1
00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:08,640
Speaker 1: Welcome to this country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves

2
00:00:09,119 --> 00:00:12,680
Speaker 1: from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.

3
00:00:12,920 --> 00:00:14,680
Speaker 1: I want you to stay a while as I share

4
00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:19,200
Speaker 1: my experiences and life lessons. This country Life is presented

5
00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:23,240
Speaker 1: by Case Knives on Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you

6
00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:28,240
Speaker 1: the best outdoor podcast the airwaves have to offer. All right, friends,

7
00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:31,760
Speaker 1: grab a chair or drop that tailgate. I've got some

8
00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:42,840
Speaker 1: stories to share. Superstitions crossing your fingers, looking for four

9
00:00:42,920 --> 00:00:46,360
Speaker 1: leaf clovers and avoiding the number thirteen, or some common

10
00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:50,440
Speaker 1: superstitions that nearly everyone knows about. I'm going to tell

11
00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:52,440
Speaker 1: you about some of the ones I grew up around

12
00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:56,280
Speaker 1: and maybe still practice to some degree. I'm going to

13
00:00:56,320 --> 00:00:59,240
Speaker 1: tell you all about it, but first I'm going to

14
00:00:59,320 --> 00:01:09,360
Speaker 1: tell you a story. Somewhere around nineteen eighty eight, we

15
00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:11,880
Speaker 1: were just driving down the road on the way to

16
00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,399
Speaker 1: the woods one day. Mister Leon was keeping the fire

17
00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:18,480
Speaker 1: stoked on a sale of Menthos cigarette and looking at

18
00:01:18,480 --> 00:01:20,840
Speaker 1: a copy of an ownership map that we were using

19
00:01:20,880 --> 00:01:24,600
Speaker 1: to locate some Georgia Pacific property lines we were going

20
00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:28,320
Speaker 1: to move some loggers onto in a few weeks. I

21
00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:31,840
Speaker 1: was a young man working for GP managing Timber. This

22
00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:33,920
Speaker 1: was before I was old enough to be a police

23
00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:39,080
Speaker 1: officer in Arkansas, and mister Leon Garlington was the crew boss.

24
00:01:39,959 --> 00:01:42,000
Speaker 1: He was a veteran of World War Two, having seen

25
00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:45,880
Speaker 1: some brutal fighting in the South Pacific. I respected him

26
00:01:45,880 --> 00:01:50,320
Speaker 1: and he tolerated me. He hated everybody, and most everything

27
00:01:50,360 --> 00:01:53,800
Speaker 1: made him mad. It all stemmed from the war, I'm sure.

28
00:01:53,840 --> 00:01:57,760
Speaker 1: But someone said he was contrary before he ever left

29
00:01:57,920 --> 00:02:01,880
Speaker 1: Arkansas for the other side of the earth. Regardless, I

30
00:02:01,960 --> 00:02:03,480
Speaker 1: looked up to him and I put a lot of

31
00:02:03,520 --> 00:02:06,760
Speaker 1: stock into what he said. And I've told the story

32
00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:09,160
Speaker 1: before about how mister Leon and I would drive out

33
00:02:09,200 --> 00:02:12,360
Speaker 1: to work one way and come back to town in a

34
00:02:12,480 --> 00:02:16,000
Speaker 1: different one. For those that haven't heard, I'll hit the

35
00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:20,560
Speaker 1: high points for you. No idea how long we'd been

36
00:02:20,600 --> 00:02:24,600
Speaker 1: working together managing Timber for GP, me driving and him

37
00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:28,160
Speaker 1: doing all the navigating, when after a million trips to

38
00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:31,600
Speaker 1: and from the woods, he adamantly refused to allow me,

39
00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:34,959
Speaker 1: the guy that was driving, to take the quickest way

40
00:02:34,960 --> 00:02:37,840
Speaker 1: home one afternoon because that was the way we had

41
00:02:37,919 --> 00:02:43,160
Speaker 1: driven out that morning. Mister Leon, I'm hot, I'm tired.

42
00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:46,280
Speaker 1: We can cut this trip back to the office in half.

43
00:02:46,360 --> 00:02:49,080
Speaker 1: If we would just go down the highway like we

44
00:02:49,200 --> 00:02:53,960
Speaker 1: came out this morning, No, we ain't going back that way?

