We Made It! Happy New Year!

Billy Joe Royal at the Strand

Above: About 50 years ago.

Below: December 31, 2008


Billy Joe gave a great lively concert. One thing he said that impressed me was something to the effect that when he thinks back on Marietta teenage years he remembers a lot of laughter. That is true.

Tonight during his concert brought back plenty of memories, which I will try to cipher and put in orderly paragraphs in the next day or so.

Retirement Luncheon

Anna’s retirement luncheon was yesterday at the Olive Garden. About 40 people came. Most of the people were from her previous work places, within the Defense Contracts complex. And also our immediate family.

People kept coming in that I haven’t seen in years. I told Anna, “all these people look older than the last time I saw them.”

One of the ladies that came was D. D. worked with Anna when she first started. Back then D. drove a VW Bug, named something, and a Boston bulldog named Dixie. D. worked with Anna and in the evenings she and I carpooled to college.

Once we skipped class and went to her apartment complex where a beer party was going on. I met D’s friend, an ex-nun, who was talented in guzzling beer. She had some profound statements to make about this and that and I fooled her in thinking I was a profound thinker myself…. You don’t have to be smart to be profound, yuk yuk.

This past year D. went out west to see her family and somehow got caught up in a flashflood. She had to be rescued from the top of her car.

Yesterday when I tried to talk to her I could tell she had no idea what I was saying. When we carpooled she had a hearing aid…. Now, she has implants and can’t hear a sound…. I even tried to communicate mime style only for her to try to keep from giggling. However, Anna did a good job communicating with her because she used her mouth and lips to deeply pronounce words…. Since I mostly mumble I was lost.

It was enjoyable watching people – like two men there, I knew did not get along at all. You would think they were the best of buddies.

Another lady was the wife of Anna’s ex-boss. I met her at a DoD work related seminar in Jacksonville. At one time we worked at the same post office and we both had the same type of arm injury. We both had our rotator cuff jerked out of the socket. We both remembered and compared our present pains. We both can’t sleep through the night.

One single male retiree is a staunch Democrat and his ex-coworker is a single female retiree staunched Republican. We get emails from both of them forwarding their point of views. It was good to see that face to face they just kidded each other for the party each belonged to and not the point they wanted to make.

I got to match faces with many of the names I have heard about in the past couple of years. I think I pretty much guessed who was who before being introduced.

Anna's mother Marie came. Marie worked in the same DoD office Anna started, only Marie retired several years before. Several of the older heads who worked with Anna also worked with Marie - so, in a way it was a homecoming for her.

The food was good, or pretty good, and the company was good. I think they gave Anna a nice send-off.

Overall, I think people came to see each other. Anna was the focal point. They hugged her and/or gave her a card then started mingling with their old or current co-workers.

Funerals sometime serve the same purpose.

As far as Anna’s work – she is OUTTA THERE!

Will Elder in The NY Times

Click on either picture to see the details.

My son Rocky came across this article in the New York Times Magazine by David Hajdu about my late hero, Marx Brothers-styled-anarchist cartoonist Will Elder (it also explains CHICKEN FAT):

Click here for Will Elder in NY Times


Note - the below page in PANIC comicbook is what Hajdu is talking about.

A Brief History of the U.S.S.R. (Soviet Union)

86 years ago on this date, December 30, 1922, The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.) was founded. It consisted of fifteen individual countries.

In 1968 The Beatles recorded a song titled BACK IN THE USSR.

In 1991, after 69 years, the USSR disbanded; fizzled out; poof!

Rev John Henry Lance (1834-1890)

Concerning family history on this blog, lastly mentioned was Samuel Riley Lance that came with his wife Rebecca Hunter (my relative) to Union County, after shooting a man in a duel and decided it was a nice place for his family to be.

Sam and Rebecca had a dozen children. One of them, Harriet, you have already met.

The oldest child was John Henry Lance (1834-1890). He married Sarah Caroline Turner (1841 – 1916) and they too had a dozen children. Because of his unusual death I had featured him before, and well, here we go again*.

Here is what I have in my genealogical notes about John Henry Lance:

John Henry Lance moved to Union County, Georgia, when he was six years old.
John grew to adulthood in Union County, and was always ready participant in the rough and tumble games of the mountain boys. He earned a reputation of being one of the toughest individuals in Choestoe and seldom lost a fight. The tenacity of his fighting spirit would accept defeat and in the end he prevailed. He was fearless and it is reputed that he would "look a wild cat in the eye and then spit in its face". John readily took to drinking mountain 'shine but it only drove him into committing more boisterous acts, which further added to his reputation.
But something good happened to John when he married Caroline Turner, the daughter of Jarrett Turner in 1857. He settled down, laid the old ways aside and started rearing a family.
He farmed and they lived in a small cabin alongside Lance Creek at the foot of Lance Mountain. John taught himself to read, write, and sometimes later became a Methodist minister. John remembered how he acted when he was drinking, so regardless of his text he always got around to condemning the practice and he always spiced his sermons with a multitude of "amen, amen, amen."
Rev. John was preaching at Hoods Chapel, a church some five miles from his house. On the trail leading from his house to the church, Tom Swain and Fred Cannup had set up a "wildcat still" in plain view of all who traveled the trail. They were openly flaunting the law and corrupting the good name of Choestoe, so Rev. John called on them at their illicit place of business and demanded that they cease their operation. Threats were tossed about as to what would happen if anyone or anything interfered in their business.
A short time later on February 17th 1889, Rev. John Lance preached at Hoods Chapel. He chose as a text, Matthew 25, verses' 1-13, the parable about the virgins. It has been passed down that he preached with a fury like he might have some sort of premonition about the death and he was afraid that he might have much more time to speak out on this evil. He closed with "watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour when the Son of Man cometh".
On the way home, he passed the home of Tom Swain where a crowd had gathered and were having a drinking party. The crowd started taunting Rev. Lance by saying mockingly "amen, amen, amen". Rev. Lance wasn't intimidated by this drunken crowd and he kept on walking. They became so enraged that some of them took a near cut, went straight over the ridge and hid behind a big fir tree that was adjacent to Wolf Creek. When Rev. Lance came by they brutally assaulted him. His neck was cut almost entirely around and was held on by only small strip of flesh. The wind pipe was completely severed and the rest of his body was covered with a multitude of deep cuts and stabs. He was so mutilated that T.J. Butt, a member of the coroner's jury remarked that he "had never seen such a fiendish attack."
Jim Lance, the second oldest son, lead the posse that hunted down the murderers. Tom Swain's sons, Frank and Newt were arrested for this brutal murder but only Frank was found guilty and he was given a sentence of Life imprisonment. He served thirteen years before he was paroled. Frank Swain went directly to Tolar, Texas, and never dared come back to Union Co., for the rage that consumed Jim Lance had not abated one iota.
This murder indirectly touched every citizen of Union Co., and directly changed the life of the Lance family.

