LIFE IS SIMPLE
I
always believed my father could fix absolutely anything—if he only had
access to enough baling wire.
Growing up on the farm, I would encounter dozens of baling wire repairs
every day. Broken door hinges would become workable, once again, after
Dad’s application of the rusty, old, fix-it material. Most all of our gates
fastened shut with baling wire. Exhaust pipes on cars, trucks and tractors
were held in place by baling wire. Machinery gears were held in place with
the material, and my first car ran the last 50,000 miles of its life with a front
stabilizer bar fastened securely with baling wire.
Dad seemed to have an almost endless supply of the wire, and I thought
that was odd since we never (at least in my lifetime) owned a hay baler that
We are pleased to offer Jerry Crownover’s
“Life is Simple” column. Jerry is a graduate
of the University of Missouri. He and his
wife, Judy, own and operate a ranch west of
Springfield and are FCS Financial members.
We hope you enjoy Jerry’s Ozark humor
and wisdom.
“Life is Simple” Copyright 2017, Jerry Crownover
used wire. The mystery was solved one day when I accompanied my father
to a farm sale and the auctioneer failed to get a one-dollar bid on a pile of
used baling wire big enough to fill the bed of a pickup truck. “I’ll give you
fifty cents,” Dad yelled out.
“Sold,” announced the good colonel. That pile lasted him the rest of his life.
I did not inherit my dad’s genius at fixing things with what’s lying around,
but…I try. A few weeks ago, before the floods began, a strong windstorm
blew down one of the downspouts from the corner of our home. The 25-
foot piece was bent and twisted beyond eye-pleasing repair, so I had to special order two pieces to replace it. While
we were waiting (it’s been five weeks and we’re still waiting) the flooding rains began and, without a downspout,
the runoff from the eavestrough poured in behind our siding and began to flood the lower floor of our house.
Temporary and emergency action
had to be taken
In
the
pouring
rain,
I
straightened out the two long
sections that were bent, enough
“I’ll give you fifty cents,”
Dad yelled out.
so that I deduced they would
carry water. I then melded the two
together into one long piece with enough duct tape to repair a NASCAR racer. With that accomplished, I then
jammed it up into the eavestrough opening and secured the bottom section to the corner of our wooden deck with
baler twine and two more rolls of duct tape. It held…for that rainstorm.
In a couple of days, all my handiwork came apart, so I repaired it the same way again to weather even more
rain and flooding. When my masterpiece came apart the third time, leading to more wet carpets and a questionable
attitude from my wife, she asked, “Why can’t you fix that thing so it will stay put?”
“I could,” I answered calmly, “if I only had a pile of baling wire.”
HEARTBEAT | SUMMER 2017 13