You won’t believe who I sold my mattress to…

In the tiny personal purge that’s going on in my home here in Nashville, I have sold things I wanted to, things I didn’t want to, trashed things I should’ve years ago, and tossed things I hadn’t looked at in over a decade. Lots of things I’ve given away, too, to a local thrift store. Like I’ve said before (in this post), minimizing my possessions has been an unexpected joy that feels so freeing.

And then there’s the mattress. Ok, so I have 2 beds in my house. One is my bed. The other is the dog bed. The story for their bed is that I stumbled upon a great deal for a king size mattress so I scooped it up and have since been using it for their bed. It was such a nice mattress that I slept there too, most nights. It was huge.

Time came for me to sell it (because, like I said, I’m getting rid of basically everything in my house, more on that later!) so I listed it and waited. A few nibbles from potential buyers and then it sold.

The person came to get it and I wanted to make sure it was known that the mattress was used as a dog bed, although it was in great shape because I had a water resistant cover on it.

This person was fine with that and after I inquired if it would be used as a dog bed in the future, this person informed that it was going to be used by humans. Totally cool. More conversation revealed that this mattress…

is going…….

to be used……

in a…………

swingers club.

Well, OK then! Off it went and for the rest of my life I’ll be able to share the story of this mattress.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Out of the Wilderness

An old “love” letter I never sent

The word love is in quotes because the letter is hardly about love. I’m referring to a letter I wrote to a woman (or rather I letter I wrote in my journal, addressed to a woman) I was dating at the time. At the time, I thought I would transcribe it to a loose sheet of paper and give it to her, but that never happened. So the thoughts and frustrations and joys I had in my life coming from my relationship with her are all contained in this 2-page journal entry.

Why am I telling you this? Well, yesterday I began the process of typing the letter into a blog post. I got about halfway through and thought, “What’s the point?” I don’t know if anyone out there needs to read this, much less wants to read it. Not only that, as I read it over, I was kind of a jerk! I’m not saying some of my frustration wasn’t valid, but it was NOT a love letter. More of a break-up letter, if anything.

To sum up our relationship, it was really good. But she didn’t want to date me. I know that happens every day but the frustrating part was that she had recently dated a guy that didn’t treat her well, and she broke up with him multiple times. I didn’t understand why he got so many chances, and she wouldn’t give me even a single chance.

Here I go getting frazzled again!! If you want to find out what was in the letter I never sent, comment below and I’ll write it out, and post it in a future blog. I am willing to put myself out there because surely I come across as a little bit of a jerk. But now you can’t say that because I already did 🙂

Do you have any letters you never sent to a former significant other? Comment below and also let me know if you want to know more about my letter.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Out of the Wilderness

Chevy’s Funny Cat Commercial – The Music, The Blowfish, and More!

During the Olympics coverage recently I saw a great Chevy advertisement. It wasn’t so much the Sliverado that made it great, it was man’s best friend that took gold in this ad.

*For the new Silverado Trail Boss ad featuring Walter the cat, click here*

Wait, a cat is man’s best friend!? That’s up for debate, but what isn’t in question is that this ad is pretty adorable and funny. Walter the cat outshines the multi-flex tailgate and, after launching himself in the lake chasing a stick, Walter draws the attention and admiration of a nearby fisherman.

The background music in this ad is “Big Rock Candy Mountain” by Harry McClintock from the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. Check out the full song below.

This song is almost 100 years old, recorded in 1928. Since then, there have been many renditions by many artists. The song was also used in a Burger King commercial, with customized lyrics performed by Darius Rucker, lead singer for the 90s band Hootie and the Blowfish.

For the minute-long Chevy ad, director Jim Jenkins shot on a private 100,000-acre ranch in Utah, with 9 trained cats on set, according to this Muse by Clio article. You can also scroll down in that article to get all the credits from the ad.

What do you think of this ad? If you have a cat, would they perform these tasks as well as the trained cats did? Would your dog!? I know mine would need much training to do as well as the feline actors!

