Folksy Aphorisms Designed to Educate

Reader Contribution by Bruce Mcelmurray
Published on April 7, 2020
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Most people have heard those witty quips or sayings intended to educate the younger generation. Sayings like “the early bird gets the worm”, which is intended to teach that a laggard will be one step behind a more energetic person. Or “the second mouse gets the cheese”, which warns against rushing into a situation carelessly. Many of those witty sayings directly apply to those of us who have our homesteads in a rural location. Many have obscure origins but still apply today.

“Don’t Corner Anything Meaner Than You”

Those who establish their homestead rurally face many challenges which can be of our own doing or sometimes outside our control. In the past three years we have been faced by two major incidents that were totally out of our control. In 2018, we had the Spring wildfire that was the third worst in Colorado history. The smart thing to do was evacuate far away from the flames and intense heat – which we did. We will be dealing with the aftermath for several years but our home survived.

“An Ounce Of Prevention Is Worth A Pound Of Cure” – Benjamin Franklin

Now, like most of our country and the world, we are self isolating and when we absolutely have to go out we keep at least 6’ from other people, wash our hands frequently, wear face masks and stay alert for any symptoms the Center for Disease Control has published about the corona 19 virus. We are more fortunate than many because our nearest neighbor is a mile away and we have purposely practiced social distancing for years. We have abundant fresh well water from deep in the ground and a plentiful stock of food. We keep a supply of food on hand because, post wildfire, the rain and melting snow brought mud/ash slides down the mountain washing out or blocking our road.

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