George Washington Carvin' Out a Piece of My Heart

Yes, that is TWO George Washington Carver references now in this blog. Must have been the one day I didn't skip social studies in school.

My old man came up to visit a month or two back, and he brought with him a 25lb. box of salted peanuts.

I should probably explain this. Back home, our grain elevator (where you take the grain after you have harvested it you damn city kids) shares it's driveway with my high school. This was a bit annoying when I was haulin' loads with the ol' John Deere in front of cheerleading practice - but I got to know the owner, Terry, quite well.

Terry was the epitome of a small town guy - he knows every farmer that comes through his place by name, and always remembered the lil stuff - where I was at school, what crazy shit I was involved in (rock bands, radio stations). Anyways, Terry kept a healthy stock of snacks at his place, knowing that most farmers don't have time to take a lunch (although I can admit I have driven a John Deere 7610 (seen below) through the Arby's drive-thru).



Among the usual candy bars and cans of pop was a huge bin of peanuts. I have always loved eating peanuts in the shell and my old man would go up to Terry's and buy a shipment of peanuts - which came in a box of 25lbs. So there is your background on where the 25lb box came from. (This paragraph is intentionally unfunny because any joke would have involved puns about being "asSalted" or jokes about "nuts".)

I had more or less steered clear of the peanuts since he brought them up; seeing as how they are messy and make too much noise during The View - but yesterday I decided it was time to dive in like so many circus elephants.

It is amazing to go back and visit something that stirs up so many memories. At first taste I was back home, cracking peanuts as I worked on the farm, tossing the shells on the floor of the John Deere and hiding my face from the cheerleaders. Then, I was at the Jake (still the Jake to me) sitting in the upper deck on a Wednesday night cracking shells and sipping a beer; cheering on my beloved Tribe.

Then I realized it didn't stir up an exact memory or moment - but just a bunch of good memories. It took me back to places that are most core to me - be it as broad as the memory of the small town in Northwest Ohio that taught me how to get my hands dirty and how to drink a beer; or as exact as the sun going down behind my favorite baseball park as my team makes a run towards October.

So here is a quick list of other things that don't recall so much of an exact memory as just a warm fuzzy feeling (for once not a result of whiskey).

Coke from a glass bottle
Playing baseball
Fishing
Marvin Gaye - Let's Get It On
Tom Petty
Bonfires
Busch Light

So cheers to realizing an old favorite. And to another reminder of those redneck roots I sometimes forget to flex.

And to hilarious pictures of me on a tractor that I am SURE will be used as blackmail at some point in my life.