When we returned to Florida this last Fall (1988) we found that a new White Rose Garden Center was about to open, in our area. This is a really nice store. They handle all sorts of hobby and craft supplies as well as the lawn and garden requirements.

Therefore, when it came time to fertilize the lawn so that the man who does our yard work throughout the summer, would have a steady income, I went down there and bought two forty pound bags of 6-6-6 fertilizer. I also bought a forty pound bag of Cow Manure, to mix with the soil, when planting shrubs etc.

When I arrived home I carried those three forty pound bags, one at a time, from the trunk of the car to the storage shed, a distance of perhaps fifty feet. During that maneuver I became aware of just how much one hundred and twenty pounds could amount to in terms of expended human energy. All of which reminded me of a event that took place when I was eighteen or nineteen years old.

I was tending mason for Frank Stears on a small concrete job that he was doing for Bub Lott, when we ran out of cement. Frank sent me to Hazen’s Lumber Yard to get two more bags but, when I got there, the loading dock was crowded with other customers so I had to park about a half city block away.

After I had completed the purchase I was faced with the task of getting those two ninety four pound bags of cement to the old truck. I didn’t want to make two trips so I took one bag under each arm and carried them that half block, without stopping. Good Lord! — I wouldn’t be able to pick up one of those bags now, much less carry two of them.