By Larry Walker
January 7, 2013
lwalker@whgmlaw.com
This was hard work. Not only hard, but hot and stinky. Eighty, fifty pound sacks of chicken feed delivered south of Perry and stored in Mr. G. W. Hicks’ chicken house, full of laying hens. And, perhaps another twenty, one hundred pound sacks added to the eighty. That’s a total of three tons loaded, unload and toted into a chicken house full of chickens and chicken manure in that hot July sun. And, this was just one customer on one day. There were several others south of Perry every week.
Then, on another day of the week, it was to the north end of Houston County and several customers (again, loading, unloading and toting), including Mr. Henry Cullen Talton, Sr.’s store at Bonaire, where we always got a “cold drink” which helped to make our efforts more bearable and worthwhile.
It all started, every time, when my friend, mentor and co-worker, Joe Hodges, would say to me: “Larry, it’s time to get a wheel a turning”. And we would get a wheel a turning, and would make things happen. Big time. At least for us.
I often think of Joe Hodges, Mr. G. W. Hicks, Mr. Henry Cullen Talton, Sr., that big, green Chevrolet truck loaded with Purina animal feed (layena, hogena, fatena and pellets with and without molasses, etc.) with the words “Walker Thompson Supply Company, Perry, Georgia” emblazoned in white on both doors. But, mostly, I think of Joe Hodges and his wise, sage admonition: “It’s time to get a wheel a turning”. And we did. And, America was better for our efforts.
So, let me say to America, today: “It’s time to get a wheel a turning”. This is not spoken to the President or the Congress of the United States. Probably, they’ve gotten too many wheels a turning. It’s easy to do that when you’re spending someone else’s money. I’ve often said: “Nothing is too good for the taxpayers,” which, as I think of it, isn’t really all that funny – such thinking and acting is part of what’s gotten us into such a huge mess.
Who I am talking to, just like Joe Hodges was talking to little Larry, years ago, are the folks in Houston County and Warner Robins, Perry and Centerville. I’m talking to Tommy, Chuck, John and Jimmy. But, mostly I’m talking to people in business, and my law partners and my other business partners – Charles, Ed, Foster, Larry, etc. It’s time to get a wheel a turning. If it doesn’t start here and with us, it might not start at all.
When you haul feed all over the county, naturally you talk a lot. Actually, I did lots of listening, and I learned some things I didn’t know, and things that a boy my age needed to know. I also realized that although it was my Daddy’s name on the doors of the truck, Joe Hodges was the boss of our two man crew. He liked it that way, but not as much as I did.
I also remember how good food tasted back in those days. And, by the way food tasted better, Mama’s cooking, when we had a wheel a turning. And, we slept better at night. Hard work and accomplishment will do that to you – make food taste good and sleep be deep and hard. And, the times we’ve been through for the past five or six years will do the opposite.
We can’t wait for the big, bloated government to get us out of this big ditch – some call it “over the financial cliff”. We’ve got to do it ourselves. We’ve got to start back to building, buying, bargaining, and betting (on our future and our country’s future). Or, as Joe Hodges would say: “America, we’ve got to get a wheel a turning.”
So, load up the truck. Make the deliveries. Collect the money. Buy bigger trucks. Start making your own feed. Put in some chicken houses. Buy a tractor. Close a loan. Build some houses. Lease some property. Build a farm pond. Let your wife have that new sofa and maybe she will let you buy that Citori grade Browning o/u you’ve always wanted. Form an LLC. Get a wheel a turning.
*For other information, see our website and blog: www.galawyersonline.com
/>
/>
/>
Comments on this entry are closed.