Home Distiller

Had a conversation with my wife the other day about things we wish we did when we were younger and I told her I always regretted never enlisting in the service. She was plenty shocked by this because Im not i guess the type of person youd expect that from and also i was quite the punk ass kid at 18 years old. I told her while I don't like the idea of war, I believe in defending the things I care about plus I think it would have beat my ass into shape lol. Also, i wish i would have cultivated a more rural lifestyle as thay is mpore my personality. Anyway, im 34 now with responsibilities so those days are past unless I convince my wife to uproot and move i suppose. Any of you guys have things you'd change if given the chance.

I'm the same panickry83, I wanted to join the marines when I was 17, my mother refused to sign(during Vietnam) when I was old enough I chickened out. Always regretted that. So my oldest joined with my blessings and did three combat tours with the marines, has some ptsd, but is getting better. Good? Or bad? Hard to decide......my son says he always glad he did what he did, but sometimes I wonder. Now my youngest is talking of joining so as you see a double edged sword.

I like to look at the positives as we cannot change the past. I went to college on a wrestling scholarship and studied engineering. I later got a degree in education although the pay was less in my mind the rewards were greater. I got to coach the sports I love wrestling and golf and teach design engineering/drafting thus got the best of both worlds. Having my summers off I had the opportunity to fish commercially in Alaska which probably put my salary on a equal salary had I stayed with engineering. I also feel I had an impact on on many of my students and athletes as I am FB friends with many of my former students that looked me up and keep me up to date on their successes. I started early in life investing in both real-estate and the stockmarket thus my retirement has not slowed down my lifestyle. I married a woman that is smarter than I am and was also in education. I was very busy early on so if I have any regrets that I can think of it's not starting this hobby before I retired.

Wrestling is a great sport Bushman, both my sons did well in it. Another regret I have is that I had a chance to go to Alaska to work in the late 70s just as the pipeline got started. I didn't and I've always wondered what the future would have been. But I feel that your future is pre-ordained.

Regrets...always wanted to be a mechanic and always wanted to be in the army. Dad was air weapon tech, mother a supply tech, sister supply then veh tech and my brother was airborne. Never questioned why, it was natural but a few years ago I sat down with my cousins enjoying my stock and wondered what the hell was it all for? I've been all over and did a lot of stuff, good and bad. Lots of scars physical and mental. I sit with them and they don't have two cents to rub together, but the family of 6 boys and two girls have all got property side by side for about three miles of road. The whole family is always together and I look at my life and think who is better off? I've missed so many Christmases and birthdays and anniversaries, fuck! I drive a new truck, new car, got a motor home to tow the race car, a cottage..wtf? 51 and my body is beat to hell, can't take my shirt off at a beach cause of all the pucker marks, and there they sit, having a drink and laughing. I can't even talk to them on the same level, we talk cars and drinking, four wheeling. I can't even go hunting with them, I enjoy the walk in the woods and could out hump every one of them, but killing an animal just isn't in me. I joke give it a gun and an equal chance and I'll hunt it but it's not really funny. Going on 32 years doing this shit, 19 on tanks, almost 9 years of that on various tours to various places overseas. I've got anger issues, bark at people I love and so much more. For what? I made my bed and would do it all again, just wish I could've been in two places at once sometimes. The adrenalin rush of walking into place with a rifle knowing you are the one who decides who lives and dies is addicting. The absolute power you hold is incredible, but how do you explain that to you're friends and family who know you as the guy who used to laugh all the time and drove too fast and drank to much? My mother told me just before she died to not be so serious and don't discipline the kids so harshly, remember making tents with a blanket over the kitchen table when I was a kid, never forget that. Well I've tried not to and I make efforts to be a more approachable person/father but it's not easy. Do I have regrets, yes but I know it's not something I could or would change. Maybe when I'm retired and sitting alone I'll wish I did things differently but I'd like to think I made the world a better place and if I gotta be alone because of it, then fuck it, so be it. In the meantime I joke around as much as I can, doc says it's a defence mechanism but fuck him too, airforce jerkoff who's never done anything or been anywhere.
Well this was a lot longer than I meant it to be, regrets are useless as you can't change shit so why let it eat you up? Enjoy the ride, we're not here that long.

