At What Point...

I live in the South. The DEEP South.  Middle of Alabama.  Here, it's a whole different world. Here, the religion is SEC Football.  If you don't eat it, sleep it, breathe it, something's wrong with you.  Well, something's wrong with me.  Something's wrong with my wife, even worse. She can't even stand to see a football game on the TV.  I can watch it, but I don't buy in to all the fanaticism that comes with it. 
I don't yearn to go out to my local sports pub and scream at the giant 2000 inch TV's with 500 other people. I don't gather with my Bama friends or Tiger friends to watch "the big game".  I'm perfectly content with letting the game go by.  I may on occasion put it on one of the games I'd like to see the outcome of and watch here and there, or drop by a friend's house and watch with them. That's about the extent of my "fandom" of football.
I tease and pick with my friends who are big time fans, quoting "mama" from the movie "Waterboy" with Adam Sandler calling it 'that foozball'.  Even been known a time or two to utter "that foozball is the devil".  Just my way of having a bit of fun. Fortunately my friends know me well enough that they don't take offense. Most of them even get a laugh or join in.  Truth is, yes, I do know a bit about football. I played a little in Jr. High School. I moved to a bigger school and didn't make the cut, but I wound up being the photographer for a while for the school and got to go to a lot of the games for that reason.  But I'm still not a wild raging fan.

Which brings me to my main point. The Iron Bowl. What the south deems should be a National Holiday where nobody does nothing but sit and watch the Gridiron with their friends and nothing else.  Paul "Bear" Bryant should have been some holy man and revered as such. Nick Saban is the proverbial saviour of the Alabama fans.  He's a good coach. I'd say a great coach. I don't study football so I can't give you quotes on stats and all that jive, but having 2 National trophies in 3 years, and coaching a team that pretty much leveled anyone that stepped on the field with them for the past 3 years, yeah, I'd say he's a great coach.

Last night, November 30, 2013 was the Iron Bowl. Alabama Crimson Tide vs. The Auburn Tigers, War Eagle. Most people I knew thought The Tide would destroy Auburn. Last year the Auburn coach was fired due to lack of performance in his team, and everyone know it would spell the downfall for Auburn this year. The typical bashing comments like "oh, this will be a rebuilding year for them" and "well they won't do much because they have to get to know each other this year" were tossed out like mad. With a record so far for 2013 of 11 wins, 1 loss, even though there were a few very near defeats, I'd say they rebuilt fast and hard.  The last couple games (including the Iron Bowl) a fantastic last minute play that won the game for them.  Call it luck, call it talent, call it whatever. A win in the books is a win. Period.
Gus Malzahn, the current head coach for Auburn, has done a great job, and I think he definitely deserves credit.  He did what seems no other coach has been able to do, and that's defeat the great Saban.

Here comes our trouble.  I think the Tide has become too over confident. They got too cocky. They've rolled over almost everyone and they came in thinking the Iron Bowl was going to be a breeze.  There's discord among the players, the fans, the coach, the students in worrying that Saban is going to move to Texas. There's disconcert in that Mrs. Saban says they're not getting proper respect. They're under appreciated. People are leaving the games before the end of the game. The seats are being filled like they're supposed to.  Well, that's because Alabama has become that good.  If I know by the 3rd quarter that Alabama is going to beat the opposing team by 35 points, then yeah, I'm going to go ahead and head home to beat the crowds.  If I knew Alabama was going to beat Chattanooga 49-0, then why would I want to drive down from Chattanooga to Tuscaloosa to watch it? Meh, I'll just hear about it tomorrow. Why pay such a crazy price for a ticket when I'm pretty sure I know the outcome already and it's not in my team's favor? 
So yeah. Bama got drama. Auburn has been doing well all season, but keeping quiet and being humble from my perspective. 

Last nights meeting was epic in my opinion.  Both teams had some GREAT plays. Both teams had some mess ups. THE. BETTER. TEAM. WON.  Period.  I loathe to hear excuses of "well we just weren't at our best last night" and "well we should have been better..."  If you're not at your best, why are you on the field?  Accept that you guys did what you could with humility, and work harder next time.  There's no shame in defeat. If we never lost, we'd never learn. No. Nobody likes losing. But last night, when it literally came down to 1 second, I'd say Bama has nothing to be ashamed of.  In all honesty, maybe Saban should feel a bit bad because he fought that one second so hard and made the call to kick a field goal instead of letting AJ try one last pass and go in to 5th Quarter.  That the final is in, the game is over, look to next game now.