*I am not above plagiarism of myself.

I Received the Highest Honor...

Above - Notice the fine detailed art work by Wallace Wood.

I was given a life-time membership of the now defunct EC FAN-ADDICT CLUB yesterday by Pappy. He knows how much I am an EC Addict.

I have been a EC-Fan since the 7th grade (1952) when Archie R. introduced me to MAD comicbook #4 which first story was SUPERDUPERMAN illustrated by Wallace Wood. There was also story lampooning THE SHADOW illustrated by Will Elder.

The comic was a rebel – it poked fun of everything – sacred or not. It was freewheeling with seemingly so restrictions. I dropped all school work and projects and concentrated on swooping up the back issues of MAD and always looking for new issues.

And by then I discovered EC publishing Company that published MAD also had a line of Horror, War, and Science Fictions comics. I had to have them all.

My life changed. I almost failed the 7th grade.

The EC FAN-ADDICT CLUB was going strong when I first learned of the comicbooks but I think it cost $2 to join. Who had that kind of money.

So, now, late in life, I think I have the $2 fee almost saved up and I was giving a life time membership.

My first thought was being proud… then my second thought was “didn’t the EC fan club disband when the comics quit publishing?”

And my 3rd thought was “It doesn’t matter – being a EC Fan is a state of mind that indeed is for a lifetime.

Thanks Pappy!

Pigs in Marietta

The above is a Google Earth View looking down on the top of Blackjack Mountain in Marietta. At the bottom left of the center the round green things are huge water tanks. Beside the tanks a road goes by, which is Barnes Mill Road. Watch Barnes Mill Road curve around and on the left is a little lake or big pond. Take note – I’ll get back that it in a minute.

We just watched on TV a show on pigs. It showed how pigs are massed produced and most are slaughtered when they are only six months old and they stay in the same little cubical all their lives until they take their only walk, which is also their final walk to the slaughter room. Some keel over dead of exhaustion because the walk is too much for them.

They don’t even get to have sex to reproduce. They are artificially inseminated.

The pork business is very sad.

It made me think of when I was growing up in the south side of Marietta. Several of my neighbors had hogs that seemed to have spent their entire life wallowing in a small pen in slop, so I don’t suppose they had it much better. They were usually slaughtered on the first real cold day of the year, around Thanksgiving.

Some of the neighbors had cows and some, including us, had chickens. I don’t recall any other section in the Marietta city limits that would tolerate livestock except our section. I can’t imagine anybody on the Westside of town having hogs or chickens (maybe horses), and none on the east side.

I guess we on the Southside were special… or, as they probably looked at it, the livestock probably kept us off welfare.

I think our area was the only area that tolerated outhouses – so that gives you an idea how we rated on the social register.

Back to the lake on top of Blackjack Mountain: In our early teenage years we used to go to that lake and swim. The owner worked at Lockheed and had the little lake on his property which had a little dock. Back when very few people lived on the mountain we came across the lake during our wanderings and went to the house, knocked, and asked the owner if he would mind if we went swimming there sometime. He said he didn’t mind but he said we must come to the door and ask permission each time.

No problem.

Within a day we were back with our bathing suits and swimming. The water was very cold. I suppose it was spring water – how else did it get on top of a mountain?

Now, as you can tell by the picture the top of the mountain is covered in houses and apartments. Then, it was all woods and big rocks with only a few houses and farms. A nice place to ramble around and explore.

Quiet a few times that summer we would go there, asked permission, and splash away.

As you walk into his dirt driveway off Barnes Mill Road the driveway went by a pig pen with a few pigs in it, then it went over the damn and curved around to their house.

One time we brought the late Jimmy Pat Presley with us. Jimmy Pat enjoyed talking to the pigs on our way in. He got a stick he found on the ground and stuck it up a female’s vagina. The female started squealing in ecstasy and started hunching the stick . While hunching the stick we realized it was an old dead stick and it broke inside her, leaving only a short piece sticking out. Then the pig sat down on her rear end and felt the stick even doing more wonders to her. She found if she sat on her hine-quarters and scooted – well, she was a very happy squealing pig.

We decided not to go swimming that day…. Or there, ever again. We didn’t want to show our faces. We walked back home with us cursing Jimmy Pat all the way and he was laughing all the way.

Radio City Music Hall Born Today

On this date 76 years ago (1932) Radio City Music Hall opened at Rockefeller’s Center in New York City. It was the brainchild of John D. Rockefeller.

The old goat knew what the public wanted didn’t he?

I wonder if the Rockettes were also thought up by John D.? Dirty old man!

When I was in the Navy stationed in New Jersey we went to Radio City Music Hall. It was always a pleasure to see those long legged high kicking Rockettes do a very well choreographed number.

Several years later, Anna and I returned to New York City and went to Radio City. We stood in line to see the movie SUNFLOWER starring Sophia Loren. Her and her director/producer husband were there and walked out on stage for a bow – after the Rockettes of course, first things first.

In the Navy occasionally we would go to Murphy’s Bar on the beach not far from our base and one of the regulars was an aged positive thinking Rockette. That was her claim to fame.

Another regular was Barney a little drunk who delivered newspapers – he went by “Barney the Paper Boy” with no claim to fame.

Let Your Memory Fill in the Missing Part

If you were living in Marietta, say before 1960, and was at least a teenager your memory can probably complete the picture. You are looking at what was the Marietta Train Depot then. To the right is the Kennesaw House and to the left, jutting out of the border about half-way, is only a roof corner of a building.

You memory may have reminded you of the railroad building with the loading docks that went around it. One side would be for unloading the train and the other dock on the opposite side of the building was for loading the same stuff onto trucks, or visa versa.

If you materialized in Marietta after the 60s the building roof corner would do nothing for your memory. The building was bulldozed away many years ago.

And then your mind wouldn't remember the Texaco Station on Whitlock Avenue which was directly behind it. The Krystal eatery is there now.

Santa Baby Eartha Kitt died Christmas Day

Eartha Kitt, the lady who sung the blues with dignity and also "Santa Baby" died yesterday, December 25, 1981, at age 81.

She was also Catwoman in the BATMAN TV series.

She started her career singing in the cotton field of South Carolina and became very successful as a singer and entertainer.... and she did a good job meowing and hissing as Catwoman.

Now That It Is Over...

and I have opened my presents.

MERRY CHRISTMAS and/or HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

I Got an Award!!! Merry Christmas!!!

