Kevin Stenberg
Well-Known Member
My betterhalf must have come the same mold as KHornet & Pistolero.
Wife
- Thread starter Ben
- Start date
F
freebullet
Guest
Mine asks why we didn't already have one of those.
Don't play like your taking her fishing/shooting, then not do it. She won't be ammused.
Don't play like your taking her fishing/shooting, then not do it. She won't be ammused.
JWFilips
Well-Known Member
Got to admit mine is my soul mate and child hood sweetheart. Grew up well and to this day loves the smell of Hoppe's #9 ( reminds her of her Dad); Loves Game over store bought meats....loves animals but will take one "out" if necessary! Can out shoot me in Handgun any day and seldom practices
The only thing we don't have in common is the love of "Ball" sports NO No not what you think She loves sports and is an avid Tennis player Me on the other hand have no interest in sports "of the Ball" unless it is Muzzleloading or my other favorite when I was younger ...that I don't get to do as much anymore That is what I call a manly ball game!
The only thing we don't have in common is the love of "Ball" sports NO No not what you think She loves sports and is an avid Tennis player Me on the other hand have no interest in sports "of the Ball" unless it is Muzzleloading or my other favorite when I was younger ...that I don't get to do as much anymore
That is what I call a manly ball game!
Pistolero
Well-Known Member
Smokeywolf - yes! Retirement is a blast! Doing what I want, all day. And some days, it isn't much, other days
I do a lot. My choice.
Wait until you can be retired in Free America, land of low taxes, plentiful guns, cheap gas, affordable homes and
fewer traffic snarls. I'm thinking you will walk around in a daze with a silly grin on your face for at lease a few
months after you escape.
Is that about right Rick? Are there other "amazing things" that I forgot to mention?
JW - interesting parallel - my wife is more interested in "stick and ball games" as I call them
than I am. I can watch a football game and enjoy it, but also would never sit down and
look for one. She WILL. As to basketball, cannot watch, way too boring, can watch baseball
if it isn't a pitching duel, even enjoy an occasional real live Royals game with friends (like every
decade or so), soccer mystifies me. How can you pay attention when they may only score one
time in a couple hours? Tennis....yawn.
Shooting, racing, flying, hiking, camping, those I will do and watch. Fortunately, she likes them, too. Although I never watched anybody hike or camp.
Bill
I do a lot. My choice.
Wait until you can be retired in Free America, land of low taxes, plentiful guns, cheap gas, affordable homes and
fewer traffic snarls. I'm thinking you will walk around in a daze with a silly grin on your face for at lease a few
months after you escape.
Is that about right Rick? Are there other "amazing things" that I forgot to mention?
JW - interesting parallel - my wife is more interested in "stick and ball games" as I call them
than I am. I can watch a football game and enjoy it, but also would never sit down and
look for one. She WILL. As to basketball, cannot watch, way too boring, can watch baseball
if it isn't a pitching duel, even enjoy an occasional real live Royals game with friends (like every
decade or so), soccer mystifies me. How can you pay attention when they may only score one
time in a couple hours? Tennis....yawn.
Shooting, racing, flying, hiking, camping, those I will do and watch. Fortunately, she likes them, too. Although I never watched anybody hike or camp.
Bill
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smokeywolf
Well-Known Member
I dunno Bill, Smokey has been saying for 5 years now that he is going to escape but there he is.
Yup! Here I sit. I knew starting over at 41 years old might put a kink in my retirement plans. Just didn't know to what extent.
Younger teen boy is a normal learner (but better than me), will do well in school most anywhere and is very anxious to move. Older of the two is remarkably gifted, carries a 4.35 GPA and last SAT, scored in the mid 1400s with a perfect math score. He's also the top math student out of over 2,000 students in his high school. Already has nearly half of his units toward his Associates degree. I'm just too afraid to break his momentum by moving him.
