How To Manage Your Monkey: Book Review: How to Build a Piano Bench: Lessons for Success from a Red-Dirt Road in Alabama by Ruthi Postow Birch

Manian Debil Productions is located in Wharton, Texas.  We tell you this because the author of How to Build a Piano Bench: Lessons for Success from a Red-Dirt Road in Alabama, Ruthi Postow Birch, spent a small part of her early life living in Wharton, Texas.

 This tells us personally that she came a very long way, from the bottom of the heap, in a very short time.

How to Build a Piano Bench is not about building a piano bench, but then again it is.  The author explains this and uses this as a way to teach a very important lesson.

This book is part autobiography, part life lesson, part lesson in how to sell, and all entertaining.  The author tells some very entertaining and often funny stories.  Each story makes a point. If you aren’t careful, you just might learn something.

We give How to Build a Piano Bench all five stars and two artichokes (you will have to read the book to understand that).  It is very well-written and probably one of the most entertaining books we have read in a very long time.  Many passages out of this book were read to our family because we found them so interesting and funny.

Five Star Review

This book actually fits in both our niche blogs because it is about business AND  personal growth.  This would make a great gift for any person you know in leadership or management. It would also make a great gift for any parent who is feeling less than perfect.  It would make a great gift for any teacher, past or present.  In fact, this book would make a great gift for just about anyone.

We were sent a complimentary copy of this book.  We are under no obligation to write any review, positive or negative.

We are disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.

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I respond to all approved comments on this blog, ideally within 24 hours.  Please check back here for a response to your comment.  Thank you!

Please be advised that all the information in this course is provided to educate, enlighten, and broaden your views in life.  The information provided is not a substitute for medical, legal, dietary, financial/accounting, or religious professionals.  Always consult a professional before you act on any of the information you find in this course. 

Do you have a frugal recipe?  Please e-mail it to me.
Help us reach 1,000 YouTube subscribers. Please watch some of our videos. If you like them, please subscribe. Also, please share our YouTube information with your friends.  We thank you so much for all your help. 

Disclaimer: The opinions or advice listed in this blog or website should be used as a place to start only. It is not a substitute for the use of a professional.

 Please be sure to consult your attorney, accountant, and/or other professionals with any specific questions. There is no one right answer to any business question that will cover all circumstances.

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It is a different world now, yellow slips and all.

Wharton, Texas.  We survived Hurricane Harvey only to be hit with a knockout punch a few days later.  As we understand it, The San Bernard River, Colorado River, Peach Creek, and the railroad bed all became one massive river in a matter of seconds.
We knew Harvey was coming.  We knew the rivers would flood.  We did not know that everything would hit at the same time and create what amounted to a small tidal wave that hit the city in a massive force. It happened in just a few seconds. 
Our friend Anwar was in his store waiting on a customer one minute and fleeing for his life the next.  He lost everything.  The fire department called him to come back to his store because there was a huge fire danger from leaking gas.  They had already stripped all the power supply from the side of the building.  They had pried his front door open.  Inside was over three feet of water.

Two days later, he was able to return to his store. He was greeted by two bad surprises.  The first was his yellow slip.  The second surprise was a snake.
A yellow slip tells the owner of a business or the occupant of a residence that they are not allowed to return to their homes or business until certain conditions are met.  Things like all electrical, gas, and plumbing has to be re-certified by licensed contractors.  



Once licensed contractors sign off on the mechanical systems, a city inspection is needed to give the all clear. Anwar's was the first yellow slip we encountered.
The Avalon Food Mart at 2425 North Richmond Road, Wharton, Texas 77488 is a total loss. 
Next door at the Wakefield Inn, Sammy and Kay got their yellow slips.  One apartment and 15 rooms have to be re-certified before they can go back.  Their motel is badly damaged, but it can be fixed. 



Neither business had flood insurance.  Neither could afford it.

