Now We Can Start Planting

Well, that was interesting. The week started off with 80 degree temperatures and ended with over an inch of rain and temps in the 50s.

And that is why the planter stayed in the yard and the seed covered and waiting in the shop. I was interviewed by a local television station this week and I told them what I will tell you. After thirty years of planting cotton there are exactly two things I know for sure: if you plant it dry it will not sprout and if you plant it cold it will get sick .
   So, we waited. The good news is the weather is supposed to warm up and dry out. Come Monday morning we will be out there going at it. I think a lot of cotton will be going into the ground next week. Not near as much as last year since there is less water for irrigation. The gin is forecasting a serious cutback in cotton acreage here. But, what is going to be planted will start in a big way next week.

One of this week's radio pieces included my mail box.

Mail BoxesBy Paul H. BetancourtCopyright April, 2012

            Rural mail boxes are a quiet sign of the deterioration of our society. The next time you drive though the country side, please notice the mail boxes.

            My old mail box was a simple galvanized mail box with a red metal flag set in an old milk can like you might have seen in Mayberry.  Some idiot bashed it in on night. So, I fixed it, and…it go bashed in, again. Arrrgh. So I armored it up with some old well casing. It doesn’t look as nice, but is it bullet proof.

            After that I noticed that neighbors all over the Valley had done the same thing. Some are very pretty; they are done in brick or stone. Some are merely functional, like mine.

            What  people forget is a generation ago people in the country didn’t even lock their doors at night.  And now I have to armor up my mail box?

            I must be getting to be one of those crabby old guys. I see things changing, slowly, and not for the better. Today’s rural mail boxes are silent testimony to a sad change in our society.

You can find the audio version here-
http://www.940kyno.com/index.php?c=68

I hope Y'all have a great week.