He didn't say anything, he just grunted. I said,

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Speaker 1: you're from Arkansas? He said, yeah, I already told you

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Speaker 1: that I said, yeah, but you didn't tell me. Hold On,

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Speaker 1: I'm thinking, I'm thinking, well, is your school mascot some

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Speaker 1: kind of cat? He said, a wildcat. Lots of schools

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Speaker 1: have them. He wasn't impressed, and he was really concentrating

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Speaker 1: on mopping that floor, like the message that threatened us

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Speaker 1: with a fate worse than death if we didn't do

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Speaker 1: it to his specifications. I said, well, let me see.

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Speaker 1: Your town has less than ten thousand people in it.

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Speaker 1: He said, I already told you it was a small town.

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Speaker 1: I said, well, you didn't tell me. Hold On, I'm

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Speaker 1: getting a signal. You didn't tell me it was Rising, Arkansas.

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Speaker 1: He looked over at me and his mouth wide open.

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Speaker 1: He said, yeah, man, that's right. I said, hush, I'm

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Speaker 1: getting another signal. We kept mopping. Your first name starts

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Speaker 1: with a with a J. It's James, No Jeffrey. Your

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Speaker 1: name is Jeffrey, but you go by jeff He stopped

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Speaker 1: mopping and was looking at me with his eyes biggest,

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Speaker 1: biggest saucers. I decided to go all in. I said,

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Speaker 1: your kindergarten teacher's name was Miss Miller, and your second

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Speaker 1: grade teacher's name was Miss Davis. I thought he was

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Speaker 1: fixing the faint, and then he looked at my name

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Speaker 1: tag and he said Brent. I started laughing, and he

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Speaker 1: started laughing. He dropped his mop and we hugged, and

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Speaker 1: he said, man, you're the first friendly person I've seen

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Speaker 1: since I got here. And we started talking and catching

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Speaker 1: up and laughing like a couple of clowns, which is

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Speaker 1: one of the nicer things. The mess sergeant called us

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Speaker 1: when he saw our reunion taking place. Then he made

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Speaker 1: us do push ups until he got tired of watching. Unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: the only time they aren't in a herf you to

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Speaker 1: finish a task is when you're doing push ups, and

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Speaker 1: that's just how that happened. Living in the country, what's

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Speaker 1: so good about it? Well? That question was posed to

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Speaker 1: me by Bailey, my eleven year old daughter, in February

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Speaker 1: this year. Wasn't a facetious question. Her mother, Alexis, and

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Speaker 1: I were riding down the road and I was lost

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Speaker 1: in thought about podcast ideas and asking them for suggestions.

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Speaker 1: Bailey immediately said, you talking about living in the country, right,

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Speaker 1: I do, Well, what's so great about living in the country?

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Speaker 1: I was slightly insulted, and I said, well, lots of things. Huh,

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Speaker 1: She said, no, Daddy, that's what you tell the people,

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Speaker 1: tell them what's good about living in the country. And

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Speaker 1: she proceeded to spad out an outline so fast I

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Speaker 1: had to ask Alexis to take notes for me on

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Speaker 1: my phone. I'm an idiot. Alexis just rolled her eyes

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Speaker 1: and looked out the window. She's seen me bested by

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Speaker 1: intellectually superior persons for so many years now that it's

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Speaker 1: no longer funny. More like, it's kind of sad, especially

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Speaker 1: when they're like ten. Anyway, I liked the idea, but

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Speaker 1: I knew that that it needed to marinate until the

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Speaker 1: time was right, even with Bailey reminding me of it

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Speaker 1: two or three times a month. Daddy, when you're gonna

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Speaker 1: do my show, Well, okay, kid, here we go. People

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Speaker 1: ask me tell me about where you grew up, and

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Speaker 1: when I think of that, I immediately picked our farm where

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Speaker 1: we lived. In the view from our back porch, sometimes

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Speaker 1: I see myself in the third person, standing there, wearing

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Speaker 1: a red cap with a val Mac logo on it.

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Speaker 1: Val Mac was the company my dad worked for. Also,

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Speaker 1: I'd had on a pair of faded overalls and a

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Speaker 1: T shirt and that wardrobe combination that served me well

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Speaker 1: over the years. At the time, I wasn't trying to

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Speaker 1: make a statement. It was just what we all wore.