I want to thank the National Eddie Hunter Blog Award Association for awarding me the annual THE BEST BLOG EVER AWARD. That is the best Christmas present ever! I really appreciate it.

Here is the letter they sent me to congratulate me:

Dear Mr. Eddie Hunter,

As CEO of the national Eddie Hunter Greatest Blog Ever Annual Award I want to be the first to congratulate you for winning this year’s annual award, The Best Blog Ever.

Of course you won it last year and the year before, and in all likelihood you will win it next year. Keep up the good work.

And before anybody thinks out loud that the name of the winner and the name of the award and the name of the committee are the same next me assure you that I was completely impartial when I judged… a lesson I took from watching Republicans and Democrats.

Let me read to you Mr. Hunter what the plaque says: Again, you have been awarded the Best Blog Ever award by our impartial committee of one. As you know to qualify you have to live within certain geographically boundaries, in this case on the north side of the Street of Corene Drive Marietta, Georgia. Your competitors this year was Jim, your 87 year old neighbor on one side and Kathleen, your 88 year old neighbor on the other side. Frankly, Mr. Hunter we thought one of your neighbors would probably win and the other one come in second, but then we discovered neither one had a computer, so it looks like you win by default…. And Kathleen came in second because she has an answering machine and knows how to use it.

Congratulations again Mr. Eddie Hunter until the competition begins next year.

Sincerely,

Eddie Hunter
CEO of the EDDIE HUNTER BEST BLOG EVER Award Committee.

Wow! This makes my Christmas the best.

Also, the Eddie Hunter Blog Award Association wanted me to remind you that we cannot give these incentive awards without your donations. Please send plenty of money so we can keep up this worthy event.

Christmas Shopping at the Last Minute

I heard on The Today Show this morning something like 24 million Americans have not even started their Christmas shopping yet.

Those are the ones that are likely to make quickly expensive decisions while doing their last minute shopping.

It also reminds me of a time BK that our Schnauzer Schatzi had puppies. We bred her with another registered Schnauzer so the pups were purebred. We ran an ad and didn't get much of a response until Christmas Eve Day. We sold pups all day long.

That day we only received one bad check and it was from somebody you would think least likely. I knew her son and daughter. The old hag was wealthy, just not much of a check balancer. We had to run the check through several times to get our money.

Rush Whour

There are two or three RUSH HOUR movies out staring Jackie Chan and Tom Wilkinson. They are uniquely named RUSH HOUR, RUSH HOUR II, and maybe RUSH HOUR III.

I am not sure what the RUSH HOUR movies about, I never watched one from beginning to end. I know there are a whole lot of high energy fighting from all sorts of heights and moving equipment. I know Jackie Chan and Tom Wilkinson are the good cops, maybe for different agencies, and the guys they are fighting off like flies are the bad guys. I guess that is all I need to know.

While channel surfing the other week, too sick to do anything else, I came upon this scene which cracked me up. It almost rates up there with Abbot and Costello’s “Who’s On First?” routine.

Jackie and Tom have a bad guy tied to a chair interrogating him. I need to point out some things here. Jackie is Asian; Tom is black; and the bad guy is also Asian.

When they start interrogating him they realize he does not speak English, he only speaks French. Jackie and Tom find a translator who is a elderly nun.

Tom asks the buy guy a question and the nun speaks to him in French. He says something hateful and she turns around and says, “I’m afraid he called you the “N” word sir.”

Tom: “He what…? That mother F….” (then remembers he is talking to a nun) says, “Tell him his mother is a H!”

Jackie: “You mean his mother is a W…..”

Tom, “You sure?… ok, tell’em that!” to the nun.

The bad guy spits out some more hatred in French. The nun says, “I’m afraid he called you the “N” word again, sir.”

Then he insulted Jackie and Jackie gets mad. Jackie says, “Tell him he is a A. W.!”

The nun says, “I’m pretty sure that is ‘A. H.’ sir.”

Maybe you would have to had been there.

Will Elder on You Tube

Above - excellent biography of Will Elder

If you have read Chicken Fat for long you know I have a special warmth inside for me the old vintage MAD comic book and its early artists. …. Or is that warmth just a ball of upchuck ready to projectile itself out?

As I was saying, early MAD still remains in my mind and still influences my twisted way of thinking. Which brings up the name of this blog CHICKEN FAT, which I swiped from Will Elder (1921-2008). Will died May 15 this year. Will is credited for setting the standards of MAD art.


These two YouTubes are tributes of Willie sort of. Just click on and enjoy:


Will Elder You-Tube One

Will Elder You-Tube Two

Eggnog Research

We had some unspiked eggnog yesterday evening.

The taste reminded me of a time in the middle 1940s that we went to visit my grandmother in Rossville, Georgia, at Christmas time. Grandma, her daughter and grandson lived on top of a big hill. One of her sons was currently living with them and had a job at a grocery in nearby Chattanooga. He was just home from his hitch in the Navy during the War. His name was Osmo.

Osmo had some eggnog he kept from view. He whispered something to his two brothers Bill and Leonard and they stepped in a little room and they passed the eggnog bottle around. All three bothers passing the bottle around had been in the war. Bill in the Army and Leonard inthe Navy.

I don’t remember the two oldest brothers Tom and Wallace participating in passing the eggnog jug… or the two son-in-laws, my father and Cecil.

Except me. I was about 6 or 7 years old. I begged and pestered Osmo wanting a drink of the secret potion. Osmo finally handed me the bottle but not before looking off towards the front of the house to see my mother talking to her siblings.

The eggnog was rich and potent. But at least I had enough sense to have one gulp and quick. After all, it was just research.

Happy Winter!

Old Man Winter is now officially here.

Enjoy!

Have Gun, Will Move

Back in the early years of the United Sates times were wilder. It was a time for survival of the fittest. Differences of opinion and insults were often settled by duals, which were legal.

Also, legal, was having stand-ins. If you were the sickly type but had money you could hire someone to replace you in your duel.

It was truly a time for the survival of the fittest and the bullies. With that in mind, you mind want to take time to reflect, wondering how your family got through those times.

Not long ago I did a posting on Harriet Lance Frady (1838 - ? ). Harriet was the daughter of Samuel Riley Lance (1814 – 1895) and Rebecca Hunter (1812 – 1898). Rebecca was the daughter of my g-g-g-grandfather John Hunter.

Samuel Riley Lance was a stand-in duelist.

A friend of his (Samuel R. Lance), whoes name has long since been forgotten, was to have a duel with a fellow from Union County, and as fate would have it he became sick, not being able to fill the appointed date. Dueling custom has it that if you are sick you have the right to name a replacement, so Samuel Lance, being noted as a fighting man, was chosen to fight in his stead. He came to Union County by request, to uphold the honor of a friend, fought the duel and won, leaving his adversary, against whom he had no malice, lying motionless up the ground.
He came to Union County in the Spring of 1839. He returned to Buncombe County and told his brothers and moved his family one year later.
- From BLOOD MOUNTAIN COVENANT, A SON'S REVENGE pp7-8, by Charles E. Hill.

