I Love My Kinfolk, Revisited

These days I pay pretty much every bill online via an automatic debit from my checking account.

In addition to Jessica's support check and rent, the only other exception to this is my wireless internet bill. I guess when I set this account up several years ago I wasn't as into this practice as I am now.

As a result, I check my snail mail, at that big cluster of condo mail units two blocks away and over by the pool, rather infrequently.

Today, I checked it for the first time in a couple weeks and, Boy, Am I Glad I Did.

You see, a while back, I was at Walgreens down in the Belaire Plaza, yeah, the same one the Kid, thejeepjunkie and I had seen getting its pharmacy robbed, and I noticed they had Daytona Beach tshirts at the rate of 4 for $10. So I decided to pick up some for the youngsters up in the Ozarks, both in The Queen City of The Ozarks and on Haven Lee Farm, and I sent them their way.

It had been awhile since I had done this and I had actually forgotten I had done this as it wasn't that big of a deal, at least to me, and, well, I have consumed some hurricane supplies since then, staying in practice for the upcoming season.

So anyway, I get over to that rarely visited mailbox and unexpectedly find the following in envelopes in it.

These came from thehorsefarmer and

are Owner's Manuals for the INTERNATIONAL HARVESTER hay baler

and an Overhaul and Field Adjustments guide to for the same. Although I have not read each of them in depth, I am going to suspect this is not recommended during the usage of these old balers.

and this one was a sealed example of a copy of the Serviceman's Handbook for Twine Knotters used on McCormick and International balers, circa 1964.

I showed these to thejeepjunkie and TheGoodAttorney and thejeepjunkie and I were reminiscing about the old IH hay baler TheGentlemanFarmer had back on Haven Lee Farm, Halltown edition.

That old piece of equipment would shake, rattle and roar behind the tractor that the wheel fell off. It would also, much to the consternation of TheGentlemanFarmer, break a shear pin in the flywheel for about every 5 minutes of use.

TheGentlemanFarmer, after one season of hay baling just hired ole Roy Weaver to come on over with his baler. I think he paid something like 4 cents a bale to ole Roy.

We boys still had to load it on that old, bare bones Dodge

and haul it to that old barn for storage in that hayloft until the following winter.

And the compensation for that deed? We were allowed to eat and sleep at TheGentlemanFarmer's home for free. Chores was what they was.

In the above photo, perched on top of that hay laden old Mopar Pickup are, left to right, Charlie Bingle, thejeepjunkie, Paul Bingle, and the olelongrooffan. Those Bingle boys are sons of Uncle Bob and Aunt Virginia, mentioned in this post naming one of our horses.

So, anyway, also contained in the envelope with those manuals was a brief, to the point note from thehorsefarmer. "Ebay these and keep the proceeds."

It sure is nice to have thoughtful family members thinking of me during these times.

Thanks horsefarmer, for the thought and the recollected memories.

Well, in addition to my wireless internet invoice, in another envelope, were the following from those youngsters, Trey and "Pickle Boy", shown here during their visit down to The Birthplace of Speed last summer.

Old fashioned, handwritten, including artwork, thank you notes to this olelongrooffan, affectionately known as "johnjohn", thanking me for the shirts and other stuff I had sent their way.

I had gotten a verbal thank you from the Little Princess out on Haven Lee Farm a week or so ago and I am glad to know that, despite all that is going on in the NotSoLilJim and LilMom world,

they made those youngsters sit down and write these to this ole man. Extra credit bonus to the "Pickle Boy", his was folded into a paper airplane!!!

And, know, it is stuff like this that lets me continue to

Celebrate Life.