Posts Tagged ‘farm

26
Apr
24

My Friend named Grandma

By Bucktown Leave a Comment
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Just boarded another airplane for another flight home.  I’ve done this dozens actually hundreds of times before, but today is different.  I’m flying home to say goodbye to one of my dearest friends.  I’m so thankful for the time I was able to spend with her and will remember all the wonderful conversations we had over the last 20 years.  For those of you that know me personally you know I have friends all over the world and I’ve been blessed to have so many of them.  This friend was all alone in her category simply because of her name.  Grandma.

I have always been close to my Dads father.  I was named after him and that was a small club to be in.  I probably don’t deserve his name as he was one of the greatest men I’ve ever known.  When he was 80 yrs old I watched him carry a large metal tub filled with corn down to the hog barn to feed the chickens.  Ha.  Just kidding.  There are pigs in the hog barn you fools!! When I would visit my Grandparents, Grandpa and I would sit at the table having tea and thoseamazing chocolate chip cookies only Grandma could make, while G-ma waited on us.  Naturally most of the conversation was between us men.  It was just the way it was.  I mean we all know the golden rule.  Women have to be quiet while the men are talking.

My Grandpa passed away 17 years ago and while back visiting Grandma she mentioned she is awake until 2-3 am most nights.  I started volunteering at the children’s hospital in San Diego around this time.  Every Tuesday night I would open and run a playroom for the kids to get out of their rooms and have some fun.   My drive home was 30-40m min and almost always after 9 PM.  I like to talk to people when I’m driving, but 9 PM is a little late to call friends to just say “hey”. One night I thought Grandma is awake, I’ll call her.  I called, she was up, and we had a great talk.  As time went on, week after week, I would continue to call G-ma on my drive home. She looked forward to it and so did I.  Something happened during those calls.  My Grandma became my friend.

She told me so many stories. How she first knew my Grandfather was the man she would marry.  He was at her place to help do some sort of work and as he left the house with the others, my grandma handed him a pair of gloves and their hands touched.  Not a quick touch, but long enough to gaze into each others eyes and decide I’m going to marry this person.  Simpler times.  A hand lingering just long enough to relay the message, but not too long to be creepy. 

She told me about her wedding day.  They were going to “honeymoon” in Waterloo planning to eat a fine dinner and then going to see a movie.  For reasons not discussed the young married couple were running late and had to smash a couple burgers quickly so they could still make the movie on time.  The best part was the happiness in her voice as she relived these memories with me.  I felt and still feel honored she shared these stories with me.  I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to know her so well. 

Grandma had so many pictures and was a rock within the family.  Doing all she could to keep the family together having family reunions and always encouraging everyone to let go of the anger, be open to kindness, and forgive when necessary.  It seems fitting that our whole family will be brought together one more time by Anna Pearl.  I can envision her and Grandpa (together again!) looking down at us all with smiles knowing they did their best for their family and I’m not alone when I say THANK YOU to both of them. 

Just part of Grandmas super army. Love you forever Grandma.

I will say this.  MAKE the time to talk with people you love.  None of us are that busy we can’t put forth the effort.  Well so and so never calls me, why should I reach out to them???  Why shouldn’t you??  Whatever happened let it go.  It isn’t worth dragging that anger anchor around with you.  Don’t you want to be free of this pissed off attitude that sucks up all your energy so you can stay mad???

I loved my Grandmother without question.  She was a remarkable woman.  All that came natural.  I’m happiest though knowing I took the time to make my amazing G-ma my best friend while I had the opportunity.  She taught me so many lessons that I will use the rest of my life.  Many times people will say I didn’t know what I had until it was gone.  I have learned very hard lessons that way, but this one time I got ahead of the game.  I made sure to appreciate my friend everyday. 

The world lost a bright shining light of a human, but heaven gained an angel that will forever be looking down at our families. 

That is what I wrote on the flight out.  I’m currently on the flight back to Charlotte. At the visitation I went by, but purposely didn’t look into the casket directly.  I used a bit of side eye, then closed my eyes, and said a private prayer between Anna Pearl and myself.  I didn’t want the vision of her in my head overwhelming all the happy mental pics I’ve taken of her during my life. 

