Thoughts of Mrs. Modern-Day Mountain Woman Chapter 15

Chapter 15: Stay away from Panther Pee

In high school, I was never very good at sports. I may have played basketball and run track, but I wasn’t good at them. I did, however, love the sections in P.E. that focused on exercise videos. My classmates used to joke that I was a “Jane Fonda” wanna-be. I would get so into the workouts!! Now, with kids, I find myself exercising with YouTube video trainers again. I started out with Denise Austin when I was pregnant and after giving birth to all three of my kids. She always says in her upbeat and positive voice, “quality over quantity!” Her goal is to have the person at home focusing on the quality of the exercise over the quantity, or amounts of time they can perform them in a set. Many of my new favorite trainers say the same phrase or something similar to encourage people to really focus on how they are doing something to make sure it is being done well.

In every aspect of life, I believe we should focus on quality over quantity. Having more things in life doesn’t make us happy, but having one really nice thing sometimes does. There are many times where we can’t afford the high-quality items, or it seems as if we cannot justify the purchase. As I look around my house, many of my items were given to us or found. Antiques passed down, or something someone left behind after a move that no one wanted but which worked well for us. Our home is not filled with priceless antiques or newly purchased furniture, but it is filled with useful and sturdy pieces. We have pieces that have lasted through generations, and will hopefully last through more because they were built with precision, skill, and respect for the trade of building things well.

Happy in my hat.

When I look through my outdoor gear, I can find a few pieces where money was well worth being spent for my comfort. My wonderfully light, yet surprisingly warm mummy sleeping bag and my OR sunhat. Living in the Rocky Mountains, especially when we were at 9,000 feet of elevation, a sun hat was essential protection against the powerful ball of light. I love my wide-brimmed hat with a cinch cord to keep it on against mountain breezes (or strong winds, as was mostly the case). It is well worth the price that I initially found exorbitant. Each of my children also has their own sunhat, and it is second nature for them to grab it when going outside. It may have cost us an arm and a leg to buy quality hats for them, but it has paid off by protecting their eyes, ears, necks, and faces. The cost may have been large initially, but it is worth it for their personal protection, and since we bought quality hats, they will last for many years to come.

When the mountain man said, “Stay away from panther pee” they were referring to not buying or using inferior quality products or services. When Denise Austin tells me to focus on “quality over quantity”, she is referring to me being superior and not inferior in my skills and techniques through exercise. When I buy gear, I need to focus on buying something once that is well made, instead of buying something that is cheap and then having to buy it again, and again, and again. Just the other day, the cheap, imitation leather belt we bought for our child for school broke. It didn’t even make it through one school year. We were planning on it making it for several years. The disappointment was real! In contrast, the leather belt I had in college is still going strong, so many years later. Whatever we do in life, be it a task, a job, or a purchase, we need to focus on being the best we can be. Try our hardest to do one thing well instead of doing many things partially well. Quality over quantity.