Yeah, that was impressive.

Hoot.

heh... it wouldn't even let you log into comments under his post. tooh.

good break

my grandpa always told me that is could tear up a steel ball.

I guess this is further proof that he was right.

"Tear up a steel ball."

There's a phrase I've never heard. Sounds like a folkism. What part of the country does it come from?

I googled the phrase and found that it is most prevalently "tear up a steel ball with a rubber hammer." That's even more entertaining. Still no idea as to its origins.

You're right on the money ironic. I believe it's a colloquialism from either Texas or soutwestern Arkansas, as that's where my family is from (talk about a checkered family history...i've got stories!).

My grandpa used to say that to me because I had a propensity for being able to dismantle anything that consisted of more than one piece.

This is actually one of my fondest memories of my grandfather...
As the story goes, he was a notorious packrat. He kept everything that he got his hands on, because everything has a use, and he just might need it one day. Somewhere along the line, he came into a truckload ('74 Toyota HiLux) of old cast iron window weights and 3, 5, and 10 lb steel shot. One day (I was probably about six or seven at the time), grandpa found me in the back yard with his good pall peen hammer and a pile of this steel shot, pounding on them with all my might. I remember him saying something akin to trying to prove him right, and that I indeed could tear up a steel ball.

Yay - someone other than me broke the site! :D

Nice story, in.dog.

My grandmother, from rural Indiana, used to call me a "stick in the mud" which I always thought was funny. It was done in affection... I think.