Cow Dung Takes Flight

 

You absolutely have to check this site. I mean it.

 

Well, it is that time of the year: Chatham Jaycees Annual Sweet Corn and Cow Chipping Festival in Illinois.

Small communities like Chatham are gems. Generations gather to renew friendships and celebrate history.  While there are competitions of all sorts, nothing, but nothing, is as intense and delightful as the Cow Chipping Contest.

The whole process is fairly simple. From their cow pastures, farmers select dried cow pies of the correct size, using a toilet seat as the measuring standard. The pies are then donated to the Jaycees where they are kept in a secure place. I am not kidding.

(There have been some accusations about sabotage; pies have been embedded with pellets or such in the past.  So, security is provided. Yes, it is.) 

Future chippers--not afraid to get their hands dirty

"This event will take place on July 21-23 at the Chatham sports field. Any attendees wishing to participate in the cow chipping throw should attend when the event is announced.  Experience is not necessary. All should understand that participation may result in pungent particulates adhering to hands and clothing."

This is a quote from 2019 flyers.

Competition is serious business.

Beaver, OK, where cows outnumber people, 16-1

This is an international sport. Visitors travel to participate in this event.

Pinterest.com

 When I was there a few years ago, the Jaycees had an emergency: the farmer who provided cow pies in the past had sold half his herd.  My brother Rev. Don Peck and his son Jeremy (president of the Chatham Jaycees) contacted other locals. They know everyone in the community, and within 15 minutes all was resolved.

Community.

This was published 2019 originally. I just was notified that the Chatham Sweet Corn festival is next week. Can't show off my chipping skills.  Oh, I brought home a heavily shellacked patty and put it by the roses. Over the 4 years, it has wasted away.

 

Grandee Alice

Wow

 

When Grandee Alice died, her grandchildren were devastated by her loss.

Annie and Jack had walked the countryside with Grandee, where she led them along the landscape. Annie held Grandee’s hand, feeling her fingers brush along the sage bushes that littered the fields. Jack gasped after seeing a rainbow.

The sun was into the dusky night. They headed back to Grandee’s farmhouse where she brought slices of watermelon to the porch, juice soon running down faces. Grandee looked off to the farm. Resilience was part of her life, what she left behind was in Annie and Jack’s hands. 

 

Gazing at them, she drank in the art of God’s creations.

 

These underlined words are Wed. Words from June 28. The complete list of words and other comments in Elephant's Child . Please head over there to see what other bloggers have written with this collection of unrelated words! 

The Times They Are a-Changin'

 Quotes by Dylan

Some music artists arrived in the music world and give up their dreams to cave to the industry.  Not all of course. But to stand up and say that this is my music, not yours? That takes courage and talent.

One such person is Bob Dylan. He has given some unique, elegant and profound songs. 

From Wikipedia, this gives a better description of him than I could. 

"Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan,[3] born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Generally regarded as one of the greatest songwriters ever,[4][5][6] Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his 60 year career. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" (1963) and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" (1964) became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements. His lyrics during this period incorporated political, social, philosophical, and literary influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture.[7 

^{Bob Dylan}  

So young

Gotta Serve Somebody

So much can be said about this talented brilliant man.  Perhaps the biggest event in his life came to him in 1978.

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