No Skinny Rabbits

The ability to tell stories is among the traits I inherited from my dad, Calvin Kenneth Sunderland.

Among his many skills was the ability to communicate with both the written and spoken word.

I asked him how and where he learned to communicate so well. He laughed and said, “It’s a family trait. My dad, his dad and as far back as we can trace were all story tellers.

At family gatherings they would try to out do each other. Don’t worry son, as you grow and mature you’ll be just like the rest of the clan.” He was right.

Cal liked to tell true stories, as well as fictional tales. Among the latter, one of his favorite funny stories was probably based on personal experience during the Great Depression. As best I can remember the tale goes like this: Back in the Dirty 30s, also known as the Great Depression, the staple fare was beans and potatoes. In the spring, tender weeds like lamb’s quarter and Russian thistle made a good salad. And you could go up to the flour mill and scoop up a peck sack of cracked wheat for a quarter.

That provided enough cereal for a family of six for a month. Periodically, the family would develop a yearning for fresh meat, the cheapest being rabbit. So Dad handed the .22 rifle to the oldest boy, 12-year-old Evan. “There’s two bullets,” dad said, “Don’t waste ‘em.” As Evan headed for the fields, dad hollered, “And make sure you run along ‘side of ‘em and feel if they’re fat before you shoot ‘em.”

Things are not quite that bad in the USA, at least not yet.

Family meals during most of my youth often featured beans and cornbread. When affordable and the family had the shekels Mom would buy a small bone-in ham.

We’d have that for dinners until nothing was left but the bone and some fat.

Then the bean pot was put on the stove and the bone was added to the mix. We’d eat beans and cornbread for a week or more.

Don’t misunderstand me, I don’t have any animosity towards those who are super rich, as long as they earned it, not finagling it with political power plays. I don’t like those who think they are something extra special and better than you and I because of their money. Now add political power into the mix and you end up with people like Pelosi, Biden and Company.

Since they don’t have to worry about saving nickels, dimes and pennies they act like the common wage earner doesn’t either.

Those in our national and state governments seem to think you and I are really dumb and we don’t notice that they want us to live on limited incomes, while they don’t.

We have to scrimp and save pennies and nickels to buy the things we need while they squander millions and billions to satisfy their greed as they pass laws to placate their rich backers.

Maybe they can afford to buy a super pricey electric vehicle, complete with an at-home charging station. I can’t afford to buy one. How about you?

They are using the chaos in Ukraine as a reason for the rising oil and gas prices. They think our short term memory is really, really short! Gas and oil prices started rising the same day that Biden and Company took power.

Closing down the Keystone Pipeline and the numerous “green” energy ploys have resulted in rising gas prices at the pump, and higher prices on everything from groceries to medicines.

Check your most recent utility bill against one from the same time last year. I bet it is higher, even if you’ve tried cutting back on usage.

Elections are coming up. It is time to start replacing these scoundrels, from local officials to national representatives with genuinely honest public servants. Starting now, examine every candidate. Check to make sure their deeds match their words. If not, vote for someone else.