Stand Up and Be Counted

(Disclaimer: Icy photo was taken December 2007; thankfully, not today!)

The website proclaims:

The 2010 Census: It's in our hands.

Actually, Uncle Sam, it is not in my hands.

I'd like to stand up and be counted. I'd even sit down and be counted.

Heck, I just want to be counted.

So far, the County Line has not received a 2010 Census form. I've seen the repeated commercials. I am supposed to mail back my census form before April 16. That's tomorrow, just in case you haven't checked your calendar yet today.

Well folks, I'd love to mail back my census and avoid a visit from a census worker. But it's a bit difficult to mail back something you never received.

The website also reminds me how important it is to be counted.

"An accurate census will reflect changes in our communities and is crucial in apportioning seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and deciding how more than $400 billion per year is allocated for projects like new hospitals and schools."

I definitely want my little part of the the world to get its fair share of the pie, whether we're talking schools, hospitals, bridges, roads or emergency services. And, yes, I suppose even if we're talking about Congress.

I know counting can be a complicated thing. On occasion, one of my jobs is to help count baby calves that happen to be on my side of the pickup cab. That's all well and good, but baby calves don't know they are supposed to remain in one location until you get them counted. They have a tendency to romp and frolic through the pasture. And sometimes a calf that started out on Randy's side darts into my line of sight.

So I know it's tough when the target you're counting is moving. However, I have not moved for the past 24.5 years.

So it shouldn't be THAT hard to count me.

The website says that if you didn't receive a form by April 12, you are to call a toll-free phone line. That is exactly what I did this week.

And I will tell you the "hundreds of thousands of workers" the U.S. government says it needed to hire as census workers are not answering the phones.

I talked to a nice automated lady about them overlooking me.

So we'll see if the problem is corrected. But I'm pretty sure it's not going to be by April 16. I definitely don't want the government spending more of my money to drive to the County Line (and two miles north to our hired man's house where they also didn't get a census form).

So, on this April 15 - known to all as Tax Day in America - I am wondering if they are going to have to spend more of my tax money to personally come and visit me on the County Line.

(By the way, my tax day - like many farmers and other self-employed business people - was back on February 28. The government has already been using my tax money for a month and a half, thank you very much!)

Sigh ... Big, BIG sigh ...