View From The Frozen North-Stan Hitchcock-February 5, 2013

This squirrel is a direct descendent of a family of squirrels that was living here when the first settlers topped the ridge and looked down on the frozen tundra, and great,great,great,great,great,great,great grandpa fuzzy tail turned to grandma fuzzy tail and said, "Dang, there goes the neighborhood, we may have to move to Green Bay." Multi-Great Grandpa Fuzzy Tail, a few years later, had the dubious distinction of being the first squirrel to be run over by a covered wagon, and became a squirrel folk hero, as the Pioneer adventurer that ran him over, also took him and had a squirrel hat made from the carcass, with the tail hanging down in the back and centuries later was the inspiration for a television series.....except the writers of the tv series got their facts wrong and called it a "coon skin cap", thereby cheating the mighty squirrel tribe of their rightful honor. I hope to be able to correct this mistake. Stan

 

History Of The World As I Know It-Stan Hitchcock

And another thing, the Midwest has had some really important Scientific Discoveries. In 1865, an Iowa Farmer by the name of Olaf Gunderpoople, was out in a Corn Patch hunting Pheasants with a twin barrel shotgun. He tripped over a dirt clod, the shotgun discharged into the rich, black soil, and what should come bubbling up but.....Ethanol! Yes, indeed, friends and neighbors....all that corn had decayed over eons of time, creating huge reservoirs of corn liquor that turned bad and now was coming up Ethanol. The only problem was....waiting for the Auto to be invented, which was also taken care of by another Midwesterner, Henry Ford. This wonderful discovery led to the widespread use of corn for fuel, creating a world wide loss of corn for food, and eating up the internal combustion engines that were soon to be invented, leading to folks having to trade for new electric cars that cost more than your house. All that from one old farmer in Iowa, with a double barrel, who later had a cousin name of Jed who moved to the Ozarks and had the same thing happen, except with oil, and ended up in Hollywood with Granny and all the kids and lived unhappily ever after. Funny how them things happen. History is a hoot. Below is a picture believed to be that of Olaf Gunderpoople, but maybe not.  Stan