Day 115: Walking with the Relatives Pt 1

Photo courtesy of Jeremy Blomstedt, McCook Gazette. Rick Hammersley in Nebraska.

The days off in Hastings are quickly drawing to a close. While here, I had another TV interview, two newspaper interviews, and a radio interview. I had a physical and a complete blood workup at the VA in Grand Island and they were very pleased at the condition I’m currently in. I want to thank Karen K. and her nurse Rose for taking me in on a rather short notice and for their efforts in helping me eliminate some of my diabetes medicine (there will be more on future blogs as this materializes). I also learned what a cornhusker is, and I got to visit some of the guys I’ve worked with at Hastings Utilities in past years. I also got the front end of the RV aligned. So, the stop has been fruitful and tomorrow morning, it is back to work.

I want to thank Mike Smithson of KHAS Radio for the radio interview. He also informed me that a cornhusker is someone that removes the husk from an ear of corn. I mentioned to him that I thought that was shucking corn, and he said shucking corn was removing the kernel from the cob. Now, I didn’t know an ear of corn had so many technical jobs associated with it and it got me to thinking about my mom. When I was a kid, my mom had all of these jobs associated with corn. First, she was a planter, then a grower, then a picker, husker, cleaner, shucker, cooker, server, eater, and because she had five boys who didn’t know any better at the time, she finally was a cleaner-upper. All this associated with an ear of corn. Who knew it was so demanding? I imagine in a year or two, it’s all going to go to ethanol and we won’t have to worry about any of the above anymore anyway.