The Haxtun-Fleming Herald - What can we reason but from what we know? -Alexander Pope

Sooner or later every fad gets me. I can't help it. I resist longer than most but eventually I succumb.

Over the years I've been talked into purchasing polyester leisure suits, tennis shoes with built in air pumps and stone-washed jeans. Some fad items stuck with me like poly-grass ropes and nylon horse halters. Other items the world convinced me I couldn't live without now lay gathering dust somewhere. Remember CB radios (replaced by cell phones), fuzz busters (replaced by 75 mile per hour speed limits) and beanie Babies (replaced by good sense)?

My latest venture into fad-madness? I hate to admit it after being so vocally against it but I'm on the "Net." That's right. Now, I'm a web-surfing, emailin' fool. This time, however, I have an excuse. I still think it's silly but the world has gone so goo goo over it all, joining the crowd was the only way to communicate with everyone. One by one friends and business associates stopped buying postage stamps and faxing. Suddenly everything was email on the world wide web. Reluctantly I gave in.

I can now buy a horse, tractor or box of candy right at home without ever talking to a real person. I've also heard from lots of people via the "Net." My brother-in-law in North Carolina sends six pages of jokes daily. Some guy in Dallas tried to sell me an air conditioner and a lady I've never heard of before told me she was really "hot." I suggested she call the air conditioner guy in Dallas.

Years ago I accompanied a friend of mine to Texas to look at a horse advertised on the "Net." When we got there the horse and the white fences on their web site did not exist. Yesterday I found the same horse still advertised, surrounded by the same white fences. So much for staying current on the world wide web.

I have, however, learned to play four new card games and can "double click" on an "icon." This procedure is then followed by me hollering for Sue to come "get this mess off my screen" so I can play cards.

Yep, fads come and go but this Internet thing will be around for a while. It has to. I have two more years of payments on this computer, many of my cowboy friends have moved to new addresses and I've lost their phone numbers. Doing the e-thing is my only hope of getting back the money they owe me.