My family is far from perfect.  My Grandma wasn’t perfect.  I am so far from Perphekt that I have to spell it wrong.  I might name one of my kids that actually….  Truth is like all families there is some drama and blah blah.  I don’t involve myself in that.  Some people need conflict and thrive on it.  I’m not one of those.  I prefer if something has your panties all wadded up, say something, get it off your chest, and then move on. 

The celebration of life was awesome.  Many of my family members made the trip home and we got to visit, laugh, and enjoy the moment.  Anna Pearl got us all together one last time.

We are all going to miss her, but I’ve promised myself to replay the great times in my head and share the advice, family history, and the wisdom my dear friend Grandma passed to me.

I love you Grandma and Grandpa.  So happy you are together again.  I promise to do my best to encourage everyone to drop the anchors and be happy again.  At this stage of the game no body is changing.  Just accept your family members for who they are and simply love them unconditionally.

Thank you,

FknBucky

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13
Apr
21

Farming is the Life for ME!!

By Bucktown 1 Comment
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Dog week. I’m stuck in a Marriott tonight. My home away from home most of the time. I spend a lot of time in hotels so I pick Marriotts. They all have good and bad parts about them. I will say that I mysteriously got another free night added to my account about a week after I wrote that blog and had the fighting with them. I’ll take it, but I’m still mad at them. Honeymoon is over. I am however in room 130 at my favorite Courtyard. The one that they renovated and then set up how I asked them too. Still kinda surprised they actually put the stripper pole in, but I do spend a lot of money at Marriotts. I also spend money at the nudie bar. Now I can do both at the same time. I dare you to say you hate America. Not on my watch hippie.

None of that first paragraph had a dang thing to do with a dog. Awesome. I had intentions to get there, but stripper pole popped in the mind. All down hill from there. For the record I’m kidding. I don’t spend lots of money on Marriott. Sorry Mom. So I got to thinking about different dog stories I could use for tonight and about 3 minutes before I started typing I thought about the dogs we had on the farm. Some of you may know that I grew up on a dairy farm in Nothern Wisconsin. I did go to high school in Iowa, but until I was 12 years old I scooped poop everyday. Cow poop, calf poop, pig poop, My own poop, and the best part was even after doing it all day, the next day there was all new poop to scoop. So awesome.

Those cows were work. Milking every morning and every evening. I used to get up early with my sister and Mom to go do the morning milking before school. I’d head to school for some learning, my daily beat down from classmates as I was not cool and smelled like poop, only to come home and milk cows again. The next time your kid complains about taking the trash out, I need you to calmly walk up to them, and then punch them in the face. Twice. Once is boring and sends the wrong message. Two times lets them know you really freaking mean it. I don’t have kids so obviously my parental skills are perfect. Remember that.

Dogs. Okay. Fine. Stop whining. We had German Shepherds growing up. The first one I remember is Mickey. That dog was awesome. She knew where each cow was supposed to be. When the cows came in for milking they have assigned parking spots and when a cow went to the wrong one Mickey was there to help get her straight. You know these were working dogs that didn’t come in the house ever. It is a different kind of relationship with a dog like that compared to a Murphy or Annabel. Working dogs like Mickey are more like a co-worker. They have a job to do as a protector, referee (keeping cows in line), and command a type of respect that is admirable. Nobody would mess with us kids when Mickey and later Smokey were around. Our next dog was named Smokey because she would steal Dad’s Camel cigarettes and smoke them behind the barn. Oh shoot, my bad, that was Jeremy.

No Smokey was named that because she was a gray color. Hey I know a kid that had a Dalmatian named Spotty so don’t give me a hard time. You know who you are Weaver!! Ha. One way to find out if he reads this blog. I also had a pig that I named Miss Piggy. It was a boy pig. Ha. Just kidding. I only name girl dogs boy dog names. Ever wonder how Murphy got her name?? I plead the fifth. As a kid it is often very difficult to appreciate just how special somethings are simply because it is all you know. Those farm dogs were pretty amazing.

I’m very curious if any of you have a cool working dog story. I don’t think I remember any specific story about either of those dogs, but that’s okay. Please let me know if you do as I’d love to hear it. So remember Dogs are like stripper poles. It doesn’t matter where they are, they are always awesome.

