WHAT? KANSAS BORING??

I have learned, since moving to Arizona, that most people are not familiar with Kansas.  "Oh, yes, Kansas.  We drove through there once."  "Kansas has those storms...now, what do you call them?" "I think my father was born in Kansas City, but my grandparents moved when he was a baby."  I expect those comments now when people ask where we're from.  I've also begun to notice a certain amount of desperation in their voices as they try frantically to remember exactly where Kansas is.  It is still there, isn't it?

Yep, it's still there where it always was.  Right smack dab in the middle.  It's the rectangle with the crooked top right corner...kind of squished between Colorado, Nebraska, Missouri and Oklahoma.  That's it.  That's the one!  Actually, being right smack dab in the middle has brought the little town of Kinsley, Kansas, a certain modicum of fame.  From the middle of town you only have to drive 1,561 miles farther west to reach San Francisco, or 1,561 miles farther east to reach New York City...and there, find salvation if you're of the urban sort.

Just a couple of weeks ago, we were in Kansas visiting family and friends, all while celebrating graduations, anniversaries and reunions, when it was time to move on from the eastern part of the state to the western part of the state.  That can be accomplished by driving Highway 24, a rather nicely constructed roadway that runs through the more verdant northerliness of the state.  Well, verdant in times of less heat and more rain than we've experienced the last few years but, oh well.

As we approached yet another small farming community, BC announced, "I think this is where the ball of string is."

"The Ball of String!" I screeched.  "You mean the BIG Ball of String?"  Yes, he meant the Big Ball of String.  He thought it would be on our left.  And...there it was!  On our left!  Exactly as he had predicted!  "STOP!"  I shouted.  "I've never seen the Big Ball of String."

I had even begun to doubt there really was a Big Ball of String but, Dorothy, there is.  How big is it?  Well, in 1988 the Big Ball of SISAL String (as opposed to possible nefarious imitations) boasted a circumference of 40' 3" and a weight of 14,576 pounds.  A mere 18 years later, it had grown to 17,886 pounds  and rather mysteriously, I thought, a different type of measurement--7,801,766 feet.  Now that is hard to top!  And, no doubt it was sisal, because it smelled exactly like the sisal rug I ordered from Pottery Barn for our breakfast room that arrived carefully rolled, neatly tied, and still damp from the sisal forest/factory from whence it came.

How, you may be asking, was this feat accomplished?  The Biggest Ball of String in the world in not to be sneezed at unless, of course, you might be allergic to sisal.  Here is the answer, posted for all to see and take to heart:

That's right.  Thrift and Patience.  The  basis of all successful ventures.  Good Job, Frank!