Meanwhile at the H. E. B., our local grocery store, there were crowds and crowds of people.  Most have been unable to get to a grocery store since before Hurricane Harvey hit.  Both Walmart and H.E.B. reopened right after Hurricane Harvey hit, but the Walmart had practically no food. 
The H. E. B. staff was in full force. They had cleaned and repaired the store in record time.  The staff had restocked the store completely and was continuing to do so.  H. E. B. gave every customer a bag of ice.  This is a nice gesture since many still do not have power. 
The City of Wharton has been outstanding.  They manned the storm center 24/7 during Harvey and the Flood.  Willie Sanders and his street department worked tirelessly to get the storm drains cleaned after Harvey.  They had to work even harder during and after the flood.
TXDOT, the Texas Department of Transportation, worked around the clock to keep the roads open when they could, and keep them safe when they couldn't.  There were blockades everywhere.
Law enforcement was everywhere, city, precinct, county, and state were all here.    CNN named us The Town Everyone Has Forgotten.  
The American Red Cross is here.  They are handling the checkbook.  Most of the relief effort here is from people helping people.  The outpouring is awesome.
Our family was lucky. We stayed dry and our power stayed on.  We never lost internet either.  It is like God placed His hand over our house and protected us.  All the houses, except five, lost power during the Hurricane.  We were one of those five.
Harvey passed over us as a tropical storm.  He decided to check out the sights in Houston for a while and stayed there.  Our oldest daughter was home with us during the storm.  Her university, the University of Houston, was under water. 
Our youngest daughter lives on an island where Harvey made landfall.  She attends Texas A&M Corpus Christi.  She and her roommates evacuated to Austin and rode out the storm there.  Many of their neighbors were wiped out.  When they returned to Corpus Christi, their apartment was moist but okay.  
Thanks, America, for the prayers and outpouring of aid.  It will take a while, but Texas, including The Town Everyone Forgot, will be back.  We will be stronger than ever.

If you would like for me to pray for you, please drop me an e-mail by clicking prayer.



Please Visit My Child Bride Suzanne's Blog

I respond to all approved comments on this blog, ideally within 24 hours.  Please check back here for a response to your comment.  Thank you!

Please be advised that all the information in this course is provided to educate, enlighten, and broaden your views in life.  The information provided is not a substitute for medical, legal, dietary, financial/accounting, or religious professionals.   Always consult a professional before you act on any of the information you find in this course. 

Do you have a frugal recipe?  Please e-mail it to me.
Help us reach 1,000 YouTube subscribers. Please watch some of our videos. If you like them, please subscribe. Also, please share our YouTube information with your friends.  We thank you so much for all your help. 

Disclaimer: The opinions or advice listed in this blog or website should be used as a place to start only. It is not a substitute for the use of a professional.

 Please be sure to consult your attorney, accountant, and/or other professionals with any specific questions. There is no one right answer to any business question that will cover all circumstances.

Notice: This post may  contain affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may financially benefit from your transaction. Thank you for your support!

Hurricane Harvey, The President and his wife, and Joel Osteen

The video below is our town flooded a last year.  The water is much higher now.  


