Cranks My Tractor

What's in the basket?

There are those of us who watch the cooking shows on television with the same intensity that folks in the South watch college football. Personally, I find the competitive cooking shows interesting and filled with characters having attitudes and behaviors that come close to professional wrestling back when it was real (or at least I thought it was).

You can find chefs with tattoos, crazy hair and all kinds of things pierced that could seemingly get in the way when knives start chopping and pans start flying. They put their aprons on and go at each other in a kitchen, cooking to be judged by a panel of experts who are often just as colorful as those doing the cooking.

A June Bug on a String

It’s late July, it’s hot in the morning, it’s hot in the evening; I’m in the South. After parking my car in the lot to go into my office building, I noticed a June Bug on the car next to me. Picking him up, I felt the familiar sensation of a cocklebur crawling around in my hand.

He was green – the type of June Beetle I am accustomed to in the Deep South – the kind I would tie a string carefully around his leg and fly. Batteries, Bluetooth or a wireless connection were not required.

I’ve never really thought of June Bugs as pests, but a lot of folks do. These fellows spend the winter as larvae, deep in the dirt and then start popping out from June to August.

Pushing & Pulling Little Red Wagons

Are pictures really worth a thousand words, or ten thousand words or more? I do not know, but I know they are worth many memories of my past – good memories of who I was growing up and who my parents wanted me to be.

Recently my aunt came across a photograph of me sitting on a lawnmower with two of my cousins and my baby brother at my knee. Seeing the picture, I knew it was the summer of 1976. I was 14, my baby brother was two.

The picture was made at my Papa’s (grandfather’s) home in rural Alabama. The lawnmower was old and rusted and had the blade removed, but it was good for grandchildren to drive around and be pulled in a little red wagon.

An Owl in the Valley

Recently, I saw an owl flying beautifully toward a valley. The owl was in a very odd place, or should I say in a place I wasn’t expecting it. Also, it was in the late afternoon when I got to experience this “majestic” creature.

The sighting caused me to think about many things that are associated with owls. The whole experience kind of caught me by surprise.

There is an episode of “The Andy Griffith Show” where Briscoe Darling brings his four sons down from the hills to find brides for them all. Briscoe had just sold a plot of land for $300 and figured he could use the windfall to get his sons married off.

Veni, Vidi, Amuzis

It is almost certain that you have seen the phrase, “Veni, Vidi, Vici.” The phrase means, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” Julius Caesar meant it when he sent this message back to the Patrician Senate in 47 BC. He was basically saying exactly what it sounds like and saying it with more than a wee bit of arrogance.

Caesar was brief and to the point and still managed to emphasize his rudeness/arrogance to the Senate. It was also meant to say, “Not only did I do it, but I did it quick.”

Whether it is in battle or on a field in front of thousands of screaming fans, we often are inspired by the words of military leaders, coaches and athletes. Folks collect these quotes and spit them out at opportune times before, during and after battles, personal trials, sporting events and fraternity parties that have gotten out of hand.