Now I've been on Facebook last night and this morning. Bama fans refusing to acknowledge the victory to the better team of the night. Refusing to admit an SEC team OTHER than Bama won and is going forward. Reports of DEATH THREATS via Twitter and other social media to Cade Foster, the Alabama placekicker.  Really folks? This is what your fanaticism has wrought? And people wonder why I despise the sport so much.  Families divided. Families split over the rivalry. FIGHTS ensue. Fans destroying things (See: Harvey Updike, Toomer's). Fans that teabag other fans when opportunity arises. If you don't know about that or know what teabagging is, I leave it up to you to find out. 
Really? This is how we act when our team wins? This is how much worse we REACT when our team loses?

At what point to we stop and look at ourselves and see what we've become people? I for one, who has a passion for many things, and a deep passion for a few things which I hold dear hope that I would never react to my passions like some of the things mentioned above. And if I do, please hold me to it.
I saw a picture of Bear Bryant with a quote that says: "It’s awfully important to win with humility. It’s also important to lose. I hate to lose worse than anyone, but if you never lose you won’t know how to act. If you lose with humility, then you can come back."

I think that's one of the reasons he was one of the greatest coaches in history, and a great man overall.

For my friends who love SEC football, or football in general. Know this isn't a cut at any of you. Just an observance of behaviour. I love all my friends regardless of their opinions and decisions, and I hope they are the same with me.

Thank you drive through.

Food Review: Uncle Sam's BBQ Bessemer Alabama

Well I'm back on the road again with my job. Traveling through Bessemer today around 11:30 am and wondering what I was going to do for lunch. I was thinking hitting some place in Trussville after my next stop.  I came around the corner and the smell of smokey meat hit me and convinced me to have lunch right there, right now. The smell of Heaven was coming from a place called Uncle Sam's BBQ. I've passed it a few times and wondered, but today there was no passing this place, so I wheeled in.

I walked in the door, unsure of exactly what to do. So I followed the guy that walked in just before me as he walked up to the counter area and a lady handed him a menu. I walked up and a nice lady did the same for me.  She stood there by me, greeted me and asked if I knew what I'd like.  Having been my first time in the place, and still mesmerized by the smoked meat smell, and seeing all that lovely meat in the open pit..just...mmmm...
The inside seemed to be nice and clean, paper towels and basic condiments on the table. TV's in 2 corners. One was on news and the other was on Sports I think...that part really didn't matter to me, as how I don't care for TV's in a restaurant anyway. 

So I looked at the deals. Lunch deal. Any meat, that's pork, beef, or chicken, and your choice of 3 sides between beans, fries, slaw, or potato salad. All for a decent price of $4.75  Not bad I thought. SO I chose pork, beans and fries, not worrying about the third as I'm not overly fond of slaw or most potato salads due to my dislike of onions.  Then I noticed said combo did not include a drink, so I would have to order my sweet tea separately.  Remember this, it comes in to play later.   Anyway, So the lady took my order and asked my name, and said it'd be ready in just a minute. Meanwhile another server walked by me with a plate of food identical to what I ordered and my stomach got very excited!

So I sat in a chair and started to watch the TV and in just moments a lady called my name. I turned to see who and where, and she was at the register with a bag and motioning towards me.  I got up and went to the counter and she started to ring me up. I told her I'd like to dine in but I was fine with the food in the to go box. She got kind of snippy with me and said no, and took my food and marched back towards the kitchen area. In a very heated tone, said "he wants to eat here, not to go!" She actually said this to a few different people, and I replied "hey no problem, I'm okay with it like this..." to which I was ignored.  She came back over to me and told me they'd fix it and asked where I would like to sit. I pointed to the chair I was in and she got my tea and started walking that way. I asked if I could still pay my ticket and she told me to just wait until I was finished.  So I obliged and took my seat.

