“What if the joke comes to life and nobody gets it?”
I was at CT Garven’s the other day buying feed and seed for my chickens and geese. To say that the cost of feed has gone up would be an understatement. About fourteen years ago, when I first began keeping chickens and geese, the cost of a 50 lb. bag of feed was only about $8.00 and scratch was a bit less. At the time of the post, the cost of feed was just under $19.00 (currently 26.00), and the scratch was about $16.00 Amazingly, the current price on scratch has dropped to $14.00 per 50 lb bag!
It used to be that when one referred to the cost of something being negligible, or the wages of a job being too low, you would refer to them as being “Chicken Scratch” or alternately “Chicken Feed.” Apparently, this statement has become outdated.
Anyway, back to the feed store. When the lady behind the counter rang up the total of my purchase, $35.00 and some change, I was in shock to say the least! But chickens and geese gotta eat.
So I opened my purse to pay the clerk and out flew a moth!
I began to laugh, which garnered strange looks from her and the other clerk behind the counter, which meant I had some explaining to do.
I proceeded to tell them about the joke of the moth flying out of your wallet, or purse in my case, symbolizing being poor or broke. They just stared. I looked at the lady in front of me and thought, “She must be my age, how come she doesn’t remember that one?” So I payed and left.
I guessed I was showing my age. Still, being curious I went searching to find out if the symbol was regional, or perhaps tied to the depression era. So, I was pleasantly surprised to find that not only is the joke alive and well, but you can even purchase wallets with moth designs on them!
So why didn’t they get it?
~*~
And now for the quasi-updated, but mostly almost a year old news…
Since you last heard from me I’ve had a total knee replacement. On October 3rd of last year.
Please be advised, that if the surgeon tells you it will take about a year to fully heal; believe him.
Things I did not expect with the surgery? That the straining of moving/hobbling along, in the early days would, put stress on my lower back, hips and my (sorta) good R. knee. That my hip bursitis from 30 years ago is BACK. My other doc informed me during that time, that my spine has “a bit of” stenosis. Now I know the surgery hasn’t caused this, but it surely hasn’t helped. Oh yes, and it is possible for your newly repaired L. knee to leave you one quarter inch taller on your left side which, bizarrely, you really can feel. I now have a 1/4 inch heel lift in the shoe of the R. foot. It’s made a significant improvement in my pain level.
Another surprise was not being able to sit in a chair at my computer for even fifteen to twenty minutes, and forget about the sewing machine. What! No quilting?
Once about four or five months back; I sat at the computer trying to get through the email tsunami in my inbox and lost track of time… An hour later I tried to get up and couldn’t. Sitting here on the office chair, I hadn’t realized that the wheels allowed me to push forward bending my knees, with the air conditioning blowing on them. They were locked into a frozen bend. I hollered and Bob came in to assist rescue me to a standing position, then helped me to the other room to sit in the recliner. It was bad.
It remains that my (sorta) good knee needs replacing too.
Hell may freeze before that comes to pass.
~*~
OK, before I leave, here is a little mental math quiz. It has a purpose.
1 × 70
2 × 35
5 × 14
7 × 10
10 × 7
14 × 5
35 × 2
70 × 1
Most all of you will know what this is, but will you discern it’s significance?
Life on the Farmlet 
I’m so glad to see you are feeling better and posting. The rule of 70. The number used to figure how many years it takes an economy to double? Or how long to double an investment? Not sure about the significance though. Perhaps a birthday?
Anita, you are correct! The sequence shows all the multiples that make 70. The significance is on the way in another post. Which, I promise won’t take me another year to write and post. 😉
laughing at the moth joke – I got it ^^However, no idea of the signifcance of your mental maths quizz, except that everything adds up to 70, so that must be a significant number for you?
Oh and chicken feed . . . yup, here we paid 15€ for a 25kg sack only 8 years ago. It’s now gone up to 24€ for the same sack.
Claire, thank you for visiting and posting a comment this morning. Yes, it all adds up to 70. A post on significance to follow. 🙂
On the cost of feed… well, in the end it feeds the chickens, who give us eggs, and whose antics entertain. Entertainment. I remember going out for that but who can afford it in this age? Feeding chickens and geese is far less costly.
we used to give our surplus eggs to neighbours . . . but I make sure we use them all ourselves since the price of everything went up !
