By: Stan Jordan
Back in 1989, I and my brother in-law Ray Gross went to Florida bass fishing for a couple of weeks. His wife, my sister Grace, was still working and at the Paulding County Hospital.
We did not have reservations at the fish camp on Lake Istapoga so we stayed at a motel in town. We would get up early and be at Mom’s Place when she opened, at 6:00 a.m.
It was a hole in the wall little restaurant, like you fine in every little town. Mom was a frail little old lady of countless years who smoked those big extra long cigarettes with about an inch of ash on the end. She done the cooking and had a nice lady waitress.
You usually saw the same customers each morning. You could tell the workers apart as the cattle workers wore cowboy boots and the construction workers wore boots that laced up with steel toes.
Anyhow we would have bacon, eggs and potatoes one toast and have her to fix up some ham sandwiches and a thermos of coffee and we would be on the lake by 7:00 a.m. That lake has a lot of hydrilla in it, but it has a lot of good large mouth black bass in it.
We would fish hard till noon and then have our coffee and ham sandwiches. We usually caught some fish, we either gave them away or threw them back in to the lake.
We would fish hard all afternoon and manage to be off the lake by dark. If we cleaned the fish we would give them away and we would drive back to town which was eleven miles.
There was a real nice Golden Corral restaurant on U.S. 27 there on Lake Placid. We would turn in our order and a nice little teenage waitress would bring us a couple more hot rolls. Then pretty soon she would bring us a couple more of those hot rolls.
We only had that ham sandwich all day and we were starved. That little girl said, “You boys sure like those hot rolls” and we did.
Some things you just don’t forget.
See ya!
The Maumee Raft Race
By: Stan Jordan
The big raft race will be held this Saturday, about 10:00 a.m.
This race is held annually by Dan and Traci Bowers who own and operate Advanced Chassis over on 107 Victory Lane.
It is open to any and all floatable objects; canoes, kayaks, rafts, boats or anything to have a good time on. It really isn’t much of a race, just a day to spend on the water and enjoy.
That starts at the marina at the east end of Riverside Veterans Memorial Park about 10:00 a.m. Saturday, August 5th and everyone is welcome to enter.
Dan says he doesn’t look anymore, but after 5 or 6 races he has not seen a beautiful, blue eyed, blonde mermaid and he just don’t look anymore. The river has beavers, badgers, eagles and a lot of other wild things, but no mermaids.
Dan said he met six college boys from Brazil who are training in the dairy business over in Van Wert County and they will be in the raft race for the enjoyment, sort of on lookers.
See ya!
When Mr. Greenfield died his son, Isaac said, “Dad will need a little pocket money when he gets to Heaven” so he put a thousand dollar bill in the casket, right by dad’s shoulder.
Well another son, Jacob, loved dad also and thought he would need a little pocket money when he got to Heaven so he also put a thousand dollar bill in dad’s coffin.
Well, Abie also loved dad and he went to the coffin and put in a check for three thousand dollars and picked up the two one thousand dollar bills.
Our blonde friend looked out the window at the neighbors back yard and said, “Elsie’s wash has a dingy look.”
The next Monday she looked out at the neighbors Elsie’s wash and said, “Her wash always looks pale, her sheets are not good and white. I think I will tell her to change soap.”
This Monday, she looked at Elsie’s wash and said, “She must have changed soaps, as her wash looks good and white” Blondie’s husband, Jim, said, “That’s not it at all. I washed that window for you.”
This blonde went down to the riding academy to go for a ride on a horse. The owner asked, “What type of saddle do you want? Do you want one with a horn? “
“Oh no,” blondie replied, “ I won’t go fast enough to pass anybody.”
Our blonde was perplexed. She said her birthday was on the 27th and by golly that the same date as last year.
They were three big Texas millionaires standing, talking at the Fort Worth rodeo. The tall one said, “I own 100,000 acres of good grass land and about 80,000 head of Hereford cattle.”
The other big millionaire said, “I have a good spread. So big you can’t ride your horse around it in a days time.”
Then they asked the other fellow how much land he owned that he was a millionaire. He said, “Around 40 acres.”
They just went crazy! Him a millionaire and only owns about 40 acres of real estate. “Where is this 40 acres spread?” they asked. He said, “In downtown Dallas.”