Just a few minutes and my plate was in front of me. It smelled wonderful!
So I got my food, and I started prepping everything. Good healthy sized pork sandwich...fries and baked beans. I went to move my sandwich and noticed the bottom bun was super soggy. Almost so soggy that I couldn't pick it up...okay, so I've had messy bbq before...no big deal...the lady asked if I'd like some more sauce. I looked at my sandwich and it almost looked like there was no sauce on it, so I said sure, thanks!

Now, I LOVE me some bbq. And I LOVE a great BBQ sauce. But when I go to pour the sauce on my food, and it's more liquid than my sweet tea? That's not good. I'm a firm believer that your BBQ sauce should stick to your meat, not run right through it like you're rinsing it off...

So, to my disappointment the sauce was very runny. It did have good taste, I will say that. The pork, finely chopped was a bit dry and chewy.  The fries were good, and the beans, although not my style, were good.  Taste wise, I'll definitely say my meal was worth the $4.75. Don't think that's good praise though. A McDonald's Quarter Pounder meal is less than 5 bucks, AND YOU GET A DRINK FOR THAT. Value of the portion, definitely good.   
So I went to pay for my $4.75 combo plate, and the cashier announces the total was $7.15.   So, for a 20 ounce tea, I paid almost 2 bucks for. That's where they kill you. Oh, and they didn't seem real keen on giving me a refill while I was sitting there eating my meal...

So overall, I'm going to have to give Uncle Sam's 2 out of 5 hammers.  I must say this is one of the bigger disappointments I've had...the smell was so overwhelming and so promising...only to be let down by runny sauce, bland chewy BBQ, and limited choice of sides, although very good portions.  I don't know that I'll be returning to this establishment any time soon.  Here's hoping you do better guys.

Stay tuned, you never know where Hammer's gonna pop up next!
Until next time,
Thank you drive through.

Review: The Bic FlameDisk

Wow. I've got a fair amount to say about this product...

I was roaming through my neighborhood big box mart grabbing a few items and there it was. This orange-ish yellow box. It intrigued me so I picked it up. My mom was shopping with me that day so we kind of discussed it back and forth.  The Bic FlameDisk.  From the picture it looks kinda like a JiffyPop Popcorn disk, only on fire.

It comes one to a box, and it's about 5 bucks. It boasts "Convenient and Portable Outdoor Grilling" and "The Charcoal Alternative for your grill".  I do a lot of camping and thought you know, if this does work, it might be good to carry along with me since it's light weight and I could toss this in a back pack. Let's see you do that easily with a bag of charcoal! 
So we bought it and I was rather anxious to give this thing a try.  Unfortunately with the rain and crazy weather we've been having it took me a couple weeks before I got the chance to try it out. But I read the box front and back to learn more about this interesting product. Certain catchy things jumped out and caught my eye like "faster, cleaner and more convenient than charcoal" and "Picnics, camping, backyard, BOATING and tailgating"...yeah, because I want an open fire on my boat in the middle of the lake...

So finally, the night came. Tonight was the night! I'm ready to grill some burgers!  On the back are pretty easy instructions. Peel the film off, light any outer hole, grill, and dispose when cool. Even has cute little pictures to go with it.  Again, on the back of the box it boasts "Fast and convenient". "Ample Grill time and cools quickly". It claims 35-45 minutes of grilling time.  You'd figure with as many times as it shows fast, convenient, blah blah blah, you're hooked that this thing is going to rock your socks off.

Well, here's the result.
I take it out of the little box and start to pull the film off the top. Took a few minutes. That sucker is held on firm!  The box says that the FlameDisk uses Ethanol as it's main fuel ingredient. Pretty cool! Clean, renewable, good stuff. I'm cookin' with whiskey baby!!  Not really, but hey it sounded good!
So I finally get the film off and put it in my grill. I took a pack of matches and lit one, and got maybe 2-3 inches from this thing and WOOOF! Not a massive flame but quite the quick flame which resulted in a considerable amount of hair loss on my right fingers and that burned hair smell that we grillers love so much when grilling on an open flame! Okay, not really love, but I'm sure most of you are familiar with that smell...NOT what I want to enjoy while cooking my burgers!

