My BHAG: To spend time with the best family ever!
Current Status: My wife and I are getting the four kids through school and off the payroll. I’m more excited about this new chapter than she is. She just wants grandbabies!?!
Family Related Posts
Christmas Debacle(s) And An Unplanned 1,400 Mile Drive!
Over Christmas, we celebrated Max’s 21st birthday (several times actually). We barely survived rolling blackouts and some single-digit temperatures (Deano marked himself safe). We survived but the pipe inside our wall didn’t and flooded our kitchen. Then we got to take an unplanned 1,400-mile round trip to Orlando to get Emmaline back home because we…
Thanksgiving At Hogdaddy’s
Games, 4-Wheelers, Cows, Guns, and Golf Carts…Oh My! And good food too but I was too busy stuffing it down my gut to capture any of that.
10,000 Views
3 years ago this week I started posting to my website http://www.deanorolls.com I’ve posted 238k words along the way. Today the 5,714th visitor hit the 10,000th page view. I never thought anyone would care to read anything I wrote. I think the lesson I’ve learned is there are a lot of really, really, really, bored…
We Are Going To Be Farmers (Regenerative Farmers)…DeanoFarms?!?
I have an old tractor…what to do?!? I have some of my grandfather’s old coveralls…what to do?!? We have an RV I pay to store in town….what to do?!? Emily has an old Bronco…what to do?!? Let’s become farmers! Well…we are not going to be farmers yet. We have kids in school and both have…
YouTube Famous! 100k Views Comments Review!
Seen out in the wild! 100k views! In case you didn’t know…I’m a pretty big deal. YouTube Famous! HA! NOT! Only 68,999,500 subscribers until I catch Justin Bieber! [Joey contemplates taking his shirt off and dancing more in his videos…then, quickly stops thinking of this] I enjoy making videos about our travels (and other things).…
YouTube Famous – Recognized In The Wild!
The day I created my YouTube channel I told Emily “one day we’ll be walking around and people will recognize us”. She looked at me with a very common look I’ve seen many times over the years we’ve been married. Many, many hair-brained schemes later I know the look very well. It is kind of…
Granny and Pipa – Through Joey’s Eyes
My grandparents were instrumental role models in my life. They put family first at all times. They worked hard and also worked hard at having fun. My grandmother would take hours of video with her VHS camera. Perhaps this is where I got my desire to document my journey. There seemed to be nothing my…
Squirrel Wars – My 3 Year War!
I love being a homeowner?!? I’ll save my rant on that for a later time! I’ve been at war with a squirrel army since we moved into our condo in 2018. They are under the impression that my attic is their home. They are unpaying renters! I successfully caught one last year and relocated him…
Memories of Nana
Gladys Marie (Hamsley) Cook (September 26, 1922 – February 26, 2021) 98 years and she was cutting a rug with friends and family all along the way! From her obituary (written by my Mom): Gladys was born September 26, 1922, in Springfield to the late William and Nellie Henderson Hamsley. She was a graduate of…
Our 1500 Mile 3 Kids Visiting Fall Break
We hit the road on Fall Break to visit 3 of the far-flung little ones. We were going to see Emmaline in Orlando and decided to swing by Knoxville to see Max and Chattanooga to see Molly along the way. 1,500 miles later our fuel tank was empty, our wallets were empty from resupplying the…
Kids Are Back In School – I Stole Max’s Room (Deano’s New Game Lair)
We took the kids to college back in August (including Max for the first time). I waited patiently! Now the kids are back in school again. When they went back for the second semester (a few weeks ago) I sprang into action and stole Max’s room as my new game lair! Sorry, Max…not sorry!
Memories of Maw Maw
Frances Sterry Jeannette (May 4, 1923 – December 5, 2020) Maw Maw lived 97 years. I got to know her for the last 25 or so (after marrying her granddaughter). I’m glad I did too, this woman was a treasure! I’m so thankful that I have adult children (her great-grandchildren) that got to know her…
Should We Love America?
I had a conversation recently where someone was trying to convince me that we needed to eliminate the playing of the National Anthem before sporting events. I tend to like the act and think it is a good thing. To be honest, I’ve never really given it a second thought. Regardless, I don’t believe it…
Keep On Truckin’!
