Thanks for Visiting With Me

Across the Fence #262

This begins the sixth year of Across the Fence. It seems like only yesterday when Dick Brockman, publisher of the Linn News-Letter in Central City, Iowa, asked if I’d ever thought about writing a weekly column. I said I’d do it, and here we are, five years and over 260 columns later. It’s been quite a journey.

Once again, it occurs during the week of Thanksgiving. That’s quite appropriate, because I’m very thankful for the opportunity to write this column and visit across the fence with you each week.

I added up the number of subscribers in the papers where these stories run and it totaled up to 56,173. If there’s an average of two readers per household, that’s over 100,000 potential readers. I’ll be the first to admit, not everyone who subscribes to a paper reads my column. As the old saying goes, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.”

For those of you who do visit with me across the fence each week, thank you. Mange tusen takk! I also appreciate your feedback on stories and providing me with new ideas for stories.

This week of Thanksgiving also begins the holiday season. After the last remnants of the turkey are consumed, it’s you and I who are stuffed, not the turkey. I always say I’m not going to make a pig of myself, but then I see all that good food and that’s the end of my good intentions. It’s like the old seafood diet. I see food and eat it. I can already tell you that my New Year’s resolution will be to lose 25 pounds. Every time I carry a 25-pound salt block down the stairs to the water softener, I realize that’s how much extra weight I’m packing around every day. That’s a lot of extra stress on my knees.

It’s a good thing I don’t have to climb up in tobacco sheds any more. It seems like case weather always showed up around Thanksgiving. When it did, even deer hunting was put on hold while we took down tobacco. I liked climbing around in the tobacco sheds when I was young. There was a sense of adventure and daring about it. We were lucky that none of us ever fell while hanging tobacco or taking it down. I’ve had poles break or roll, but was always able to grab a pole to keep from falling to the ground.

Now that tobacco is no longer raised around here, it won’t be long before no one will know what we’re talking about when we refer to “case weather. Even the terms “hanging tobacco” and “stripping tobacco” will become obsolete.” I know one thing; it was much easier taking tobacco down than hanging it. I still like to tell people that I used to be a stripper and then watch their expressions.

Recently we drove by a tobacco shed that was being torn down. The siding had been removed and only the framework and poles remained. It stood like a skeleton of a once useful, essential building that was found on many farms. Now it had been reduced to a reminder of a time when tobacco was the major cash crop on those farms. I stopped and took some photos of the framework. The timber frame and poles were weathered and well worn. I could almost hear the ghosts of the men who had once climbed around in that shed. I could see and smell the bents filled with curing tobacco. I imagined a farmer standing where I now stood, feeling thankful that another crop was ready to be taken down and stripped. It meant that mortgages could be met and taxes paid.

A few days later I drove by the spot again. All traces of the tobacco shed were gone and dirt now covered the area. Before long, even the ghosts of farmers past, would have a hard time finding where the shed once stood. Time marches on, years and holidays come and go. Each year, Thanksgiving, with turkey and all the trimmings, finds me remembering those case weather days and all the sights and smells associated with taking down tobacco.

Then, while the Thanksgiving meal is still digesting, Black Friday arrives. Thousands of shoppers invade the stores like a hoard of locusts devouring a field of grain. I can guarantee you one thing; I won’t be among those shoppers. Not because I’m so full of turkey that I can’t move, but I’m not much of a shopper and I hate crowds. My idea of shopping is to quickly find what I’m looking for, pay for it, and get out. These days you can buy a lot of things on-line and never have to enter a store. That’s my kind of shopping.

Among all the shopping, food, football games, deer hunting, and no tobacco to take down, it’s easy to forget the real reason for Thanksgiving. It’s a time to be thankful for all we have, especially our family and friends. Thanksgiving is sharing and not forgetting to help those who have fallen on hard times, or may be spending the day alone. It’s reaching out, across the fence, and letting people know how much you appreciate them. Mange takk for visiting with me each week. I’ll see you again next week.