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Speaker 1: I'm not trying to make a statement now. But my

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Speaker 1: city mouse wife, who lives on the edge of fashionable

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Speaker 1: clothing and wouldn't be beautiful in anything, used to say

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Speaker 1: my overalls were making a statement, a statement that I

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Speaker 1: had just given up trying. She did. She didn't get

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Speaker 1: the culture, and she didn't see the significance. I didn't

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Speaker 1: see it either. I was just live in my best

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Speaker 1: life and wasn't concerned about much of anything. Then she

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Speaker 1: started paying attention. She calls it the Reeves uniform. Now,

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Speaker 1: last September, it was hot. We were packing the traveling

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Speaker 1: stay overnight in northwest Arkansas where I was going to

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Speaker 1: be a judge at the World Championships World Cookoff. Now

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Speaker 1: that's country, and I'll be back up there doing that

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Speaker 1: job again this year on September seventh, y'all come see

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Speaker 1: me wear your overalls. Anyway, it was hot, and I

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Speaker 1: knew i'd be standing around outside checking out all the

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Speaker 1: vendors and talking to the teams that were cooking and

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Speaker 1: everything that was going on and while I was packing,

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Speaker 1: Alexis said, are you not wearing overalls? I said, it's

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Speaker 1: going to be pretty warm. I thought about wearing shorts.

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Speaker 1: She said, you're going to get beat up if you

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Speaker 1: do that, and she was probably right. I was greeted

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Speaker 1: by a lot of folks wearing overalls. Most of them

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Speaker 1: didn't live in the country. It was an identifier that

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Speaker 1: like minded folks were using to find their fellow compatriots

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Speaker 1: and a sea of strangers. They were expecting me to

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Speaker 1: be in them, and I'm glad I was now good

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Speaker 1: or bad. It's an impression given off by the wear.

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Speaker 1: I remember supporting a pair of overalls and waiting outside

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Speaker 1: of Bailey's classroom when she was in the second grade

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Speaker 1: to eat lunch with her at school. A class across

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Speaker 1: the hall started marching out, following their teacher, like I

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Speaker 1: ain't headed to a picnic. When one little boy asked

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Speaker 1: me as he walked by, are you a farmer? He

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Speaker 1: identified my outfit as such and just asked the obvious question.

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Speaker 1: I said, no, I'm a boxer, and I punched him,

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Speaker 1: just kidding. I told him I'm the boogeyman that sleeps

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Speaker 1: under your bed. I did not say that either. But

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Speaker 1: I get the relationship of clothing with the mindset of

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Speaker 1: a person even more now than before, and it's demonstrated

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Speaker 1: to me. Every time I see someone wearing a beargreas

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Speaker 1: hat or someone sees me wearing mine, We're immediately drawn

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Speaker 1: to each other. We share a bond and have a

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Speaker 1: common understanding of at least one thing. We both have

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Speaker 1: an appreciation for stories, whether it's Clay's documentary style or

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Speaker 1: whatever this is. I'm doing lots of times. I'll even

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Speaker 1: get pictures of people who have been spotted wearing bear

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Speaker 1: grease hats and they send them to me. Just the

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Speaker 1: other day, I started getting pictures of a guy on

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Speaker 1: a TV show called Race or Survive New Zealand, and

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Speaker 1: he's sporting a bear greas hat. I hope he does

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Speaker 1: well and doesn't embarrass the rest of us, So good luck,

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Speaker 1: bear greas hat man. Also, I don't want you to

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Speaker 1: thank you the only guy from that part of the

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Speaker 1: world who's got a bear grease bondy strap to his noggin.

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Speaker 1: Wayde Pankhurst is an Instagram friend of mine and is

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Speaker 1: bopping around down Under hypnotizing water buffalo and charming crocs

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Speaker 1: in one of his own, and there are others. But

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Speaker 1: now back to Bailey's suggestion, what's so good about living

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Speaker 1: in the country. The easiest answer is everything. But that's

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Speaker 1: my answer. It's my answer because that's where I grew

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Speaker 1: up in where I lived the majority of my life.

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Speaker 1: I lived in the city once for a little over

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Speaker 1: a year, and it seemed like an eternity. And I

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Speaker 1: know I'm supposed to be expounding on what's so good

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Speaker 1: about living in the country, But y'all just hear me

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Speaker 1: out as I go down rabbit hole number six fifty one.

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Speaker 1: Here's an example. A week or so ago, I got

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Speaker 1: a message from a guy in California, Tyler Trull, who

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Speaker 1: wrote and said he was thirty nine years old, born

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Speaker 1: and raised in Central California and had never hunted a

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Speaker 1: day in his life and enjoyed this country life. Now.

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Speaker 1: Another guy sent me a message not long after I

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Speaker 1: started this endeavor from the other side of the country,

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Speaker 1: Ryan Monahan, who lives in the middle of New York City,

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Speaker 1: and telling me that he's just crazy about hunting and fishing.

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Speaker 1: And even another fellow whose name I can't recall, sent

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Speaker 1: me a message once talking about how much he identified

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Speaker 1: with this country life life. He was also a New Yorker,

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Speaker 1: but this man had said he had never spent a

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Speaker 1: minute hunting or fishing, and hadn't done much of anything

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Speaker 1: beyond the city limits of New York. It was fascinating

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Speaker 1: to me that he could be a fan of all

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Speaker 1: the outdoor content having never experienced at firsthand. It wasn't

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Speaker 1: like my childhood obsession with hunting elk with a bow,

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Speaker 1: even though I had never seen any elk or owned

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Speaker 1: a bowl in my life. At that point, I had hunted,

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Speaker 1: and I knew the general dynamics of what to expect.

