Experts on life

Been a really busy last couple weeks. Several weeks ago I started some tomato seeds in my little work room. I start them 20 to 30 seeds per container and then transplant the individual plants into 3-inch-by-3-inch pots. Takes a bit of time, but it works. Once we get them into pots we move them out in the greenhouse which is going on seven years old. During the winter, we let some of the cats sleep in it. Its warmer and also more protection from the foxes and coyotes, but in doing this the cats have destroyed the plastic covering. Time has also been hard on the greenhouse, so it needed a facelift. Yesterday, Marge and I started the facelift. Need about two more days to complete. We've been busy.

Also been a busy week at the church we attend. Events and sickness have caused us to meet ourselves going and coming, but that's OK. Busy hands and feet tend to keep our minds and hands and feet away from mischief, or that's what the old timers used to say. Lost a good friend and old-timer a week or two ago. Miss him. Wes was a keeper! We are losing our old-timers one by one. Those born in 1950 are right at 73 years old; my friend was 76. Go back 10 years to 1940, and they would be 83. Back another 10 years, and they would be 90. And then 10 more years, and you are looking at a 100-year-old individual. Not many older than that.

The pastor where we attend church has been married around 46 years, give or take a couple. Marge and I, 50 years. Several other couples have been married 50 some years, but none in the 60 year category. We need those who have been through the test of time to kind of give stability to our fast-moving, changing, mobile society.

If I was going to look for advice on marriage, I'd look for someone who has gone through the test of time and been married 30 or 50 or 70 years and not someone who is just writing a book. If I was going to seek advice on how to grow field corn or wheat or beans, I'm afraid I'd ask someone who has been growing crops for a good while and knows how to. I may ask some young whipper-snapper as well to get the newest and best on it and add that to the old-timer's advice, but it's the old-timer who has my attention and respect.

I'm on a site on Facebook that deals with Jersey cattle, which are known for their high fat content and their gentle docile inquisitive personality. Anyway, all kinds of people ask all kinds of questions with some of them just getting their first livestock ever. Never raised any type of cow before this. So the questions range from, "How much should I feed them daily?" to whether to put blankets on them for the cold to whatever. Answers range from knowledgeable to ridiculous. What they need is some old-timer or even a tad younger who's been there and done that. I chuckle at times because some are wanting to put their Jerseys on a tofu kind of diet. Might work! Dad would have listened and smiled and thought, "probably a city slicker".

I'd give about anything to go back in time to when my Mom and Dad were still alive and spend some time with them. First thing we'd do is make some noodles for chicken and noodles. Not chicken and dumplings but chicken and noodles! My sister and I've talked about them, and a cousin has said she thinks she knows how, but I've yet to put one in my mouth as good as Mom's. Or Dad and I'd put our waders on and tie on a Johnson weedless spoon with a pork frog bait, and we'd see if we couldn't catch a largemouth bass.

I miss that old generation! Guess I'm one of them now!

Going to garden this summer? Need help? Find an old-timer and grow one together. You both will be blessed.