First of all, if you want to see what our town looked like yesterday, here is the link to Wharton, Texas.  The water is higher now that it was in the picture.  However, we are still okay.  The grocery stores have water in them, but we are okay. 
Meanwhile, President Trump and his wife came to Texas for a visit.  What did the media focus on?  They worried about the first lady's shoes.  Come on, people here are banding together to help one another through one of the biggest natural disasters ever to hit the United States of America and the first lady's shoes make the top story?  How is that important?
What is important is that they came to see how they could help.  She probably has never seen this kind of devastation, few of us have. As we understand it, that kind of footwear is normal for her.  How was she to know?
At least the President and his wife are here.  Please, don't judge.
Meanwhile, we have a millionaire who has the largest church in the country with plenty of space to house survivors and he didn't open it as a shelter until after the media shamed him into it.  And, he is now asking for donations.  The church is rich, he is rich, why is the first thing on his mind donations?
Our family is safe.  It is like the hand of God was placed over our house and protected us from the storm.  Our lights have stayed on.  It is cool.  The mosquitoes are having a field day, but this is Texas.
There are many fly-by-night organizations seeking your donations.  Don't fall for that.  Around here, everyone is encouraged to donate to the American Red Cross.  They are handling all the donations.   They need the money to buy the RIGHT KIND OF COTS, the RIGHT KIND Of FOOD and WATER, etc.  Many will send things trying to help, but often what they send is not appropriate.  
We have boots on the ground here.  I am sure they need more.  I know we need more boats of any kind.  Call your local American Red Cross to find out what is needed.  They are coordinating the efforts.  I spoke with several churches here that are working disaster relief and each one said send donations to the American Red Cross.  
However, if you have a boat, it is needed.  We are among the few in the area who are safe.  Please keep Texas in your prayers.  Of course, if you have a helicopter, we could use that, too. 
People wonder why more of us don't evacuate when we get the warning.  First of all, where would we go?  If you displace whole cities, who can handle that many of us?  It is expensive to evacuate.  As we learned from Hurricane Katrina, shelters are not always safe.  And, many shelters don't allow pets.  Do you want to leave Fido behind?
Many gas stations along the evacuation routes run out of gas early.   There is often a traffic jam hundreds of miles long because the roads simply cannot handle that kind of traffic.  
We could use a federal initiative to widen all roads along the evacuation routes.  They could install those red Xs and green arrows to indicate which direction the traffic should flow so that we can change the direction of lanes quickly.  
We could put traffic signals at all four way stops so that traffic could flow more orderly.
We could have emergency stations set up at rest areas along the evacuation routes that will have emergency gas for motorists.
When a natural disaster is predicted, we could have the federal government automatically deposit an extra amount of money into the checking accounts of all social security recipients living in the proposed affected areas. 
We could have extra SNAP benefits deposited into all SNAP benefit accounts for people living in the area of possible damage so they could afford to stock up or could buy food when they evacuate.
We could provide emergency shelter funds available on the SNAP cards for all in the evacuation areas so that they could go to any motel in the country and pay for lodging.  
We could have designated shelters set up around the country that would have cots already in storage and MREs (Meals Ready to Eat) already stockpiled so that shelters would be ready.  
We could have all utility lines buried that can be buried so that crews would be able to restore services faster in an area.  We could provide emergency generators in each neighborhood that would kick in automatically if the main source of electricity is disrupted.  
We could do that, but will we?

If you would like for me to pray for you, please drop me an e-mail by clicking prayer.



Please Visit My Child Bride Suzanne's Blog

I respond to all approved comments on this blog, ideally within 24 hours.  Please check back here for a response to your comment.  Thank you!

Please be advised that all the information in this course is provided to educate, enlighten, and broaden your views in life.  The information provided is not a substitute for medical, legal, dietary, financial/accounting, or religious professionals.   Always consult a professional before you act on any of the information you find in this course. 

Do you have a frugal recipe?  Please e-mail it to me.
Help us reach 1,000 YouTube subscribers. Please watch some of our videos. If you like them, please subscribe. Also, please share our YouTube information with your friends.  We thank you so much for all your help. 

Disclaimer: The opinions or advice listed in this blog or website should be used as a place to start only. It is not a substitute for the use of a professional.

 Please be sure to consult your attorney, accountant, and/or other professionals with any specific questions. There is no one right answer to any business question that will cover all circumstances.

Notice: This post may  contain affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, we may financially benefit from your transaction. Thank you for your support!

Tuesdays with Gindy. You Can't Judge a Book by its Cover

One day, before we actually opened the Western Auto Store, my father was at the store working when an eighteen-wheel truck rolled in to make a delivery. My father and the truck driver were working hard to unload the truck.

A station wagon with no doors on it rolled into the as yet unpaved parking lot and a gentleman got out dressed in a torn, dirty shirt and torn jeans.

The hood to this car was held down by rope and wires and most of the car was in pretty bad shape. The man came up to my father and started helping him unload the truck.

They shot the breeze a little as they unloaded the truck and when they finished, my father reached into his wallet to take out a little money to pay the man for his help.

The man told him thank you, but that he could buy the place if he wanted

to. As it turned out, this man owned a lot of land, a lot of houses and could, in fact, buy the store if he had wanted to.

You never know by looking or even talking to a person how much or how little money they have. You have to treat each and every person the same.

