24 Hours

Yesterday at this time I had just finished watching an auction of some prime Illinois farm land. Most people at the auction thought the property sold a little low at $9,000 per acre. It was a price that was unimaginable a year or two ago. It once again underscores that highly productive ground brings a premium price. As the world population grows and cities eat up more land with urban sprawl a scarce commodity like land goes up in price.

In the afternoon I was looking at some old documents related to the farm where I grew up. It was sold in 1863 for $31.25 per acre. My, how times have changed. I also looked at old photographs dating back to the 1920's. I am saddened as I look at some of them. The people who took them knew the names of everyone in the picture, unfortunately I do not. Very few of the pictures are marked as to when, where and who. There are stories to be told but they died with those who took the pictures. It is sad. Please, if you have printed pictures take a minute to write on the back some information. If they are stored in electronic media then tag them in some manner.

Yesterday would have been my Dad's 83rd birthday. He died in 1999 at the age of 70 from lung cancer. Smoking for 50+ years had caught up with him. I will not preach on the issue of smoking. We all make choices about how we will live our lives. We all probably indulge one or more habits that may shorten our lives. My Dad was a plain spoken man. You didn't have to wonder what he was thinking because he would tell you. It has been 13 years and I still miss him. There are many days when I wish I had the opportunity to talk to him and seek his advice on a decision I need to make.

The final thing that happened was we got a call this morning that Carol's brother David had died early this morning. He had been very I'll since the first of the year. He had been released from the hospital and was receiving hospice care. David was only 57 years old but decades of alcohol, tobacco and substance abuse took their toll. His demons finally did him in but he is free from them now.

What will the next 24 hours bring?