45
00:02:54,360 --> 00:02:58,120
Speaker 1: Why not? That's when he took a drag off that

46
00:02:58,240 --> 00:03:01,840
Speaker 1: cigarette and slow blew it out the open window that

47
00:03:01,960 --> 00:03:08,880
Speaker 1: air conditionless truck and said, son, have you ever been ambushed? No, sir,

48
00:03:10,040 --> 00:03:12,520
Speaker 1: well I have. We ain't going back the same way

49
00:03:12,639 --> 00:03:16,840
Speaker 1: we came out. We never did ever in all the

50
00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:19,960
Speaker 1: years I worked with him. But this was another day,

51
00:03:19,960 --> 00:03:23,160
Speaker 1: and mister Leon was feeling pretty good that morning. He

52
00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:25,680
Speaker 1: hadn't wished anybody to be shot with a wooden bullet

53
00:03:25,760 --> 00:03:28,880
Speaker 1: so far that day. That was one of his favorite

54
00:03:28,880 --> 00:03:33,120
Speaker 1: dispersions to cast upon someone he didn't approve of. He

55
00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:35,880
Speaker 1: order to be shot with a wooden bullet was exactly

56
00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:39,120
Speaker 1: how he'd phrase it, and it was normally addressed toward

57
00:03:39,200 --> 00:03:42,680
Speaker 1: our co workers, whose work ethics he called into question

58
00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:47,640
Speaker 1: on a regular basis. Even though he hadn't spoken to

59
00:03:47,680 --> 00:03:49,720
Speaker 1: me yet, I was digging the vibe I was getting

60
00:03:49,760 --> 00:03:52,240
Speaker 1: from him, and I took a chance on getting a

61
00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:55,880
Speaker 1: wooden bullet wished in my direction. But anyway, I said,

62
00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:59,320
Speaker 1: mister Leon, I got a dang hoodol sitting on a

63
00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:03,440
Speaker 1: limb my window every night. I guess it's a hoodole.

64
00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:06,240
Speaker 1: It's making some kind of spooky racket. But every time

65
00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:08,200
Speaker 1: I go out to see it with a light, it

66
00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:16,560
Speaker 1: ain't there. It sounds like woo ooh. Now, to my surprise,

67
00:04:16,640 --> 00:04:19,640
Speaker 1: he didn't ignore me. He had done that in the

68
00:04:19,720 --> 00:04:24,320
Speaker 1: past a lot. How many nights has it been out there?

69
00:04:26,240 --> 00:04:28,479
Speaker 1: I said, I don't know, maybe two or three, and

70
00:04:28,520 --> 00:04:30,000
Speaker 1: it wakes me up in the middle of the night.

71
00:04:33,880 --> 00:04:36,359
Speaker 1: What does it sound like again? I did it again.

72
00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:45,120
Speaker 1: That ain't no whodol Son. That's a haint. Do what now?

73
00:04:46,240 --> 00:04:50,039
Speaker 1: That's a haint. You got something spooking you. How many

74
00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:52,320
Speaker 1: times have you gone up to an isle at night

75
00:04:52,640 --> 00:04:56,400
Speaker 1: and did not fly? That's a haint. And there ain't

76
00:04:56,440 --> 00:04:58,719
Speaker 1: but one way to cure it. You got to turn

77
00:04:58,760 --> 00:05:01,080
Speaker 1: your shoes upside down under the edge of the bed

78
00:05:01,120 --> 00:05:05,680
Speaker 1: when you lay down at night. And I kept waiting

79
00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:08,640
Speaker 1: for him to start laughing, But all he did was

80
00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:10,920
Speaker 1: keep the fire burning on the end of that cigarette

81
00:05:10,920 --> 00:05:14,560
Speaker 1: and never took his eyes off the map. He didn't

82
00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:17,800
Speaker 1: do a lot of joking. And I readily admit, coon

83
00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:20,240
Speaker 1: hunter or not, I ain't a big fan of the

84
00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:24,440
Speaker 1: dark not that I think there's spooks knocking about in it,

85
00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:27,080
Speaker 1: but something was, and someone I had looked up to

86
00:05:27,760 --> 00:05:29,640
Speaker 1: and put a lot of stock in what he said