I gave it a minute or two to light, which it light evenly and quickly, I will definitely say that! Fair amount of heat coming off this 10 inch disk... so then I put the grill on the cooker and gave it a quick scrape as it warmed up. This took no more than a couple minutes before I was putting the patties on. 6 nicely shaped heavenly pieces of 100% Grade A Angus Beef...oh yeah...
I made 2 rows of 3 as close to the center of the grill and centered over the FlameDisk.  Now, typically for a nice thick burger you put your patties on the grill for 5 minutes, flip it, cook for 5 minutes, and you're done. You adjust your time accordingly for the well doneness that you desire. I like a good medium well to well burger. So I close the lid and set the timer to 5 minutes.

Almost 6 minutes later I come out, raise the lid and...hmm...this isn't looking good. The meat isn't so warm on the top...let's flip it and see what it looks like.  So I flip the patties...and they're barely browning on the inside of the middle patties. The outside patties still look just about raw.
So, I flip all the patties and decide to give it a bit more than 5 minutes.  I come back around 9 minutes later...the flamedisk is sputtering in spots...kind of reminds me of the random flame sputtering from the fireswamps in "The Princess Bride"...and my patties are cool enough I can place my hand on them without being burned...and guess what...still not cooked.  BARELY that nice line where the grill sears the meat...I'm not happy.  From the 35-45 minutes of "steady flame", I barely got a good 10-15 minutes.  So I take my patties off the grill and finish them in a frying pan on my stove. Hmm...stove cooking. How mundane...
Fortunately with a bit of seasoning and a quick heating stove I salvaged my patties...as I was cooking on the stove I kept glancing out the window noticing the still constant sputtering flame from the flamedisk...

So I've tried the Bic FlameDisk, and I must say, I'm not impressed.  For my money, and my tastebuds, I like a nice wood fire, or a charcoal fire, or a mix of both. Gives that nice smoky flavor. But this thing...heh, maybe for use as a fire starter on a campout. Other than that, I have to say, don't waste your time or money.  Sorry Bic....big disappointment for you guys here.  Maybe just stick to lighters instead of full on fires next time.

Till next time,
Thank you drive through.

My trip to Shiloh Military Park, March 23, 3013

Friday March 22, we set out for Shiloh Military Park in Shiloh Tennessee. I'd heard about it through my buddy Frank and a few other scouter parents here and there.  I had no idea what to expect, but I knew I wanted to go and check it out.
Among the things to do at Shiloh is taking long hikes with goals on each hike to find certain things. Sort of like being a big scavenger hunt, which is a good way to keep the boys from thinking about hiking all those miles.

9 boys and 7 adults wound up going. Most of the boys are our group that just crossed over in to boyscouts. I know they were up to the task because we worked with them a lot and took several hikes in the last few months building up to it.

The drive up there was routine and not too interesting. We made it up there around noon time, just in time for lunch. After lunch we set up camp with didn't take a lot of time at all.  After set up we went to the Shiloh Visitor Center and checked it out, and watched a movie which was a documentary on the battle at Shiloh. Very informative, very real.

Now, I must say at this point, I'm not a big Civil War buff like so many others. Main reason is being that I'm from Arizona and grew up mostly here in Alabama, I was jaded with my own prejudice against the Southern Civil War. It mattered not to me so I didn't study hard about it in school.
This trip was a big eye opener for me in more ways than one.

After the movie and walking around at Visitor Center for a bit, we returned to camp and started preparations for dinner. I made my 'world famous' chili, which turned out to be a success amongst the parents.  The boys made tacos, and from what I understand it was quite good too. (The reasoning for the two different meals is that the boys are supposed to take care of themselves, and the parents are on our own. Worked for us!) After dinner we sat around the campfire taking and sharing stories and enjoying merriment had by all until bed time.

Saturday morning. Time to wake up, have breakfast and get ready for the big hike! The parents made their breakfast, the scouts had their breakfast, then we started prepping our packs and making ready to go.
We finally got on the march to Shiloh! 14 miles of hiking, finding answers to the questions in the packet, and seeing monuments and informative markers. We found the starting point, in which I found the geocache at the starting point, and the hike was on.  We hiked maybe a half mile and was to the first marker, I believe it was a point of the beginning of the battle with the lead commander being named Hardee. Don't expect me to remember all the names, you got lucky this time!
So we got to the battle ground, a very wide and long open field, and the parents looked across the field as Adam and Frank led to the boys to the other side to get answers for the hunt.