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Speaker 1: It was actually beyond anything I would have dreamed of.

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Speaker 1: But the basic concept was there, but this fellow had

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Speaker 1: nothing to equate it to, or so I thought. We

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Speaker 1: texted back and forth for a while, and him telling

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Speaker 1: me how much he enjoyed the content, and me thanking him,

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Speaker 1: and eventually I asked him what it was he enjoyed.

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Speaker 1: This was still early in my show and I was

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Speaker 1: still really trying to figure out what this show was about,

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Speaker 1: what the heart of this show really is. I wanted

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Speaker 1: it to appeal to anyone who could take the time

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Speaker 1: to listen and not just the people who grew up

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Speaker 1: like me. Even though it was important to be genuine

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Speaker 1: and identifiable to those folks too, regardless of their zip code.

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Speaker 1: I also didn't want it to be another how to

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Speaker 1: Hunt and Fish show. We got way better folks than

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Speaker 1: me employed here at ME. They can teach circles around

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Speaker 1: me as far as outdoor lessons go. So what was

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Speaker 1: it that had this fellow tuning in every week to

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Speaker 1: listen to me? I wanted it, know, not for vain reasons,

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Speaker 1: but so I could figure out exactly what it was

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Speaker 1: I was doing right now. Mister New York City man

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Speaker 1: answered my question in one sentence. He cracked the case

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Speaker 1: and solved the mystery that I couldn't. And I'm a

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Speaker 1: guy that was churning it out every week. He said,

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Speaker 1: I identify with your show because when your dad was

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Speaker 1: taking you hunting and fishing, mine was taking me to

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Speaker 1: Yankee Stadium. And there it was the answer and direction

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Speaker 1: that I've been looking for. The relationships we all share

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Speaker 1: with the things and the people we care about is

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Speaker 1: the common thread, regardless of the pursuit or the location.

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Speaker 1: Living in the country doesn't have an address, it doesn't

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Speaker 1: start and stop at the city limits. To me, aside

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Speaker 1: from the physical aspect of living further than you can

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Speaker 1: chunk a rock and hit your nearest neighbor, living in

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Speaker 1: the country is how you live. It's how you viewed

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Speaker 1: the world and how you treat the folks in it,

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Speaker 1: all things being equal, for me, I prefer to be

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Speaker 1: amongst the trees without the pollution of noise. I enjoy

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Speaker 1: the woods at night, and only my coonhound is company.

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Speaker 1: And then when I'm there it's just him, I find

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Speaker 1: myself wishing some one was there with me to enjoy

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Speaker 1: the hunt, someone to share the experience, someone who values

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Speaker 1: the same things as me, a common like of something

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Speaker 1: wholesome and good, something that can be shared with a

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Speaker 1: hound and one another person in a seemingly endless experience

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Speaker 1: of quiet wilderness. Now, had I grown up differently, maybe

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Speaker 1: it would be sharing an afternoon with one of my

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Speaker 1: favorite people plus forty six thousand, five hundred others in

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Speaker 1: Yankee Stadium. In reality, the answer to Bailey's question what's

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Speaker 1: so good about living in a country? It isn't being

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Speaker 1: born and growing up living in the country like I did.

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Speaker 1: It's living in this country like the majority of us

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Speaker 1: do in this country. In spite of all the arguments

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Speaker 1: and differences of opinions on which group is right and

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Speaker 1: which group is wrong, two folks from totally different circumstances

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Speaker 1: and upbringings can find common ground and enjoy each other's

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Speaker 1: thoughts and observations. And that's about his country as it gets.

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Speaker 1: Want you to do me a favor. I know there's

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Speaker 1: all kinds of folks that listen to This Country Life

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Speaker 1: who who are from all walks of life, in all

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Speaker 1: different ages and tastes in music, But humor me and

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Speaker 1: listen to Tom t Hawk's nineteen seventy four number one

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Speaker 1: hit Country Is. He says everything in two minutes and

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Speaker 1: nine seconds that I tried to say here. Listen to

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Speaker 1: the message. It's good, and it really is. Thank y'all

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Speaker 1: so much for listening and allowing me to share my

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Speaker 1: thoughts with you every week. Y'all keep those stories coming

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Speaker 1: to my tcl story at the medieater dot com and

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Speaker 1: dad Gum. How about those This Country Life t shirts?

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Speaker 1: My man Hunter Spencer did an incredible job designing those,

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Speaker 1: and I couldn't be more proud of how they turned down.

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Speaker 1: They tell me they're selling fast and they're already putting

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Speaker 1: in an order for more, so y'all hang in there.

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Speaker 1: They're working on hats too. I can't thank y'all enough

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Speaker 1: for supporting this country life through the merchandise reviews and

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Speaker 1: sharing our show with other folks that you think mighta George.

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Speaker 1: Until next week, this is Brent Reeve signing off. Y'all

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Speaker 1: be careful