Every six months I do a personal finance update. I update a complex spreadsheet that has a bunch of historical charts. I’ve kept track of a ton of financial statistics/ratios since we began married life back in 1995. Every six months I sit down, update it, digest it, and chart my course corrections (if any…
John Deere 1938 Model A Antique Tractor Restoration
I restored my John Deere 1938 Model A antique tractor (on steel wheels) that my grandfather gave me when I was back in high school. It took me working on it off and on for over 20 years. I finally realized I was in way over my head and enlisted the professionals. Regardless, an antique…
We Went Survival Camping!
Was Max’s Red Rider BB Gun able to keep us alive? One of my favorite television shows is Alone. It pits man against nature one on one. The Dean Men decided that we would test our abilities and go out into the wild to test our mettle! We prep our gear, shoot guns, ride bikes,…
The puzzle isn’t finished…
I normally don’t work puzzles. Time is a very precious resource. I believe it is the MOST precious resource! I usually can always find something I deem more important than putting a nice picture someone cut into 1,000 pieces back together. What kind of sicko does that!?! This Spring Break my in-laws bought a puzzle.…
My Droning, Gaming, Cattle Feeding, Speeding, Shooting, Ziplining Thanksgiving!
But…wait…there’s more! For years, we used to have our family Thanksgiving in a bar (family-owned) in a small town in Illinois! Years ago, we moved it to the farm. It is always fun. It is easier to watch the video than to explain. Subscribe to my YouTube channel. I’m going to be making lots of…
S’more Dean (2003 – 2019)
S’more was with our family for over 16 years…but today we laid him to rest. Anyone who says a dog isn’t part of the family ain’t right in the head. I made a little tribute video and have been sporadically bursting into tears while making it. He was our little family’s first dog and he…
Website’s First Post!
No One: Absolutely No One: Deano: 38,000 word / 85-page website…and just getting started… OK! I get it! No one asked for it. No one wanted it. But that doesn’t stop me from delivering! Today I’m rolling out my website at http://www.deanorolls.com. All the information about me that no one wants or needs will now…
Houses Are Vehicles Too?!?
I’ve listed all my vehicles on my site. Houses?!? Vehicles?!? Sure, you sit in them. Right?!? We at least trade them like vehicles in our family. With a growing family quickly outgrowing and wearing out cars we didn’t just trade cars a lot we also moved a lot. Chronologically: Apartment – The Lakes Of Bellevue,…
Family Update (2019)
Emily and I have been married for a couple of decades and we’ve been busy raising our four kids almost the entire time. We met in college and immediately started having little ones. I always believed that we were already poor so we might as well have our kids and be REALLY poor. We’ve been…
Dad’s Bible Posts
As much wisdom as I have gathered in my time on this rock. Passing it along to my kids (and anyone else who can use it).
Tenet: Hard Work – It is frankly easy to outwork most folks…but do it anyway.
“No one cares…work harder!” I’ve heard this quote numerous times. It is great. It rolls up two important concepts that I’ve lived by most of my life. 1) Work hard at moving your life in the direction you want it to go. 2) There are very few people who give two craps about you. Conversely…
Topic: Importance Of Family
They say you can choose your friends but not your family. This means that for better or worse it looks like you are stuck with me for the remainder of our duration on this earth together. I love each one of you and wouldn’t have it any other way. I asked us all to dinner…
Tenet: Don’t Do Things That You Know Ain’t Right – Just act right! So many people get this simple concept wrong.
James 4:17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. Just act right! So many people get this simple concept wrong! I have found myself wondering why people can’t just act right so many times in my life. It is mind-boggling things that you hear…
Topic: Why College?
Earlier this year I talked with you guys about the importance of intelligence/education in determining your success in life and in creating wealth for you and your family. We talked about how smart people wind up earning more than people who are not as smart. We talked about how educated people wind up earning more…
Tenet: Have a BHAG! – Set Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals.
Big Hairy Audacious Goal(s)! I heard this term for the first time in a book about how to build great companies. The book was called Built To Last and it was and still is one of the better books on business around. One of the concepts in the book was those truly great companies…ones that…
Tenet: Be Well-Rounded – Learn as much as you can about as much as you can.
What does it mean to be well-rounded? Eating tons of cheeseburgers will get you there but that is not what I mean. This is similar to keeping things in balance but easier and more fun I think. Being a well-rounded person means that you know a little about a lot and don’t get obsessed with…
Tenet: Balance – Keep things in balance and you will have few regrets.
Balance is simple. Keep everything in balance! All work and no play make Joey a dull boy. Simple right?!?! Not true. Like so many things in life, a simple concept becomes very hard to put/keep in place. If there is one area I have always struggled it is with finding the right balance. The big…
Tenet: Personal Responsibility – Own your life and your decisions.