87
00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:32,520
Speaker 1: had just given me a cure for what was really

88
00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:37,600
Speaker 1: starting to worry me. We didn't talk about it none

89
00:05:37,600 --> 00:05:38,800
Speaker 1: of the rest of the day, and I went to

90
00:05:38,839 --> 00:05:43,080
Speaker 1: bed that night to silence. No racket at all. My

91
00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:45,760
Speaker 1: work boots sitting by the door were I took them

92
00:05:45,800 --> 00:05:49,760
Speaker 1: off every day when I came home. Sometime in the

93
00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:53,159
Speaker 1: middle of the night, I woke up to that noise again.

94
00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:57,159
Speaker 1: I didn't get out of bed. I knew I wasn't

95
00:05:57,160 --> 00:05:59,800
Speaker 1: going to see anything if I went out there. Never had.

96
00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:03,839
Speaker 1: I just laid there waiting on that haink to get

97
00:06:03,880 --> 00:06:07,400
Speaker 1: me wishing. I still thought it was just a hootile

98
00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:10,000
Speaker 1: and then I'd put my shoes under the bed, just

99
00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:14,599
Speaker 1: like mister Lehan had told me to do. Now about

100
00:06:14,600 --> 00:06:16,440
Speaker 1: the middle of the morning. It worked. The next day,

101
00:06:16,480 --> 00:06:22,159
Speaker 1: he asked me, put them shoes under your bed last night? No, sir,

102
00:06:24,200 --> 00:06:29,400
Speaker 1: did the spook come back? Yes, sir. He just shook

103
00:06:29,440 --> 00:06:33,400
Speaker 1: his head disappointedly and fired up another men. Though he

104
00:06:33,440 --> 00:06:35,800
Speaker 1: didn't mention anything about it. The rest of the day.

105
00:06:37,360 --> 00:06:39,880
Speaker 1: Well that night, after suppering, before cutting out the light,

106
00:06:39,960 --> 00:06:42,960
Speaker 1: the last thing I did was turned my boots and

107
00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:46,640
Speaker 1: every pair of shoes I owned upside down under the

108
00:06:46,720 --> 00:06:50,640
Speaker 1: edge of the bed. I never heard that noise again,

109
00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:54,520
Speaker 1: not once. I have no idea to this very day

110
00:06:54,560 --> 00:06:57,720
Speaker 1: what it was, and I have never heard that sound

111
00:06:57,760 --> 00:07:00,760
Speaker 1: again in any recordings of any speed seeds an owl

112
00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:05,359
Speaker 1: that inhabits North America. I've looked trying to replicate what

113
00:07:05,480 --> 00:07:08,760
Speaker 1: I heard and identify what it actually was. I don't know.

114
00:07:10,600 --> 00:07:12,720
Speaker 1: But the next day at work, I walked into the

115
00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:16,200
Speaker 1: coffee room. Mister Lenarm was sitting in his usual chair,

116
00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:20,440
Speaker 1: reading the newspaper, stained white cup of coffee steaming beside

117
00:07:20,480 --> 00:07:23,400
Speaker 1: the ash tray that was keeping that Mentha all ready

118
00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:26,800
Speaker 1: for him. He looked up at me when I walked in,

119
00:07:26,840 --> 00:07:28,920
Speaker 1: and I hopped up on the edge of the counter

120
00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:31,160
Speaker 1: where I normally sat, waiting on him, just to give

121
00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:32,920
Speaker 1: the sign it was time for us to head to

122
00:07:32,960 --> 00:07:35,560
Speaker 1: the truck and go to work. Until that time, he

123
00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:40,760
Speaker 1: ignored everything and everyone. He just sat there and read

124
00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:45,280
Speaker 1: the paper, oblivious to the rest of the world. He

125
00:07:45,320 --> 00:07:47,480
Speaker 1: picked up a cigarette and glanced up from the paper,

126
00:07:47,640 --> 00:07:50,240
Speaker 1: looking at me over his top of his glasses, and

127
00:07:50,280 --> 00:07:54,480
Speaker 1: he said, I just sleep last night. Now, it was

128
00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:58,560
Speaker 1: such an unusual happening that everyone else stopped talking and

129
00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,760
Speaker 1: turned to see if he'd actually he initiated a conversation

130
00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:05,560
Speaker 1: with someone. I smiled big at him, happy that he

131
00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:08,840
Speaker 1: was even talking to me. He never talked to anybody

132
00:08:08,920 --> 00:08:11,760
Speaker 1: up there, and only talked to me once we left.

