The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Greetings to everyone in Western Illinois. I'm a hope'n everyone is yet enjoy'n the rain and appreciating the milder weather we are have'n now.
I saw a sad thing, going to Burlington, Monday afternoon. Corey Evans has been baling wheat straw right behind the Russell boys as they were harvesting their wheat crop. It created a beautiful sight, all the large round bales spaced out on both sides of Route 34.
But then, holy cow, some 6 or so of the bales were on fire. By and by, I noticed a burned up Case baler in the same field. I assume a bearing went out on the baler and caused the fire.
Nobody works any harder than Corey at his job. To be rewarded with this result is quite a tragedy, I'm sure. You have my deepest sympathy Corey.
Talking of fire, how many are intrigued by the firefly or lightning bug? Technically they are neither bug nor fly. They are four-winged beetles and are most often found in warm, humid areas.
Most usually they are seen only east of Central Kansas. The lightning bug larvae feed on worms, snails, and slugs. The adults drink nectar.
In 1951, William D. McElroy discovered that fireflies produce light by a chemical reaction involving enzymes, organic compounds, and oxygen.
Unlike a flash of lightning, the firefly produces cold light, with little wasted energy.
Males and females of each species use their own distinctive flashing patterns, a continuous glow, single flashes, or pulsing dots, to attract members of the opposite sex.
In fact, the females of some species mimic the behavior of other fireflies to attract and devour males, like sirens luring sailors onto the rocks.
Cornelius was telling me this week of his frustration with legislatures. Amongst other things, he complained that if the state is broke, as they claim to be, why are they spending money like a drunken sailor. He figures rather than putt'n people back to work, maybe we should start putt'n people out of work. By that he suggests we put more than a few professional legislatures, leaching off of our tax payer dollars, out of office. By his estimation their bipartisan performance falls way short of his expectations.
Cornelius questions why it is when one person, or a small group of persons break the law, all of a sudden up pops a legislature proposing a whole new set of laws which, by the way, just happens to make that legislature's special interest group a whole lot of new money.
Recently a group of people was caught digging up graves, moving the carcasses, or what was left of them, and then reselling the lots. Only a city slicker could pretend to get away with that! Out here in the country, we would notice the activity on Grandpa or Aunt Marge's grave lot right off the bat. In some countries the reusing graves sites is permitted activity due to limited space. Actually, in those few countries you are allocated a grave space for a specified limited amount of time.
In our country, which has lots of available land space for planting people, it is considered absolutely obnoxious behavior-not to be tolerated. When we lay Grandpa or Grandma to rest, that's exactly what we mean. It is not to temporarily nap at that location.
There are existing laws and cultured prohibitions against defacing a grave site, even a Native American grave site of a thousand years ago. It can hold up a whole construction project or even eliminate it.
So why, if there are existing laws, are a few legislatures proposing new laws piled on top of one another. It's called job security for those special interest groups involved. Some might call it income enhancement, as well. You can bet tax revenues, permitting, and other additional government meddling and expenses would be evolved.
I'm a hope'n the legislatures, in our district, are smart enough to vote against any new proposals. Enforce existing laws, prosecute the law breakers and allow us to die without one last kick in the pants by sucking additional tax and expense dollars from our estate.
Those legislatures are good about sucking blood (tax dollars) out of our living hides. Why should we give them one last chance to soak us, just for the right to be lowered into our graves.
For those of you that are planning a barbecue upon your death, beware as well. They will not let you off the hook scott free because fees are going up. It is no longer the bargain it once was. Its a matter of supply and demand.
Well, enough of that I tells Cornelius, your concerns are starting to flex my mind, turn my stomach and descriptions of the process are very uncouth. I'll not repeat them. Why not just leave things as they are, here in the country side and let the city folk fend for themselves as two sea gulls would fight for a scrap of fish.
Some are carping as to how hard it is today. In comparison let's see what it was like one hundred years ago. One hundred years ago: The average worker earned 22 cents/hour; Coca-Cola contained cocaine instead of caffeine; The average life expectancy in the United States was forty-seven; Only 14 percent of the homes in the United States had a bathtub; There were only 8,000 cars and 144 miles of paved roads in the U.S.; The maximum speed limit in most cities was ten mph; Only eight percent of the homes had a telephone. A three minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars; Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa and Tennessee were each more heavily populated than California; More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at home; Most women only washed their hair once a month and used borax or egg yolks for shampoo; Not yet discovered was Plutonium, insulin, and antibiotics, scotch tape, crossword puzzles, canned beer, iced tea or ice cream sundaes; There was no Mothers Day or Fathers Day; Farmers knew how to cipher in their heads rather than carry around a computer; Socialism was viewed as something evil rather than a free ticket to Utopia.
In looking back, we have changed quite a bit over these past one hundred years. Some for the good and some for the not so good, depending on your perspective. As for my self, I'm a hope'n I can be planted the traditional way without government interference as a final kick off.
Oh, and by the way, I'll bet you thought I would comment on Micheal Jackson and Farah Fawcett as it relates to the American soldier deaths in Afghanistan.
Not on your life, I'll not touch that with a ten foot pole. It all seems to be centered around and gravitating toward excessive accumulation of money.
Catch Ya Later
Barnyard Bruke