My first attempt's at keeping a journal

I have mentioned that I have kept a journal of hunting and fishing thru the years. Tari found my first one that I started the other day. I have been reading thru them.They were very simple at first and now have evolved into writing them for everyone on my blogs. Here is the very first one I wrote.

Saturday May 28 1988

time 6pm til Sunday May 29 at 9am

I was with brother in law Rick and father in law Richard

Place Fort Laramie state park

moon was full

day temps 80 degrees night mid 60 's

we caught 16 fish total kept 7 catfish biggest fish caught 4lb blue cat {Kenny caught}

You see very simple and to the point. all I was after was trying to see if a pattern developed.

Saturday November 18 1989 Bainbridge

Uncle Ken and I hunted with new dogs. J.J.and Lonesome. Uncle Ken and me partners in dogs

they cost us 325.00 dollars and they have papers. we had Spike with us at Mennonite farm we had six races. I got one and Uncle Ken got one and we both missed one. Deer hunting next week

{good dogs}

Just a little more of a story, I like them much better as a story.

Campton pool room hot dog chili

My uncle E.C. worked in a pool room in my home town of Campton Ky for a few years back in the 1960's. He took customers money and they served some food, one of them chili dogs. He made the chili and my dad and Uncle Ken learned the recipe. It is very good and is great to cook at deer camp or anytime you want something simple.

1. One pound of ground beef or chuck or deer meat, put in pan with a little water and crumble meat with fork as it browns and add a little salt as it cooks. { drain of excess fat if you use a cheaper cut}

2. Add one small can of tomato sauce and stir in, while it simmers add chili powder. I just sprinkle over lightly and taste add more until you are satisfied.

3. Simmer most all the fluid off until it reaches a consistency you like

4. While chili simmers place hot dogs in pan of water and boil until done

5. place dog in bun cover with chili , onions and mustard

6. optional a roll of Tums or Rolaids use as necessary, how many depends on how much chili powder you like

That is Campton pool room hot dog chili . My Uncle Ken said you could get two dogs and a Ale 8

for fifty cents.

Aunt Pearl potatoes

Sometimes when we are in a hurry , and sometimes we are not when fixing supper. we will fix Aunt Pearl potatoes. Uncle Ken and I came in one evening after a long day of rabbit hunting. He walked into the kitchen and was preparing to cook supper. He said Beach I think we will just have Aunt Pearl potatoes with supper as I am little tired tonight. O.K. with me Uncle Ken as I like Aunt Pearl potato's. I then asked him why do we call them Aunt Pearl potato's? He said that he had ask his mom that same question one night. Grandma told him that Aunt Pearl had 9 kids.

Do you know how long it would take to peel and slice potato's for that many people? She had no choice but to fix them that way. By now you are asking what are Aunt Pearl potatoes? Here is how you prepare Aunt Pearl potatoes as you will never see on a cooking show.

1.Peel your potatoes one medium size per person and one for the pot and quarter them long ways.

2. put in pot and cover with water and bring to a boil, when potato soft enough to cut with fork they are done, do not over cook or you will have to make mashed potatoes.

3. Each person gets his potato's from the pot and they can season with salt, pepper and butter { real butter} as they please.

And there is the secret recipe for Aunt Pearl potato's. My family has been cooking them for a hundred years. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

The great Wiffle bird of Bainbridge

Have you ever seen a Wiffle bird? You might may not know it.My Dad always teased Kenny Ray about seeing a Wiffle bird while sitting on the porch of the cabin. Just what is a Wiffle bird you ask? You only see them when the wind is blowing hard as they are any bird that fly backwards,
but they try to fly forward, the wind either holds them in one spot are they drift backwards.

We usually see them allot at the cabin on top of the mountain as the winds seems to always be blowing in fact we have joke about the cabin being blown to Kansas or Oz.Tari thought Kenny Ray had lost his mind on afternoon as she and him were traveling down the highway and he hollered a mom look a Wiffle bird. She said that is a hawk and he argued no it's not ask Dad, Grandpa said when you see a bird fly backwards it is a Wiffle bird. She said did your Grandpa tell you that, well that explains it.

Speaking of birds I play a joke on my nephews and Kenny Ray that Uncle Ken and Dad always did to me. Dad, Uncle ken and I where going to Kentucky one day. As we were traveling down the mountain parkway we seen a bunch of Buzzards flying circles up ahead of us and Uncle Ken turned toward me in the back seat and Beach you better lay down and hide as the Buzzards are looking for something dead , ugly and stinking they fly right into this car after you. Ha ha we all laughed and till this day whenever I see Buzzards I tell who ever is with me to hide

Blackberries for shoes

I went and visited with my Aunt Carmie yesterday morning. I took her some cabbage out of my garden as well as Brewer and sons chicken, and a bag of Blackberries. As we visited she told me

about a peddler man that would come to the mountains and drop off buckets with families for them to pick berries and he would return that evening or next morning to pick them up and pay them. The money was used to buy shoes for the winter, and if there was no berries my Grandma Brewer would have to mend the old shoes as best she could, no berrie crop no shoes.