133
00:08:13,200 --> 00:08:15,200
Speaker 1: But I looked at him, I said, I slept like

134
00:08:15,200 --> 00:08:19,560
Speaker 1: a baby, mister Leon. He winked at me, and he

135
00:08:19,640 --> 00:08:33,000
Speaker 1: went back to his paper. And that's just how that happened. Superstitions,

136
00:08:33,040 --> 00:08:35,120
Speaker 1: the world is full of them. Some of them are

137
00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:39,440
Speaker 1: very well known. As a Pennsylvania paper mogul Michael Scott

138
00:08:39,480 --> 00:08:44,560
Speaker 1: once said, I'm not superstitious. I am a little stitious.

139
00:08:45,120 --> 00:08:48,520
Speaker 1: The same goes for yours, truly. Then my wife and

140
00:08:48,600 --> 00:08:50,920
Speaker 1: kids might have a different opinion about that, as they

141
00:08:50,960 --> 00:08:53,200
Speaker 1: take great joy in poking fun of me about my

142
00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:57,080
Speaker 1: beliefs and habits. And I can't point to any reason

143
00:08:57,200 --> 00:09:00,000
Speaker 1: or reference for it other than I was raised that way,

144
00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:04,160
Speaker 1: or better yet, exposed to it as a child. No

145
00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:06,880
Speaker 1: one ever sat me down and said, Brent, do this

146
00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:12,360
Speaker 1: or don't do that, or you will die well, except

147
00:09:12,360 --> 00:09:16,840
Speaker 1: from my maternal grandmother, beautlessly, the same one that drug

148
00:09:16,920 --> 00:09:19,680
Speaker 1: me to the beauty parlor when misfortune befell me and

149
00:09:19,720 --> 00:09:23,880
Speaker 1: I got caught in her possession while in town. Mom

150
00:09:23,960 --> 00:09:26,040
Speaker 1: sly told me, as I mentioned on her before, that

151
00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:28,920
Speaker 1: if I drank milk and ate fish, I would die,

152
00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:32,680
Speaker 1: simple and quick, to the point it made a lasting

153
00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:36,560
Speaker 1: impression on me. I remember it like it was this morning.

154
00:09:37,360 --> 00:09:39,080
Speaker 1: We sat down to eat a big mess of fish

155
00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:41,080
Speaker 1: she just fried up, and she has Brent, what do

156
00:09:41,080 --> 00:09:45,800
Speaker 1: you want to drink? I want some sweet milk. I

157
00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:47,680
Speaker 1: don't remember how old I was, but I was still

158
00:09:47,720 --> 00:09:51,319
Speaker 1: in elementary school when she responded, and I quote, you

159
00:09:51,480 --> 00:09:56,920
Speaker 1: can't have milk and fish. It'll kill you, ma'am, It'll

160
00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:02,640
Speaker 1: kill you. I can't do that. She's some tea that

161
00:10:02,800 --> 00:10:05,280
Speaker 1: wasn't going to end well. And before I go any further,

162
00:10:05,360 --> 00:10:09,120
Speaker 1: let me say that my grandmother could sit on her behind, blindfolded,

163
00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:12,240
Speaker 1: with her right arm tied behind her back, and out

164
00:10:12,360 --> 00:10:16,439
Speaker 1: cooked Julia Chiles and Justin Wilson and out Clean, Mister Clean,

165
00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:19,160
Speaker 1: and the tidy bowl Man all at the same time.

166
00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:25,240
Speaker 1: But everyone has a weakness to Superman. It was kryptonite

167
00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:29,560
Speaker 1: to Achilles. It was his heel to my mama's life.

