My farming career ended last week. My wife and I sold our eleven acres in Clinton County, and we are no longer part of the “we feed the world” crowd. Our contribution will go down in history as eleven acres of beans grown and delivered somewhere. No cards, please.
I wouldn’t mind if you play that Paul Harvey’s “God Made A Farmer” at my funeral, though. That would make me sound cooler than my real-life existence of punching a keyboard most of my life. I’m really not much of a farmer, but I do drive a truck and I move over for combines on the highway.
I had a teacher in high school who played us Paul Harvey news each morning. He would take the time to record it in the mornings on a cassette tape and then play it for the class. Would that even be allowed now? Wouldn’t someone complain about whatever network news they exposed your kids to? I’m not sure we are progressing as a society. You be your own judge, but I sure miss Paul Harvey and I’m thankful that my teacher mastered the art of hitting play on the cassette player when the program came on the news; it is a task more difficult than you might think.
By the way, Paul Harvey was worth $150 million when he kicked the bucket in 2009. That’s a bucket load of radio ads.
Speaking of ads. I am wholly intrigued by an ad that keeps being played during Chiefs games. This is a Kansas Department of Health ad that asks people to get vaccinated. The lady in the ad indicates that her husband contracted COVID and died after the family attended a Chiefs party.
That is incredibly sad, but I think it is fairly incredulous jump that government folks make in stating how and when people contracted COVID. I’m not sure that anyone can pinpoint when they catch a particular virus, but here is a state sponsored advertisement making that leap. That’s not science folks, but I guess you already know that.
I’d like to correct that last stanza. Some viruses/illness are easy to pinpoint when they are contracted. Mainly syphilis, gonorrhea and such, but I am assuming some of you already know that, too.
I just used Google to check the spelling of syphilis and gonorrhea and now my Facebook and TikTok accounts will be filled with STD advice. I’d like to again remind you that I’m not sure we are progressing as a society. You decide.
Paul Harvey had 24 million listeners. That’s a touch more reach than this column gets, but we’re growing! Just a matter of time. I figure I got 25 or so readers after writing this column for a couple decades for a couple different papers. Assuming you live, and I live, we could be to 100 by the end of this decade. Here’s to your good health!
Happy Thanksgiving and all. Don’t talk about politics at the dinner table. Keep it simple with drinking episode stories from your youth and your bowel health and other wholesome conversations; can’t go wrong there. Stay out of the wine, that never helps.
Good Day.
(Guy Speckman can be reached at gspeckman@me.com or listening to The Rest of the Story on cassette tape)