If you're reading this than you are probably familiar with Jeff Foxworthy's "You Might Be A Redneck" jokes. I got a book of them and was appalled to see that about half of them described my house and/or my life. I started wondering what exactly makes a person a redneck & do people know they're rednecks. I think geography has a lot to do with it. I live in Oklahoma so that explains a lot. Not only do I live in Oklahoma but I live in the country between 2 small almost non existent towns. My husband hunts & I love to fish so check that off and finally we both drive pick ups including a Jeep Scrambler, which is a Jeep pick up, with a lift kit, big tires and spotlights on top. I live in boots and have been known to wear them with cut offs and my swim suit. I do have a legitimate reason for wearing boots and a bikini. It was the first summer that the temperature was 108+ every day and we had an outbreak of snakes around the house and I was not about to step on a snake in flip flops. Our house is decorated in, what is now referred to as "collectibles" which means old stuff that isn't an antique and my husband's deer mounts, an elk mount, his grizzly bear and an antelope mount. A huge pile of deer sheds, which are their horns that have fallen off, elk sheds & a moose shed. Buffalo skulls & rocks. There's more to it than just that though. I food you eat says a lot about you too. Mine and Wes' favorite is gravy. If a redneck tells you that they want gravy, you know they don't mean brown gravy or some fancy sauce. Gravy is made from the grease of whatever you just fried except fish. NEVER use grease you fry fish in. Usually it's chicken fried steak, tenderized round steak for those of you that aren't familiar, fried chicken, pork chops, hamburger, sausage or bacon.

This is how I make mine: Save some of the grease back after you're done frying your meat. I don't know exactly how much I just eyeball it. Let the grease cool down then add 2-4 tablespoons of flour to the grease & dissolve. I now know this is called a rue. Then add milk, I don't know how much I just eyeball it. I turn the burner up on high and start stirring, I use a whisk or a fork, then turn the burner back to low & continue to stir and add pepper until you get the consistency you want. Gravy goes on mashed potatoes, of course, whatever meat you're having, bread or biscuits. Another important Food FYI; you can dip anything in a bowl with egg & milk in it then roll it in flour salt and pepper, throw it in some hot grease and it will taste good. The motto is everything tastes better fried and it does. In the summer there's nothing better than fried chicken, fried okra, fried squash, fried green tomatoes. Put that with some green beans and new potatoes cooked in a dutch over with bacon, or rubbing bacon grease on a sweet potato and baking it in the oven or cucumbers and onions that have been soaking in vinegar. Nothing fancy just good eats. Now in the sandwich department nothing can beat fried bologna or Underwoods Deviled Ham. Throw a piece of bologna in a skillet, cut a slit in it to keep it from growing a bubble while it's frying. Cook it til the edges start getting crispy, put it on fresh white bread or potato bread with yellow mustard and cheese if you like. To fix the deviled ham sandwich, get a can of Underwoods Deviled Ham, it's the best. Yellow mustard on your bread then spread deviled ham over that good and thick. Then get a handful of Lays potato chips crunch them up and sprinkle them on top of that, slap that other piece of bread on and you have one helluva a good sandwich. I was either watching Duck Dynasty or clip on YouTube the other day and Jase was talking about how Rednecks don't throw anything away because if they need to fix anything or build something they have the stuff to do it right there.

You can see from this picture of our bone yard my husband, Wes, is a firm believer in not throwing anything out. I have to admit Jase is right. I've seen him go out there and find just what he needed to build something or fix something. Still it does make you think of Hoarders when you see it. Then there's the little things that scream Redneck. A true Redneck or Country Boy has the ability to fix anything with baling wire and duct tape. They will always have a good supply of both-some in the house, some in the barn and some in their truck. Because you just never know. Some Links I like: If you are a Twitter fan follow @BlakeShelton. His tweets are hysterical Thanks ya'll