Buckley's Early Days (Part I)

If you read our previous story about Buckley’s Blockchain Beginnings, you’ll remember that ol’ Buck didn’t grow up with much at all - least that’s what the rumors said. Well, as it so happens, them rumors are in fact true - Buckley the Bear started out life with little more than two pennies to rub together. His mama and papa raised him and his brothers on their small farm located in the heart of Tennessee. As soon as Buck was able, he was out in the fields, tendin’ crops, diggin’ holes and makin’ sure the livestock were well taken care of.

From sun up to sun down, Buckley would carry out his daily chores, haulin’ pails of water fer the horses, cleanin’ the barn and collectin’ freshly-laid eggs from the chicken coop. Buckley expressed an interest in goin’ to school, but owin’ to the family’s less than favorable financial situation, there was just no way they could afford to keep everyone clean and fed in addition to providin’ them with opportunities outside of farm life. Buckley figured that learnin’ some skills was grand and all, but if it came at the price of a permanently empty belly, it just didn’t make no sense at all…

While young Buckley was disheartened at first, he figured that there was more than one way to acquire some skills. Why, he’d already learnt so much at an early age just by carryin’ out his farm duties, and he was fortunate enough that his papa had taken the time to teach him some of the basics concernin’ readin’ and writin’ and basic arithmetic. Now it would be a stretch to say that Buckley was amazin’ at all of this, but he certainly wasn’t incompetent. And what Buckley lacked in higher knowledge, he made up for with savvy and an impeccable eye for innovation.

Yep, Buck came up with some smart ways to take care of all his work in much less time, all without skimpin’ on the overall quality. He tried and tested several different approaches to makin’ his daily work schedule easier by comin’ up with different strategies fer dealin’ with tasks in a more efficient manner. Now as you can imagine, this didn’t all go accordin’ to plan at first. There were a few ‘incidents’ in which things went just a little more than haywire…

On Buckley’s first attempt at makin’ things better, he accidentally ended up leavin’ the gate to the cattle paddock open. Needless to say, by the time the afternoon rolled around, the few steers the family owned had gone missin’. Buckley was mortified, but with the help of his two brothers, they managed to locate the wayward critters without mama and papa findin’ out. Of course the last one wouldn’t come easy and managed to get itself halfway stuck in a muddy creek. After much plannin’, arguin’ and fussin’, the three brothers managed to get the last steer out and back in the paddock just as the sun set. Mama did scold the boys fer makin’ their britches dirty, and they were all sent to bed without supper, but thankfully it never got any more serious than that.

The second incident was a little more serious - a few days after the fiasco with the cattle, Buck’s new irrigation system that he was tryin’ out fer the potato crop sprung a leak…or maybe even a little more than that. Truth is, the pressure in the system skyrocketed for reasons unknown to Buckley, and in the blink of an eye, the potato crop was utterly inundated. The whole family had to get involved in stoppin’ the gushin’ water, and it took days to clean up the damage - and as you may have guessed, the potato crop was completely ruined. Buckley was in right real trouble. He had to wash up after family meals and take care of all the laundry fer a fortnight, all while takin’ care of his usual daily chores. Buck was exhausted at the end of every day, but he worked as hard as he could takin’ care of all his duties.

Now most folks probably woulda given up by now - but not Buckley. And if you think he learnt his lesson…well…not quite. There was a third and final incident. About six weeks after potatogate, Buck was workin’ on a steam engine fer the family plough to speed up plantin’ crops and givin’ their old carthorse a rest. Gettin’ the design right took some time, but eventually Buck fired up his creation and, much to his amazement, it worked like a charm! After testin’ all the systems, Buck managed to plough a field in a fraction of the usual time. Despite his past mishaps and all the hardships he had endured, Buckley finally felt like he had really achieved somethin’…but, just as everythin’ seemed to be goin’ well…the steerin’ mechanism on the steam plough locked up, and so did the brakes. And faster than you can say George Washington, Buck was on a crash course with his family home!

Buck had to act fast - if the plough hit the house, he would be mighty banged up at best, but the family home would be obliterated either way! Buck looked around for anything he could use to slow the plough down or stop it all together. After a moment of panic, Buckley’s eyes landed on his trusty shovel lyin’ near the back of the steam plough. As the family home drew nearer, Buck reached out for the shovel. He was mere seconds away from an unthinkable catastrophe. And then, just a few feet away from the house, Buckley grabbed hold of the shovel’s handle and proceeded to lodge the tool into the wooden spokes of the steam plough’s wheel.

There was a thunderin’ crash, and Buckley went flyin’ through the air faster than a newborn polecat drunk on moonshine! He shut his eyes and figured this was the end fer him…but as luck would have it, Buck soared through an open window and landed safely in a pile of old dirty laundry. Buckley slowly opened his eyes and realized that he was unhurt. Rememberin’ the plough, he looked outside to see it flipped over, wheels still spinnin’ save for the one he had stuck his shovel in. Buckley had done it…he had saved the family home from disaster!

Of course his family didn’t see it that way. Oh no, mama and papa were frightful angry. The plough had to be repaired, and Buck had to help his papa do it. It was one full month of extra duties on top of his work. Buckley’s life was harder than it had ever been, and by the time his sentence was over, he nearly swore off innovation for good…

But on his final attempt at streamlinin’ things…Buckley succeeded, without incident. Chores could be done in much less time, leavin’ Buckley with the opportunity to do a little more learnin’ with his papa and even go fishin’ down by the local creek from time to time.

Moral of this here story is: test yer work before you put it into effect if you don’t want to suffer the consequences. Buckley remembered his experience, and I can assure you that he’s used it to make developin’ Bearmint that much better for everyone. Testin’ and tryin’ different approaches is part of the development process - it’s a given. By followin’ the right approach and doin’ things in a planned, systematic manner, it’s possible to innovate without ruinin’ the harvest or tearin’ down the entire ranch! Just ask Buck, and he’ll tell you the exact same thing…