{"id":481,"date":"2008-07-05T01:01:59","date_gmt":"2008-07-05T01:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/markdroberts\/2008\/07\/some-strange-texas-sights.html"},"modified":"2008-07-05T01:01:59","modified_gmt":"2008-07-05T01:01:59","slug":"some-strange-texas-sights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/07\/some-strange-texas-sights.html","title":{"rendered":"Some Strange Texas Sights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/dirty-truck-5.jpg\" alt=\"dirty truck\" align=\"right\" height=\"255\" hspace=\"15\" vspace=\"5\" width=\"360\" \/>Trucks are everywhere in Texas. This is true even during times of high gas prices, though I&#8217;ve heard that sales of trucks are down. For most of us, trucks are a means of transportation along paved roads. But some folks actually use their trucks as, well, trucks! They drive on dirt roads and no roads, hauling ranch supplies or animals they have shot in the woods. As you might well imagine, sometimes trucks used for such offroad purposes get a little dirty. The picture to the right, taken in my local HEB grocery store parking lot proves the point, don&#8217;t you think?<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/pruning-home-depot-5.jpg\" alt=\"pruning seal home depot\" align=\"right\" height=\"270\" hspace=\"15\" vspace=\"5\" width=\"360\" \/>Then I came upon some even stranger in my local Home Depot. The display was ordinary enough, a bunch of cans of pruning seal. If you&#8217;re not familiar with this stuff, it&#8217;s a black, spray-paint like substance that you use when pruning. By covering a pruned area with pruning seal, you keep bugs from hurting or killing the recently pruned bush or tree.<br \/>\nBut, as it turns out, there are other uses for pruning seal. As the Home Depot sign says, &#8220;It&#8217;s not just for pruning.&#8221; What else can you do with pruning seal? You can waterproof clay pots, or seal your gutters, or spray under your mower to protect the deck. And . . . you can spay!<br \/>\n<img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.markdroberts.com\/images\/pruning-home-depot-close-5.jpg\" alt=\"pruning seal spay\" align=\"right\" height=\"252\" hspace=\"15\" vspace=\"5\" width=\"360\" \/>That&#8217;s what the sign says: * Spay. As in, &#8220;You need to spay your cat.&#8221; Or &#8220;Is your dog spayed?&#8221; I looked up definitions of &#8220;spay&#8221; just to see if there was some other meaning I had missed. &#8220;Spay&#8221; is the name of a three-year-old male red deer. (Seriously!) But the basic meaning of &#8220;remove the ovaries&#8221; of an animal is the main one. Now I&#8217;m not quite sure how you&#8217;d use pruning seal to spay your animals. And, frankly, I don&#8217;t want to know.<br \/>\nNow you might think that the Home Depot sign was simply wrong, a result of human error. Maybe the sign maker wanted to say &#8220;Spray&#8221; and didn&#8217;t get it right. But that particular sign was up in my Home Depot for at least two weeks. Nobody made an effort to do a new sign or to cross out &#8220;spay.&#8221; So, all I can conclude is that pruning seal as a veterinary use that I did not anticipate.<br \/>\nOnly in Texas . . . .<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trucks are everywhere in Texas. This is true even during times of high gas prices, though I&#8217;ve heard that sales of trucks are down. For most of us, trucks are a means of transportation along paved roads. But some folks actually use their trucks as, well, trucks! They drive on dirt roads and no roads,&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":214,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-481","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-only-in-texas"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Some Strange Texas Sights - Mark D. Roberts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2008\/07\/some-strange-texas-sights.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Some Strange Texas Sights - Mark D. 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Roberts","description":"Mark D. Roberts: Thoughtfully Christian Reflections on Jesus, the Church, and the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/1ff094a57b7e41f534434b1723df3d73","name":"Mark D. Roberts","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","caption":"Mark D. Roberts"},"description":"The Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts is a pastor, author, retreat leader, speaker, and blogger. Since October 2007 he has been the Senior Director and Scholar-in-Residence for Laity Lodge, a multifaceted ministry in the Hill Country of Texas. Before coming to Laity Lodge, he was for sixteen years the Senior Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church in Irvine, California (a city in Orange County about forty miles south of Los Angeles). Before his time at Irvine Pres, Mark served on the staff of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood as Associate Pastor of Education. (Thanks to Janel Pahl for taking the photo to the right.) Mark studied at Harvard University, receiving a B.A. in Philosophy, an M.A. in the Study of Religion, and a Ph.D. in New Testament and Christian Origins. He has taught classes in New Testament for Fuller Theological Seminary and San Francisco Theological Seminary. Mark has written several books, including No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer (WaterBrook, 2005), Dare to Be True (WaterBrook, 2003), Jesus Revealed (WaterBrook, 2002), After \"I Believe\" (Baker, 2002), and Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (Word, 1993). His most recent book is Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (Crossway, 2007). He is currently working on a commentary on Ephesians that will be published by Zondervan in 2014. Mark writes a devotional for The High Calling of Our Daily Work, a website associated with Laity Lodge. His \"Daily Reflections\" can be viewed online or sent as a daily email. If you wish to receive this email, just visit TheHighCalling.org and sign up. Mark serves on the editorial board of Worship Leader magazine, where he publishes articles and reviews, including his regular column \"Lyrical Poetry.\" Additionally, he has published dozens of articles in leading magazines and journals. He often speaks for churches and other Christian groups, and has been interviewed on over seventy-five radio programs nationwide. Mark is married to Linda, who is a Marriage and Family Therapist, a Spiritual Director, and a retreat speaker. They have two children, Nathan and Kara.For Publicity Photos and Bio Statements for Mark, please check here. Mark's Dossier Professional History: Senior Director and Scholar-in Residence, Laity Lodge, October 2007 to present. Senior Pastor Irvine Presbyterian Church, June 1991 to September 2007 Adjunct Assistant Professor Fuller Theological Seminary, 1994 to 2007. Courses: New Testament Theology and Exegesis. Adjunct Instructor San Francisco Theological Seminary, 1995 to 2001. Courses: New Testament Greek and Exegesis Associate Pastor of Education First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, 1987-1991 Teaching Fellow Harvard University, 1980-1983 Education: Ph.D. in the Study of Religion. Harvard University, 1992. Area: New Testament and Christian Origins M.A. in the Study of Religion Harvard University, 1984. A.B. magna cum laude in Philosophy Harvard University, 1979. Phi Beta Kappa; Danforth Fellowship Books: Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Crossway, 2007 No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer. WaterBrook, 2005 Dare to Be True: Living in the Freedom of Complete Honesty. WaterBrook, 2003. Jesus Revealed: Know Him Better to Love Him Better. WaterBrook, 2002. After \"I Believe\": Experiencing Authentic Christian Living. Baker, 2002. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther in the Communicator's Commentary Series. Word, 1993. Contacting Mark: You can reach Mark at: E-mail: mark@markdroberts.com mroberts@laitylodge.org Phone: Laity Lodge: (830) 792-1216 Address: Laity Lodge 719 Earl Garrett Kerrville, TX 78028","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/author\/mroberts"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=481"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/481\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}