Now, here is what I am wondering: Who came first to Union County, Georgia, first Sam Riley Lance and his wife Rebecca or Rebecca’s father John?

Union County was opened to the white man about 1832, or shortly thereafter. I think the Indian treaty was void in 1832, when gold was discovered in North Georgia, and after that the white man came.

Someplace I read that it is believed John Hunter built his cabin in the mid 1830s. Sam and Rebecca’s first three children were born in North Carolina, about 1834, 1836, and 1837. Their first child to be born in Georgia (Union County) was 1838.

I am beginning to think John came after his son-in-law and daughter Sam and Rebecca’s recommendation. In other words, did John Hunter and family come after his son-in-law shot and killed and man and say, “Hey, this is a nice place!!

Carter Valley

Here is a nice sedate scene on Blackwell Road near Marietta. It is only a stone’s throw from Transfiguration Catholic Church, which is on the other side of the creek.

The beautiful property and pond is owned by a fireman who developed it from scratch. I remember when it was in the developing stages it was always interesting to ride by ever so often and see a little change in his house or land… and the little changes are grouped together and became a big change. On a walk once I stopped and talked to him, he was very friendly and told me to drop by and see him anytime. It had been a few years since we talked, but if I remember right, we had a few friends in common who were firemen.
Lets call the nice fireman Mr. We.

Across the street behind a high chain-link fence is German Shepard looking dog who doesn’t like people walking near his turf and runs back and forth barking demands onto them…. Oooh, only if he could leap that high fence, he would show them a thing or two. One of the things he would show them is his urine border line… it will stand up in any nature law court.

Real Story in Macon County, NC

I like to read but sometimes I just don’t like to read fiction, so I dip into a history book or something of that nature.

Currently I am reading THE HERITAGE OF MACON COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA. I have been through it before, plucking out relatives from the index but this time I am reading family histories whether they are related are not. There are some very interesting reading – sometimes the truth is, well, you just couldn’t make up stuff like this:

This is a very chopped down version of a story of one family.

Joseph Morgan (1838 – 1919), his two brothers, and uncle joined the Confederate Calvary June 1862 and were in Company C, 7th Battalion, which became 2nd Co, G, 65th Regiment, NC.

His brothers and his uncles were killed and George was wounded at the Battle of Chickamauga, September, 1863. He was wounded the same day he saw “up close” his Confederate Cavalry hero General Nathan Bedford Forrest. He was awed over seeing the general. The wound in his left hand was somewhat mangled and several pieces of shot under the skin of his right arm. He never had the shot taken out because he got it the day he saw Forest, which gave him bragging rights when telling his grandchildren about it.

Joe accidentally his shot his eye out with a muzzle-loading gun. It backfired.

In 1886, his oldest son Albert accidentally killed his mother Ethel (Joe’s wife) while shooting at a chicken with the same gun that put Joe’s eye out. Albert was devastated. He went west for a short time then in the 1890s went to the Alaska Gold Rush.

Joe’s married the second time to Lillie. She and Joe had nine children. Lillie died in 1927 after collapsing with a heart attack in the Burningtown Road.

This article was submitted by David C. Duvall.

AUSTRALIA - the movie

Yesterday, we were to go to the High Museum in Atlanta to see the Chinese Terracotta Army traveling tour exhibit…. We even had an appointed time to be there.

But Anna wasn’t sure I was up to it, still recuperating from pneumonia and I still don’t have my strength fully back – so we canceled our appointment and reappointed it later.

The doctor told us for someone my age to fully regain their strength after pneumonia is from six to eight months.

So, instead we chose to go to a new theater nearby to see AUSTRALIA which was written and directed by Baz Luhmann and staring Nichole Kidman, Hugh Jackson, and a little boy who stole the show by his boyish expressions and high energy – I can’t figure out his name by looking at credits on Google.

The new theater we went to has a gimmick that will probably draw us there again. Free soft-drink and popcorn refills. It has at least six theaters…. And well, the carpet looks new too.

We were the only two in the theater for the whole movie…. that was nice and private.

I don’t think the movie should have been named AUSTRAILIA. That is like calling a movie AMERICA and only showing a small segment of America history, like three or four years.

The story-line has been the theme of many movies… good vs evil with a war looming not far away and touching everybody lives. There is also a little bit of Popeye and OliveOil(?) in it – I am talking about the old black and white Popeye cartoons where Popeye and Bluto are always fighting and OlliveOyle (?) is always whining and whimpering in the background.

I feel it was a very educational on that little segment of Australian’s history and the customs and ways of the country. When we left the theater I felt that I had learned some things. For one, I didn’t know the Japanese attacked the shores of Australia, similar to Pearl Harbor.

And another thing which was excellent was the magnificent boundless Australian scenery. I think you need to see it on a big screen to do it justice.

So, would I see it again? Maybe, do I get free popcorn refills?

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SWEETHEART!!!

Harriet Lance

The lady sitting with her grandchildren (son Joe's children) is Harriet Lance Frady (1838 - ? ), Harriet was the daughter of Samuel Riley and Rebecca Hunter, and granddaughter to John Hunter, the first known Hunter settler of Union County, Georgia.

Harried was married to John Frady (1833-1906).

John fought in the CSA, Ga. 6th Calvary Volun. "The Blood Mountain Tigers" He grew up at the foot of Blood Mountain. In the war he was captured and sent to Chicago. When it became available John applied for a Confederate Soldier’s pension for multiple medical ailments.

After John died in 1906 Rebecca applied for and received a widow’s pension because she had a stroke that left her paralyzed and maybe blind.

Bird Proof Light Pole

See the light pole? Enlarge the picture and see the upper part lined with many sharp points to prevent birds from sitting on them. This is one of many light poles in downtown Marietta at the Square.

If the birds have no place to sit then why stick around?

Another nuisance problem solved by the City of Marietta. They are still working on the homeless people problem.

Thomas R. Trammell (c1821 - 1873)

A week or so ago here I had a picture of Margaret Jane Trammell and her husband and sons.

I mentioned her father had moved to Gentry Township, Benton County, Arkansas. I wish I had a picture of him. Picture or not, I came across some interesting text about him:

Thomas Trammell is among the names listed in one company mustered in for Rounding Up of Indians, May 1 1838, at Franklin, NC., and Mustred out July 16, 1838, at Franklin, NC.
-THE HERITGE OF MACON COUNTY NORTH CAROLINA, p5, - Macon County Historical Society.