Thanks for stopping by…

-Out of the Wilderness

“Trust must be earned” – a story about a mischievous beagle!

I’ve had a beagle for nearly 12 years and without exaggeration I can say… she hasn’t quite earned my trust yet! I mean, look at that death stare in the featured photo (Piper the beagle is on the right). She is definitely thinking about mischievous things.

She is adorable, has the cutest face, the most sassy personality, and I love her so much. The problem is… she knows all this. You’ve probably heard some dogs think they’re human, right? Well, my beagle Piper not only KNOWS she’s higher than human, she is 100% sure humans exist to serve her.

Actually, that’s all beside the point. Let’s get back to the trust thing. My house is mostly Piper-proof because if you have a beagle you know they can (and will) get into anything if they have enough time. Nothing is off-limits for those mischievous hounds.

Well, today I thought she was too tired to get into trouble. She had been outside with me for a couple of hours while I was doing yard work. It’s hot so I let her inside to rest and cool down while I stayed outside to finish up with the yard.

“It’ll be fine,” I thought.

“Nothing bad will happen,” I thought.

Boy, was I wrong. Left alone for less than 30 minutes and this is what I encountered after finishing the yard work.

oh, just a bunch of trash

One man’s trash is another beagle’s playground, I guess. So now we are back to 0 days without an incident. If it weren’t for those ears and her cute little rabbit-chasing self, I’d be more upset! But I should’ve known better.

Do you have a beagle? What kind of mischief have they been into lately? Let’s talk it out and cope together.

Thanks for stopping by!

-Out of the Wilderness

Do people actually believe in science?

The short answer to this question is… yes and no. Of course, asking this question SHOULD have a black and white answer. Either a person believes science is real, or not. I don’t really think there’s a halfway thing with this. It’s like math. Either you agree that 2 and 2 make 4, or you don’t. But with a certain group of people (some who have unfriended me on Facebook because I voted for Trump, a vote that has hurt my dating life, by the way), it seems as if they believe in science when it fits their agenda. I know that’s not true for all, though.

Strictly from a recruiting standpoint, I’d say there is nothing wrong with accentuating the strong points of one’s worldview. For example, if you want someone to come work for your company, you would tell them all the great things about the company and all the bad things would be shuffled under the carpet never to be mentioned. Again, there isn’t necessarily anything wrong, selfish, or sinister about that. But where it gets prickly is when a particular point in your worldview is used against you. 

For a while this group was all about that bass phrase, “my body, my choice.” It was a war cry in marches and protests all over the United States. But now that the coronavirus vaccine is a hot button issue, folks are completely flipping on a person’s right to personal choice. They say if you don’t want to get the vaccine, you’re selfish and terrible and ought to be shunned from society. But what about that whole “my body, my choice” thing? You see, when it doesn’t fit in their plans, it conveniently goes away. 

Science also shows a few different things supporting the view that life begins at conception. I’ve written about the touchy abortion topic multiple times (click here for a good one) because I believe science is real, even when it goes against a particular group’s viewpoints. I think people just want to be right, they want to be always right, and when something (like science) shows they are wrong, they move on to something more convenient. I wish I could do that! For my entire life, science and laws of nature have been keeping me from being able to dunk a basketball on a 10-foot goal, how annoying is gravity, right?

So how does this question get answered? It’s pretty simple. Be willing to be wrong. That goes for you, me, everyone. Not every disagreement has to be a hill we’re willing to die on. Seems like that is how sensitive the U.S. is right now. Pick your hill and fight to the death on it! No compromise, no listening, no peace. At least for the politicians who tell us how to live our lives. 🙂

This thought isn’t exclusive to science and politics. I could equate it with my faith in God. Is this faith always convenient? Hardly. It asks of me to do things that are against my human nature. But just because Christianity isn’t exactly how I would design doesn’t mean I can pick and choose what is valid and what’s not, just to suit my personal plans. That would be a pretty lame religion.

Hopefully some of that made sense and connected. What are your thoughts about science? Chime in below! 

-Out of the Wilderness