{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Arrogance","description":"On this week\u2019s Keepin It Real, there are some arrogant folks showing up in Cam\u2019s life these days. They don't\u2019 commiserate with Cam\u2019s struggles. Instead, they gloat... ----- This is a commentary about a specific kind of quiet arrogance. It\u2019s in the background. But you know it when you hear it. These people are \u201cjust reporting the truth,\u201d as they may say. It\u2019s not truth. It\u2019s haughty arrogance. And I\u2019ll tell you where I\u2019ve run up against it recently. The first is citrus arrogance. I planted a satsuma tree in my yard many years ago and it has never produced one satsuma. I talk it. I water it. I play it Gloria Estafan. It\u2019s leafy and broad and growing, but no fruit. When I ask gardeners, their arrogance explodes. \u201cOh man!\u201d they say. \u201cMy satsuma tree is overcome with satsumas. I bag them and give them to family. Then I bag more and give them to neighbors. Then I bag more and leave them on my curb hoping someone will take them away. I can\u2019t get close to the tree there are so many on the ground. You can probably see them from outer space. I have vitamin C poisoning. Even my dog is eating them\u201d and on and on. \u201cYou know,\u201d I say, \u201cYou don\u2019t have to boast so much about your dang tree.\u201d \u201cHey! I\u2019m just reporting the truth.\u201d \u201cYes. A little too loudly\u201d is my reply. My neighbor says his Satsumas taste like Starburst Fruit Chew candy and he gets tired of eating them. Ugh. Next are hummingbird people. \u201cDo you have any hummingbirds yet,\u201d they ask. \u201cYes,\u201d I\u2019ll reply. \u201cThe first one arrived a week or so ago. It\u2019s a little female.\u201d \u201cWow,\u201d they shoot back. \u201cI think I have fifty. Maybe a hundred. I feel like I\u2019m in some sort of war zone with so many hummingbirds flying by my face and the sounds of their wings. You\u2019ve heard what one bird\u2019s wings sounds like? Imagine a hundred buzzing all over the place. It\u2019s a roar. I added a few more feeders to allow them to spread out but they brought in more hummingbirds. I think I have two hundred now. Maybe a thousand. I can\u2019t hardly go outside anymore. Aren\u2019t they magical?\u201d Yes. Like you disappearing right now would be magical. \u201cHey! I\u2019m just reporting the truth,\u201d they say. Blech. Finally, orchid people. I have a knotty cypress stump full of holes and I want help turning it into an orchid planter. But having an orchid person in Alabama, Georgia, or Florida call me back with some advice is darn near impossible. \u201cHa!\u201d I can hear them saying, \u201cIf he doesn\u2019t know how to do that, he won\u2019t learn it from me! Our orchid club is closed.\u201d They can cite every orchid\u2019s family, genus, and species articulated perfectly in Latin and they flash a look of contempt when you can\u2019t do the same. It\u2019s a club and they\u2019re quick to point out that you\u2019re not in it. And they won\u2019t tell you how to get in and they won\u2019t return your calls even if you leave several messages at the so called \u201cMaster Gardener Hotline.\u201d Which is a crock. They\u2019ll deny it of course. \u201cWe\u2019re not arrogant,\u201d they\u2019ll say. \u201cWe\u2019re not hoarding information. We\u2019re not trying to keep you out.\u201d Ha. I\u2019m just reporting the truth. I\u2019m Cam Marston and I\u2019m just trying to Keep It Real.   ","author_name":"Keepin' It Real with Cam Marston","author_url":"https:\/\/cammarston.com\/keepin-it-real-with-cam-marston\/","html":"