The following was taken from the manuscript "Trammell, The Ancestors, Families, and Relatives of Thomas Fred Trammell and Gertrude Estella Lavell" by William J. Trammell, Rt. 2 Blountstown, FL 32423, Jan. 1996.

Thomas and wife Rebecca Prewett went to Arkansas about 1848 from Georgia. Their daughter Margaret Jane was born in Georgia. Son Luther K. was born in Arkansas, 1849. They settled on Flint Creek south of what latter became the town of Gentry, Arkansas. (This was near the spring by the Dave Linsey place). They met the requirements for homestead patents. According to deed records of Benton County, Arkansas a bounty Land Warrant was issued in favor of Thomas R. Trammell, Private in Captain Angells Company, N.C. Volunteers, Cherokee War, in District of lands subject to sale at Fayetteville, Arkansas containing 40 acres on June 13,1856 by President Franklin Pierce.
Thomas didn't believe in slavery and was called a "Black Republican". During the Civil War he took his family north into Missouri. When they returned their buildings were destroyed and squatters were on their prior property, so they settled north of what became in 1893, Gentry, Arkansas, in the area to be known as Trammell School District.
The first school in the area was a subscription school held in a log house with split log seats and instead of desk a shelf fastened to the logs on the side of the walls. The log house also used for Church. In 1873 Rufus Brown taught school in another log cabin that later became the home of Bill (William Jahue) and Mary Ellen Trammell. This is where Bill went to 2-3 month term school. Later Bill gave land for the school house that was built and used till the consolidation with Gentry School District. When the consolidation took place Bill was very much disturbed about it and it was said that he wanted to burn the Trammell school. Vinson R. bought the building in the 1950's and tore it down for the lumber.
Thomas R. Trammell died of sunstroke, Gentry, Arkansas, and is thought to be buried at Blagg-Duckworth Cemetery, between Siloam Springs, and Gentry neat Siloam Springs City Lake, With an unmarked native stone marker.

One of the things interesting here is that apparently Thomas was against slavery and the south's succession. I'm not sure that is the same Thomas Trammell who jointed the Confederacy from Macon County,Georgia. There was several cousin-Thomas Trammells in Macon County at the time.

After the killing in Macon County, a couple of Thomas's sisters and his brother Van moved to Gentry County, Arkansas, where their brother lived. The killing in Macon County was over an heated argument about slaver, with Van taking the pro-slavery position and then it appeared he took refuge with his brother who also believed in Anti-slavery, the same as Mr. Lambert, who Van had recently killed because the same beliefs.

I bet they had some lively discussions around the dinner table.

Be Careful of Who You Meet

Getting back to Craig’s List, and similar transactions: I think in just about every situation that a deal is made on the phone to sell something in cash it is for your best interest to well, lookout for your ass. There may be a secret agent nearby to grab the money or merchandise and run. So, naturally, you would want to make the transaction as much in the public as possible. Because believe it or not, not everybody are angels.

In 1995 The Atlanta Braves were in the World Series. I Googled this to make sure of the date. A then-co-worker’s son somehow came across a bunch of World Series tickets. I think the serve held back a couple for him and his dad and put the others up for sale, in the want-ads I suppose.

Some guy called him and they agreed on a price and where to meet for the exchange: On North Avenue in Atlanta at a BP Station across from the Varsity.

They met and before the money and tickets could swap hands the purchaser pulled out a very big knife and demanded the tickets without payment. My friend’s son anticipated something like that may happen and just as quick pulled out a gun.

The stood facing each other, each with their weapon of choice. I think the person running the BP Station probably called 911 and they arrived.

Needless to say, the deal was cancelled. I forgot the details. But I think the bad guy was arrested and the son was let go with his tickets, which he sold to somebody else.

As the roll-call Sergeant in Hill Street Blues used to say, “Be careful out there.”

Employees and Products

This is the Marietta Coca-Cola Bottling Company years ago before my time.
After it outgrew itself it moved to Roswell Road on a hill overlooking downtown Marietta. My uncle-in-law-to-be Bill Mc, after his Army hitch got a job at the Coca-Cola company.

One of the benefits of the job was that employees were welcome to drink Cokes all day long, free. It turned my uncle into a diabetic. He had to shoot himself with insulin the rest of his life.

He changed jobs to W.T. Anderson Chevrolet dealer in the parts department. There, if he chose to own a vehicle, it had to be a General Motors product.

That doesn’t seem right does it? – for your employer to have the right to dictate what you do with your money.

Which doesn’t not fit my image of W.T. Anderson, who I always thought was fair and just….. but it does fit the image a of a business man, which he was a very successful one.

I wonder if today’s auto-worker has to purchase a vehicle made by the company he worked for? If so, it might help, to bail one out from within… pull one’s feet up by their own bootstraps, so to speak.

Taking Care of Maw & Paw

I am still recuperating from my pneumonia.

If this sickness-bout has nothing else positive about it, it did teach me how to spell pneumonia. I was so bad trying to spell it I could not even get close for spell-check to figure out what I was trying to say.

Now I can spell it.

Also, while sick, I have lost 9 pounds in about 8 or 9 days.

Today Anna’s computer froze up on her and we did what usually works: turn it off and turn it back on. Then it still didn’t work so we changed batteries in her wireless mouse and her wireless key-board and it still didn’t work. She called our son Adam and he walked her though everything and had it back working in no time.

And later the doorbell rang. It was a delivery man delivering a basket of fresh fruit from Edible Arrangements. Our other son Rocky and his fiancé had ordered it for me, because I am ailing. The Edible Arrangements is a basket of fresh fruit, carved to look like a colorful bouquet… bursting with color pedal shapes with stars and all. Not only was it pretty – it is very good… juicy.

The picture above doesn’t do it justice. I should have taken off the plastic cover first – then take the picture, but once the cover was off we clawed it out of shape.

We will finish it up tomorrow.

That's our boys!

WRNG RADIO Came and it Went

Cash only, nice doing business with you, and watch your back. That is the way of pulling off a good deal quickly, which off-hand I am thinking of Craig’s List.

Recently we have dealt with Craig’s List on several occasions. It is a simple – you want something you are willing to pay for and someone near you, unknown to you, has that something for sale. Or visa-versa. It is just a matter of getting you two to bump noses.

What a neat new concept. Well, it may not be all that new – want ads have been in newspapers for years. I guess, it is not a new concept, but with the Internet results seems to be quicker – we have found out in only hours we got results.

