The story goes that an old farmer was sitting on his porch one morning. He was looking down the state highway that ran in front of his house, and saw a truck off in the distance. As he watched, one of the people in the truck got out, and picked up a shovel from the back of the truck. They dug a hole by the highway, and got back in the truck.
A little bit of time passed, and the other person got out of the truck, and picked up the shovel. They filled in the freshly-dug hole, and returned to the truck. They pulled forward about 50 yards and did it all over again: dug a hole, waited, filled in the hole, and pulled forward.
The farmer watched these two all morning as they approached his house, until finally they were close enough for him to yell out, "Hey! What are you two doing out there?"
The first person yelled back, "We're on the Highway Beautification Committee!"
Puzzled, the farmer said, "Beautification? I don't think I understand."
"Oh, well, the guy who plants the trees is out sick today."