She left the farm when she was 17 for Dayton her and her brother Doc, as Dayton

had plenty of jobs. Doc got a job at Wright Patt air force base doing some construction until he got drafted for World war two. Aunt Carmie got a job in a bakery making chocolate cookies with a walnut kernel on top. She said everything that was produced went to the war effort, they even had a guard watch over them as the cookies were made so that none were eaten or taken. She told me that one day when the shift was over as they were walking out past the guard a woman in front of her was stopped and they lifted the front of her blouse and two packs of those cookies

fell out , she was fired and even blacked balled from getting another job for awhile. The job paid twenty nine dollars a week and her rent was 4 dollars for a month. During the war she said everything was rationed here at home sugar , gas shoes everything, you received a stamp for items and when that stamp gone you did without until the next monthor year on some items. My Grandpa Brewer grew a lot of sorghum molasses and sold for a dollar a bucket. it was used alot in place of sugar. I do not belive that people in here today would make those sacrfies today, I can only imagine the riots that would take place if the government had to ration shoes or gas today.

The briar patch

Mom and I got out picked another 2 gallon"s of Blackberries last night. That is a total of about 4 gallons in two days as we found the mother load of berries and picked out of just one patch. I have never seen such a berrie crop, usually I get maybe 2 quarts and I have 2 hit several spots to get that many. I believe this year if I had the time I could pick a truck load. I froze the berries from Monday for dumplings and a cobbler, Tari and mom are going to make jam today with what we got last night. I am going to go pick again Thursday weather permitting as I want to try and make some blackberries wine. As mom and I have been picking she told me that it has been over 40 years since she had been Berrie picking and this year she has been 3 times with me.

She told me that when she was a girl and the berries where in that she would be up at daylight and in the berrie patch. Grandpa and grandma would be waiting on her and her water bucket full of berries and start making jelly just as soon as she walked into the door. She also told about the time she was picking and almost grabbed a snake by the head as it was laying up in the berries.

My mother and I as well as the family love Blackberries as well as raspberries but my father would not eat them or pick them. He told me the reason was that when he was a kid that

was all they had sweet was berries and that grandma made jelly with everyone she could get a hold of. But my uncle Ken loves to pick berries and when he first retired and went to Bainbridge

not only did he pick some for himself but he picked and sold them the Mennonite's as they used them for pies. He would take a gallon of water and get on the 4 wheeler and ride up into a clear cut area where the first thing to grow back was blackberry briars. In fact he is the one that showed me how to make blackberry dumplings. Uncle Ken is now 71 years old and I visted with him some this past Sunday and as I was leaving he said hey Beach are the berries ripe up on the hill? I told him they were and he said I think I will go up and pick a few this week.

I was at the market Monday getting some sweet corn and the market was selling

blackberries for $7.50 a quart, as of last night we have picked about 6 gallons total and will have enough jam and berries for several cobblers and batches of dumplings. All it cost me, getting to spend quality time with my mother and family. What a bargain , memories are priceless

Appalachian American holiday

The 4th of July, the perfect celebration for a Appalachian American The only better one is Christmas. Ever since I was a little kid The 4th meant blowing things up with fire crackers and bottle rocket fights with my cousins. Then in my twenties I got a job shooting professional fireworks shows. It was the coolest job I ever had, just think to shoot off big fireworks and get paid to do it. Tari was not real comfortable with it at times as we would store all the fireworks in my garage and some years it would be half full, and she would worry as we shot the show by hand not by pushing buttons like the pro's do now. I think they took all the fun out of it. Now in my 40's I do not get the thrill as I once did, but Kenny Ray gets a gleam in his eye's when you mention firecrackers. I have always traveled to Indiana to get him some to shoot off until this year, as last year the police knocked on our door and 2 weeks ago some one on our street was setting off fireworks and the police showed up in my driveway they never came to the door. But it made mad anyway that they just assume it was Kenny Ray. So this year we went down the cabin and has a good ole boy 4th, as you can tell by the above photo. We had a good 4 wheeler

race Kenny Ray beat his ole man and he accused dad of cheating on the course by taking short cuts in the curves. We did a little fishing but Kenny Ray was more into just going up and down the lake has fast could get the boat to go which was about 42 mph when I was driving. Kenny Ray got it about 35 mph. The bass boat belongs to a friend of mine who has not used it in about 6 years it has been just sitting in his barn. Kenny Ray and I worked together and got it going we have just 3 problems left. 1 the boat takes on water when you stop, after sitting about 20 minutes the rod storage compartment fills with water and on to the floor before the bilge pump kicks in , only a minor problem unless Tari is with us. 2 The trolling motor is not working which is a must for fishing. 3 it seems that we have a lawn mower in the middle of the boat, kenny Ray and I laughed when we put in has it was the only place left as it would not fit in the truck bed with the 4 wheeler in it. I think I will offer the photo to Jeff Foxworthy, it has all the typical

you might be a redneck, 4 wheeler , 4 wheel drive truck and a bass boat.

Our Appalachian American Holiday started by Tari, Kenny Ray and I night fishing for cat fish on Friday night and is ending with picking Black Berries with my mother and

breaking green beans for dinner with my wife. along with fresh sweet corn, tomatoes and cucumbers. I can not think of any better way to celebrate freedom than by doing things that truly make you happy. And my things are so simple spending time with my family whether it be preparing a meal or catching fish or taking a short cut in a 4 wheeler race. I thank God and all of those that lost their lives, so that I can continue to live a Appalachian American dream.