This instant apply and get an instant reply reminds of a radio station in the Atlanta area in the early 1970s with the call letters WRNG AM. Or it may have been WRING, but I think it was the first. WRING hosted talk the call-in-athon all day long. They had a good news program, nationally and locally, and had various call in shows for various tastes. I remember they had two ladies Mickey and Teddy who hosted their liberal call-in-show who were very good at proving a point and of course for an equal balance was the conservative right-wing call-in show. I think I remember a professional gardener had a show, as well as a home maintenance hour, and of course a pet hour.

On weekends they had BARTERNG (catch the RNG) hour or two on both days. The concept was that if you had something to sell you call and speak out in the airwaves and leave your telephone number. And if someone liked what you had to offer they called and made arrangements to see this thing.

We gave away a puppy that way, but not without receiving one abusive call making suggestive sexual remarks. Jerk!

WRNG Radio was a powerful voice for several years with a big appeal. But something happened – maybe the novelty wore off it – it sort of withered away…. I’m sure there is a story why.

Cousin Margaret's Family

This is Thomas Gaines Murray (1848 – 1914) and his family. They are probably in Arkansas or Oklahoma. They spent their child producing years in Arkansas and finished up their lives in Oklahoma. His wife sitting behind him is my first cousin, 3 times removed, Margaret Jane Trammell (1847 – aft 1910). Margaret is/was the daughter of Thomas R. Trammell and Rebecca Truitt…. Who suddenly “left town” after the killing that his brother Van Trammell and his nephew William A. Trammell were accused of having a hand in.

Standing behind them are their sons, Luther, James, and Benjamin Murray. Luther and James were minors and Benjamin was a farm laborer.

James married Myrtle Emaline Griffin (c1879 – 1908). They had a daughter named Tice born about 1904.

Myrtle was murdered while in the process of getting a divorce. And that is all I know about this family.

Have You Ever...

Have you ever wanted to jump up on a table and start tap dancing and then gracefully leap to the next table to continue your performance – then maybe take a run across the room and leap, then, landing in a sliding motion on a knee you have thrust out just for that… and as you slide have both arms out to receive the applause?

Sliding a few feet on your knee is the last thing before the teacher snatches you up by the ear and marches you to the principal’s office. It happens.

On this date in 1929, at age 18, Ginger Rogers makes her Broadway musical debut in Top Speed.

41 Years Ago….

Forty-one years ago this date, December 9, 2008, was forty-one years ago this date, December 9, 2008.

I'm Back!

Now, you are to back up, put your hands to your mouth and scream and trip and fall backwards. It is all in the script.

I am been sick for almost week with a bout of pneumonia. I didn’t realize when you cough with pneumonia you chest feels as if it being crushed by pounds of cut up glass that somehow got into your lungs.

I found it paid, in less pain, only take quick breaths to fool the Mean Mr. Pn.

The sickness also drained in of the little energy I had. I found myself lying around in a stupor most of the time not wanting to read, watch TV, to computer stuff, or anything else other than wallow in my misery.

I didn’t even have a appetite. I wanted nothing to eat – so, that proves I was very sick – sick beyond my comprehension.

I came down sick on Tuesday and it seemed to get worse every day with a few false feeling good moments… but I kept holding off. Then Friday when I woke up I could not move without even sharper pain. Enough is an enough.

We went to the Kennestone’s ER.

We arrived at 9:30am and left after dark. That happens at ERs – you stay a while. Except when it is a stroke or an heart-attack, then they rush you right through. I know.

I was giving a bunch of tests and x-rays which is all timely, and has to be coordinated… and all that ads up in minutes.

Anna wondered what they will find. Dreading appendicitis or a bad gall bladder I said I hope one them just for kicks lights a match near my anus and poof! a six foot blue flame shoots out and everything is fine… got rid of the gas problem!

Across the aisle from us we heard an elderly in pain. Her sharp talking husband was nice to her, even though she cut him down, corrected him, and generally rode him. They had New York accents! That was they way they communicated.

Apparently the old hag fell a few days ago and like me she put off going to the ER.

After hours and moaning and screaming I saw a young thick black hair doctor enter their room and begin talking to them. After a few sentences he said, “Where are you from?”
The man said, “Isn’t it oblivious? New York.”

“Where at?”

“Brooklyn.”

Then he said he was from upstate New Jersey – he named some little town , which is probably right across the Hudson from the Big Apple.

Then they got down to a direct confrontational conversation. He said he would not operate on that certain vertebrae as the ex-ray showed chipped or cracked because she had done that years ago. She said she knew where it hurt and it was right there. He more or less told her she didn’t know what she was talking about, put her hand on it, which she did and he said that is not the one the ex-ray showed damage….. they talked to each other in their New Yorkish stand-off for a brief time then came to a friendly agreement. I think it is a ritual thing.

After we were loaded with prescriptions and whatever else I were released.

The pain pills are a doozy. The other day it had me dreaming my old childhood friend Sam Streaking across the rows at the newly innovated The Strand Theater in Marietta.

Since then I have been getting slightly progressivelly better each little length time and this morning I woke up and breathed with no pain.

But I still have my coughing spasms…. Which hopefully will leave in its own good time too.

My Excuse is I'm Sick

I haven't banged out blog post in the past couple of days.

I'm sick.

Tuesday night I went to bed sick and wallowed in my sickness all night long and all day long. I feel like I have the flu or a serious virus or a chest cold.

My energy has been zapped.

Hopefully I'll be back at soon.

Mary the Wave

click on picture for larger boobs.
When I was in the Navy our helicopter squadron (HU-4) had no Waves. HU-4 was a seagoing squadron. Then, females were kept off ships. Now, I think many of the ships are coed vessels.

However, our squadron’s home was at NAS Lakehurst, New Jersey. There were a lot of waves… well, maybe not a lot, but you would see them in the chow hall, or when you had to go to the base personnel office, or to the dentist…. They were still a rare breed and I couldn’t help keeping my eyes off them… why did they join the Navy? I often wondered.

Finally a wave name Mary started drinking with us at the EM club. She had more masculine mannerisms than we did…. She had a great wit. One time after lights out, which I think was at 10:00pm, visited our barracks with the help of Don…. They had too much to drink at the EM Club and she came in on a dare.

She was always taking a chance which some of it got her in tight spots – like the time a SP patrolman tried to rape her in the back of his gray SP Security Van…. But he got caught right in the nick of time by his fellow-SPs and I think he got into trouble. I’ll have to tell that story some time… or maybe I already have… yep, I think I have.

Hoorah! No More Mud-Throwing! and BS Slinging!

For a while anyway. Today is the real election day which also is the final election day for a while. No more political mud throwing … for a while.

Speaking of election days. Barbecue and elections sort of hand in hand, like a horse and buggy, love and marriage, fork and knife… what? We voted almost two weeks ago and also had barbecue for lunch at Sam & Dave’s BBQ #2 that same day, but a couple hours apart.

