How many do-it-yourself tasks can you do?

[CountryKitty]

I can and do:

I can recognize, gather and use wild black walnuts, hickory nuts, elderberries, blackberries, morels, and mulberries from the woods behind my place.
I can landscape a yard for $0 (red cedar, maple, redbud seedlings, ferns and large stones from the woods, large pieces of driftwood from the creek, wildflowrs from the ditch, seeds and cuttings of other trees and plants swapped from neighbors, and wood chip mulch from the electric co.).
I can prune/train a fruit tree.
Start everything in a garden from seed (including tomatoes and peppers and herbs and a few fruit trees,as well as gourds for purple martins).
Can/dry/freeze the produce
Cook the produce (home-cooked meals every night except on very rare occasions).
I can save my seeds and swap for other kinds.
I can milk a goat (tho' it's been a while).
I can shoot, and clean, a gun.
I can shoot, and clean, game.
I can raise, clean, and cook free-range chickens and ducks (the eggs are AWESOME).
I can train a German Shepherd to coexist nicely with chickens (I'm in the current issue of Organic Gardening in fact) as well as the neighbor's calves.
I can train the neighbor's cat to stay the hell away from my chickens.
I can train a cat to stay the hell off the counters and table, and out of my food even if I put it down on the coffee table and walk away.
I can train dogs to understand where the property line stops so that they don't cross it (my old dog has come to a screeching halt at the property line in the middle of chasing out a trespassing dog, and stood there barking furiously and jumping ito the air as if there were a gate there).
I can drive an automatic, a stick-shift, a motorcycle, and a tractor.
I can drive a nail or a screw.
I can drive my hubby and kids up a wall (I excel at this).
I can crotchet, knit, macrame, tat, embroider, sew and quilt my own lace, shirts, curtains, plant hangers, sweaters, ponchos, baby clothes, afghans, and quilts.
I can grow succulent houseplant from fallen leaves, and many others from cuttings or seed.

[fearfaoin]

The original post did not specify that it was for men, or for manly men, or that any of the listed activities should be considered as gender-specific at all.

It did if you clicked on the link at the bottom of the post.
Seriously, does anyone click on links anymore?

[WyoBadger]

I am struck by the similarity to most peoples' response to this list of tasks: threatened

Whaddayamean? Threatened? I'm not feeling Threatened!
What an absurd idea! How dare you? You want a piece of me, huh?



Sorry, I just need another cup of tea...

Well said, Owen.

djm, It's called humor, dude. Lighten up.


Tom

[WyoBadger]

I can and do:

I can recognize, gather and use wild black walnuts, hickory nuts, elderberries, blackberries, morels, and mulberries from the woods behind my place.
I can landscape a yard for $0 (red cedar, maple, redbud seedlings, ferns and large stones from the woods, large pieces of driftwood from the creek, wildflowrs from the ditch, seeds and cuttings of other trees and plants swapped from neighbors, and wood chip mulch from the electric co.).
I can prune/train a fruit tree.
Start everything in a garden from seed (including tomatoes and peppers and herbs and a few fruit trees,as well as gourds for purple martins).
Can/dry/freeze the produce
Cook the produce (home-cooked meals every night except on very rare occasions).
I can save my seeds and swap for other kinds.
I can milk a goat (tho' it's been a while).
I can shoot, and clean, a gun.
I can shoot, and clean, game.
I can raise, clean, and cook free-range chickens and ducks (the eggs are AWESOME).
I can train a German Shepherd to coexist nicely with chickens (I'm in the current issue of Organic Gardening in fact) as well as the neighbor's calves.
I can train the neighbor's cat to stay the hell away from my chickens.
I can train a cat to stay the hell off the counters and table, and out of my food even if I put it down on the coffee table and walk away.
I can train dogs to understand where the property line stops so that they don't cross it (my old dog has come to a screeching halt at the property line in the middle of chasing out a trespassing dog, and stood there barking furiously and jumping ito the air as if there were a gate there).
I can drive an automatic, a stick-shift, a motorcycle, and a tractor.
I can drive a nail or a screw.
I can drive my hubby and kids up a wall (I excel at this).
I can crotchet, knit, macrame, tat, embroider, sew and quilt my own lace, shirts, curtains, plant hangers, sweaters, ponchos, baby clothes, afghans, and quilts.
I can grow succulent houseplant from fallen leaves, and many others from cuttings or seed.

I never thought I would say this to anyone who goes by the moniker, "Country Kitty," but...you are my hero.

Tom

[djm]

djm, It's called humor, dude. Lighten up.

The humour is in the way so many people have responded. Personally, I find lists offensive. They do not attract me to magazines at all, in fact, very much the opposite.

djm

[fearfaoin]

Personally, I find lists offensive.

Damn you people and your methods of grouping
like items into cardinal order... A pox upon thee all!

Methinks the pot is calling the kettle defensive...

[Wanderer]

I can do 22 out of 25 things on the list.