He's going to be touring the U.S. with a ProAm music organization this Summer. I'm hoping he'll see and embrace the difference in culture and just plain friendliness in the South and Midwest. One the cities he'll be performing in is not that terribly far away from Rick and John.
Pistolero
Well-Known Member
Smokeywolf - your heart is definitely in the right place, doing what is best for kids is important.
However - an bit of an alternate view. Both me and my wife were military brats, I moved many times in the USA, including
a couple of different times to Italy. Born in Cali, lived in Hawaii, Iowa, Virginia, Florida, Rhode Island - and Va, Cali, and Fla
several different cities and different eras. I went to 12 different schools before I graduated HS, including several
midyear moves. I had a few fistfights finding the way to keep the bullies off of the small, new guy, but generally
loved it. Learned a LOT. Both the wife (AF brat, not quite as many moves as me, but many) and I think it was a
plus for us. That said: I started in WVA for my first job, then came to KC area (for "a few years", we thought !?)
and have stayed here for over 35 years. We travel a lot, have been to all the 50 states, except Hawaii since we
were married, some 40+ times, like Wyoming. I think some of this is because we saw a lot of different places and
still enjoy new places and meeting new people, seeing different lifestyles.
Do what you think is best for your kids, OBVIOUSLY, and ALWAYS, but kids are resilient and ultimately, IMO, grow
up better and more aware of the world if they live different places. YMMV, of course.
Bill
However - an bit of an alternate view. Both me and my wife were military brats, I moved many times in the USA, including
a couple of different times to Italy. Born in Cali, lived in Hawaii, Iowa, Virginia, Florida, Rhode Island - and Va, Cali, and Fla
several different cities and different eras. I went to 12 different schools before I graduated HS, including several
midyear moves. I had a few fistfights finding the way to keep the bullies off of the small, new guy, but generally
loved it. Learned a LOT. Both the wife (AF brat, not quite as many moves as me, but many) and I think it was a
plus for us. That said: I started in WVA for my first job, then came to KC area (for "a few years", we thought !?)
and have stayed here for over 35 years. We travel a lot, have been to all the 50 states, except Hawaii since we
were married, some 40+ times, like Wyoming. I think some of this is because we saw a lot of different places and
still enjoy new places and meeting new people, seeing different lifestyles.
Do what you think is best for your kids, OBVIOUSLY, and ALWAYS, but kids are resilient and ultimately, IMO, grow
up better and more aware of the world if they live different places. YMMV, of course.
Bill
smokeywolf
Well-Known Member
Your point is well taken Bill.
During the fist half of my childhood, I attended 5 different schools in 8 years. Dad worked in aerospace and got transferred.
My father was also gifted with unusual left and right brain acuity. He was a remarkably talented artisan and craftsman in addition to being a gifted engineer.
He was also a self-centered, self-absorbed and at times, abusive *******. If he had a bad day at work, there was at least a 50% chance that I was going to get slapped around when he got home. Dad was all about Dad and my mother was all about Dad. My sister and I to a great degree, raised ourselves. I respected Dad for providing well for me; I never wanted for any necessity.
Out of myself, my mom and my sister, I was the one who stayed by him the most during the last few months of his life, through heart surgery, amputation, and stopped at the VA hospital after work to visit and watch the evening news with him just a few hours before he died.
I'm very proud of what my dad accomplished, but while many folks learn parenting skills from their parents, mine taught me what not to do. Guess I'm obsessed now with making sure my sons get the father I never had.
Life is hard and never fair (I'm teaching them that too). Our kids are going to have a harder time earning a living than we did. With that in mind, I have to know when I take my last breath, that I did all I could to prepare them to be good providers and good dads.
During the fist half of my childhood, I attended 5 different schools in 8 years. Dad worked in aerospace and got transferred.
My father was also gifted with unusual left and right brain acuity. He was a remarkably talented artisan and craftsman in addition to being a gifted engineer.