I remember going to a political kick-off when my late cousin Frank Hunter announced he was running for commissioner – he did it over a Williamson Brothers BBQ (catered).

BBQ always have mixed well with politics - I think they are both laced with bullshit and both have a lot of pig in them.

Getting back to Sam & Dave’s. We had friends for dinner last night and they told us Sam & Dave’s went out of business. We said we just ate there about a week ago.

I finally realized we were talking about two different Daves BBQs. Famous Dave’s BBQ was closing down. The menu ahead that we picked up shows that Sam & Dave’s BBQ#2 is still going strong – and I bet Sam & Dave’s BBQ #1 is too – we ate there about 3 weeks ago.

This couple is Daniel England (1818-aft 1897) and his wife Harriet Hunter (1821 – aft 1900). I think in this picture she was "with child". They are both buried in the Old Salem Church Cemetery in Union County, Georgia.

Harriet was the daughter youngest of John Hunter, my g-g-g-grandfather. John came to Union County with his family of 8 children in the mid 1830s. They lived in this cabin (the picture is a postcard), which the inside is about probably slightly smaller than an average family room today.

Later, after the children married and moved away, John’s daughter Martha, never married, stayed and cared for him. We assume his wife died long before.

After John died, about 1848, Daniel and Harriet and their children moved in the John Hunter cabin with Martha.

The postcard gives Daniel credit for building the cabin. I think that is probably because he was the first to actually get a deed on the land. Maybe in earlier times when John was a pioneer the new county of Union was not organized enough to have people filing deeds and all that fancy la-te-da stuff.

Daniel’s parents were Richard (1775 – 1835) and Patsy Montgomery (1789 – 1865). Richard and Patsy and their siblings are considered the founders of Helen, Georgia.

More Fish Pictures!!!

Above - Beluga Whales. I remember in some old movies a dumb blond would call her boy friend, in a joking way - "You big Beluga!" No, wait! That was Polooka, as in Joe Palooka, the boxer in the comics... which has nothing to do with the above.

These are some postcards I bought on our visit to the Georgia Aquarium last week that I forgot about.

Notice I said Georgia Aquarium instead of Atlanta Aquarium. I honestly thought it was the Atlanta Aquarium until I saw this postcard then it hit me at once.

Wow! Live and learn, right?

I am just trying to squeeze some more mileage out of that visit, that's all.


Crown Nose Rays. I doubt if you hear them call each other "Crown Nose"


Whale Sharks

Gwinnett County Courthouse, Lawrenceville, Ga

click for my-gawd bigness

Yesterday we went to a post-Thanksgiving Dinner, or Thanksgiving Phase II, with relatives in Lawrenceville, Georgia.

We drove through downtown Lawrenceville I couldn't help but admiring the regency beauty of their old Gwinnett County courthouse.

I made a mental note to take a picture of it on the way back home. By then it was even better, because more of a fog moved in to make the big building stand out even more.

By the way, in 1978, Larry Flint was shot down here by an unknown assassin, paralyzing him for life. Larry was on a lunch break at his trial for obscenity charges that was published in his HUSTLER magazine.

All Roads Lead From The Big Chicken

“You know where The Big Chicken is?” I have heard and used that question many times before directions in Marietta. Everybody in Marietta knows where The Big Chicken is. No one can miss it. It is high (56’), brightly color, and gaudy. Also The Big Chicken is at the intersection of two of the busiest traffic roads in Marietta, Roswell Street and Cobb Parkway (aka the 4-Lane).

From the Big Chicken to get to:

Lost Mountain Store. Turn out of the south parking lot going west. Drive across the 4-Lane, and stay on Roswell road through the downtown Square area – after that it becomes Whitlock Avenue. Cross the tracks and continue driving west. On the left you will see the new Marietta High School, then on the right you will see Kennesaw Memorial Cemetery – keep going several miles and it will on the right.

Kennesaw Mountain. Turn right on the 4-Lane going north. Two or three miles up turn left onto White Circle. It will come out on the Old 41 Highway, just across from the field of the mountain. Turn right and turn left onto Sylesboro Road.

Atlanta. Turn right on the northbound 4-Lane and proceed to so up a small hill then down a hill which at this point you will be going by White Water Amusement Park, and Richard Street will be on the left. The 4-Lane north will start and uphill climb. At the top of the hill turn right and follow the I-75-South signs until you are on the I-75 South. Just keep on driving…. Sorry, I don’t have the “All Roads Lead To The Big Chicken” to guide you back.

Blairsville. Again, get on the North 4-Lane and follow the I-75 signs, but this time the I-75 N. Get onto the I-75 N go four or five miles until you come to the exit for the I-575. Turn northbound on it and just stay on it. It changes names and numbers several times, but it is same road all the way to Blairsville.

Dobbins Air Force Base. Turn left (south) onto the 4-Lane and head south. You will go buy many car dealers and used car lots. The base will be on your right. After the base was a very famous adult entertainment night club. I don’t know if it is hot as it used to be, or they just found the right people to be friendly to.

Franklin, North Carolina. Again, follow the directions to the I-75 South. Get on it and proceed to the 285 East to Greenville, SC. Turn on it and stay until you get to I-85, then exit on it, Northbound and stay on it until you get to I-985 to Gainesville, Georgia. Turn on the I-985 and it will turn into the Hwy 23. Stay on it until it stops at Hwy 441, Turn left (North) and it will take you to Franklin.

Roswell. Turn left onto Roswell Road and drive straight Roswell, about ten miles away.

South Troy, Chicago: Turn north from the Big Chicken parking lot and you are on Cobb Parkway, also known as the 41 Highway. Go north until you enter the Chicago city limits. Take the 79th street exit, turn left to go over the expressway, and continue east several blocks until you come to Troy Street. Turn left.

Empire State Building,New York City: Essentially follow the same directions as to Franklin to get onto the I-85. Stay on I-85 to Virginia then skip to various highways until you find the right one. Work your way north through New Jersey and to through the Lincoln Tunnel under the Hudson River. On 42nd Street go several blocks down to Fifth Avenue and turn right and drive down to 33rd Street – or look for the tallest building around. If you get lost just ask any New Yorker – they love to give directions.

The water tank on top of Blackjack Mountain. Turn right onto north 4-Lane. Turn right at the first traffic light to get onto Gresham Road. Cross over the I-75 and turn left on Wallace Road. You will see some roadside shrine crosses as you pass Tip-Top Poultry. Go down the hill and cross over Marietta Parkway. Stay on Wallace Road until you come to the stop sign. Turn right onto Barnes Mill Road and drive up the mountain.

