A and E Series is Just -- Well, Ducky

A few days ago, my family -- after an unexpected trip home to Tennessee - -introduced me to a TV show called "Duck Dynasty." The A and E reality series chronicles the adventures -- and misadventures -- of the Robertsons, a Cajun country family who own a multi-millionaire dollar duck call business. It's all a huge put on but it's great fun as these faux country folk pretend to be the 21st century edition of the Beverly Hillbillies. However, there is nothing even remotely ignorant about these people. The men may sport ZZ Top beards and speak in over-the-top drawls but it's very clear, from the first scene to the last, that they are laughing all the way to the bank. The tipoff is their vocabulary. Their sentences are punctuated with multisyllabic words and they speak in ways carefully cultivated to get the laugh. Another clue is their wives -- all immaculately groomed and standing on the periphery of most scenes, with indulgent half-smiles and hands on hips, as if to say "Hurry up, guys. Finish this TV project and let's get to the country club. We're meeting Thurston and Lovey Howell for bridge." Lastly, and most importantly, it's very clear that the family themselves are in charge. Okay, yeah, we'll do your reality TV series, one imagines them saying to the folks at A and E, but WE will call the shots and y'all can just show up and follow our lead. And, we may make up part of the storyline. In fact, we may make up ALL of the storyline. Though it's clearly a farce, it's also highly addictive. Like the time one of the bubba brothers brought a winery on line. Or when another challenged the town troublemaker to a riding lawnmower race. Or, when the grandpa agreed to put together the newly arrived life-sized playhouse for his female grandchildren ("the yuppie girls," he calls them) but used his chainsaw to turn it into a modified duck blind. By the way, the little girls loved it and Pappaw announced "There's hope for you yuppie girls yet." In an era of Honey Boo-Boo and the Real Wives franchise and even HGTV's Love It or List It, all of which rely heavily on TV producer-induced drama, Duck Dynasty isn't that different --- but it's certainly more entertaining when the subjects themselves seem to be in charge.

A & E Reality Series is Just -- Well, Ducky

A few days ago, my family -- after an unexpected trip home to Tennessee - -introduced me to a TV show called "Duck Dynasty." The A & E reality series chronicles the adventures -- and misadventures -- of a Cajun country family who own a multi-millionaire dollar duck call business. It's all a huge put on but it's great fun as these faux country folk pretend to be the 21st century edition of the Beverly Hillbillies. However, there is nothing even remotely ignorant about these people. The men may sport ZZ Top beards and speak in over-the-top drawls but it's very clear, from the first scene to the last, that they are laughing all the way to the bank.

The tipoff is their vocabulary. Their sentences are punctuated with multisyllabic words and they speak in ways carefully cultivated to get the laugh.

Another clue is their wives -- all immaculately groomed and standing on the periphery of most scenes, with indulgent half-smiles and hands on hips, as if to say "Hurry up, guys. Finish this TV project and let's get to the country club. We're meeting Thurston and Lovey Howell for bridge."

Lastly, and most importantly, it's very clear that the family themselves are in charge. Okay, yeah, we'll do your reality TV series, one imagines them saying to the folks at A & E, but WE will call the shots and y'all can just show up and follow our lead. And, we may make up part of the storyline. In fact, we may make up ALL of the storyline.

Though it's clearly a farce, it's also highly addictive. Like the time one of the bubba brothers brought a winery on line. Or when another challenged the town troublemaker to a riding lawnmower race. Or, when the grandpa agreed to put together the newly arrived life-sized playhouse for his female grandchildren ("the yuppie girls," he calls them) but used his chainsaw to turn it into a modified duck blind. By the way, the little girls loved it and Pappaw announced "There's hope for you yuppie girls yet."

In an era of Honey Boo-Boo and the Real Wives franchise and even HGTV's Love It or List It, all of which rely heavily on TV producer-induced drama, Duck Dynasty isn't that different --- but it's certainly more entertaining when the subjects themselves seem to be in charge.

Texas Gardening and Beans

It's been a while since I've posted but I'm going to try to do better (I wonder how many intermittent bloggers routinely begin their entries this way?)

After what may be the earliest and most temperate spring I've experienced in Texas in years, I am proud to report my garden is doing VERY well.

I've planted tomatoes and bell pepper -- and, for the first time ever, beans.

My Uncle Basil tried to get me to plant beans years ago, but I never wanted to try. I never realized how foolproof they are.

Our beans are growing like you would not believe. I planted them just a week ago and now it's almost like something out of Little Shop of Horrors. We first noticed them popping up a couple of days ago and saw they'd really made progress yesterday.

This morning they had grown in stature overnight and I watered them very early. Then, a few minutes ago Steve checked them again, and said "Oh, my gosh, come look. I think they've grown since this morning!"

And, he was right, they had.

So I flew to Home Depot and bought bamboo and twine and found this instructional video online. Steve and I disagreed over which approach to use. He favors the ridge support method, I like the wigwam. But I think I am going to defer to his engineering genius because I think he is probably much smarter about these things than I.
In the meantime, please watch these videos. I think you will find them as diverting as we did.
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-build-a-ridge-support-for-runner-beans
http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-build-a-wigwam-support-for-runner-beans
Once we resolve the ridge support v. wigwam decision, we may post our own video, with Steve narrating.

I've also posted photos of my basil (wouldn't Uncle Basil be pleased?) and the tomatoes, as well as the beans (I got the idea for the plant marker from Pinterest.)

Yours for horticulture (and we all know what Dorothy Parker said about horticulture, right?)

Jan Brewer and Dick Nixon

Governor Jan Brewer got a lot of attention for her posturing on the tarmac when the President of the United States visited Arizona.

How Nixon-esque.

There's a well-known story about how Richard Nixon did this to Jack Kennedy during the photo opp before the 1960 debates. Reporters couldn't hear his words as Nixon wagged his finger in JFK's face and looked stern, but they snapped away. It was later revealed Tricky Dick was saying something innocuous like "You take care of that beautiful wife and child of yours, you hear?"

Nixon knew the visual takeaway would be that he looked like he was lecturing Kennedy on the evils of communism.

Memo to Jan Brewer: do you really want to borrow a page from Dick Nixon's playbook?