Yep, it is time again to post another exciting monthly column from the past writings of my late father. This is eleventh monthly column, so please enjoy yourself and please tell your friends!
Old Rusty lives way back in the boonies with a couple of hound dogs and one lazy ole mule. With nothing to do all day except whittle and listen to the radio, he gets some off-the-wall ideas about our political structure and its impact on our daily lives. Maybe you will get a chuckle out of some of the stuff he comes up with, and who knows, you might even agree with part of it.Rusty Rucker No. 1 - Rusty Rucker No. 2 - Rusty Rucker No. 3 - Rusty Rucker No. 4 - Rusty Rucker No. 5 - Rusty Rucker No. 6 - Rusty Rucker No. 7 - Rusty Rucker No. 8 - Rusty Rucker No. 9 - Rusty Rucker No. 10 - poems. Posted by Tiger at July 28, 2003 06:14 PMJune 1999 Updated regularly -- Totally new first of every month.
A while ago I heard a little boy say, "What do I need to learn math for? I got a pocket calculator." I expect you have your own ideas WHY, but this is the way I see it. "Because it exists." Learning is somethin' we all gotta do ever day, else when we get old and start forgetting stuff, pretty quick our heads will be empty as a gourd. Show me a child who is curious and inquisitive and I'll point out a young 'un that will amount to something.
Funny thing is, I have knowed smart kids what spent more time and energy getting out or chores and assignments ‘n it would take to do ‘em, but that's a whole nother keg of worms.
And parents, if you have a youngster that wants to sit in front of the TV all summer, buy him a magazine about whatever it is that attracts his interest. He may be content to thumb through it at first, but soon as something catches his eye, he will read about it, even if he has to come ask you half the words. The trick is to get him interested in reading -- and learning.
I recall in the days before TV, we would divide up the paper and all read at the breakfast table. "Course, now my sight has gotten so blamed bad and the print is so dad-burned tiny, I don't bother with the paper anymore. What news I get is off the radio -- Paul Harvey. Reckon we are ‘bout the same age.
With Summer sneaking up on us, it's time to remember some safety precautions. Every year little kids and little pets suffocate in locked cars because of unthinking adults.
First off, never leave a child in a car for ANY length of time, for ANY reason. Don't believe your two year old who laughs and honks the horn when you run into a convenience store for a pack of cigarettes or jug of milk can't get curious and pull the car into gear. The possibilities from this action are endless -- from banging a gas pump which could catch fire, to rolling into the street amid speeding traffic. Oh, I know that some fancy new cars can't come outta park without a foot on the brake, but there are other hazards, like opening the door or KIDNAPPING. Just gather the tot into your arms and take him/her with you. And pets, though they are not likely to put the car into gear, grow panicky when left unattended. They are apt to scratch or chew the upholstery or at the very least, wet the seat. Temperature in a closed vehicle can reach deadly height in ten minutes or less when parked in the sun with an outside temperature of ninety or higher. Remember the old slogan "SAFETY FIRST" still applies today.
If you 'n the kids happen to drive by my shack this summer, drop in and we'll go out to the patch and fill up on watermelon. Nothing is so good as a melon cooled in the night air and picked fresh from the vine. Just bust it open and scoop out a fistful of heart meat and stuff it in your mouth. Never mind the juice dripping off your chin. We'll take care of that in the creek afterward.
Heck, I might even throw in a peck of roastin'ears and a sack full of tomatoes.Thanks for the ride. Y'all come back now ... Ya hear!!!
I keep six honest serving-men
[They taught me all I knew];
Their names are What and Why and When
And How and Where and Who
--Rudyard KiplingNEVER FORGET -- Big Brother is ALWAYS WATCHING!