I can do nearly half of the things on Dale's extended list

[Cynth]

I am struck by the similarity to most peoples' response to this list of tasks: threatened. The original post did not specify that it was for men, or for manly men, or that any of the listed activities should be considered as gender-specific at all. Yet everyone is responding as if they had been challenged, as if the list was a valid set of expected abilities that one should have. Did it not occur to you that you are capable of questioning the list's authority or validity?

Rather than try to defend or obfiscate your perceived inadequacies per the original list, I would like to hear your thoughts on why you didn't see the original list as being simply irrelevent to your life.

djm

Well, I think many of the things on that list would be good for men and women to be able to do. I suppose I haven't done most of those things because someone has generally been able to handle them for me or I've paid someone. But there are times when it is very hard to get someone to come and do something---then it would be good for men and women if you could do it yourself. I don't mind not being able to frame a wall---I guess that means build a room, right? But, backing up a trailer might come in handy in an emergency. I'm not really going to go out and practice just in case the emergency comes up though. I did have someone, long ago, teach me how to change a tire on a car (it seems like that would be more important that fixing a bike flat, but maybe they assume everyone can change a tire on a car). I think I've had people do that several times. The trouble is, I've never gotten a flat and I can't remember how to do it. I have the gist of the idea, but there are certain things that you have to remember and certain things that could be dangerous. I think you can shear off the bolts or something if you pump the car up before you take the bolts out, is that it? And now the spare tires aren't even real tires, I guess, so I should learn about that. Oh brother. Back to my book.

[Denny]

it you don't loosen the bolds before jacking the car up you can cause the car to come off of the jack when you try to do the bolts

[WyoBadger]

...and then you'd better know how to re-inflate smashed toes.



T

[mutepointe]

i thought the list was narrow in focus. i felt the author of the list was a bit on the conceited side. who numbers their skills? i thought there were many more way important skills that weren't mentioned that could benefit a person and the world much more than the items on this list. that's why i started a new list.

and i didn't click on the link because the items on the list didn't interest me.

[CountryKitty]

I never thought I would say this to anyone who goes by the moniker, "Country Kitty," but...you are my hero.

Tom

[cowtime]

Can do
2. Protect your computer [from viruses and spyware]. (I just ask someone on here when I need help)
4. Frame a wall. (house renovation is one of my obsessions and one of husbands professions was carpenter, so I can do whatever it takes from foundations up)
5. Retouch digital photos.
6. Back up a trailer. (make that cattle trailer, or flatbed wagon)
7. Build a campfire. I don't do camping, but I can build a fire.
8. Fix a dead outlet. I live in an old house....
11. Sharpen a knife. (all mountain girls know this one)
13. Fillet a fish. yes, but don't want to
14. Maneuver a car out of a skid.
15. Get a car unstuck. ( I drive for a living..the mail must go through)
16. Back up data.
17. Paint a room. (you mean there are folks who really don't know how???)
18. Mix concrete. no problem
21. Hook up an HDTV.

now on to Dale's list-

29. Make a basic Béchamel (white) sauce ( I hate to cook but I can do that one easy if you don't call it by that fancy name)
30. Recognize that Lou Dobbs is a pompous blow-hard.
31. Throw the basic Bechamel sauce you made at Lou Dobbs.
No Problem with those two!! but I want someone else to clean up the mess it will make when it hits his head
32. Name a lemur.
33. Look a man in the eye and apologize for doing him wrong.
34. Keep an open mind.
35. Confront injustice.
37. Marry well.
38. Raise a child to have a good heart. Did that twice.
39. Forgive.
40. Apply flea killer to Schrodinger's cat.
44. Call your mother (if she's alive.) everyday
45. Call your mother (if she's passed away.) Will do.
46. Instead of edging closer to your grave, back away from it.
47. Deny something undeniable. Affirm something unknowable.
48. Identify the source of turpentine. (In the pines, in the pines, where the sun never shines, and you shiver when the cold wind blows...)
49. Be nice to a woman who works in a store who the previous customer has been unkind to.
50. Sit and do nothing. (This is a tough one for me)

In addition-

Play with my granddaughter
I can drive almost 90 miles a day for my work and get back in the car and drive out somewhere when I get home.
I can farm (involves too much to list-cattle, tobacco, vegetables, horses)
I can paint/draw
I can sew
I can breed,train,treat, groom,show dogs
I can plant a vineyard, raise the grapes, pick, press, ferment, bottle, sell and drink wine
I can be a mom
I can play music(one of the best things to be able to do)
Refinish wood(either floors or furniture)
Oh, and I can find not just one pair of scissors, I can find several at any given moment.


Things I wish I could do but can't-
Sing
put words together like Frank McCourt, Bob Dylan or Richard Thompson
have the energy I had 20 years ago
know better before hand

[sbfluter]

If these are skills every man should know how to do, I gotta wonder how important is it really to know how to paddle a canoe? I mean, pleasing your wife would take you a whole lot further in life. So would knowing how to plunger a toilet.

[WyoBadger]

So would knowing how to plunger a toilet.

Oh, yeah, I'm all over that one!

Tom