Grex Enigma Conference

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Grex Enigma Item 120: Farming Item
Entered by remmers on Thu Jul 29 02:33:08 UTC 1993:

"Well, maw" said farmer Brown to his wife, "guess I'll go out and till
the back forty today."

What I want to know is, why is it always the *back* forty?  Do they just
let the front forty go to seed?  Nobody ever talks about it.  Not to 
mention the side forty.  Come to think of it, shouldn't there be two
side forties?  And corner forties, what about those?  Should be four of
'em, by my reckoning.  And what about the forty that they keep under the
loose slab in the basement?  And the forty in the trunk up in the attic?
I'll bet there's a forty in the guest room closet they don't even know
is there.  If you dusted behind the kitchen stove you'd find another
forty or two.  Hey, how many forties are there, anyway?  Forty?

10 responses total.

#1 of 10 by rcurl on Thu Jul 29 04:37:47 1993:

The "back forty" is as far away from the farmhouse as possible. It is
a refuge where the farmer can go to get away from the chickens and
children. It is where one can commune with nature and one's soul -
so long as one does not fall off the stool.

#2 of 10 by aa8ij on Thu Jul 29 04:59:53 1993:

 I guess I'll just take another forty winks. ;-)

#3 of 10 by vidar on Thu Jul 29 14:06:16 1993:

Farming: A Viking's day job.  I much prefer the pillaging and burning that goes
on all night.

#4 of 10 by katie on Thu Jul 29 14:08:47 1993:

I have a back 10 and a front 10. Wheat on one, corn on the other, and the
occasional gaggle of sandhill cranes.

#5 of 10 by remmers on Thu Jul 29 22:15:25 1993:

Ah, a "subcompact" farm.

#6 of 10 by katie on Fri Jul 30 02:26:50 1993:

Yes, that's what it is. I grow Ford Escorts and Honda Civics, mostly.

#7 of 10 by aa8ij on Fri Jul 30 02:55:58 1993:

 Is that anything like an Antenna farm, where antennae are grown???

#8 of 10 by aahz on Fri Jul 30 19:48:50 1993:

Re: #3 Wait just a cotton pickin' minute!  In the song it didn't make any
refernces to farming.

#9 of 10 by aa8ij on Sat Jul 31 02:26:55 1993:

 Oh, give me an ohm, where the antenna are grown....

  I'll shut up now if you don't throw that ripe tomato

#10 of 10 by vidar on Thu Aug 12 21:08:00 1993:

Re #8: Shut up!  It's the truth, besides that was going to be somewhere in the
third verse.  I just got back from Jambo, and on the way proved the
nonexistance of anything.  I'm tired, but sleep is a waste of my life.  Where
did my brandin' Iron go?  Oh well, I have to go write the second verse now.

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