Regret is a wasted emotion . You can't redo the past . At 28 I was working 12 to 8 in a coal mine . Farmed , logged , or drove truck all day . Local Pols wanted to run me for Sheriff . My goal was to retire from the mines at 38 and just be a well enough respected bidnessman in the county that when I told a man I wanted to buy what he was selling he would know where to deliver and that the cash money would be there when he got there .
If you want to hear God laughing ; just tell him about your plans .
At 38 I was freshly divorced with a $2600 per month anchor around my neck for child support and alimony . Economy had put the other business in the shitter and I had a Circuit Judge yelling me that if I got so pissed at his order that I quit my job he would give me a life sentence for contempt of court . Don't call bullshit on that . There's a feller in Michigan been doing that for years now .
Spent a few years in the wrong direction and then climbed down out of the trees . Married a good woman , we got my kids back and reared them , and built several viable businesses .
What you might call regret is experience . Capitalize on that experience . Go forward and don't repeat the same mistake .

goinbroke2 wrote:Regrets...always wanted to be a mechanic and always wanted to be in the army. Dad was air weapon tech, mother a supply tech, sister supply then veh tech and my brother was airborne. Never questioned why, it was natural but a few years ago I sat down with my cousins enjoying my stock and wondered what the hell was it all for? I've been all over and did a lot of stuff, good and bad. Lots of scars physical and mental. I sit with them and they don't have two cents to rub together, but the family of 6 boys and two girls have all got property side by side for about three miles of road. The whole family is always together and I look at my life and think who is better off? I've missed so many Christmases and birthdays and anniversaries, fuck! I drive a new truck, new car, got a motor home to tow the race car, a cottage..wtf? 51 and my body is beat to hell, can't take my shirt off at a beach cause of all the pucker marks, and there they sit, having a drink and laughing. I can't even talk to them on the same level, we talk cars and drinking, four wheeling. I can't even go hunting with them, I enjoy the walk in the woods and could out hump every one of them, but killing an animal just isn't in me. I joke give it a gun and an equal chance and I'll hunt it but it's not really funny. Going on 32 years doing this shit, 19 on tanks, almost 9 years of that on various tours to various places overseas. I've got anger issues, bark at people I love and so much more. For what? I made my bed and would do it all again, just wish I could've been in two places at once sometimes. The adrenalin rush of walking into place with a rifle knowing you are the one who decides who lives and dies is addicting. The absolute power you hold is incredible, but how do you explain that to you're friends and family who know you as the guy who used to laugh all the time and drove too fast and drank to much? My mother told me just before she died to not be so serious and don't discipline the kids so harshly, remember making tents with a blanket over the kitchen table when I was a kid, never forget that. Well I've tried not to and I make efforts to be a more approachable person/father but it's not easy. Do I have regrets, yes but I know it's not something I could or would change. Maybe when I'm retired and sitting alone I'll wish I did things differently but I'd like to think I made the world a better place and if I gotta be alone because of it, then fuck it, so be it. In the meantime I joke around as much as I can, doc says it's a defence mechanism but fuck him too, airforce jerkoff who's never done anything or been anywhere.
Well this was a lot longer than I meant it to be, regrets are useless as you can't change shit so why let it eat you up? Enjoy the ride, we're not here that long.

All true and well said.

I talk to much

Sure do goose eye can't hardly get you to shut up

So I'm tole
It's all good....your with friends.

Bigbob wrote:Wrestling is a great sport Bushman, both my sons did well in it. Another regret I have is that I had a chance to go to Alaska to work in the late 70s just as the pipeline got started. I didn't and I've always wondered what the future would have been. But I feel that your future is pre-ordained.

Actually I believe the pipeline was going in the 60's. My dad left the shipyard to work on the pipeline. The money was great but he worked unbelievable hours and ended up getting sick and having to come home after about a year.

Theres lots of regrets. Alot of girls i shoulda treated differently as a teen. A few family that are gone that i wish i could say that i was sorry to about a few things. dreams i didnt live out by the dozens...
All in all though, im not too sure i would change any of it. Every path ive walked ,every road ive drove,every bridge ive burned,every little choice ive made has brought me to the point in life i am now and im good with it.

