Chapter 16 - Switchin' to Glide

A nice summer day sets my mind to thinking about all kinds of things... like what I used to do on days like this one.

One of those things was work.  One job of my youth (aside from the regular chores around the home farm) that I remember vividly is the time I spent de-tasseling corn.

It’s a tough job that leaves your arms, legs, hands, and face scared by the sharp edges of each leaf of corn.

Because of the potential for all those cuts, you dress in long-sleeve shirts, jeans, gloves, hats, and maybe something around your neck... on days when it is usually very warm and very humid.  It's work in a moving sauna.

It tires you out with the long reaches and repetitive movements to grab and cut the tassel and toss on the ground.  

Part of the reason mom and dad wanted me to work on the de-tasseling crew was just to get me tired enough to stay out of trouble during my teen-age summers.

At the time, the job was important to seed companies who needed to get rid of the pollen producing flowers on the top of the corn so the process of creating varieties of hybrid corn could proceed.  Tracy Seed was the big outfit in our area and hired scores of kids from our school.  The city kids loaded into an old school bus and were hauled to the work site.  I'd meet them there and we'd work up to ten hours a day.

The money was good, I will say that.  I think it was around $400 a week or more, and I earned every penny of it.

That money helped finance some of my college education and bought a car from the neighbors just up the road.

Thinking about the car brings back memories.  It was a 1968 American Motors Rebel.  A four door draped in dark red with a black interior.

By the time I got it, it was more than ten years old, but it was mine.

The Rebel would take me to school and back home to work the farm with my Dad.  It worked for fishing trips with my buddies and Friday night dates at the drive-in and outdoor theater.

Truth be told, it wasn't a very sexy car for a teen-age boy to be driving, but it had an engine that worked and four wheels, so it was good enough for me.


It sounds hard to believe now, but it only had an AM radio for music.  And, it may also be difficult to believe that you could actually get music on the AM side of the dial.

I loved cruising down the country roads with WLS cranked up.  My favorite song back then was "Switching to Glide/The Beat Goes On" by the Kings.

Something about that song could turn around the worst moments and put a smile on my face and a beat in my heart.

My first girlfriend did that too, I must admit.  She was charitable enough to ride bikes with me to our first date when I still didn't have a license to drive.  We went bowling and then out for pizza.

For nearly a year we went out on dates each weekend, and talked to each other on the phone for nearly an hour every night after talking between classes and after school.

That car is long gone now, but the sweet memories stay with me.  The days when kids worked their way across corn fields topping off corn tassels is pretty much past too, as most of it can be done by machines and the little bit to be done by hand gets snapped up by folks anxious to get paid for day labor.

Riding around our fields on my John Deere tractor reminds me how blessed I was growing up to have to work hard and learn the value of a difficult job done well.  Advances in machinery mean I don't have to work quite as hard physically these days, and that's alright with me.

At this point in my agriculture career, it's time for me to switch over to glide.

Catch up with the full story  by following the link.