Top 10 Ways Warrior Dash and Farming Are Alike.

This weekend We ran in our 4th Warrior Dash with our group appropriately named “Just A Little Dirty!”

  For those of you unfamiliar with Warrior Dash, it is a 5k run (or jog in our case) with obstacles and a lot of mud mixed throughout, especially this year.

  
This month (June/15) we have had abnormal amounts of rain, rain and more rain.  This made the parking areas (a hay field) for the event a muddy mess (to no fault of the promoter or venue).  Now it wasn’t that we and other participants weren’t warned of this and told by the promoters to “carpool and drive 4×4 vehicles” there leaving small cars at home, but for some a Prius may be all they have.  At any rate, it wasnt a good place for “grocery getters” to be. 

As for the race itself, it was a blast and one of the most challenging to date. There were new obstacles, plenty of mud, huge and fast water slides, cargo nets to climb over, walls to climb to test your skills, and plenty of mud to crawl over and swim through.  Oh and barbed wire and fire…yes, real barbed wire and fire. 

(Play the video to see the water slide part of an obstacle named Goliath.)   

       While these obstacles may be considered extreme for most, I got to thinking about the barbed wire, getting stuck, the obstacles, the hard work and life skills it takes to complete the race, and of course the mud, and how it relates to the farm.  So here are the top 10 ways the Warrior Dash and Farming are Alike!  

 Top 10 Ways That Warrior Dash and Farming Are Alike:
1. The Early Bird Gets the Worm, usually has a better experience, and doesn’t get stuck in the mud.  
2. 4×4’s are a necessity, small cars belong on concrete.

3. You pay a lot of money to play in the /dirt mud. Quit complaining.  
4. It’s always going to be too wet, too cold, too hot, etc. Suck it up buttercup and enjoy it!

 5. Mother Nature can be a cruel cruel creature, learn to adjust to her. She is in charge at all times. 
6. Large amounts of rain and repeated rains aren’t your friend.

7. Weather it be a tractor or a car, every vehicle has its limit on how much mud it can handle, and so does its drivers. Mud is real.

8. No matter how hard the task, Never Give Up.  
9. Roll with the punches. You and those in charge can do everything right and still have everything go horribly wrong. 

10. (last but not least) Help others in need. When your neighbor is stuck, get out and help them. Karma is real.

Big thank yous out to Warrior Dash and all those who made this event possible.  It continues to challenge us and bring our group together by creating life long memories!  
I’ll leave you with a few more pics and one more way Warrior Dash and Farming are alike.

11.  After a hard days work, stop, sit back, enjoy what you have accomplished and have a beverage of choice,  you earned it! 

 
Extra pics:

   

  

  

  

  
  

  

  

  

  

  

  

    

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Giving it up, a 40 day Facebook and other Socail Media Detox

Since I was a child, I was always taught that I should give up something for lent, which I do to this day, and I am not alone in this philosophy.  Most people Ive talked to about it say they have given up one of their favorite things such as certain type of Soda Pop, a type of candy or candy all together.  Some others have instead pledged to do something positive for the season.  For example, spending more time with family, a young sister being nicer to their brother, etc.

http://mamdblueroom.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/lent.png

So I asked myself, what should I give up for this Lenten Season this year?  I tossed a few ideas around, but then I came back to what I gave up last year, which was my Facebook Mobile ap on my phone.  I understand some of you may be laughing right now, some of you may be rolling your eyes or maybe you get it.  Yes it sounds silly.   However, I found that I was spending an, well lets call it, unhealthy amount of time on FB Mobile.  The result was less quality time spent with my family and less day-to-day productivity on my farm.  So I decided to give up Facebook Mobile again this year for lent.

Now before you say, boy that’s easy, I will honestly say it’s not!  Picture yourself staying in touch with your friends throughout the day every day, then all at once, nothing.  Only phone calls, no FB texts, no profile updates, no viral video recommendations from that kid you went to grade school with who you don’t really know at all and so on.   We all know how Facebook can suck you in, and its hard to ignore.

