How many do-it-yourself tasks can you do?
- CountryKitty
- Posts: 240
- Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2005 1:04 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Western Kentucky
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 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.
- WyoBadger
- Posts: 2708
- Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2001 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Tell us something.: "Tell us something" hits me a bit like someone asking me to tell a joke. I can always think of a hundred of them until someone asks me for one. You know how it is. Right now, I can't think of "something" to tell you. But I have to use at least 100 characters to inform you of that.
- Location: Wyoming
Well said, Owen.MagicSailor wrote:Whaddayamean? Threatened? I'm not feeling Threatened!djm wrote:I am struck by the similarity to most peoples' response to this list of tasks: threatened
What an absurd idea! How dare you? You want a piece of me, huh?
Sorry, I just need another cup of tea...
djm, It's called humor, dude. Lighten up.
Tom
Fall down six times. Stand up seven.
- WyoBadger
- Posts: 2708
- Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2001 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Tell us something.: "Tell us something" hits me a bit like someone asking me to tell a joke. I can always think of a hundred of them until someone asks me for one. You know how it is. Right now, I can't think of "something" to tell you. But I have to use at least 100 characters to inform you of that.
- Location: Wyoming
I never thought I would say this to anyone who goes by the moniker, "Country Kitty," but...you are my hero.CountryKitty wrote: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.
Tom
Fall down six times. Stand up seven.
- Cynth
- Posts: 6703
- Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:58 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Iowa, USA
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.djm wrote: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
Diligentia maximum etiam mediocris ingeni subsidium. ~ Diligence is a very great help even to a mediocre intelligence.----Seneca
- WyoBadger
- Posts: 2708
- Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2001 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Tell us something.: "Tell us something" hits me a bit like someone asking me to tell a joke. I can always think of a hundred of them until someone asks me for one. You know how it is. Right now, I can't think of "something" to tell you. But I have to use at least 100 characters to inform you of that.
- Location: Wyoming
- mutepointe
- Posts: 8151
- Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2006 10:16 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: kanawha county, west virginia
- Contact:
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.
and i didn't click on the link because the items on the list didn't interest me.
Rose tint my world. Keep me safe from my trouble and pain.
白飞梦
白飞梦
- CountryKitty
- Posts: 240
- Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2005 1:04 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Western Kentucky
- cowtime
- Posts: 5280
- Joined: Thu Nov 01, 2001 6:00 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Appalachian Mts.
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
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
"Let low-country intruder approach a cove
And eyes as gray as icicle fangs measure stranger
For size, honesty, and intent."
John Foster West
And eyes as gray as icicle fangs measure stranger
For size, honesty, and intent."
John Foster West
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.
~ Diane
Flutes: Tipple D and E flutes and a Casey Burns Boxwood Rudall D flute
Whistles: Jerry Freeman Tweaked D Blackbird
Flutes: Tipple D and E flutes and a Casey Burns Boxwood Rudall D flute
Whistles: Jerry Freeman Tweaked D Blackbird
- WyoBadger
- Posts: 2708
- Joined: Wed Jun 27, 2001 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Tell us something.: "Tell us something" hits me a bit like someone asking me to tell a joke. I can always think of a hundred of them until someone asks me for one. You know how it is. Right now, I can't think of "something" to tell you. But I have to use at least 100 characters to inform you of that.
- Location: Wyoming