Be kind to a dog today. Extra walk, extra treat, or just one more belly rub. They are worth it.

FknBucky

P.S. FknBucky shirts were officially ordered today. I have a couple of cool ideas for them so please be patient. Most likely around Mid-May I will be reaching out to all of you to make sure you have the newest coolest shirt just in time for Summer!! A little teaser. More info coming soon!!

27
Feb
21

Poop Bag Character

By Bucktown Leave a Comment
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I am a student of life. I’m amazed at the behavior of people and wonder about how they can be so lazy when it comes to thinking of others above themselves. I witness dozens of interactions every week that could go so much better if people simply took a moment to see how they can make the world better with a simple action. I do my best to think about other people and actively look to find a way I can do something for them making the world a tiny bit better. You don’t have to be Oprah and give everyone a free car to do something life changing for a stranger.

The other day I took Annabel out for a long walk. I usually take about 5 poop bags with me. Trust me this puppy is healthy and like her human Dad completely full of shit. Ha. Figured I’d get a ahead of that one. No softballs here buddy. I don’t usually need that many, but I would rather have extra than not enough. Old lessons from living on the farm. Always take an extra one or two because the one time you need them, you’re going to be real glad you did. I usually bag up the Annie treasures and then leave them on a corner or place I know I’m coming back to. No need to carry a poop bag around. On the way home after doing our laps thru the neighborhood I can grab all the bags and put them into the trash can.

The trash can is a dog poop station if you will. A pole with a trash can and the top of it has poop bags for people that don’t bring one with them. I always take them with me from my home and refill at the drop off, but hey I’m smart. So this particular day I made my deposit and noticed there were no more bags for other people. Not my problem right?? I turned and started rolling away, but that voice in my head said “You can do better Bucky.” The voice was right and I could do better. I had two unused bags in my pocket. I turned around and put those two bags in the empty box so that the next two people would have a bag. I was able to help two random people, but more importantly I was able to help keep my environment clean of dog poop.

It took almost no effort from me, no one would know what I did (until I share it here), and it helped someone else be a responsible person and pick up after their dog. I share because it really is that easy to be a good person. I hope that you go out and actively LOOK for places to make a positive difference in your neighborhood. People see you doing good things and it is contagious. I need no praise or someone to say good job, but what does make me feel proud is when others follow my lead. That means I’m doing my job as a human. This reminds me of a time I was dropping the nephews off at the airport.

We were checking in at the main area when some how the box of luggage tags got knocked over and spilled everywhere. I didn’t do it so it wasn’t my problem. I mean they have people that work there so I could just ignore it and go on with my life. Who cares if the line is super long and the guy behind the counter is doing all he can to move people thru faster. Now he has to pick up all these luggage tags while I watch. We both know that isn’t what happened. Actually my nephew set his bag down and started to pick them all up. Organizing them to go back into the box like they were supposed to and I could not have been prouder of that kid. Without prompting he simply did what was right and kind. Remember someone is always watching what actions you take. I hope you set a good example.

I have another person I used to know back in my snowboarding days that told me a story about how he found a wallet while out walking with his daughter. He bragged to me that it had a couple hundred dollars in it which he kept and then threw the wallet into a trash can. He justified his actions by saying the guy gave him a dirty look while he parked his car. I have no idea why this individual thought I would be impressed by his crap story. It makes me sad because this young lady is learning wrong and her Dad is a D-Bag thief. He had such an opportunity to show his daughter how to be the bigger person (if you believe dirty look story, which I do not), how to do the right thing, and let her experience the feeling a person gets when they do the right thing. If you don’t feel shame when keeping the wallet that makes me even sadder.

So don’t sit back and wait for this perfect moment to do something kind. Look for those moments. Seek them out, experience the feeling you get when doing something kind, and become addicted to that feeling. Trust me you are not that busy, you are not that important, and you are robbing yourself every day you put off doing the random acts of kindness. Like just about everything it isn’t only about you. By being lazy you are most likely robbing someone that looks up to you the lesson of being kind simply because it makes you a better person, a person of integrity, and a person of good character. Don’t rob kids of that lesson.

Do kind things. It really is that simple.

FknBucky

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