more normal than not

This is a YouTube video called “Underbid Tree Job” from a fellow named Reg Coates.

When you watch it, the low-key introduction will make you think that this is the most boring video you’ve ever seen.

That’s the nature of a man who is willing to be understated talking about doing something that’s really dangerous.

When a man isn’t squealing in fear he can make the terrifying seem mundane.

I’ve seen people take down trees before, and it always makes me hold my breath a little.

You don’t always know how things will go when you’re cutting down a tree.

Trees, especially one that’s this rotten, are unpredictable when you’re trying to take them down.

This guy’s a pro….and did a hard job well.

That’s thrilling, really.

No CGI, even.

A real….slow….thriller.

Here’s another video of the kind of stuff these guys do:

Man….the biggest thumb piano I’ve ever seen.

This one has room for all the fingers!

Pretty darn cool.

Nice Earthship in New Zealand….featured on a show called “Grand Designs”.

We lived in New Jersey for a couple of years….and when we moved down South I couldn’t understand the way the folks down here talked.

Of course, I couldn’t understand those Yankees when we moved to New Jersey from California a couple of years before that, too.

It’s funny, though, how some people tease me about being a Yankee for having lived up there….way up there….up North.

You know?

Now, I’d miss it if I didn’t hear people talking like this.

It’s home now….to hear those words.

When someone asks me, “How you doin’ ?” I say, “I’m doin’ good. You?”

Someone from a different part of the world would correct me in their heads by thinking, “he must mean ‘well’. Surely, he meant to say, “I’m doing quite well, thankyou. How are you doing today?”

That’s just not the way to talk sometimes.

Good people talk all different ways…sometimes.

That’s what I’ve learned, I guess.

You’ve got to look behind the words to see the good folks.

You have to be with them where they are.

And…it’s nice if they’re willing to be with you where you are.

What the heck? We’re all in the same place.

That’s a good thing.

This is a video produced by an outfit out of Montana called WX TV  (Weatherization TV). It’s part of the program in weatherization offered by Montana State University.

You wouldn’t think that a video about insulation and weatherization would be interesting….but….it is pretty interesting.

This shows what life in an Indigenous Alaskan village is like better than most of the videos I’ve seen, too.

And who would you want to teach you about insulating something? A guy in a place that’s really cold? Or a guy in a place like Costa Rica?

I’d want to figure out how to stay warm if I wanted to learn about insulation….but….that’s just me.

This video is about a job in Alaska in a place called Goodnews Bay.

Brrrrrrrrrrr.

Good for you, Insulation Guys!

If we’re going to be spending tax dollars, I sure do love to see it going towards something good….like helping these folks make it through the winter.

For more on the programs at Montana State University, go to http://weatherization.org/ and for more of this type of video, look on their webpage under “WXTV” (lower left on current webpage).