OPINION - Good ol' days?
By Gene Price
Published in News on June 21, 2004 1:55 PM
Elmo Long dropped by on a recent morning to share with me -- and all News-Argus readers -- the story of his son Matthew's being honored as the National 4-H Wildlife Volunteer of the Year. The story subsequently was featured in my Outdoors column.
As is customary with us senior citizens, Elmo and I drifted into a discussion of the times when we were growing up. We concluded that, compared to today's living and working conditions, the "good ol' days" weren't worth a hoot. But they were fun.
Elmo declared that every boy should have the opportunity to plow with a mule. And we shared experiences of going to bed in a house that was neither insulated nor airconditioned and was hotter on a summer night than the fields were in the daytime.
That brought up the subject of air-conditioned farm tractors. And I had to tell Elmo of my experience riding one time with a fellow whose business frequently required him to travel. We passed a field in which a farmer was working with a big tractor.
"Now look at that," laughed the businessman. "There goes a fellow farming with an air-conditioned tractor. Can you imagine that -- an air-conditioned tractor! Haw, haw, haw."
I thought about it for a few seconds. It was a hot day. But we were enjoying a ride in a big car with an interior temperature of a steady 68 degrees. I made that observation to my friend as he drove.
And then asked, "Is your office air-conditioned, too?"
He admitted, somewhat sheepishly it seemed to me, that it was.