As I watched the boys marching across the field, I took a picture and wrote a few words on a document on my phone:

I never was much for learning about the Civil War, being from Arizona and growing up here in the South. But standing here on the battlefields here at Shiloh Tennessee, looking across the field and imagining the gun shots and cannon blasts coming across the field where I'm standing...it outs a whole new perspective on things.

This was the first of many stops we encountered and had the chance to stop and gaze, to imagine what it would have been like to be in the war, to see the war. To see all these people fighting, the smoke filling the scene from the musket shots. It was like looking at the movie in real life, and it really went through to the soul.

We hiked for about 4 hours, completing a little over 7 miles just getting to the Visitor Center around 12 for lunch. We passed through the graveyard where we learned that of all the thousands of people buried there, only 2 were Confederate soldiers, and the only reason they were buried there is they were prisoners of war. We passed the spot where General Johnston, a major driving force in what success the Confederates had, died due to a gunshot wound to just behind his knee which went through an artery and he bled to death.

After lunch, we resumed the hike and came across many other monuments, some really beautiful and very large.

 Then the rain set in. We hiked on. We would finish this hike. We hiked in the rain, and we found the answers to questions. It was getting a bit longer since we were now slugging through the rain but we continued. At one point, it started to thunder and lightning. BSA policies says we cannot be out in thunderstorms, so our fearless leader Adam started forming a plan. I helped him along with keeping a watch on the weather on my phone weather apps, and he contacted Mechell to come round up a couple parents to go back to camp and get vehicles so we could shuttle kids back to safety. We marched on to an easier point to meet up with the ride. By the time we met up with Mechell and the van, the thunder had stopped. We had a few weary scouts, but after a quick talk, I'm proud to say that all of our scouts and even all of our adults decided we would continue and finish this hike. With only a couple miles to go and the hopes of completing our quest in less than an hour we were determined.  So we hiked on.

Our next big stopping point was at Shiloh Church. It's still a very old structure, and we decided to step in and look at it for a moment, and with hopes of getting out of the rain for a few moments. I love looking at old structures like this and how well they were put together with such primitive abilities around 200 years ago. Surprisingly, with all the gaps, open windows, holes in the floor, the inside of this church was dry and considerably warmer than outside.  We piled in and everyone sat on the benches like we were getting ready for Sunday Sermon.  One of the parents read from the book of Psalms out of the bible sitting on the pulpit. I don't remember the chapters, but it really seemed to fit with the day, the location, and the meaning of what we were doing. Afterwards, someone said something about singing a song. One of our boys from the back of the church started "Amazing Grace", and we all picked it up and started singing. It was something truly magical to me. An experience I hope to remember to my dying days.  All those boys, all those adults, through different walks of life, different beliefs, came together and made such a joyous noise unto the Lord without being forced to do so, and it was joyous.

After the song stopped, several parents talked for a few minutes, driving home the points of our trip, just giving a few words of wisdom for us all to ponder as we walked and finished our trip. It was very touching all the way around.

We noticed, as we finished and walked out of the church, the rain and completely stopped. Whether it God smiling upon us for our little bit of worship, or just the storm passing over, that's for you to decide in your mind. Likewise, I know what I believe.

So, we finished the trip, just over a mile to go after the church stop, and we did pretty decent time. I know we were all pretty worn out after the hike which came out to be just a hair over 14 miles, and we did it in roughly 8 and a half hours, including the hour for lunch. Again, I'm very proud of our boys and what they accomplished. May it never be said they backed down from this challenge.

That night after a little rest, we settled in for dinner and more merriment. Shortly after the rain set in and it rained all night till around 3 or so in the morning.  Amazingly, we woke at 6 am on Sunday morning in good spirits and broke down camp while trying our best to avoid puddles. Funny how that never seems to work out. So, soggy and stiff, but happy, we packed up and headed for home.  

This was a great trip, and one I'm glad to have made. I definitely suggest checking out Shiloh if you ever get the chance.

So, from Hammer to you,

Thank you drive through.

Goodbye to a great man

Tomorrow, March 1, 2013, we lay to rest my grandfather. Franklin Hancock.  I really don't know what to say other than I've lost a great role model in my life.