As of today, its been about 3 weeks since I’ve last been on FB Mobile.  At first I was concerned I would be missing out on all the stuff going on on FB every day.  I thought Id miss out on the news and pictures my friends post.  What I found was that I was actually missing out on more when I was on the Ap as much as I was.  I missed out on family, on work, …..on everything.  Now I’m not saying FB or other social media is bad, in fact it has its place, but in moderation.

Going into the week before Easter, I plan on taking another huge step.  For that week, I have decided to delete my Twitter, Google+ and FB aps from my phone and will not be on their websites unless totally and absolutely necessary.  I call it:

The Facebook and Other Social Media DETOX Project.

For those 7 days.  I will fall off the social media grid in every capacity except for this blog.  Thats right, No FB, No YouTube, No Tweets, No Words with Friends, No StumbleUpon, No…well you get the idea.    For those 7 days my smart phone will basically be used as regular phone, with only Phone Calls, Text messages and a few (non online) games in use.  After being an active part of social media for years now, this wont be an easy thing to accomplish.

 I encourage you to join me in this Project and post your thoughts in the comments below.  

It all Starts this coming Monday and ends on Easter Sunday. 

Feel free to check back to this blog often as I will periodically post how things are going and post a summary after Easter is over.

Thank you for reading and God Bless!

As a disclaimer: I must say I dont believe Social Media is bad in any way, in fact it has become an awesome force in changing the world of communications, however, I believe sometimes, we need to step away from it to see what is physically around us.

Local Everyday Heros

Tonight was a night not much different from any other saturday night, and although we usually go to our local Church for Mass on Sunday, the family and I were headed to Saturday night mass tonight instead. But still, Like I said, tonight wasnt much different from any other saturday night.  That was untill mass was just about over.

At that time, my oldest child (in the pew at church) turned around to pick up her coat, then somehow tripped and fell hitting her head on the way down.  As a parent, you never want to see your kids get hurt or have any kind of pain, however being a Dad of 3 kids under 6, I’ve learned not to get too worried because bumps and bruises happen all the time. This was not one of those times.  Quickly after hitting her head, she began to cry (at this point I’m still not too worried).  After my wife and I reached to pick her up, we realized the back of her head was bleeding, A LOT.  We both quickly rushed her to the church bathroom and applied pressure to stop the bleeding.  Within a few seconds, some good friends came to the rescue (God Bless you Mrs Shultz and family).  She graciously gave my wife and I some quick advice and called 911 for us as well as jumping in and watching over our other kids too (our own and our Youth Group kids who we were with).  She and her family are Local Everyday Heros in my book.

After the 911 call was made, 3 other Local Everyday Heroes arrived.  2 EMTs and one of our towns finest.  The EMTs (one of who also leads the local girl scout troop) came to our aid and quickly and professionally.  They helped us stop the bleeding, helped keep both of us and our daughter calm, and quickly extinguished any fears our daughter had about stitches or worse.  Amongst thoughts and concerns about my little one, another  thought kept coming through.  Do the Local Everyday Heros we are surrounded by really know how much they are appreciated?  Does Mrs. Shultz really know how much she helped us tonight?  Does she know how much we appreciate her and  what she did?  Do the EMT’s know how much they are appreciated for everything they do?  Sadly the answer is probably no.

A few years ago we were in a similar situation when my little guy had a febrile seizure in a restaurant and an unknown local hero (off duty EMT) ran to our side.  I regret that in the hustle and bustle of the moment we found ourselves in, I never had the chance to get his name or simply to stop, shake his hand, and say THANK YOU for everything he did that night.  So tonight, I am taking this time to say THANK YOU to the off duty EMT who helped us back then;  to say THANK YOU to the EMTs and Officer who come to our aid tonight; to say THANK YOU to all of the Mrs. Shultz’s of the world who instinctively run to the aid of others in need, even when they dont have to.

 Tonight I am taking this time to say THANK YOU to all of our Local Everyday Heros who more than likely do not know how much they are appreciated and how much they mean to us as well as everyone around them.

THANK YOU!

Welcome

Welcome to my new blog venture called Off the Cobb.  Its kinda a take of Off the Cuff where the blog will be my thoughts, ideas, and opinions on what is happening in my life.  This blog will address my 5 Fs of life;  Faith, Family, Friends, Farming and Fun among other things.  So sit back and enjoy the ride.  Thanks for visiting!