He was also a self-centered, self-absorbed and at times, abusive *******. If he had a bad day at work, there was at least a 50% chance that I was going to get slapped around when he got home. Dad was all about Dad and my mother was all about Dad. My sister and I to a great degree, raised ourselves. I respected Dad for providing well for me; I never wanted for any necessity.
Out of myself, my mom and my sister, I was the one who stayed by him the most during the last few months of his life, through heart surgery, amputation, and stopped at the VA hospital after work to visit and watch the evening news with him just a few hours before he died.
I'm very proud of what my dad accomplished, but while many folks learn parenting skills from their parents, mine taught me what not to do. Guess I'm obsessed now with making sure my sons get the father I never had.
Life is hard and never fair (I'm teaching them that too). Our kids are going to have a harder time earning a living than we did. With that in mind, I have to know when I take my last breath, that I did all I could to prepare them to be good providers and good dads.
Todd M
Craftsman of metals...always learning.
This rings true with me. So true. God bless you for putting your family first. Why do you say our kids will have a harder time earning a living? Just because the world is spiraling down?
KeithB
Resident Half Fast Machinist
smokeywolf, your family history and mine are very similar. I learned to be independent and skeptical of many things at a very young age. I have (and still am) learning many ways to not be a good male parent from my father. Where he demands conformity (to his views) I embrace diversity. Approval, acceptance, and attention are a necessity to grow up psychologically healthy, as much as food and shelter are a necessity to grow up physically healthy.
smokeywolf
Well-Known Member
Fewer good paying middle class jobs and job security has become an archaic concept. Want your kids to have the best chance of staying employed? Encourage them have either a double major or at least a minor that has something to do with "business" or "computer science".
The older of my two at home wants to major in some form of engineering. I told him to also get a business degree.
Younger of the two, has an affinity for physiology and mechanics but has no idea as of yet how he wants to earn his living.
Keith,
We do share much. Wish I could spend a few hundred hours in the machine shop with you.
Dad stopped abusing me in around 1968. He threw me through a window. The window was closed. It scared him sufficiently that he never touched me again. Based on his history, I think his first though was, he saw his job evaporating if anyone found out. It was at least a year later, we had an difference of opinion about some political or historical point and knowing he was wrong, he said outright that always and regardless, when it came down to who's opinion was right, mine or his, it would always be his.
I'm very distrusting of folks. Learned by age 9 that Dad couldn't be trusted and Mom couldn't be trusted to protect me from Dad.
Back to wives. Mrs. smokeywolf says, come hell or high water, she will not stay in Kali beyond the Summer of 2018. Like me, she had her heart set on getting out of here back in the Summer of 2015.
L1A1Rocker
Active Member
Todd M
Craftsman of metals...always learning.
It is hard for me to accept that it will be necessary to have a degree to support a family in the future, especially that near of a future. Not saying it won't be so, I just have always valued a good work ethic and able to use your two hands above college. Neither is wrong in its place, just different. And being able to adapt while still keeping your own standards as this ole world changes is perhaps the most important quality. An open mind is good, but needs to be ready to judge each "new" thing. Good food for thought.
KeithB
Resident Half Fast Machinist
Having degrees in a technical field and business is very sound advice IMHO. I got my BS in engineering and then an MS in Industrial Management. The combination has served me well.
I'd love to hang out in the shop and learn from you Smokey, bet we could do some creative and fun things.
Edit to add: 1989toddm, you posted while I was typing. I agree that traditional formal college education/degrees is not necessarily for everybody. And I can appreciate a good work ethic and the hands-on aspect of making a living. But the best hands-on type folks I know that don't have formal degrees (a couple of mechanics, some union construction guys, etc.) have technical degrees and get periodic training on new systems, changing laws, etc. To me it's the idea of continuing to learn throughout your life, and always being open to new ideas and new ways of doing things. Sometimes that may be a degree, or a certificate, or an employer sponsored training program, or maybe just a chance to audit an interesting college class at your local community college. The only people incapable of learning new things are dead.
