The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
"Knickers, Short Britches, Mickey Mouse Hats & Pirate Petes! People Are Startin' to Go Back Sittin' On Their Front Porch To See What New Is Comin' Along."Greetings to Everyone in Western Illinois.
Warm weather is here and now we can watch the crops grow. I don't believe I've ever remember such extremes in crop plantin' as I've seen this spring. Some corn fields are knee high and fairly well closed in on the rows.
Other fields have corn that has just emerged. It is real easy to tell which fields were worked and planted too wet.
Those fields are quite spotty in height.
I read recently where scientists from New York gave marmosets a gene that made their feet glow green, and one of the animals passed it along to its offspring - the first time an added gene has been inherited by a monkey.
I'd guess you would call this a GMO monkey. The thought is this will make it easier to produce animals with versions of human disease for medical research.
Animals that get added genetic material are called transgenic. Researchers have long created transgenic mice by giving them genetic material, but monkeys offer a promising avenue for medical studies because of their similarity to humans.
Myself, I wonder if we could create transgenic monkeys that could drive a tractor or combine. Think of the possibilities.
Better yet, we could create transgenic monkeys that would run for state and federal offices.
I know what you are thinkin'. We Already have such animals in certain offices already. But, maybe the new transgenic monkey could be bred to the "honest" or possibly even to follow the Constitution!"
Soldiering might be the next possibility. While I like monkeys, I would rather sacrifice one of them, rather than one of my neighbors sons or daughters to a roadside bomb. But, there probably is a good set of soldier monkeys as well as legislative monkeys that would figure out they didn't need to care about us common humans any longer.
Together they might coordinate a successful rebellion and put us common folk to work for monkeys. Come to think of it, maybe this is already happening!
I'm startin' to see a lot of road banks being mowed. Many simply have a good stand of grass growing - no weeds.
Wouldn't it be nice if'n some of that cover could be saved for a while for nestin' birds. Besides, a good stand of grass wavin' at you in a gentle breeze is picture book pretty in my estimation.
This first cuttin' of hay has shore enough been difficult with all the rain this spring.
A neighbor up north used rainy weather to go clear thru his hay conditioner replacing bearings and belts.
His first spell of predicted dry weather was confidently used to start mowing hay.
In his second round of mowin' the gear box went out. It seems he filled it too full of oil causin' it to heat up.
The new parts wouldn't be in for several days and by that time a new round of rain was being predicted.
So, the neighbor got out his Dad's old 350 utility IHC tractor made in 1958 or so.
With it came the old International cycle mower followed by an older yet New Idea hay crusher pulled by an "H" Farmoll.
It seems all that was missin' was a "GPS" system to make for straight rows.
The hay cured out faster than the newer machine, that broke down, would have allowed for the total investment was less than the new gear box cost.
The hay is up and another whipper snapper learned somethin' new from something old.
Brad Clark from up in the northern end of Henderson County tells of 9 or so bin roofs that went bad on the other side of the river. Cause of the mishap was operator error. It shore enough seems wise during these busy months of spring to keep an eye on your bins if'n they yet have corn in them.
Last years corn didn't dry out as it normally does. In addition many fines were generated from last year's corn to restrict aeration air flow in the bins.
Now that the market is gettin' a bit better for corn prices, I'd shore hate to see anyone loose a bin of corn by findin' it's conversion to coal!
Ole Cornelius jumped me Sunday about a new observation of his. It concerned "Pirate Pete" with a red bandana accentuating his pony tail and riding a "Harley."
I don't have time nor space to articulate on it at this moment, but will save it for a later date. Betwixt the young (and Old) whipper snappers in their knickers and the Mickey Mouse caps, now we gots to contend with "Pirate Pete" on his "Harley".
Isn't life interestin'? In comparison to my day, we were quite homogenized with less variance. I now see people goin' back to sett'n on their front porches just to see what's new is goin' to come along.
Fathers' Day is comin' up next Sunday. It's also the first day of summer. Last weekend was Flag Day. Don't we have a lot to be thankful for! Happy Fathers Day to one and all.
Always remember the greatest gift a father can give his children is an example of God's love.
Keep On Smile'n..... Catch Ya Later
Barnyard Bruke