screen shot of youtube channel

1. Since we got rid of satellite tv last summer we’ve watched a whole lot of stuff on Youtube. You can find folks making videos about pretty much anything you can think of. We especially enjoy Buckin Billy Ray Smith who is a logger in British Columbia. He can split wood like nobody you ever saw and spreads a message of kindness. The girls love watching Exploring Abandoned Mines. Shamans Forge Woodscraft is also an interesting channel. David Canterbury is one of The Deer Hunter’s favorites.

man putting post up by stairs

2. We finally got around to taking down the post with the satellite dish attached to it a few weeks back. Once the dish was removed The Deer Hunter said “Now I can put this post back where it goes.” I said “What do you mean put it back, where did it come from?” The day the man installed the satellite several years back he forgot to bring anything to put it on. How crazy is that! The Deer Hunter removed a post that was attached to our porch steps for him to use. I said “I can’t believe I never noticed the post was gone.” He had a big smile on his face. I said “So that’s funny uh?” He said “No I was just thinking this is Pap’s post he’s the one who put it up when we built the steps and now I’m putting it back.”

carved goose in window

3. Chitter is obsessed with the famed Brasstown Carvers from John C. Campbell Folk School. She’s managed to acquire a collection of old pieces from scouring thrift stores, antique shops, and online sellers. Chitter claims she gets an itchy feeling and knows where to look for the pieces. Just a week or so before the COVID-19 mess blew up she found three geese carved by one of the Halls in a thrift shop in Hiwassee, GA for $2.00. She said “As soon as I went in the door I knew carvings were nigh.” Sounds completely crazy doesn’t it? But I’ve seen her itchy feeling be right too many times to doubt her and I have a goose in my window at work to remind me she’s always right.

Merle Haggard

4. When The Deer Hunter and I were courting Merle Haggard was our background music. He recently yelled at me to come in the living room and showed me a classic Merle video of “When Times Were Good and You Were Mine.”Go here to see the video.

girl with small snake on finger

5. The girls are great helpers when it comes to working in the garden…that is if you can keep them from playing with the creepy crawlies.

Tipper

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11 Comments

  1. Hi Tipper, Thanks for the 5 Things article. I will have to check these out on YouTube. My wife and I are addicted to Acorn TV. This is British television and we watch mainly murder mysteries. On YouTube I watch Fox News, Anything about history, or travel, or how to fix things. Also I enjoy Above Inspiration in the morning. I remember your girls also enjoy jewelry making, besides making music.

  2. Well, Sugar, when you get bored and want to see my boy Wiley strut his stuff at dressage shows (and some of his racing days), look up Runaway Wildcat. I put all kinds of videos of him up there. I have some of my dogs playing with the hose and in their “swimmy pool,” too.

  3. Such a fun post today. I’ve learned a lot of things, especially about sewing, on You Tube. I learned how to miter quilt binding corners, because I quilted some plain fabric to make a seat cover for an old bench my Daddy made. I decided the bench would be perfect at the foot of the guest bed instead of sitting in my husband’s workshop in the garage. I am always figuring out how to re-purpose things I already own instead of buying new. The carved goose is beautiful. I’ve learned to have an open mind in thrift stores, because I never know what I will stumble upon.

  4. YouTube is amazing I must say. I play old time clawhammer banjo and if I want to learn a tune there are always multiple versions available to listen to online. Also tablatures and lyrics. “Tater Joe’s” is also a wonderful source for old time fiddle and banjo players.

  5. I always love your 5 things, but especially is heartwarming this time. These men of the Greatest Generation like Pap always seemed to put so much thought into everything. We remember and find their stability in everything they touched. It seems so symbolic that he attached that post that would serve you well.
    The creepy crawlers remind me of my grandson’s passion for bugs and such when he was little, and I once had to take one of his bugs and relocate it out of my garden so it could be “free.”
    I have been a YouTube addict for quite sometime and can get my fill of Appalachia any time I wish. American Hollow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDAFy3ASNOo&t=2137s
    Off the subject, but hope you all are able to find seeds and plants during this crisis situation. It seems everything is a crisis nowadays, but I found a great little nursery in Tennessee that has the heirloom seeds for tomato, beans, and peppers called Wright’s Heirloom’s. The big companies are not concentrating on gardens right now, I bought canning flats as soon as this started, because I remembered a long ago day when Mom waited too late and had to look everywhere. She finally found them at a little country store.

  6. I. I watch Buckin too but he talks a little too much sometimes. I watch Wade Eteinne https://www.youtube.com/user/Wadetater0 He’s off Ax Men too and they are friends. Wade is a little rough around the edges but you could take him out of Indiana and put him here in Western NC and he would fit right in.
    2. What’s a satellite dish? I have an old antenna that has a rotor on it. I don’t have the controller but it don’t matter, I don’t have a TV. I lied I do have a TV but I use it as a computer monitor.
    3. Chitter is a gifted artist. She ought to make her own wooden carvings.
    4. I’ve never been a fan of Merle Haggard. Nor Willie Nelson, Kristofferson, Jennings and Cash. Just ain’t my kind of people.
    5. Is that a legless lizard or a snake?

    I got my light bill today and I owe $-172.00. I’m on the equal payment plan. The power company sends me things all year long about how bad I am doing compared to other homes the size of mine in my area. Every year I get a refund. So how does that figure?

  7. Somehow I think the Deer Hunter never cared a lot for TV. I grew up without one and have always not been very interested. I sit where I can’t see ours and read. There are very few things I watch.

    The post story made me think of how memories and stories get attached to common objects. I don’t quite know the idea I’m reaching for, but when there are a lot of handmade, homemade, family ties type things around it is a rich field for memories and stories to be made. Common things are made uncommon and uncommonly good. You all will have your Dad’s ‘support’ in a tangible way everytime you go up or down those steps.

    Good hunting Chitter. I think you are on to something. Being a hunter if some kind is a lifetime of fun, whether it is ancestors, ginseng or close friends. Btw, about ginseng, there are several plants in that picture from the North Carolina encyclopedia.

    I worked at a restaurant in high school. As I was about to get there walking one evening Merle was saying “Here comes that working man.”

    Your posts have convinced me over the time that you all would be fun and interesting folks to spend time with. The ‘creepy crawlies’ remind me of the time we were digging potatoes and the ‘pincer bug’ get ahold of me. I was crying and slinging my hand to get it off but it wasn’t working. This was many moons ago you understand, when I was a little shaver.

  8. You probably already know, but that’s a worm snake. On the old home place I’ve seen several of them. I’ve never intentionally hurt one but did run over one on the dirt road. The deep leaf litter beside the road seems to be their favorite place to live.

  9. Good Morning, Tipper…..I especially enjoyed the variety of this mornings post, 5 Things…..Thanks!

  10. Yea, I guess you could call me a You-tube- attic, listen to the news sure isn’t where it’s at, I actually have fixed so many things around here, I look it up to see if someone made a video, watch it, and go fix it, I actually had the whole back of our refrigerator torn out and found the part that needed fixin and put it all back together and she’s still running today, and still take the time to watch a little Merle Haggard along the way, I guess he’s #1 on my list of favorites. This is when my Wife’s Uncle Played for Merle, he and Tiny Moore played fiddles, and they both played for Bob Wills at one time, before Merle.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SD3iDw4jTVQ

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