I am sure that if you looked up the meaning of “insanity” in an honest-to-goodness printed dictionary that several meanings of the word would be found. There are some that would say it is insane to use a printed dictionary as it is now so much easier to “look it up on Google”.
One definition of insanity used lots in education and business is “doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result”.
My father used to frequently go fishing. I only went with him, at his invitation, one time. I remember using a bamboo fishing pole and getting my line hung up in the trees. I also remember how angry Dad got when he had to get me out of that mess. Dad was not overly blessed with patience, and I inherited that trait.
On that one trip, however, I did not go unrewarded. Though this was my first and practically only time to go fishing, I caught a turtle! The only thing that surprised me about catching this reptile was that I really hadn’t expected to catch anything.
Dad would probably rather have fished with anyone other than me. I can’t blame him. I’m about as useful on a fishing trip as a refrigerator in an Eskimo’s igloo. Dad had a favorite fishing buddy, Jim Bailey, great-grandfather of current Union County Mayor Jason Bailey. My brother once gave my mother a Sony tape recorder. She loved it, and recorded gospel programs from Sunday morning television so she could listen to them whenever she wanted. One morning she was recording The Singing Ivey Family. The recording picked up the loud rotary dialing of the old wall-mounted, black phone on the living room wall next to the front door. Dad’s voice said, “Pearly, is Jim there?” Jim came on the phone, and he and Dad conversed. A few minutes into their chit-chat Dad said, almost pleadingly, “Jim, we’ve just got to go fishing.”
My brother J. C. told of a time he and Dad went fishing all night. J. C. said as they were coming home they came to a restaurant. J. C. said, “Daddy, let’s go in here and get us some breakfast.” They were ordering. Dad told the waitress, “I want two eggs.” She asked him how he wanted them. J. C. said Dad looked at her like she was missing a few eggs in her basket and said, “I want the d--- things fried!” She was undoubtedly expecting Dad to say something like “medium well” or “over easy”. J. C. told the waitress, “You heard the man. Fry the d--- things!”
My father more often than not came home from his fishing trips empty-handed. I don’t know what bait he used, or if he ever changed his technique. Perhaps he insanely kept doing the same thing over and over. Nevertheless, he kept going. Mother once asked him why he kept trying when he never caught anything. He said, “I keep hoping.” I suppose this showed that Dad did have some, even if a small, measure of optimism in him.
I have a quote on my office door: Optimism is going after Moby Dick in a rowboat. Fearlessness is taking the tartar sauce with you. Dad never took tartar sauce on his fishing trips. Many times he took the leftover biscuits from breakfast and a Mason jar of red Kool-Aid. Once time he took some unbaked dinner rolls from the refrigerator with him. He was quite vocal when he got home about something being wrong with “them biscuits—you couldn’t even crumble the d--- things up!”
I have another saying on my office file cabinet—Every once in a while even a blind pig will find an acorn. Dad once caught a sizeable fish. He was so proud. Someone took a picture of Dad holding that fish, and I still have it somewhere. This reminds me of a poem Miss Eileen Monroe had us memorize in sophomore English at Horace Maynard High School.

Ef you strike a thorn or rose,
Keep a-goin'!
Ef it hails, or ef it snows,
Keep a-goin!
'Taint no use to sit an' whine,
When the fish ain't on yer line;
Bait yer hook an' keep a-tryin'—
Keep a-goin'!

I suppose my father was living proof of the veracity of the sentiment expressed in the poem.
May you, Dear Reader, have a most blessed week as you “keep a-goin” down your life’s trail.

ANSWER TO QUESTION OF THE WEEK # 11
What do you call a helper on a farm? A PHARMACIST
QUESTION OF THE WEEK # 12
What do trees do in the spring? (See next week’s article for the answer.)

AN “OLDIE” BUT A “GOODIE”
Two fish swim into a concrete wall.
One turns to the other one and says, “Dam!”

"This has been going on since Moby Dick was a minnow.”
– Louisiana State Senator John Kennedy

"[Politicians of a certain party] are running around
like they found a hair in their biscuit.”
– Louisiana State Senator John Kennedy

A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.

Remember eating Kool-Aid powder with sugar?

It's the start of a brand-new day,
and I'm off like a herd of turtles.