How can I say that? I grew up 1600 miles away from this man. However, I feel I can say this because every chance I got to see this man, he was always great. I don't remember seeing him until I was 11. I got to fly out to Arizona on my 11th birthday. I spent some time with my dad, then got to spend about a week with Grandpa Frank and Grandma Molly.  I won't even begin to try and calculate what age he was at that point, but I know he was on up there. And he was still working. The man always worked. Why, because he wanted to. That's what a man does.  But this man was different. No matter how busy he was, no matter how many projects he had going, he always made time for me when I was out here. He always made time for everyone. I don't know that I ever saw him mad.  I don't know that I ever heard him raise his voice. He was a man that commanded respect, simply because he was.  If ever a man to grace this Earth with positive thoughts, love, joy, happiness, his name was Frank Hancock.

Even when it was a serious time, he was smiling, and he'd make others smile and laugh. He was always up to something crazy, just to see people smile. You couldn't dislike this man.  Grandpa Frank was the type of person that would give you the shirt off his back. I know you hear this a lot, but he was also the type that would make sure you had shoes and a decent pair of pants and even something to eat right along with that shirt. 

He could fix anything. Even in his later years in life he was always wiring up something, fixing a car, building a house or a workshop, etc. In the few times I got to see him, I don't think he ever slowed down.  I remember coming out in 2009, with my wife and 2 kids, hauling a camper with the Suburban. We broke down in Pecos, Texas with a blown waterpump. Spent a few days in Pecos and came in to Safford where we parked at Grandpa's.  The Suburban still wasn't working right, so Grandpa checks it out and discovers a messed up water hose, and a few other minor things not working properly.  Without missing a beat he tells me to hop in the car and we go in to town.  Now, Safford Arizona isn't a huge town, but it's no longer a small town, definitely not as small as I remember from my earlier visits. EVERY SINGLE PLACE we went, everyone knew Grandpa. Calling him Mr. Frank, or Mr. Hancock as he walked in the door. I was simply amazed at the respect these people had for him! We finally find a place that has the right hose....kind of. Instead of it being the exact part, he spies a roll of hose on the wall off to the side. Tells the guy "I need about 9 inches of that 1 1/4 inch hose, how much is it?" They worked out the the details and we came home and it was exactly what was needed, to the centimeter. The tricky part, I don't recall Grandpa ever pulling any kind of measuring device to get what he needed. That may be old hat for some, but to me, that simply amazed me.

Grandpa Frank, as I said before was a very kind man. He never met a stranger. A good portion my family, my wife isn't overly fond of and is only social with them because of me. She instantly loved my grandpa.  Same as both my kids. For my son that's not hard to do. For my daughter, well, that's another story.  I only regret that my kids couldn't spend more time with such a great man, and that they didn't get to see him one last time before he passed away. I only hope I can scrounge some pictures to save his memories.

Grandpa was a deeply religious man, but not an overbearing religious man. He'd talk with anyone about religion, not at you. He was happy to share the Mormon ways and beliefs, but it was never in a way you felt like it being thrown on you. He spent many years doing for the Mormon church and to my knowledge never had any problems with the church or felt like he was being used or abused. He will be buried in Mormon dress clothes.

Frank Hancock, as you've read here, was a man of many things. He loved the outdoors, he loved fun things, he loved to work. He was a very physical man with his hands. As he aged, he looked like he was as mean as a bear and had a slight growl to his voice. But never a kinder, more gentler man would you meet. He's a man I aspire to be like. If I can only be 1 1/10th of the man he was, I will know I have accomplished something. We lost a very great man this week...I hope those who knew him have as great a collection of memories as I do, or even better.

Franklin Hancock. Husband. Father. Grandfather. Great-grandfather. Mentor. Teacher. Hard worker. Devout Mormon. A person to love and to be loved by. Respected and respectful.  I pray I can live in your legacy.  Rest in Peace Grandpa. I hope you get your finger back...

The Southern Way

I may have been born somewhere else, but as my wife likes to point out, I grew up in the South, so that makes me a Southerner. And you know, I think I've finally realized that I'm proud of that fact. And here's some reasons why.

I go out and about, and some of these young kids and even some young adults who have the maturity of young kids just shock me. Had I even thought about acting the way they do when I was that age...well, there'd be a LOT of trouble, and it'd all be on me.