168
00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:35,920
Speaker 1: It was her sweet tea. I call it sweet tea

169
00:10:35,920 --> 00:10:39,120
Speaker 1: only because that's what he's supposed to be. She didn't

170
00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:42,200
Speaker 1: put sugar in it, she didn't like it. It wouldn't

171
00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:44,760
Speaker 1: drink it, so I'm not sure she even knew what

172
00:10:44,800 --> 00:10:48,160
Speaker 1: it was supposed to taste like. She was born in

173
00:10:48,240 --> 00:10:50,839
Speaker 1: nineteen twelve and raised on a farm seven and a

174
00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:54,520
Speaker 1: half miles north of Warren, Arkansas, picking cotton, milk and

175
00:10:54,559 --> 00:10:58,880
Speaker 1: cows and feeding chickens. You'd think with that resume, she'd

176
00:10:58,880 --> 00:11:02,080
Speaker 1: have been the queen of sweet tea, but you'd be wrong.

177
00:11:03,600 --> 00:11:06,360
Speaker 1: My mama liked sweet tea. My dad likes sweet tea.

178
00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:10,480
Speaker 1: My grandfather find A Sly. Her husband liked sweet tea,

179
00:11:10,600 --> 00:11:13,400
Speaker 1: but bless his heart, he didn't get to drink it.

180
00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:16,960
Speaker 1: Not good sweet tea at least I was. Mama Sly

181
00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:20,760
Speaker 1: made it. She had a gray stoneware a picture that

182
00:11:20,880 --> 00:11:23,480
Speaker 1: had two blue stripes on it that she put the

183
00:11:23,520 --> 00:11:26,160
Speaker 1: tea in when she made it. Could be sitting on

184
00:11:26,200 --> 00:11:28,320
Speaker 1: the table. When I sat down and saw it there,

185
00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:31,160
Speaker 1: I knew I was in for some tough swallowing ahead

186
00:11:31,160 --> 00:11:34,720
Speaker 1: of me if I drank it, so I always opted

187
00:11:34,760 --> 00:11:38,600
Speaker 1: for milk, except on Friday nights, when we always ate

188
00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:42,839
Speaker 1: fish like any self respected Southerner does. If we didn't

189
00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:45,200
Speaker 1: fix it at home, we loaded up and went out

190
00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:48,360
Speaker 1: to eat it. But on the occasion to which I'm referring,

191
00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:50,600
Speaker 1: I was sitting in my appointed chair on the east

192
00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:53,320
Speaker 1: side of the table, the chair I always set in

193
00:11:53,440 --> 00:11:56,079
Speaker 1: when I stayed there. My grandfather was at the head

194
00:11:56,120 --> 00:11:58,800
Speaker 1: on the south end, and directly across from me was

195
00:11:58,840 --> 00:12:01,520
Speaker 1: my sainted Mama. Slo poured me up a glass of

196
00:12:01,559 --> 00:12:03,600
Speaker 1: tea that was so stout you could have floated a

197
00:12:03,600 --> 00:12:06,720
Speaker 1: steel wedge in it. It was so dark you could

198
00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:09,880
Speaker 1: stand ankle deep in it and not see your feet.

199
00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:13,839
Speaker 1: I watched my Papall dump enough lemon juice and sugar

200
00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:16,880
Speaker 1: in it to make it somewhat palatable. I don't think

201
00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:19,720
Speaker 1: he really liked it. I think he drank it because

202
00:12:19,760 --> 00:12:22,640
Speaker 1: he loved my Mama's lye, and I loved her too.

203
00:12:23,080 --> 00:12:25,000
Speaker 1: So when I took a drink of it and I said,

204
00:12:25,600 --> 00:12:30,199
Speaker 1: this tea don't taste like Mama's, Papall cut his eyes

205
00:12:30,240 --> 00:12:32,000
Speaker 1: at me, and I don't know if he was thinking

206
00:12:32,040 --> 00:12:35,679
Speaker 1: that this fifth born grandson had been sent here as

207
00:12:35,720 --> 00:12:39,319
Speaker 1: his own personal Moses to deliver him from the bondage

208
00:12:39,520 --> 00:12:43,040
Speaker 1: of Mama slies Tea, or if he thought that statement,

209
00:12:43,120 --> 00:12:46,480
Speaker 1: I just spontaneously uttered after choking down the most bitter

210
00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:50,520
Speaker 1: solution this side of purified green per simmons had been

211
00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:54,720
Speaker 1: more dangerous than mixing milk and fish. We never found

212
00:12:54,720 --> 00:12:58,280
Speaker 1: out because my mama's slie said rather sternly, will I'll

213
00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:03,160
Speaker 1: fix you some water? Papaull kept eating and I didn't die.