I'd love to hang out in the shop and learn from you Smokey, bet we could do some creative and fun things.
Edit to add: 1989toddm, you posted while I was typing. I agree that traditional formal college education/degrees is not necessarily for everybody. And I can appreciate a good work ethic and the hands-on aspect of making a living. But the best hands-on type folks I know that don't have formal degrees (a couple of mechanics, some union construction guys, etc.) have technical degrees and get periodic training on new systems, changing laws, etc. To me it's the idea of continuing to learn throughout your life, and always being open to new ideas and new ways of doing things. Sometimes that may be a degree, or a certificate, or an employer sponsored training program, or maybe just a chance to audit an interesting college class at your local community college. The only people incapable of learning new things are dead.
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A degree is required to live well. The right degree certainly can help but the wrong degree isn't much help.
A degree is essentially a group of job skills. Having a skill makes a worker valuable.
My daughter just graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, she had difficulty finding a good job. She had a friend who got a degree in Psychology, she struggled to find much above minimum wage.
A skill, any usable skill, makes the difference. Differentiate yourself from the masses.
A degree is essentially a group of job skills. Having a skill makes a worker valuable.
My daughter just graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering, she had difficulty finding a good job. She had a friend who got a degree in Psychology, she struggled to find much above minimum wage.
A skill, any usable skill, makes the difference. Differentiate yourself from the masses.
JWFilips
Well-Known Member
My wife has a degree as Medical Assistant She also has a degree as a Para legal; I think in the 80's and 90's she was ahead of her time. There were no such openings around here in those fields back then... Of course now that she is near retirement everyone wants Med assistants & Par legal's It doesn't pay to be on the cutting edge!
Todd M
Craftsman of metals...always learning.
Keith,
What you say is true, that willingness to learn new things throughout your life. Thanks for putting that into words, the different ways of getting a "degree". Even if that degree is not a formal one, it very well may be many training sessions and certificates and such. Put that way, I guess I don't disagree quite so much is I thought with formal training. It's necessary to go on.
What you say is true, that willingness to learn new things throughout your life. Thanks for putting that into words, the different ways of getting a "degree". Even if that degree is not a formal one, it very well may be many training sessions and certificates and such. Put that way, I guess I don't disagree quite so much is I thought with formal training.
It's necessary to go on.
KeithB
Resident Half Fast Machinist
The traditional view of education is that you either go to college to get a formal degree (or several degrees) after high school or you got a job on a farm, in a factory, or on a construction site. Once you got out of the college "lane", by graduation, dropping out, or not going at all your education was over.
As a society we have to get past this thinking!
Education should be a lifelong process, with numerous entry and exit points in the educational system. Degreed professionals in most fields have to get Continuing Education Credits of various types to get and stay licensed. Skilled workers need to have, and get appropriate periodic training in their fields. No skilled trade is untouched by the technology of electronics and computers. While most of the basic skills of being a good mechanic or plumber haven't changed since 1980 or even 1940 if you don't learn how to use computers you would have a hard time finding and/or keeping a job today, no matter how skilled and talented you are.
That's what I love about this site, the people here want to learn from others and are willing to share what they know with others. It's a first class continuing education site for sure.
As a society we have to get past this thinking!
Education should be a lifelong process, with numerous entry and exit points in the educational system. Degreed professionals in most fields have to get Continuing Education Credits of various types to get and stay licensed. Skilled workers need to have, and get appropriate periodic training in their fields. No skilled trade is untouched by the technology of electronics and computers. While most of the basic skills of being a good mechanic or plumber haven't changed since 1980 or even 1940 if you don't learn how to use computers you would have a hard time finding and/or keeping a job today, no matter how skilled and talented you are.
That's what I love about this site, the people here want to learn from others and are willing to share what they know with others. It's a first class continuing education site for sure.
JWFilips
Well-Known Member
Keith, You just hit it on the HEAD! This is the best place to forward our educations! Come here Listen up! You will learn!
Jim