Lynda! Lovely to read your delicious sense of humour! So sorry about the surgery and all it’s fall out. Our poor old bodies!
I try to grow as much feed here on the farm as possible. The price of feed is nuts now!
Keep walking! Talk soon. C
Good morning C, long time to be sure. Your affirmation on my humor made me laugh, and I thank you. Bob thinks my sense of humor is “Strange” and he often misses what I’m on about… HA. More on my gardening, or lack thereof, later. BTW, if you are who I believe you are, I often think of your barn and all its lovely inhabitants. It’s been too long since I visited.
I was wondering what you’ve been doing! Thank you for catching us up. I”m so sorry to hear that your knee replacement has been so awful; my sister in law has had both replaced and she seems to be doing well; they have lots of stairs and a hilly yard — she has even gotten back to clog dancing. I’v just started putting a diclofenac gel on one knee, and it seems to be working pretty well so far.
I’ve never heard of the moth in the wallet thing.. Maybe it just wasn’t a piece of Seattle folklore when I was growing up.
Hope you’re getting better now. Oh, and the inflation — don’t even talk to me about California real estate prices! The median price in Claremont is now — yes– 1 M_____
!!!! $600, 000 in Pomona! We can’t afford to move . . .
Take care, Lynda Penny K..
Penny!
How wonderful to hear from you. How many years has it been? I’m happy to read that the Diclofenac gel is working for you. Regarding the moth: you probably didn’t watch the old B&W cartoons on Saturday mornings or see any of the old B&W silent movies as a child either. The old moth always made an appearance from the empty wallet or pocketbook, when things were tight, to drive the point home.
As for California’s housing market… I can’t even imagine our old home there being in that range! Bob’s mom would never believe it. Well Huntsville and North Alabama’s area is exploding in population. People are coming here for work, political policies, and other restrictions. It’s crazy. I am happy for the people who are coming here to find work and a better life, yet sad that houses are popping up like weeds all around us. We have smog in Huntsville and unbelievable traffic on the main highway now.
Life on our little Farmlet is soon not going to be so country woods and farm surrounded as it had been. Sigh.
Please keep in touch and I look forward to hearing from you again soon. BTW, you can use the “CONTACT” link in the orange menu bar above if you want to talk more. 🙂
Lynda! How marvellous to hear you’re alive and… surviving! The knee business sounds horrendous; knees really are the worst, they take so much longer to recover than almost anywhere else. A simple arthroscopy to repair a torn cartilage a couple of years ago had me on crutches for a week, a knee brace for a month and 6 months before I could kneel. I shudder to think what you’ve gone through. We find chicken feed pricy too, but in return we factor in eggs as well as mower fuel, since they keep the back yard grass short and fertilised when they traverse it in their afternoon tractor outings. Looking forward to more posts from you now that you’re able.
We were thinking about getting chickens again but it has indeed become much more expensive to feed them so we just buy our eggs from somebody else in the village now.
I have heard that knee replacements are much worse than hip replacements in terms of recovery so I’m hoping never to have to go down that painful road.
I think moths coming out of wallets and purses is a very common joke so no idea why nobody got it and I also have no idea about the 70 thingy.
I liked your thoughts on chickenfeed and I liked the thought of a moth actually flying out of your wallet. I love it when a saying springs to life. I hope that your knee settles down to be really useful. My metal knee has been a godsend. Can you really be as young as that? The best years are still to come in my experience.
Hello, Lynda! I’m glad to hear you are recouping well and haven’t lost your sense of humor. I would have laughed about the moth flying out of your purse, and even considered it a blessing! People are weird these days… too bad they didn’t take joy in the moment.
We are feeling the skyrocketing cost of things here too. This is the lunacy people voted for (well there is the argument on the election results)… so we must all suffer through it. I’m thankful for a quiet life, surrounded by God’s beauty and wonder. That’s where the real joy is!
I am glad you commented, but sad you came through anonymously as “Someone”. Who are you? Please do tell. ❤