Sometimes it takes several tries

I was sitting in the woods on the opening morning of deer season and, since it was fairly cold, I was sipping on a cup of coffee. I got to listening to the shots of those who were seeing deer. At times there was a single shot. No follow up shot, but just one. At other times there was a shot and then a couple, three seconds later, there was another. Then there were times another shot followed. But then there were times when there were say five or six or seven shots that sounded like almost one continuous shot.

Made me wonder who was the most successful. I'm betting the ones where there was a single shot were fairly successful. But then maybe they were using a muzzle loader like I was. One shot was all one got. By the time I reload, the deer is in a different ZIP code. I'm betting the ones that shoot five or six or seven are chasing a running deer and so probably aren't that successful.

And as I sat there listening to the shooting I got to thinking about how in life it sometimes takes more than one shot to get it right. I have a number of friends who have been married for 40-plus years who got it right the first time. Some have made it to 50 years together. Very few make it 60, and even less make it to 70. But I also have friends who are on their second try at matrimonial bliss. Some are truly blessed with the second try at marriage. But I also have some friends who are on marriage No. 5, 6 or 7, or gosh knows how many. It's like they are thinking, "We'll give it a try this week and, if it doesn't feel right, we'll get a divorce next week."

I'm not condemning those who get a divorce and get remarried. A couple of my very best friends got divorced and remarried and, honestly their second was the better by far. They were made for each other. Their first try at marriage was seemingly doomed from Day 1.

Kind of like learning how to cook. If we quit learning on our first attempt, we wouldn't be worth a flip. So we keep at it. Back a few months, our son and I both bought a pellet grill, so we have tried smoking all different kinds of meat. I can't tell you how many batches of jerky I've smoked on my pellet grill. Some were pretty good and some were awful. But I don't have any plans on quitting. I'll keep at it until I get it right. Same with a brisket. I've done several, and each one ended up different. None of them were great, but then all of them were edible. Some have been super tender, while others have been really tough. Sure room for improvement.

Seems like every summer we change something in our garden to hopefully cause it to produce more or taste better or hopefully have fewer problems. But at the end of summer, there are always plans on how to change things to make the next summer's garden even better. We used to just grow green zucchini, but now we mainly grow just yellow zucchini. But now we grow several varieties to hopefully find one that grows better and tastes good. Gardening always takes more than one try.

We normally grow one particular variety of cucumber. These cucumbers all end up about 12 to 13 inches long and are virtually seedless. Awesome tasting cucumber. But last spring I was reading about a similar cucumber that was supposed to taste better than the one we normally grow. We tried it last summer. It didn't grow as well and sure didn't taste as good. We tried it and weren't impressed. Back to the old standby.

There is a little Chinese restaurant up in Cape that both Marge and I like to eat at. Her favorite food was always cashew chicken. Many times I'd get the very same thing. One day I decided to get a Goo Goo something and, man, it was good. It didn't have cashews in it, but it did have mushrooms. Now I have a new favorite. Now I need to explore some more of the dishes. I might end up finding a new favorite that I might like even better. But then again I might just get a Goo Goo something. I know I like that.

We know a gal who point blank says she doesn't want any kids. None. Zip! Zero! But then we have some friends who have had two kids and called it quits. Two was enough. My one sister ended up having seven kids. Whanda and her husband, Don, had three girls and four boys before calling it quits. We tried having two kids and ended up with two boys. That was enough. One thing I do know for sure, if we'd waited until we were older to start a family, we'd have quit after one. I have really enjoyed our grandkids. Enjoy them, and then send them home.

Most fishermen and fisherwomen aren't successful every time they go fishing. I know I'm not. Most of the time I'll catch a few, but then there are times when the fish are competing to get in my boat. It takes repeated attempts to learn how to fish. And it takes repeated attempts at fishing a particular body of water to learn how to fish it. Keep at it.

One old saying was to "Keep trying till you get it right." But another was "Do it right the first time, and there won't be a need for a second." Both are true, but both are dependent on the circumstances.

About a month ago I roasted a batch of green coffee beans. The beans were huge with many of them being probably three-eighths of an inch long. Normally the green beans I roast are say a quarter-inch long at the most. I roasted them like normal and then let them sit overnight like I normally do before I made a cup of coffee from them. The coffee was OK but not real good. I needed to roast them probably 20 or 30 seconds longer. Fast forward to this week. I roasted the very same green coffee beans only this time I roasted them probably 20 to 30 seconds longer. Pretty darn good coffee when I tried it.

If we mess up on the first try, give it all we got on the second. But if we hit the bullseye the first attempt rejoice and then show someone else. One other thing is to be slow to criticize and quick to praise. But if you see me slacking or feeling sorry for myself, give me a quick kick in the tail end and tell me to get with it!