OK Solberg: 00:00

I wanna again welcome you to the four zero five Coffee Break. Guys, get your cup of coffee, glass iced tea, suntan lotion, and a bottle of water, maybe an umbrella, and let's see what's happening out there. Spring weight, $5.68 a bushel. 550 pounds steer calf. I hope to shout $3.81 a pound.

OK Solberg: 00:19

Contract them just like I said yesterday. Right? I'll give you a 10 to one odds they are not this high come Halloween time. Butcher Hog in Omaha, Eighty One Cents a pound, and a hundred pound fat lamb in Billings at 02:19. But, guys, there's more, much more.

OK Solberg: 00:37

Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you. Your elders, and they will tell you. Deuteronomy thirty two seven. Don't worry even though that's the way yesterday's episode started, this is not yesterday's episode.

OK Solberg: 00:58

I like that verse. It's actually my theme, four zero five verse, because it fits perfectly with me flashing back in time, all the time. So stick with me. Good cop, bad cop technique. Good cop, bad cop technique is a classic psychological tactic often dramatized in movies and TV shows, but it also has real world applications, in interrogation, negotiation, and even parenting or management.

OK Solberg: 01:34

At its core, good cop, bad cop is a manipulative strategy that involves two people working together, one taking a harsh aggressive stance, the bad cop, while the other appears reasonable, understanding, and sympathetic, the good cop. Now I stated that information from the Internet to set the stage for my story. My mom and dad were very opposite in their beliefs and actions. My mom was harsh, loving, but harsh and strict. And my dad was, well, a little bit more laid back.

OK Solberg: 02:11

Now don't get me wrong. I appreciated my mom. And remember, she taught me about God. So I have that going for me. Big deal.

OK Solberg: 02:20

But my mom had stricter objectives for us than did our father, Ingwald So the language that came out of our mouth could easily get a wash your mouth out with soap kind of reaction from mom. Oh, yes. I did get my mouth washed out with soap more than once. She also pinned a short lived rule on me guys.

OK Solberg: 02:45

And that was I had to pay my brother Marvin a nickel for every time I hit him. Sorry. But that seemed like money well spent. So that punishment didn't last long. Anyway, the words out of our mouth mouth had to be pure as the driven snow.

OK Solberg: 03:03

So here's the situation. My little brother Marvin got an Angora cat from his teacher, missus Wilma Anderson. And Marvin named it Andy. How appropriate because of missus Anderson. That cat lived a long life and it was still with us after Thea and I were married.

OK Solberg: 03:24

But anyway, Andy Cat was a house cat. And that was a rare thing at our place, but Andy became a house cat. Now he could go outside, of course, but he slept in the house and was in the house much of the time. So Marvin is, I don't know, about third grade. And he sees this puddle of wet liquid on the carpet.

OK Solberg: 03:48

And it didn't take Marv long to identify what it was. So that young boy shouted out, Andy pissed on the rug. Oh, you should have seen the holy terror that arose after that outburst. My mom was fit to be tied and she didn't go into the night quietly. There was a lecture.

OK Solberg: 04:09

And Marv took his medicine and several hours went by and our father returned to the house for supper. Well, our mother didn't forget things easily. As soon as dad came in the door, she says to Marvin, now tell daddy what you said. Well, Marvin had said a lot of things, but hearing our mother's tone of voice, Marvin knew what she meant. So little Marvin, he hung his head and said, Andy pissed on the rug.

OK Solberg: 04:44

There wasn't a moment's hesitation in our father's reply, and he said, he did? Then, of course, our mother chimed in and said, no. That's no way to talk, is it? Ingwald oh, and my father being quick on the draw said, oh, oh, no, Marvin. That isn't a nice way to talk.

OK Solberg: 05:04

It is a story, and it's true to the core. You don't know how many times we've told that same story when even decades later. Good cop, bad cop, I guess, even parents know about it, but it wasn't a manipulative tactic here. The weekend's here. Go out and enjoy.

OK Solberg: 05:25

Spring is here. The grass is riss I wonder where the flowers is. So until next time, as

OK Solberg: 05:33

you go out there,

OK Solberg: 05:34

remember now, don't be bitter.