You Know It's Spring When They Bring Out the Eggs in Peters Hollow

Every Easter for 184 years has been celebrated in these parts just a little differently than in most other places. That's right: after nearly two centuries, the annual Peters Hollow Egg Fight remains a strong family tradition here in Stoney Creek.

No, there are no spurs attached to eggs that are then made to fight in a ring while folks throw their money down on the strongest future chicken. People don't hurl rotten eggs at each other from behind barns and trees out in the north 40. Instead, contestants tap their brightly colored, hard-boiled eggs against those of their opponents to see which one will crack. It ends, sometimes hours later, when only one person remains with an uncracked egg.

Competitions are separate for kids and adults. "I know how to fight effs because my daddy taught me", said Carson Peters, aged 3. People come from all over the country and bring hundreds of eggs with them, making the event a family reunion. This year, due to the cold, the event took place at the Volunteer Fire Department building at Hwy 91 and Liberty Hollow. Usually, though, it takes place up Peters Hollow Road.

I shake my head a little at the idea of spending so much time and effort boiling and dying eggs, just to whack them together. But when I think about the strength of family that keeps a tradition going without interruption for 184 years, I can't say a bad thing about it. Our mail lady, Joanne, is a Peters. She told me earlier this year that you don't need to be a Peters to enjoy the egg fight, but we have not gone, yet. Just knowing it is right up the road from us makes me feel pretty good, even so. It seems the ties that bind these folks are a lot stronger than the shell of an egg.

And So It Goes... Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. 1922-2007

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. died yesterday. When I read the headline this morning, the quiet of my napping cat-filled house was shattered with a long, wailing "Noooooooooooooooo". Anyone who has ever read Vonnegut knows that he was no sentimentalist. When it comes to the passing of icons, frankly, neither am I. This is because the icon has already done pretty much everything they were ever going to do. Sinatra hadn't made a record in years. Katherine Hepburn was a recluse. But Vonnegut was different. He still had work to do. Work that, for me, was extremely important.

Vonnegut was a witty and vocal critic of all institutions, including the one with which we are currently burdened - the Bush Administration. We desparately need his voice to continue. But, as he would have said, "So it goes".

I started reading Vonnegut in high school. His ability to render a situation, no matter how terrible, into a few simple, unsentimental words is true genius. This is an important talent to have. For instance, as we look at the current situation and feel that it may be the beginning of the end for the America we thought we knew, Vonnegut reminds us that we've lived through such moments. Of course, that never precluded him from getting peeved and talking about it.Perhaps it was his natural existentialism that made it easy for Vonnegut to talk about our failures as a civilization and society. He once recommended that someone carve these words into a wall of the Grand Canyon:

"We probably could have saved ourselves, but we were too damned lazy to try very hard ... and too damn cheap."

Even so, as long as we manage to hold together enough to survive, Vonnegut will live on - in his words and in his ability to inspire readers. Perhaps we will even see a sort of resurrection, as curious youngsters (and yes, they still exist) introduce themselves to his writings, and by virtue, introduce themselves to critical thought.I will close with my favorite words from Vonnegut, from "Slapstick":

I cannot distinguish between the love I have for people and the love I have for
dogs. When a child, and not watching comedians on film or listening to comedians on the radio, I used to spend a lot of time rolling around on rugs with uncritically affectionate dogs we had. And I still do a lot of that. The dogs become tired and confused and embarrassed long before I do. I could go on forever.

Well, it looks like the old fart finally got tired. Hi ho.