We were constantly having customers who would not fit your usual idea of a millionaire. We had millionaire customers who drove old trucks with no paint on them.

We also had customers who looked and dressed the part of millionaires and even held themselves out as if they had more money than they knew what to do with.  These people would apply for credit and their financials would indicate that, just like Stanley Johnson, they are in debt up to their eyeballs. 

Years later, Suzanne and I worked in a convenience store.  A local farmer came in every Sunday. He drove an old, but nice, Ford F150 pickup truck.

He was not there to buy beer or cigarettes.  Every Sunday he would treat himself to two small cups of Blue Bell Vanilla Ice Cream.  As it turns out, this man in the faded but clean jeans was a multi millionaire.  

He had more land than anyone else in the county.  He had several oil wells and a few natural gas wells, too.  Yet, you could not tell it. 

Not all is as it appears.  Remember, sometimes we entertain angels unawares.  Please Visit My Child Bride Suzanne's Blog

I respond to all comments on this blog, ideally within 24 hours.  Please check back here for a response to your comment.  Thank you!

Please be advised that all the information in this course is provided to educate, enlighten, and broaden your views in life.  The information provided is not a substitute for medical, legal, dietary, financial/accounting, or religious professionals.

Always consult a professional before you act on any of the information you find in this course.  

Do you have a frugal recipe?  Please e-mail it to me.
Help us reach 1,000 YouTube subscribers. Please watch some of our videos. If you like them, please subscribe. Also, please share our YouTube information with your friends.  We thank you so much for all your help. 

Please subscribe to My YouTube Channel. Thanks!

Spiffing Up

Spiffing Up

Hello folks.

While it has been and still is in the 100s outside, I have been inside trying to avoid the heat.  It is so

hot the air conditioning cannot keep up with it.

My friend Eric, from Eric's Landscaping, and his team have been working very hard out there in 108-110 degree heat to trim back the trees here.  They were almost growing through our roof.

Eric and his crew of very professional and very polite young men have been working hard in this heat and did an outstanding job.

This is not a commercial. Just when I see someone work as hard as these guys do, I have to give them a little shout out.  Eric does not know I am posting this, so this is not a paid endorsement. 

Eric does landscaping jobs all over the Houston, Katy, Needville, and Wharton area of Gulf Coast Texas.  Eric has been my friend pretty much ever since we moved here.  

I just wanted to let everyone know how happy I am with the job that Eric and his entire team did for us. If ever I need landscaping in the future, you can bet I am going to call (832) 600-3820  and ask Eric to come on over.  I know he will do a great job and the price will be right.

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A  special thank you to everyone who downloaded our books free recently.  We are on a quest to reach 1,000 subscribers to our YouTube Channel.  Please visit our channel and help us reach our goal, if and only if you like what you see when you get there.   We also invite you to follow this blog.

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ArtToFrames Artwork Framing A Product Review

ArtToFrames

Two words come to mind when I think about this product and the shipping.  The first word is Craftsmanship.  That’s right, this framed canvas print is the result of superior craftsmanship.

The product is flawless.  There are no bubbles or ripples in the canvas.  The hanger is mounted securely one the back so that your art won’t go anywhere once you hang it.

This image was printed on what appears to be high-quality canvas.  We chose an abstract  image my wife Suzanne had taken.  The image is a photograph of a lantana.

The quality is great.

The second word I would use is, FAST.  You know how when in the old Roadrunner cartoons Wily Coyote orders things from Acme.  He drops the order in the mailbox and taps his foot a few times and then the mail truck pulls up with the delivery?  Well, this was faster.

I have to tell you that ArtToFrames  gave us this print for two dollars.  We used some Amazon shopping points we had accumulated by using our Amazon Chase Visa card to shop online.  The end result was that we paid nothing for this print.

We were asked to give our unbiased opinion of the print in exchange for receiving the print for only$2.

Here is the bottom line.  We most likely will order more framed prints from ArtToFrames
in the future.  The regular prices are reasonable.  The quality is amazing and the customer service is excellent.

Order your print today.

Please e-mail us at: David E. McClendon, Sr.

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