214
00:13:04,720 --> 00:13:06,800
Speaker 1: I looked it up, and the myth of milk and

215
00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:10,000
Speaker 1: fish goes back a long way, and at its origins,

216
00:13:10,000 --> 00:13:15,400
Speaker 1: it's believed to have caused skin problems somewhere along the way.

217
00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:17,600
Speaker 1: When it reached that little farm seven and a half

218
00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:21,559
Speaker 1: miles north of Warren, Arkansas, possible skin problems had turned

219
00:13:21,600 --> 00:13:26,560
Speaker 1: into imminent death. Another superstition that I can attribute to

220
00:13:26,559 --> 00:13:29,880
Speaker 1: my mama's life was whenever we were walking side by

221
00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,200
Speaker 1: side and a pole or a parking meter, or a fence

222
00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:36,600
Speaker 1: post or any type of object came between us, she'd

223
00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:40,760
Speaker 1: say bread and butter. Now I never thought much about it,

224
00:13:40,840 --> 00:13:42,959
Speaker 1: For all I knew she was going over a grocery

225
00:13:43,000 --> 00:13:47,440
Speaker 1: list and I'm easily distracted. But the origins of the

226
00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:50,760
Speaker 1: saying go back a long time ago. Like most old

227
00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:54,120
Speaker 1: sayings like that, it's supposed to ward off any future

228
00:13:54,160 --> 00:13:58,600
Speaker 1: happenings that would separate the relationship. Something come between you

229
00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:02,600
Speaker 1: is that when butter is spread on bread, that you

230
00:14:02,640 --> 00:14:05,680
Speaker 1: can't take it off. I say it now, and I

231
00:14:05,679 --> 00:14:07,840
Speaker 1: have said it ever since I noticed her saying it

232
00:14:07,880 --> 00:14:10,640
Speaker 1: when I was just a kid. It was one of

233
00:14:10,679 --> 00:14:14,600
Speaker 1: a myriad of sayings, phrases, and observations that Alexis found

234
00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:18,559
Speaker 1: herself having to learn. When we got together. She struggled

235
00:14:18,559 --> 00:14:21,600
Speaker 1: with me saying dinner and meaning what she would call lunch,

236
00:14:21,640 --> 00:14:23,400
Speaker 1: to the point that I heard her in the kitchen

237
00:14:23,440 --> 00:14:27,280
Speaker 1: in her apartment one day saying, over and over breakfast dinner,

238
00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:31,720
Speaker 1: so breakfast dinner, so breakfast dinner. So I said, what

239
00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:34,560
Speaker 1: are you doing, to which she said, I'm trying to

240
00:14:34,640 --> 00:14:39,360
Speaker 1: learn a new language. That It came as no surprise

241
00:14:39,400 --> 00:14:41,400
Speaker 1: when we were walking to a restaurant one evening not

242
00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:44,120
Speaker 1: long after that, and a parking meter came in between

243
00:14:44,200 --> 00:14:47,680
Speaker 1: us and she said, peanut butter and jelly. I said

244
00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:52,680
Speaker 1: what she said, peanut butter and jelly. No biscuits and gravy.

245
00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:55,920
Speaker 1: Biscuits and gravy. That's it, I said, No, dear, it's

246
00:14:56,000 --> 00:15:02,280
Speaker 1: bread and butter. I appreciate you trying. One that really

247
00:15:02,320 --> 00:15:04,440
Speaker 1: got her one day when we were still dating, was

248
00:15:04,480 --> 00:15:07,400
Speaker 1: when I was driving us somewhere and a cat ran

249
00:15:07,520 --> 00:15:10,720
Speaker 1: across the road in front of us. This was back

250
00:15:10,760 --> 00:15:13,480
Speaker 1: when she still stayed away long enough to have a conversation,

251
00:15:13,600 --> 00:15:16,600
Speaker 1: instead of like now, when she builds herself a blanket

252
00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:19,880
Speaker 1: cocoon to hibernate in until we reach our destination that

