I'm Convinced

[Old Dog]

I'm convinced that there are three kinds of people in the world

Those who learn by reading.

Those who learn by observing.

All the rest just have to pee on the electric fence!

[Jeffro]

And then there are those who just have to stick their tongue to the flagpole on a frozen winter's day.....

How are ya Old Dog?

[Old Dog]

Good to see you Jeff !
The folks you speak of are the third kind.

[mrs.oroblanco]

Old Dog,

I'll have to introduce you to a friend of ours. I love him to death - but - he would add a third category.

He is super intelligent.

He reads a lot.

He THINKS he learns everything by reading.

For instance - He read that, any human can run down a sheep (we had our own sheep herd back then). He read that, once you catch up to the sheep, if you grab him by a certain part of his back leg, he will give up and lay down.

Situation: We cannot catch our ram to worm him and trim his feet. Come on over and help us, friend.

We corner the ram, and I threw a bridle on the horse, just in case. Friend chases ram - never does catch him. So, we corner him with hubby, friend, 2 kids and a horse.

Friend grabs ram by the back of the leg, just like he read.

Ram doesn't lay down and give up - he kicks friend right in the nose, friend lets go, and 2 kids and hubby tackle ram. I jump down and tie three legs.

Then we go to said friend, who is bleeding. Honestly, I did NOT mean to laugh. Really. I just couldn't stop. What happened friend?

Ram did not read the same book!!!


Moral: Always make "test trial" on what you learn from reading.


Beth

[Old Dog]

Beth
what you are saying is your friend would have peed on the fence anyway.

So good to hear from you old friend.

[diggemall]

OD;

I've always boiled it down to two types - those who learn from others, and those that have to learn the hard way.

Beth;

Your story is too funny, and brought to mind one of my own that I just have to relate (y'all can decide if this makes me type 2 or 3 on OD's list) :

A number of years ago, the wife and I decided to raise hogs for ourselves and a few friends / neighbors. We had about 8 or 9 of them. All went well, and they soon were up to 300+ lbs. As the appointed day for them to meet their demise approached (the processor we selected scheduled date AND time for you to deliver your animals MONTHS in advance) we realized they might not be so easy to persuade onto the stock trailer.

So, we enlisted her brother to come give us a hand getting them on the trailer and, even though our appointment wasn't till 1:00 in the afternoon, decided we'd best get an early start in case things didn't go easily.

7AM we were out to their pen and started every tactic we could devise to persuade, cajole, tempt, intimidate, and otherwise convince those hogs to get into the trailer.

11AM all we had accomplished was wearing ourselves and our patience out, running ourselves completely out of ideas, littering the trailer floor with everything from hog feed to fruity pebbles and Ding Dongs (their favorites), and learning that one adult pig can lift a section of hog panel with two adult peoples standing on it with only his snout !

Call in the reinforcements ! Added a neighbor who came over with a stout hickory stick and, in short order, helped us to accomplish nothing at all with the possible exception of tenderizing a few ham-hocks (don't TOUCH those precious hams !).

12:15 If we didn't leave in 10 or 15 minutes, we were going to miss our appointment, and that would mean waiting several months for a new appointment to get these beasties to the butcher. All of a sudden, I got a brain-storm ! CALL THE GUY WE BOUGHT 'EM FROM ! Asked him: "Pat, how the devil do you get a bunch of 300 lb pigs to go where they do not want to go ?"

He gave me his answer, and in less than 10 minutes, we had 'em all loaded up and on their way !




Turns out, if you slip a 5 gallon pail over a pigs head, he/she will be SO hell-bent on backing out of that bucket that you can grab their stubby little tail and steer them absolutely anywhere you want them to go - In REVERSE !


Diggem'

[mrs.oroblanco]

That is tooooooooooo funny!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We used to drag them by the back leg. (I sure wish I knew about the bucket).


Yes, our friend would pee on the fence. First, he would read about it, and then test it out.


Beth

[Old Dog]

Many times I have had a horse accidentally push me into that fence,
Beth, Don't think I have run into anyone who would actually read facts and then test the inevitable.

Diggem My friend, I am impressed with the bucket idea. we always did it the hard way, if a burlap sack over the eyes didn't work.

[mrs.oroblanco]

Old Dog,

Some day you just HAVE to meet our friend Joe. I love him like a brother - he has been in our life longer than Roy and I have been together.

But - at work, they nicknamed him "Cliff Clavin" - if you know who that is.

Lots of book reading, not much practical experience. Of course, you have to understand that this is the same man who bought a green-broke horse that I specifically told him was greener than he was. (he had only ridden horses twice, and both well, well broke). But, he figured, if I could ride her (which is why I told him not to buy her), and he had a book on training horses, he would be ok. (it didn't matter than I've been riding since I was a kid).

7 broken ribs later, he decided that I should have her. He is super intelligent, just missing that little "common sense" part.

Beth