Me And Marijuana
By: Stan Jordan
A year or so ago, I voted in the state of Ohio to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes. Yes, I would do it again, but I’m sure that some people will break the rules on its usage.
I would like to go back a couple of years and read again a few of the issues and the story that I told of a little girl who had seizures from the time she was three weeks old; it was called Charolette’s Web.
To make a long story short, we jump ahead to talk about Charolette finally getting treatment in Colorado.
In Colorado some people have a license to raise and experiment with any and all kinds of marijuana. They found a strain that would help Charolette quite a bit, now it don’t help everyone, just certain cells.
When Charolette was three weeks old, her seizures came every 16 seconds. She is six now and the seizures are about three or four months about. Now I know that is some sort of miracle and it don’t always do good for the patient, but to me the results are worth trying.
See ya!
Sam Rivers, Indian Agent Chapter 43: Billy Metzger Arrives
By: Sam Jordan
I haven’t written for a few days, just too much going on.
The other evening Gen. Kearney and Lt. Billy Metzger came into the agency to pay a visit to all his old friends.
Well maybe I better tell you who Billy Metzger is, and why we are so glad to see him.
He was 14 years old when he and his family left Ohio to go to Oregon to grow an apple orchard. He became a sidekick to the wagon master Slim Jim Martin. Billy is very good with horses and mules and was very good taking care of the wagons.
When the wagon train reached Fort Bridger, Billy’s parents let him sigh on with El Paso Sam, Slim Jim and Hiram Mason, the freighter from the California Gold Strike area.
Well those four fellows crossed this great nation from Independence, Missouri to Sutter’s Mill on the American River in California, where the gold was discovered in 1848. They made this trip seven times.
Gen. Kearney recognized this boy’s ability with horses and urged him to go to the University of Missouri and become a veterinarian for the army. The army would pay all the fees and he would become an army officer and a veterinarian.
Well, the four years have passed and Billy did a fine job at college and he has a 30-day leave and he decided to come here and see his old friends. We have sat and talked for three days. We had four years to catch up on. Billy has off his dress uniform and put on his fatigue clothes and is ready to be one of the boys.
We are leaving early in the morning to go over to the tribe of Limping Buffalo. You seem Billy knows some of those Indians but back then White Elk was the chief and Limping Buffalo was the tribe Shaman. Billy didn’t know that White Elk had died and that his son, Limping Buffalo, was their new chief.
We arrived at their village and a few of the natives greeted Billy after they found out who he was – he is four years older now. Now there was quite a circle of friends: Gen. Kearney, Billy, Sam and all four soldiers, Limping Buffalo, Pony That Walks, Half Moon, Deer Foot and a couple of other braves.
They passed the peace pipe around a couple of times and Rooster had brought along the one burner oil stove and he was busy making coffee. Most of the natives can speak enough English to carry on a conversation, so there was a lot of talking and greeting going on.
Billy spent hours talking to Limping Buffalo and Pony That Walks, as he knew them from four years ago. The natives still refer to him as He Talks To Horses. After the pow-wow broke up, Rooster made bean soup with buffalo meat and he had fried up some deer pieces and baked some biscuits. We ate and drank coffee and talked with Billy way into the night.
After we all had breakfast the next morning, Billy went and took care of the horses, looked them over pretty good, He helped the boys grease the wheels and hubs on all of the wagons. Then they repaired the boards on the back of the barn where the wolves got in.
In the middle of the morning, Billy and a couple of the soldiers took the horses and went bear hunting. Billy has never shot a bear. I think this is his first time hunting. I guess this is the way the story goes.
The hunters traveled six or eight miles into the prairie-type undergrowth and weeds and also a little swale grass.
After a couple of hours of walking and leading the horses without any action of any type, they sat down in the shade to smoke a cigarette and rest the horses a little.
The fellows chewed on a sandwich they had in their pocket and drank some cool water from their canteens. I think they enjoyed the rest and gab session as much as hunting.
The soldier named Hunter said, “My gosh! Look! There is a bear over by that pile of brush at the bottom of that maple tree!”
The bear stood up and looked at the boys and Hunter shot him with his 45-70, but he didn’t go down.
Oh my gosh! Here he comes!
See ya!
