As I was reading my newspaper today, yes the one you can put in the bottom of your bird cage when your done as opposed to your I pad, I came across an article about a $16000 grant to local police cadets for a program called, "Community Action Poverty Simulation". 

They set up fake stations in a big room, and give the cadets fake money to spend on fake necessities for 3 hours so they can learn what it's like to be poor. Then they go to Starbucks and talk about it. Not sure about the last part, since they're training to be police officers it might be a donut shop. We've lived in Chattanooga for over 3 years, spend our Friday afternoons before the pandemic, in the Community Kitchen, helped at the food bank, sponsor the birthdays at an adult care facility and drive by the homeless vet standing off of the I-24 exit in the rain, with his cardboard sign asking for donations. The question that comes to mind is why simulating poverty for 16 grand when all you have to do is step out of the door?

Maybe they just need to do all there training on line, a couple of hours playing "Grand Theft Auto." should prepare them for anything a city like Chattanooga with 19 murders, 152 rapes and 310 robberies in 2019 can throw at them.  With the newspaper article still fresh in my mind I went to get some things for the shop. Along the way I learned that the Battlefield Burgers is now upped their menu to include "Hand patted Angus Burgers", I had to overcome an impulse of slamming on the breaks and causing a major accident just to pass up a hand patted patty. Still mad at myself I had a Deja vu moment at "Stake and Shake" when I saw they used real beef in their burgers. Which Taco Bell also does but only 36%, the rest is fillers. 

 Here is where it gets real. I was on my way to pick up real wood. Not solid wood but a real 4x8 sheet of plywood for a bar top we were building. I know most of you read, "real wood" and thought I was going to chop down a 100 year old oak and whittle it into a board. That would be solid wood. Which we could advertise the bar as, because all visible surfaces are solid wood. So those solid wood cabinets you've been having your eye on for the big summer renovation, it's just the face frames and doors, attached to some engineered pressboard that isn't visible.

With the summer sun beating down and most of us still waiting on that big tax return , be sure that you're getting what you pay for, read the descriptions, read the reviews and if it's not what you want go out the front door and try the next place. At Oak Grove Woodworks all of our gates are made of 100% wood no fillers, "for reals"   If you’re looking for quality furniture don't be like those cadets I mentioned, keep it real.