As a Southerner:
You learn to say yes mam and yes sir, or you get smacked if you don't.  And even as you get older, you still feel the urge to duck if you miss the chance to say yes mam or yes sir to your elders.  That's called respect. You learn it, you earn it.

We did things because we wanted to, not because of gain. If we had a reason to do something, it was most likely "would my mom/grandmother approve?" If the answer was no, we had to think about it really hard.  Even to this day, I ask myself that same question, and I hope every day that I'd make my grandmother proud of what I do.

You weren't afraid to get out and get your hands dirty to help someone in need, whether it's a friend, family or stranger. Changing a tire for someone should be second nature if you grew up in the south. Helping someone in the yard was something to do because you were either bored, or you didn't have anything else to do.

If I got in trouble, I knew there was a belt, a hickory switch, or a paddle waiting for me when I next saw my mom. Furthermore, If I got in trouble at a friend's house, I knew there was a belt, a hickory switch, or a paddle waiting for me by my friend's parents. They had that right. And vice versa when my friends came to my house. And then, we likely got it again when we got home!

Words like COURTESY and HOSPITALITY are something you know, and practice all the times. Not just a phone line you hear at a hotel or airport.

We didn't have iPods and iPads and PSP's and MP3's and all those other abbreviations for electronic babysitter. We had OUTDOORS. Where we found sticks to run with, trees to climb and enjoy for shade, and grassy hills to slide and roll down while we wrestled with our friends. Other fun things we did was help Grandpa or Dad work on the car (see: changing tires or helping others), or work in the yard.  On the occasion that we did stay inside to play, we might have watched a bit of TV, but as soon as the cartoons were off, we were looking for something to do or we did this action called "read a book".

Smart phone? When I was a kid, our phone was smart. It was smart enough to contact the person whom we dialed, and that was that. And it sat there, in the living room, or hanging on the wall in the kitchen. And there was certainly no way as a kid I was going to have a phone to play with and call or text people all the time. And another thing. As a kid in the South, we knew the difference between your and you're, there and their, to, too, and two. We learned that in school, and we remembered it.  If you wanted to 'text' someone, you took a pencil and a piece of paper, you wrote something down, and you passed it along hoping the teacher wouldn't catch you.

We had chores to do, and we didn't complain about it. Or at least, we didn't complain out loud, because we got in trouble. And getting in trouble usually meant some sort of physical contact of a hard object across your back side, enabling you with the ability of standing up for a meal instead of sitting.

We knew what a gun was, and we knew not to mess with it unless an adult was present, or we were given permission. We didn't run around threatening people with them.  We saw the older school kids parking their trucks at school and occasionally we saw a gun on the rack in the back window, and nobody thought anything of it.  That changed with the 90's, when kids became stupid and irresponsible, and Rap became more violent, and less music and something fun to listen to.  Yes kids, Rap was once something enjoyable where people didn't do drugs, rape women and kill people. Look up Run DMC (one of their greats were when they teamed up with Aerosmith for "Walk This Way"!), Fat Boys, LL Cool J ( the guy from the 80's. Some of his stuff changed, but he was still pretty good.) Even some white guys had fun with rapping. They were called The Beastie Boys.

Music was totally different by the way. We had Southern Rock, and Hair Bands, and some of the harder stuff. Now, you have screeching, screaming and people who sound like their gargling with a mouth full of glass. That, or Justin Bieber. I won't even begin on him.  Music has definitely changed, and it's one of the things that make me feel old really fast.  I remember my parents griping at me for listening to 'that garbage'. Now, some of this stuff today, I wouldn't insult garbage by calling it that.

People as a whole were a lot nicer when I was a kid. The Southern way of things. A glass of iced tea, a shade tree, and kids riding bicycles while talking about girls or trading G I Joes. Spending the day in the woods playing with toy guns or even sticks was the norm. Staying out from the time you get out of the house as soon as possible in the morning, until dusk or when the street lights came on. Then the streets looked like a ghost town. My mom dated a guy for a while who could whistle so loud, I thought the kids in Georgia could hear him.  When we heard that, we had 5 minutes to get home. And we were.We pretty much could go wherever we wanted to as long as we knew what time to be home.  Wanna talk about being good in Math? Have you ever calculated how long it'd take you to get from Billy's house to home by curfew and at varying speeds? Yeah. We did that. Without hesitation.

