It's not the end of the earth

When I came across this book, it reminded me of an episode of "The Andy Griffith Show" from the '60's. It's filled with gentle humor and full of eccentric people who live in or around Centralia, Nebraska.

Roger Welsch is one of those guys who wanted to get away from the rat race. He left a tenured position as professor of English and Anthropology at the University of Nebraska and moved to a small farm in the Midwest. Actually, according to Welsch, the farm is more just a lot of sand.




Swaine, the mail delivery man, has a problem keeping the bundled mail separated, constantly giving the wrong mail to the people on the route. Welsch believes that he does it on purpose, just so that people get to know each other.



Lunchbox runs the auto body shop and sold a junker truck to the author that doesn't run very well. However, the author still says that he's best mechanic around.



During the summertime, Goose likes to load his truck with beer and ice, then travel around the country roads to find farmers working in the field. When he does find a farmer, he'll flag them down while walking in the field with an extra bottle of beer to persuade the farmer to take a break.



Slick, an alcoholic who has been dry for a few years, seems like the most unlikely person to own the local bar called Town Tavern. In the book, the author tells the story about the "Juice Wars", a battle of wits between a miserly bunch of card players who spend hours in the bar and Slick.

The nonfiction book, "It's Not the End of the Earth, but You Can See it From Here: Tales of the Great Plains," is located on the second floor under the call number 978.2 WEL.




c Waterloo Public Library 2007