Glad you caught that one, Ebbie: It was intentional. Growing up in farm country, those are a farmer's work hours... up at 5 a.m. to milk the cows and fee the livestock, and often working until 8 or 9 at night.

Wrote another song about my Uncle Jim and my cousin Howard:

"Old Uncle Jim he said, said to his son, he said
Wake up Howard 'cause it's almost dawn
The snowdrifts have covered up the old hay wagon
And we got to dig our way out to the barn
The cows will all be waiting for the old milk pail
And it won't be long before the rooster crows
So we better hop to it, 'casue there's no one else to do it
'Cause the sky is getting cloudy and it looks like snow"

When my youngest son Aaron was little he picked up on the line "So we better hop to it, 'cause there's no one else to do it," and when I'd tell him that we had to do something, he'd sing those lines in this little kid sing-song voice. It always cracked me up.

When I was a kid, we'd go out to my Uncle Jim's farm... or my Uncle Ross's or my Grandfather's farm and it was a real treat for me. I'd play around most of the day with my cousins, but it didn't slip my attention that My Uncle (and Aunt) would be working all day, well after the outside lights were turned on by the barn.

Farmers would consider a nine to five job a vacation.

Jerry