Some of you parents my age or older, I bet you're reading this and nodding your head with a silent 'yup'.  You people younger than me are probably scoffing at this or laughing at the old guy.  But stop and think for a minute. How many times have you been in trouble? How many times do you look the other way or not pay attention to your children, and how often are they in trouble?  A paddle or belt across the back side only hurts for a few minutes to your child, but they'll think twice about doing whatever they did again if they know you're gonna do it again...

Somewhere along the way, we've abandoned parenting. Not forgot, just abandoned. Oh sure, we want to have kids, or we want to do the actions that cause kids, but we don't think about, nor want to deal with the consequences. That's where it starts, and it only gets worse.

Pull up your pants, get a belt, your hat either goes forwards or backwards, not sideways. Buy clothes that fit, and take that attitude and stuff it. Grow up to be responsible. Like your parents. Or your Grandparents.

It's the Southen Way.

Hello 2013...

Wow. Where to start...it seems like a blur!
Well, 2013 is here. 2012 is nothing but memories now. It went by so fast...
I remember older people talking to me and telling me that the older you get, the faster time goes.  Makes sense. But for my 11 year old son to tell me "man, this year just flew by"...makes one stop and think.

2012 had a LOT of ups and downs. Seems nowadays I tend to measure time in friends and family lost, and tragedies happening. Unfortunately all that happens way too often. I lost a few good friends, some close family, and several people I admired and respected in the world passed away. These times are a changin'...

On the famous people note, just a short list of the many many people we lost:
Neil Armstrong
Sally Ride
Andy Griffith
George "Goober" Lindsey
Dick Clark
Sherman Hemsley
Michael Clarke Duncan
Larry Hagman
Just a small list of some of the greats...

So many bad things happened throughout 2012 from mass shootings, Natural disasters, Government and Political craziness...No matter who your candidate was, there was craziness on both sides and it will continue.
Now, we have 2013. A new year. People everywhere have already made their new year's resolutions, and most of them have already forgotten about them or started swaying from them. I don't know that I made any resolutions myself but I have decided I'm going to try and lose some weight this year. Whether or not you've made a resolution, or whether or not you're planning on sticking to it, just do your best to make it better. 2012 may have been a good year, or a bad year. Let's all make 2013 a better year.

We've said our last goodbyes...

Watching the doctors pull the plug, remove life support, turn off the machines, however you wish to say it, is never easy. I watched as the doctors pulled the life support from a man tonight, who's son I count as one of my closest and best friends.
I've known Frank for close to 6 years now if not a bit longer. I've met his dad only a few times in the last couple or three years. What I can say about this man, is that I've never heard anyone speak an ill word of him. I've only heard great things about him. Every time I meet him, I can't help but smile, and he usually always says something to give me a laugh. You can see the kindness in his blue eyes. The kind of eyes that you know are connected to a smile.  I can see the same look in his son's eyes, and even in his son's son's eyes. I'm glad it continues through the generations.

Sometimes you meet a person, and then you meet their family, and you realize this person may be the only good person out of the entire family.  This is not the case with my friend Frank. Every single member of his family that I've met would do whatever they can for you, and do it with a smile.  I like people like that.
It's sad that we have to see Mr. Frank leave this world, but it's something we all have to face some time. It doesn't make it any easier. We weep, we mourn for the loss. We try to find the way to turn that in to rejoice for a person's life, and happiness that they are going home. Then comes the grief. We always miss those we lose. Through time, we heal, we try to move on, but we never forget, and we do our best to keep that in our hearts, along with the great memories of those who move on.

To you, Mr. Frank, I'm thankful that I had the opportunity to meet you, and to hear some of the many stories of your life. Whether it's teaching your children how to be good men and women, whether it's teaching young boys how to be good scouts and learn the right ways of growing up and surviving, or whether it's just relaxing around the house, watching TV and talking about coins or watching Frank and myself try not to tear up walls while installing your new shower, I've got my share of memories of you, and you've definitely made a mark on the world.  My only regret is that I didn't know you longer, or get to know you better.

Goodbye good sir, and may God bring you home swiftly.