It started back in the early summer when I needed to take the deck off my mower.
That’s a simple process, but I am always nervous that Part A has to come off before you can unhook Part B or something.
So to check myself, I watched a couple of Youtube videos. Sure enough, it was as simple as looked.
With an assist from my Spouse Of Many Talents, the deck was off, the blades were changed and the deck was back on the mower in reasonably short order.
Thanks, YouTube.
I’ve been a YouTube user for many years, but I had used it mostly as a jukebox, spending many a pleasant Saturday night with a Hank Williams playlist and the volume cranked to 11.
It seems like every song that has ever been recorded is on YouTube. Hank, bluegrass, old-timey piano, Cajun, Mennonite acappella hymns, rockabilly. You can indulge diverse and eclectic musical tastes from the comfort and safety of your own iPad.
Not long after the blade-changing experience, I was wondering about some things on my little Bass Buster boat and found myself on YouTube again.
That led to some side videos on kayak fishing and a few more on using weiners for catfish bait and then some more on noodling and jugging.
Along the way, I encountered a channel called Fishin N Stuff, which has videos from a guy in North Carolina who makes DIY fishing hacks. Watching them has become one of my favorite pastimes.
And there is a sub-culture of people who use Weber smokers and share their tips and recipes. And SPAM aficionados. And people who make their own crappie jigs and those who use their minvans for campers.
It was somewhere between the SPAM salad sandwiches and Gordon Ramsay going noodling in Oklahoma that I realized I never watch television any more and have cut back my Facebook time.
When I have free moments for entertainment, I tend to look at something on YouTube.
That’s a trend that’s likely to continue, given the pointless nature of most tv shows and the never-ending political argument that Facebook has become.
Turns out that people watch 5 billion videos a day on YouTube. I don’t know who is watching the other four billion, but dang. That’s a lot.
Best of all, I find life is more peaceful and enjoyable without the cable talk show hosts and the pro-mask and anti-mask arguers on Facebook triggering the flight or fight response.
I like it that way.