The Bull Goes On...

Posted Wednesday, October 7, 2009, at 11:44 AM

Image located at: http://www.worksoul.com/wsmisc_barber.html

I was in the barber shop the other day and posted on the wall was a small inconspicuious sign that read "Cows come and cows go, but the bull in here goes on forever". I'd been in this shop several times before and hadn't noticed it, and the reason I saw the sign at all this time was it was a busy morning so I had plenty of time to gaze around the shop walls and listen to the local conversation.

The conversation centered around the previous nights pro football game, farm prices... one fellow mentioned that corn was up 24 cents that morning... Concern over immature corn and freezing in Illinois and Indiana was the reason as near as I could tell, and yield of beans per acre dry vs. irrigated interested me. Wonder as to why fuel is $.15 cents a gallon cheaper in Lexington than Arapahoe, and disgust that law enforcement seems to sit near the elevators and pick on farmers vehicles during harvest were other topics.

This was the second time in just a couple days that I'd heard of stepped up enforcement for unsafe and/or overweight trucks. Since I don't know the farmers side of the story really, I'm not going to "weigh-in" (pun intended) on the subject other than to say that I hope those with safety issues take the rest of us on the road into consideration and maybe stick to the back roads. Of course, there is likely a lot more to the story that I don't know about yet, so please let me know what I overlook.

You sure can get a quick assessment of the goings on at a barber shop. Stories and opinions come from every point of view, and the good thing is everybody will at least listen. A barber has to be the perfect listener knowing when to agree, and always knowing the best way to disagree. I like to call it chair side manner.

One thing's for sure... at the barber shop, the bull really does go on forever.

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Too bad our politicians have forgotten that technique of communication. Perhaps we would be better off if they went back to shooting the bull, in the barber-shop. Just a thought.

Arley (^;}

-- Posted by Navyblue on Thu, Oct 8, 2009, at 7:12 PM

So true Arley! Remember this story?

http://www.mccookgazette.com/blogs/hoag/...

-- Posted by Brian Hoag on Fri, Oct 9, 2009, at 9:05 AM

Hey Slicker,

Check the side of your country barber's cabinet.

See if he has an "ear stringer" hanging there.

My barber at home, back in the 30s and 40s, would carved apples and dry them into the shape of ears -- all sizes -- and sort of touch up the "severed" portion with red ink.

When a youngster would get in the chair and start wiggling, Ol' John would get real solemn and plead with the child to "Please hold real still, I don't want to add any more to my ear stringer."

And he would bring that "ear stringer" up for inspection.

Without fail, that kid would freeze into a block of marble until told it was safe to move.

That barber was a real vicious guy. Was scout master for decades and managed to create a 600 acre scout camp, owned in trust by his troop.

National Boy Scouts charged in and tried to claim property rights to that camp, only to learn it was permanently locked into the trust, controlled by a local committee -- and was forever out of their grasp.

They blustered and threatened, the retired barber offered to memoralize them with his personal barbershop "Badge of Honor."

When everyone in the court room, including the local judge broke into laughter, those big city fellers stormed out.

They never did understand the joke.

Probably wouldn't have appreciated his "Ear Stringer" anyway.

-- Posted by HerndonHank on Thu, Nov 12, 2009, at 5:05 PM