My partner and I used to ride for an old "cowboy" sometimes — usually for rounding, branding, earmarking, vaccinaing, etc. — but one day we were all at his and his wife's home-place, periodically going out to check on some heifers due to calve any minute. Dale's (the old cowboy's) wife was reading a "rumor rag" (a VERY local "newspaper) at the kitchen table and piped up, "Oh, Dale, it says here…" and went on and on. Dale never twitched (the rest of us were reading various things too).
Eventually, his wife realized that nothing was going on and switched to berating Dale for not wearing his hearing aid — just as we were leaving to go out to the calving-corral again. She continued to get no response and once we were out of the house, I asked, "Dale, how come you don't wear your hearing aid?" My partner piped up, "Yeah." Dale replied, "Aww, hell boys, I've heard about enough."
My partner and I just about choked, what with all our laughing. I figured it just goes to show that there's sometimes method to one's madness and have borrowed that phrase every so often myself.