Personal Responsibility is the single most important tenet that I hope you leave my house ‘getting’. I was lucky to learn this very early and apply it in almost every single situation, every single day…for days, weeks, months, quarters, years, decades! It is such an important thing to have a firm grasp on. Own your…
Dad’s Bible – Introduction
Kids, Growing up I had questions. Sometimes I got answers and sometimes I didn’t. Sometimes the things I wondered seemed silly. Sometimes the things I wondered I didn’t even know what to ask about?!? There were times I just wanted to know what was going through other people’s minds at the same time in their…
Christmas Letters
I filled people’s mailboxes with a massive paper load for about 12 years when the kids were younger. I stopped [thankful praise from many]. Regardless, the letters are collected here (I present them unedited from their original form).
Christmas Letter (2012)
Dear Friends and Family, Revenge of the Nerds!!!! Recently I was looking at the top movies of 2012 and noticed a trend! NERDS! I spent a great deal of my life (all of it unfortunately) being a nerd so I can spot a trend when I see it. I can spot it, log it, track…
Christmas Letter (2011)
Dear Friends and Family, Every year I sit down to reconcile another year into a short (?!?) sweet letter. Every year, for over a decade now, I think not much happened. Every year I surprise myself. You probably are aware of this since you probably notice the length of the letter prior to rolling your…
Christmas Letter (2010)
Dear Friends and Family, We Are Nashville! 2010 was a year of disasters (both big and small). The Tide rolled in as Alabama flooded Texas to win the national title (Roll Tide!). Haiti suffered a devastating earthquake leaving the better part of the country homeless. February brought in some of the best snow Tennessee has…
Christmas Letter (2009)
Dear Friends and Family, Editor’s Note: Who needs Christmas Letters anymore. Those are so overdone (especially this one some say!?!?). This year due to a hectic Dean schedule you are receiving a Martin Luther King Day Letter!!! This will probably be the only such letter you receive for this occasion so cherish it…or at least…
Christmas Letter (2008)
Dear Friends and Family, 2008 Stank!!! I contemplated just leaving it at that and saving some trees (and you some time). Then I reconsidered and you now have your assignment. I’m glad I did because sitting down and actually reflecting on the year made me realize things were not as bad as your local news…
Christmas Letter (2007)
Dear Friends and Family, Wsup? LTNS MG TOY! We are now officially parents of a teenager so I’m trying to learn all the cool text message shortcuts (I’m not even sure that is what they are called). I need to do this so my son will actually know what I’m saying to him. Translation of…
Christmas Letter (2006)
Dear Friends and Family, Each year I send this out, I always get a few folks who have concerns as to the length of the yearly document. Other than removing that person from our mailing list, I generally use this as fuel for the upcoming year. This year’s letter will be in 20 parts and…
Christmas Letter (2005)
Dear Friends and Family, I am living every father’s dream…to DANCE…on stage…in front of tons of people…with lots of lights. YES!!! Emmaline and Molly are in their dance school’s performance of The Nutcracker. Emily signed us up to be in it with them as “party parents”. I was reluctant at first with the pink tights…
Christmas Letter (2004)
Dear Friends and Family, Fine, I admit it I am perpetually late. A man must be granted one fault. In an otherwise perfect human, just ask my wife and mom, I just can’t seem to get control of this one area of my life. Since the first step to resolving a problem is admitting it…
Christmas Letter (2003)
Dear Friends and Family, Emmaline has been studying holidays of the world at school. She and I have been researching Japan’s holidays. Their most important annual holiday is their New Year celebrated during January 1-3, called shogatsu. Instead of a Christmas letter this year I’m going to write a shogatsu letter…this has nothing to do…
Christmas Letter (2002)
Dear Friends and Family, Our year has been pretty boring by comparison…no new kids, no new house. This is the first Christmas letter that did not contain news of one or the other. Gran and Golfball sold my old house, does that count?!?!? For some reason they found it time for a change, they had…
Christmas Letter (2001)
Dear Friends and Family, I took a lot of flack over last year’s letter, in case you don’t remember it was four pages of some of the most heartfelt emotion ever laid down on a page. Comments went in all directions; here are the most common ones along with my response to each: “Thanks for…
Christmas Letter (2000)
Dear All, I finally understand why people write letters, or at least why I must. My lovely wife loves children more than anything. I share her love of the little monsters except for when I start thinking about financing each one’s college experience. My friend Charles Schwab tells me it is going to run me…
DeanoRolls (@deanoroll5) 