253
00:15:20,320 --> 00:15:23,080
Speaker 1: could be as far away as another state or as

254
00:15:23,120 --> 00:15:28,320
Speaker 1: close as the grocery store. Anyway, the cat crossed the road,

255
00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:30,840
Speaker 1: and in mid conversation, I made an X with my

256
00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:33,720
Speaker 1: right index finger in the top left hand corner of

257
00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:37,000
Speaker 1: the windshield, turned my head and made a spitting noise

258
00:15:38,360 --> 00:15:41,840
Speaker 1: over my left shoulder, and continued on with whatever I

259
00:15:41,880 --> 00:15:45,640
Speaker 1: was saying, as if nothing had happened. When she didn't respond,

260
00:15:45,720 --> 00:15:47,760
Speaker 1: I looked over at her, and she was staring at me.

261
00:15:48,480 --> 00:15:52,160
Speaker 1: Her eyes were big, her mouth was partially open, and

262
00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:55,760
Speaker 1: her little bump of a nose snarled upwards in utter disgust.

263
00:15:55,920 --> 00:15:58,960
Speaker 1: I asked her, what's wrong? She said, are you spitting

264
00:15:59,000 --> 00:16:02,520
Speaker 1: in the car, because if you are and don't stop immediately,

265
00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:08,360
Speaker 1: this is a deal breaker. No, I didn't really spill,

266
00:16:08,400 --> 00:16:11,160
Speaker 1: I just made that racket. A cat crossed the road

267
00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:14,760
Speaker 1: in front of us. Now, I assume she didn't see

268
00:16:14,760 --> 00:16:16,520
Speaker 1: it as if that was going to make what I

269
00:16:16,560 --> 00:16:20,680
Speaker 1: had just done easier for her to understand. I've always

270
00:16:20,680 --> 00:16:23,240
Speaker 1: taken it for granted that everyone grew up like me

271
00:16:23,400 --> 00:16:26,960
Speaker 1: and what I did was just a social norm. Other folks,

272
00:16:26,960 --> 00:16:33,000
Speaker 1: my wife included, refer to them as social abnormalities. I

273
00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:35,040
Speaker 1: saw my dad do it a million times, and when

274
00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:36,720
Speaker 1: I asked you why, he said it was the ward

275
00:16:36,760 --> 00:16:39,720
Speaker 1: off bad luck. And it wasn't just limited to black cats.

276
00:16:40,440 --> 00:16:42,440
Speaker 1: It was any and every cat that ever crossed the

277
00:16:42,520 --> 00:16:46,120
Speaker 1: road in front of us. It was learned behavior from

278
00:16:46,240 --> 00:16:48,280
Speaker 1: him to me, and I have no idea where he

279
00:16:48,360 --> 00:16:51,680
Speaker 1: got it from. My son Hunter does it as well

280
00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:54,120
Speaker 1: as my oldest daughter Amy, but the baby girl Cub

281
00:16:54,160 --> 00:16:59,520
Speaker 1: doesn't not yet. Anyway, something I was told I wasn't

282
00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:02,120
Speaker 1: supposed to to do as well was talk about a

283
00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:06,760
Speaker 1: dream I'd have before eating breakfast. I can't remember where

284
00:17:06,800 --> 00:17:09,439
Speaker 1: I heard that one from, but it was always just

285
00:17:09,600 --> 00:17:12,800
Speaker 1: been a part of my knowledge or lack of however

286
00:17:12,840 --> 00:17:15,639
Speaker 1: you want to look at it. The real was you

287
00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:18,679
Speaker 1: didn't talk about a dream before breakfast unless you wanted

288
00:17:18,720 --> 00:17:21,920
Speaker 1: it to come true. And most of my dreams over

289
00:17:22,000 --> 00:17:24,240
Speaker 1: ten years had me duking it out with someone, and

290
00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:28,000
Speaker 1: during the fight, my arms would only move in slow motion.