If you go in the daytime you may see goats and sheep alongside the road. If you go at night you will see beautiful Marietta Lights.

The Invisible Man Ponders Death in the Neighborhood

Last Tuesday our neighbor Tony died. Tony was 78. He and his family lived three houses down the street.

Tony had a stroke about two weeks ago and was rushed to the hospital. He improved enough for therapy and was sent to a nursing home that specialized in just that. Then he died.

Last May their son, in his 40s, died in their house. Apparently the son lost his job and his wife and was living with them. One day we saw a bunch of police cars, an ambulance, an emergency vehicle, and a fire truck – all with their lights flashing – parked in front of the house. I’m sure Tony and his wife was extremely upset over that.

While I was working out in the yard Wednesday and watching members of their huge family come and go I thought of another death. Directly behind them, Carl’s wife died on my birthday in July.

Carl grew up with Anna’s father and is a family friend. He is in his early 90s. He is a tall man. He has a deep voice and talks slowly and kindly. He reminded me of the donkey Eeyore in Winnie the Pooh.

I think Carl and his wife both has/had a form of cancer or leukemia.

Then it occurred t me that Carl’s wife was number two, Tony’s son was number one, and Tony was number three. There were three deaths on that block this year.

That sort of says something for theory of death comes in threes doesn’t it.?

The burial of Tony was yesterday. They did not have a funeral in a church or chapel, just graveside services.

We made two pecan pies. I walked them down and rang the doorbell – nobody came. I was counting on one friend or family member staying to keep an eye on the house – sort of a tradition.

I went back home and kept checking down the street waiting for the cars to arrive. When cars started arriving I walked down the pecan pies.

When I got even with their driveway was about the same time about 7 or 8 middle-aged good-old boys got out of their vehicles and were all walking and talking about car racing. They sort of fell in around me – they were in front of me, beside me, and behind me but they were talking among themselves like I wasn’t there. .. like I was invisible.

We walked up on the porch in formation and an older man held the door opened for us. Some of “us” decided to say on the porch and some walked on in. The older man nodded at me and told me to come on in. Aha! He spoke to me. I was there, just as I thought!

I gave the pies to the widow and told her we were terribly sorry and we will miss him. She introduced to me to the crowd as her neighbor, not by name. Well, at least she knew I was a neighbor, that is something. As I turned away I almost bumped into a lady I knew 30 years ago when I did a lot of photography. Then she worked in the camera department at K-Mart. I spoke and told her I knew her when she worked at K-Mart. I dealt with her almost daily. Then I knew her name, her family members’ name, and trials and tribulations of her life. She couldn’t quiet remember me she said… well, what else is new?

Christmas Season! Bah! HUMBUG!!

Black Friday opened the Christmas Season.

Tis the time to make the cash register jingle, ♫tra a la la ♪ la la

Which brings to mind this latest Fantagraphics catalog I received the other day.

The cover is a replica of Christmas wrap that HUMBUG magazine had for sale back in the late 1950a – or did they? The advertisement looked real… but that is part of subtle humor – be realistic. At a glance it looks like a repeated pattern of people kissing Christmas cheers. Look closer and compare. I think the art is either by Arnold Roth or Al Jaffee.

I think the reason they had that on the cover of their catalog because (1) it is the Christmas season and (2) it is their sly way of telling of preparing you or getting you in the mood for some Harvey Kurtzman, Will Elder, and Jack Davis stuff. Inside they said they are reprinting the eleven issues of the short-lived satirical magazine HUMBUG in two hardbound volumes. Now, is the time to put your name in they said.

Well, I would do just that, put my name in – but I already have twice in the past year ordered the pre-publish HUMBUG through Amazon, only to have them cancel it on me when it wasn’t ready as promised. They keep delaying the publishing date.

In this catalog they said it would be available February 2009. Right. We’ll see.

The date has already been pushed up a number of times.

I’m sure they thought of this: Each time they push up the date the target audience shrinks. Those eleven issues were definitely targeted for Kurtzman, Elder, and Davis fans of long ago – and at that time they were probably between the ages ten and twenty-five. Now, that same group of people are the ones likely and their ages are now classified as elderly.

The elderly die off everyday in big numbers.

I think if I was them I would hurry.



This is on the back of the catalog, which is another scene Christmas scene – this time by Will Elder.

Happy Black Friday!!

I remember in the early 60s the price of bologna went up in price. Why? Because a lot of people were buying it. One of the rules of economics is that price is based on demand. If masses of people were buying bologna it surely was in demand – right?

Wrong? It was the cheapest sandwich meat. When the price went up people quit buying it. Duh!

Now, I am wondering if the same will happen with the deep turkey fryer and peanut oil.

Twelve of us gobbled the gobbler yesterday here. I was the chef. As I have done many times before I deep cooked my turkey in peanut oil.

Before price wasn’t a consideration. It think the oil must have been fairly cheap, because as frugal as I am… well, I know me.

A few days ago we priced the peanut oil at Costco and their large container was $48. That was too much. At Walmart the price was $39 for their large container. I am assuming both containers were the size. We bought the Walmart brand.

Yesterday morning when I was preparing to cook I poured the peanut oil into the large container and it was three inches short of coming high enough. The mark I made with the turkey and water was 9 inches and the peanut oil came to 6 inches. Damn!

I hustled to Krogers and the manager told me they sold the last two. Publix was closed.

We took a chance with some old used peanut oil I used twice before for the remaining 3 inches, it worked fine.

I have read that using peanut oil twice is really not recommended because the oil can turn rancid. I guess we were lucky.

But, I could have easily spent $96 at Costo or $78 at Walmart for the cooking oil for a one time meal… $39 is bad enough.

Another thing about deep frying a turkey: After the cooking time was up my son Adam helped me left the bird out of the bubbling oil. It just about takes four hands for this feat (get it, feat? – hands – yuk yuk). When we got it up something went wrong and the turkey fell.

It could have fell on the ground and get dry leaves, bits of earth matter, and dogs’ bathroom stuff all over it and Adam and I would hose it off and keep swear ourselves to secrecy or it could have fell back into the bubbling oil and splash 350◦ peanut oil on both us.

It fell back into the bubbling peanut oil but both Adam and I had quick reflexes and jumped out of the way of the splash.

And everybody enjoyed the turkey – and also the spiraled cut ham and other goodies Anna made and people brought.

Rocky and his fiancé Sabrina brought a DVD-slide show of their trip to South Korea and treated us with what all they saw and the story behind the scenes which included customs, laws, and history of the Koreans. It was very enjoyable and interesting.

We have a lot to be thankful for – just for that morning.

I think my deep-frying turkey days are over. Now watch the price of peanut oil go down.