I went to college. I shouldn't have. waste of money and is still screwing me financially

I regret I spent so much time in the swamps and rice paddy's of Vietnam. The result was Agent Orange induced prostate cancer. However, on a brighter note, the Gov't supplies the diapers for life, quite a savings!!! Come on guy's, this is a humorous post so don't go off on it.........with out a sense of humor life sucks!!

goose eye wrote:I talk to much

amen. 3 more words than required.

No regrets whatsoever. I once thought one would have been to spend more time with my daughters when they were growing up but we all sat down and actually talked about it. Considering my frame of mind at the time, things went like they should have after all.
I've had a rip-snorting 61 years on this planet. I'm surrounded by a loving wife of 38 years, three awesome daughters, a huge passel of great friends and no enemies that I know of and if I do, they apparently know better than to mess with me.

I'm a very fortunate man in an increasingly difficult world.

tp

+100+ TPee.
No matter what mistakes we made in life,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
ye cannot turn the clock back !!!
Get on wi it and make the future right.
Will

And forgot to mention Sltm1 too, +100+ to you too.
Will

with all the b.s. that has happened and is happening in my wifes and I's life in the past 20+ years, the only regret I come up with is not finding this site 6 or 7 years ago when olddog, lwtcs, somohan, and others were on the cutting edge of home distilling design and fabrication. reading the humper thumper thread and olddogs magic flute thread enthralled me to no end. I'm still inspired by their work, but man do I wish I would of come across this hobby sooner just to live in that time... sigh
other than that catching up has been a blast. love this site, love this hobby. definetly want to be here when we go legal!!
whoot whooot !! onward and upward

bronctoad

I guess regrets is a bit heavy. Maybe missed opportunities is a better title? Prolly just splitting hairs at this point.

I don't want to come across as ungrateful for what i have. I've got a great wife who's also my best friend, two good boys who are rascals now but I hope to help turn into good men, good friends and a loving extended family. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

Awe hell panikry,we knew what ya meant but you cant ask a question like that here on a friday...we'd been drinking and all got deep with it.
Jb

To all the girls I've loved before,
who traveled in and out my door
I'm glad they came along....

Really happy with what has stayed for 30+ years and the kids we have... nearly all our friends never made it this far...

happy stillin,

FS

Like BigBob, I am Vietnam era and never made it over there. Should have.
Being an only child, Parents pitched such a crying fit that I just didn't go. Missed the draft in the lottery....College kept me deferred somewhat finally graduated and went to work in a Cannon Powder plant making powder for 105s and 155s.
Again like BigBob, middle son was in the thick of it in Iraq but made it back somewhat damaged...Still working for the DOD so at least he got a job out of it.
Again like BigBob, youngest son DID join....Still in. Ranger, Airborne all the bells and whistles that go along with it. He's a Captain now and is the ultimate soldier....When he was in Afghanistan, his nickname was "LT. Rambo." I was a wreck when he was there, because I Knew what he would do.
I wish I had discouraged him from an Army career sometimes, he is an Adrenaline junkie and it will take his life someday.
He is my Hero.

Another Regret....Helped the ABC bust an old Moonshiner when I was a Law Dog....Another officer on the raid is currently the DA, and he told me he felt the same way.

Shhhheeeeeiiiittttt. I just read all that serious shit that I wrote....Let's lighten up and have a drank of Likker.
There's a bunch more of y'all that I plan on meeting before I get to the big Still in the Sky!

left school young , might known more if I didn't think I knew so much

jb-texshine wrote:Theres lots of regrets. Alot of girls i shoulda treated differently as a teen. A few family that are gone that i wish i could say that i was sorry to about a few things. dreams i didnt live out by the dozens...
All in all though, im not too sure i would change any of it. Every path ive walked ,every road ive drove,every bridge ive burned,every little choice ive made has brought me to the point in life i am now and im good with it.

Exactly what I was going to say

Appalachia shiner, watch the youngest as the adrenalin rush is addictive. " yeah I got told I gotta go back, sorry dear" and " not my fault, army says go, I gotta go". We're my standard "go to" excuses.

It's the never ending adventure.

wrote a bunch more but deleted it, suffice to say, he has to make the decision not go go over because anyone else does and he'll regret it and blame them the rest of his life.

The old man upstairs has watched over me, even when I didn't deserve it, just gotta keep on regular speaking terms with him.