4/29/12 A SNEAKY GOVERNMENT SPY IN EVEERY BARN

A NICE, BUT COOL DAY AHEAD

JUNEBERRIES ARE  BLOOMING ALONG ROADSIDES AND IN THE WOODS

AMELANCHIER LAEVIS

Sunday, 8:45 AM.  39 degrees F, up a few degrees from earlier.  Wind N, mostly calm.  The humidity is still high and the barometer predicts partly cloudy skies, which are that at present.  It looks like it will be a pleasant, if cool, day.
    Buddy and I took a nice walk on the Old San Road just south of town.  There is no morning traffic and the roadsides are grassy and brushy, good cover for birds.  We heard grouse drumming but did not encounter any on the roadsides.  I still am not letting Buddy off a long lead and we are working seriously on obedience, particularly “here,” “heel,” “sit,” and “stay.”  He is very stubborn about sit, and does so only when he pleases, regardless of my remonstrations.  Most everything else is coming along fine.  The Juneberries are in full bloom in the woods and along the roadsides, and are very nice this year.
    Have you been following the ruckus about OSHA’s new rules concerning farm children doing chores? It has the potential of virtually ending the family  farm as we know it, and even preventing farm children from showing animals in the 4-H competitions that are such an iconic part of rural life.  Of course, the federal government has only the best interests of children at heart.  Baloney! This is driven by big labor trying to muscle its way into another aspect of agriculture.  It’s all about union jobs, and union dues!  Pennsylvania’s Senator Toomey has introduced legislation to protect the family farm from this latest attack by our leftist nanny state, so the threat will probably subside.  Don’t get me wrong; there are things children shouldn’t do around dangerous farm machinery or animals, but unless a government spy is put in every barn there is no way to police such things (oops, I may just have given someone another bad idea). One  also has to assume that parents have a few brains, and some concern for their offspring. Anyway, my intent is not to debate a moot issue, but rather to do some reminiscing. 
    I did not actually grow up on a farm, but like most kids of my era I had relatives who farmed and I spent plenty of time thereon, as did Joan, and we both have childhood memories of bringing the cows in from pasture to be milked, of helping with loading hay bales on wagons and thence to the barn loft, of carrying milk cans and learning to milk without getting kicked in the process.   
    And then there was the first coming of age event for many of us city kids; going to work on the truck farm.  The farm truck would come through the neighborhood early mornings during summer vacation to pick up anyone who wanted to work.  Whether you could go to work weeding rows or harvesting vegetables was determined quite simply; if  you could get on the truck by yourself you were hired ( I wouldn’t make it today).  So by eleven or twelve most kids could go to work on the truck farm if they wished.  It was all equal opportunity, girls as well as boys, and most of the girls were plenty tough.  My first day at the truck farm I came home with a couple of “firsts”: my first hard earned hard cash, all in nickels, dimes and quarters; and my first true black eye from a first serious fist fight.  Actually it wasn’t much of a fight, as I was too dumb to duck, and I wore that black eye as a badge of honor that was envied by my friends for over a week.
     Should there have been some OSHA rules to enforce back then?  I suppose so, but on balance things turned out O.K., and without any sneaky government spy in the pumpkin patch.