291
00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:31,880
Speaker 1: I could feel myself swinging as hard and fast as

292
00:17:31,880 --> 00:17:34,679
Speaker 1: I could, only to look like I was swimming in

293
00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:38,640
Speaker 1: my glasses now. The first time I sprung that one

294
00:17:38,640 --> 00:17:41,560
Speaker 1: on the lexus was at her parents' house. We'd all

295
00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:44,280
Speaker 1: gathered for breakfast, and she started, let me tell you

296
00:17:44,320 --> 00:17:47,320
Speaker 1: about this dream I had last night. WHOA Was it

297
00:17:47,359 --> 00:17:51,640
Speaker 1: a good dream? No, it was scary. You can't talk

298
00:17:51,640 --> 00:17:56,080
Speaker 1: about it until you eat something. What you can't talk

299
00:17:56,119 --> 00:17:58,240
Speaker 1: about it until you eat something or to come true?

300
00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:02,399
Speaker 1: She stared at me from across the table. Everyone else,

301
00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:04,800
Speaker 1: her parents, sister, and her grandmother's eyes are kind of

302
00:18:04,880 --> 00:18:07,359
Speaker 1: darting back and forth to each other. As I told

303
00:18:07,400 --> 00:18:09,639
Speaker 1: her to at least take a bite or something before

304
00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:12,959
Speaker 1: she talked about it, I could see her reevaluating her

305
00:18:13,000 --> 00:18:15,240
Speaker 1: life choices up to that moment as she looked at me,

306
00:18:15,359 --> 00:18:17,680
Speaker 1: contemplating how the rest of her life would play out

307
00:18:17,760 --> 00:18:23,280
Speaker 1: being married to me, and she slowly deliberately took a

308
00:18:23,440 --> 00:18:25,879
Speaker 1: bite from that fork as she had hovered in the

309
00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:30,360
Speaker 1: air above her plate. There I took a bite. Now

310
00:18:30,400 --> 00:18:32,360
Speaker 1: we don't have to worry about the flying monkeys from

311
00:18:32,359 --> 00:18:34,800
Speaker 1: the Wizard of Oz stealing the riding lawnmower and running

312
00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:40,359
Speaker 1: over our mailbox. Now we all laughed and laughed, and

313
00:18:40,400 --> 00:18:45,440
Speaker 1: it was funny. She's funny, But our mailbox has remained undamaged,

314
00:18:45,840 --> 00:18:49,560
Speaker 1: and that happened before Bathing was born, So who's laughing now?

315
00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:56,160
Speaker 1: Superstitions are a funny thing for me. They're more out

316
00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:58,200
Speaker 1: of a habit than a belief. And I don't think

317
00:18:58,320 --> 00:19:01,040
Speaker 1: milk and fish will kill you. I also don't think

318
00:19:01,160 --> 00:19:03,920
Speaker 1: knocking on wood would ward off any evil spirits or

319
00:19:04,000 --> 00:19:06,560
Speaker 1: spitting over your shoulder. We keep a cat from bringing

320
00:19:06,600 --> 00:19:09,679
Speaker 1: you harm, just like walking under a ladder ain't going

321
00:19:09,760 --> 00:19:14,879
Speaker 1: to hurt a thing. But why take a chance a

322
00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:17,280
Speaker 1: stilly tradition that connects me to the past and the

323
00:19:17,280 --> 00:19:19,359
Speaker 1: people that I think about when I do them or

324
00:19:19,640 --> 00:19:23,200
Speaker 1: talk about them to others. Explaining them to Lexis would

325
00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:25,960
Speaker 1: be the starting point to many conversations that would begin

326
00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:28,720
Speaker 1: with me telling her about Mama's lies, saying bread and butter,

327
00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:32,440
Speaker 1: and end up with us having spent time together, laughing

328
00:19:32,480 --> 00:19:35,639
Speaker 1: and talking and learning about each other's families. And we

329
00:19:35,680 --> 00:19:39,639
Speaker 1: still do that. If you're talking and laughing and learning

330
00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:43,560
Speaker 1: with the folks you love, man, that's about as lucky

331
00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:47,080
Speaker 1: as you can get. Thank y'all so much for listening

332
00:19:47,080 --> 00:19:49,720
Speaker 1: to us here on the Old Bear Grease Channel. I

333
00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:52,719
Speaker 1: hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year's celebration,

334
00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:55,680
Speaker 1: and I look forward to talking to y'all again next week.

335
00:19:56,320 --> 00:20:06,160
Speaker 1: Until then, this is Brent Reeds signing off. I think