What City Slickers do to Raise Money

Where there's a will to raise a dollar, there's a way. At least for Stanton Arendts:

We were an organized group of strapping young men back in the late 50's. Our objective in life was to raise enough money for a canoe trip to Canada. It was wintertime, so de-tasseling corn was not an option. Besides, we needed more money than that could provide.

Turns out that Arnold Hogan had an extensive chicken farm operation that was rather haphazardly put together. The barn doors, where the chickens were housed, were not large enough for machinery access so everything had to be done by hand. Our job was to remove the accumulated chicken shit. It was 3 feet deep!! Had to be scooped with shovels and was extremely slippery.

After a while, we became inured to the odor, so we got on with it. It was somewhat strenuous, but the real problem was maintaining balance. I only slipped once, but it was like sliding into second with no base to stop momentum.

We were transported home in the back of a pick up. Maybe my mother smelled me coming, since she was waiting at the door and wouldn't let me in the house until I had completely stripped. All the clothes were burned and I was instructed to take an unusually long bath.

The good news is that we raised enough money for the trip and actually took it, but that is another story.

Such is life.