Echoes from the Loafers’ Club Meeting

“Today is the first day of the rest of my life.”

“How true.”

“But it seems like last Thursday.”

 

Driving by the Bruces

I have two wonderful neighbors — both named Bruce — who live across the road from each other. Whenever I pass their driveways, thoughts occur to me, such as: that which does not kill us causes us to consider buying more insurance.

 

I’ve learned

1. Because I’m a man, I dress by smell. I sniff clothes and if they smell OK, I wear them. How can a man tell if the shirt he is thinking of wearing is dirty? If he wonders if it’s dirty, it is.

2. To never trust a “welcome” mat.

3. A birthday is the major cause of aging.

 

The box

Harold Williams is a professor at Auburn. A friend of his built a fine, small, wooden box. Highly-crafted lettering on the cover of the box reads, “In case of fire, open.”

The box sits on a desk, where visitors see it. People notice it and are compelled by curiosity to open it.

Inside the box, is more lettering. It reads, “Not now, stupid!”

 

 

Farming

I feel as if I live in London, England. London has the famed Big Ben. I live near a 440,000-bushel grain bin. A bushel is about 56 pounds of shelled corn. I reside near Big Bin. Big Bin is an evident sign of farming, unlike wrenches. I’ve dropped a number of wrenches from tractors through the years. I seldom recovered any of those lost wrenches. There are enough missing wrenches that fields should be blooming in chrome. Jim Knutson of Hartland said that isn’t likely to happen. He claims that wrenches have a poor germination rate.

 

Pasty

I ate a pasty in Meadowlands, Minn. It was delicious. A pasty is a pastry case filled with beef, sliced or diced potato, rutabaga (swede), and onion. It’s seasoned with salt and pepper. It is made by placing the uncooked filling on a flat pastry circle, and folding it to wrap the filling, crimping the edge at the side or top to form a seal. The result is a raised semicircular package that is then baked. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the pasty became popular with Cornish workers. Tin miners found it to be a complete meal that could be carried easily, eaten without cutlery, remained warm for several hours, and if it did get cold, it could be warmed on a shovel over a candle. A pasty is a filling comfort food even if pasty rhymes with nasty and not tasty.

 

Meeting adjourned

A kind word echoes.