I was thinking about another farm girl story that you might be interested in. If you do not believe this one you can actually verify it. It is actually pretty believable compared to others. It was on the last day that Palmer was in Bolivia and I had a few people from the group come over to see the guest house. As we started walking around the group fragmented. I ended up with Dr. Maria A. and Extern Emily M. Anyway we started to talk about the corn that the local “campesinos” were growing. Both Maria and Emily being farm girls started comparing notes. Basically they discussed the way you prepare the field and cut the corn blah-blah-blah. I was feeling kind of left out of the conversation but when they came to “rocking” or some such terminology of which I had no privy to I naturally said “Whats that?”. They both rolled their eyes and said “That is when you clear the field of rocks so the combine can come through and cut the corn.” I said “Don’t they have a machine to do that too?. They both acted impatient saying “No that has got to be done by hand?” I then stated what I thought was the obviouse “Well that only has to be done a handful of seasons right” thinking logically that if you keep subtracting numbers you logically get down to zero. At hearing this I got this look from both of them like I was some kind of idiot city-slicker “No you have to do it every season till your arms and hands fuckin’ fall off, damn it!” Apperently Iowa and Illinois are the only states in the Union… no in the world which have self reproducing rocks! I wonder if any geologist has written any papers or studies on the incubation period of a Moline monolith. But you know what I think really happens. When they clear rocks, what they do is throw all the rocks to the side of the field that is in fallow and then go through their cycle and when the next season comes around they have to go to the other side of the field and throw the same rocks to the other side of the field. In doing so they keep a tradition that will cycle for generations. Who I am to judge other cultural values that I do not understand? “Let him that has no sin throw the first stone” I always say.
Anyhoo, I am standing there trying to come up with a response “Uuuh, err, well” all the while staering stupidly at their smug farm girl faces. I then tried to change the subject by reverting to my own farm experiences back in the Ozarks. I said “Well. The only farm experience I have ever had was when I worked on a dairy farm. That sucked cuz it was really hard work, you know cleaning the cows utters off and putting on and taking off the milkers running the risk of getting kicked etc.”. The two farm girls then exchanged smug looks yet again and turned to me and said “You know now-a-days they have fully automated systems where the cow steps on a conveyer belt and robotic arms do all he work for you.” Then I slapped myself on the head “Well hells bells! Why didn’t I think about that! I should of gone up to old man Fletcher and told him to upgrade his friggen barn. I mean it would have only taken a few million or so. And instead of milking a herd of 45-50 hefers he could have been milking 300-400.” I could only feel that I wasted all those years milking by hand. Years I will never have back again! (Sort of like the minutes the reader will never have back again after reading this.) Where were these two when I really needed them. “Work smart, not hard” I always say. Or “Who da bitch now, sucka!” (Wait that’s another story, sorry)
FeO2
Thanks to this last letter, I had to listen to a lecture from Ron about how and why rocks reappear every year (raised on a farm his own self, ya know). Why, it was almost as if he thought I was interested! The short version has to do with freeze and thaw and the effect of that on the movement of the earth.Ginny
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Has Ron been waxing eloquent again? You really got to not let him wear that smoking jacket with the fancy scarf around his neck tucked into the front of his jacket and listen to Vivaldi any more! By chance he wasn’t using his fake English accent while explaining that you was he? I mean, come on, does he really think that dirt clods are going to freeze into rock over night and just get thrown into some body’s back yard by the “Geological Movements”? Pfff what ever! What kind of organization is the “Geological Movements” anyway? Sounds like the “Rat Patrol”, I guess I just do not understand the Midwest any more. Man if he were to come down here and try to say that, somebody would accuse him of being on drugs. Of course just hanging out with me somebody would accuse him of being on drugs. At least you have to give him the credit because he is the “brains of the operation”. How you like them apples Ginny! At least I am not putting it on an international web site. Damn, how do you get away with these things!
That last paragraph reminds me of when I was in undergrad and I was working the summer in a wear house with a bunch of stiffs. I mentioned on break that the sun was a star. They all started laughing at me. I was then taunted by some of them coming up to me and singing “Twinkle, twinkle little sun”.
Well the only thing I really know about geological movement is when the earth starts to shake violently under my feet (the California boy in me). It changes your outlook on life in mili-seconds. You learn to survive. There is nothing quite like the feeling to see a wave of asphalt coming at you on the road ahead of your car as if somebody took the ground like a sheet on a bed and snapped it. The only other thing that I can compare it to is perhaps a funnel cloud but even then you can have a general warning. An earthquake is more of a sucker punch.
As far as the Ozarks go the only ones who have to worry about the rocks are the cows.
On a side note, I was in a Rotary meeting last week. Somebody thought they were waxing eloquent although I must admit it was nothing near as good as Ron. For this reason I decided that this meeting was not my destiny and I had to leave. Although if it were Ron lecturing I do not think I would have the choice but to stay. You really do not know how lucky you are Ginny. You should be begging Ron for more info.
By the way I hope that with that last letter that no one takes offense. I have nothing but respect for the agriculturalist. I know the hard work, toil, and many times tears, that goes into building ones dreams into to the soil or as they say around here “Pacha Mama” (Mother Earth). Sometimes she can throw you a sucker punch as well. You learn to survive. I respect that. I see people constantly laboring with tools that seem a little better than that of the stone-age (one handled wood plow behind team of oxen) and the results are amazing. And this is just right outside my front door steps.
I just liked the irony of two people talking about low tech farming and then flip-flopping to expectations of unreasonable high-tech corporation farming. I laugh and keep on laughing because we are all so fallibly human. I revel in humanity because it’s a triumph. That is why I love my profession, it is completely enmeshed in humanity.
All this talk about Ron has made me miss him. I will have a glass of Grants tonight and toast his health. What would we ever do with out him!?!
Anyway back to work. Clinic pros and cons:
FeO2
Three Religiions
Facing the wall
