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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Light a Fire Under Him

There is a story in my family history about an uncle of mine. Actually he would have been an uncle of my grandmother's I believe. I don't vouch for the veracity of this story - only that this is how the story was told to me.

My great-great uncle was walking along the canal paths of the Erie canal. He came upon a mule that was refusing to pull it's load. No matter what the driver did to it that mule just stood there. The driver was fed up. My great-great uncle said he would buy the mule for a quarter (maybe the amount was even less, I'm not sure). The driver, facing a worthless animal agreed and turned the stubborn mule over to my uncle but wondered what my uncle would do with an animal that refused to move.

Simple. He lit a fire under him and the mule moved right quick. And my uncle got himself a mule right cheap.

Hopefully no one actually has to light a fire under me to get me writing and blogging again.

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