Poplar hiking sticks, a weekend sale, & easter... all at once....

This has indeed been a busy weekend. Last week I was working to build inventory for a sale we had on the Court Square in Newnan, our home town here in Georgia. Once again, many thanks go out to Earlene Scott for allowing us to set up shop for a few hours in front of her book store. We visit her most every Saturday after we eat breakfast on the Square, it has become part of a weekend routine that I enjoy doing with my kids because its one of the things I was fortunate enough to do with my parents when I was a child. Every time we walk through the doors of Scotts Bookstore I am instantly transported back to my childhood. Its good for the soul to visit with old friends, and to support local businesses.. Especially when they provide the excellent service you always find at Earlene's store. I was fortunate to meet a wood carver at the sale who does very impressive work. Michael C. Moore had a booth there and I found his work to be very inspiring, he is a tremendous talent.

When the sale was over we enjoyed some deep fried mushrooms at the Redneck Gourmet, on the other side of the Court Square. With the events in town over for the day we headed back out here to Crickhollow to get ready for egg coloring and food prep for Easter. My mother is in Charleston for the weekend with my sister, before she left she told us that she wanted me & all my brothers to get together at her place like we always do and have a fun time. We met up with my younger brother and his son and spent the afternoon visiting my two older brothers and then we colored eggs with our kids. Today we all met for a really good meal and egg hunt for the kids. We are very lucky in the aspect that most of us all live here around each other on Doc Perry Rd. So the festivities of the last two days could carry on until everyone was near the point of exhaustion and we were forced to head home when the kids heads began to droop from going as hard as they could for so long. So I decided to post a few pictures of some of the things I have seen and done over the past two days.

These are some pictures of a couple of poplar hiking sticks I made for the sale. The first one is 63" long with a hand grip carved in and leather wrist strap. I also carved a face on each one. I plan to do a line of this style, they seem to be fairly popular... The 63" hiking stick pictured first sales for $50. The second one shown here is 56", that one is on sale for $40

The 56" hiking stick...

These are a few shots from the sale on Saturday... The first one is a view of the wood carvings, note the poplar hiking sticks, Here you can get an idea of the height of each.

A few of the wands I made for the show, along with the Ouija board...

This is Kitty and her mother, they stopped by and picked up a couple of items when we first set up. Kitty's mother is in a local orchestra as a violinist and picked up a couple of wands saying, "Oh look.. conductor batons..." A use for the wands I had never thought of... Kitty picked up a snake walking stick for her brother & a keychain for her about to be sixteen year old son...

This is Dale, he does an impressive Snape.. He liked this wand... I hope it serves him well. and yes, when you click the link, thats me as mad eye moody...

Jaxon enjoys his first sale on the square!

Julie's jewelry is always a hit at the shows & this Saturday was no exception...

She just added a line of rings that has been a great hit...

One of the kids decided the Ouija board needed a planchette...

This little guy decided to take up a spot overlooking the table from the top of one of my walking sticks..

This is Paul, a friend from highschool who stopped by. He & his wife picked up a couple of sets of earrings & a key chain. He owns a local business.. check him out & give him a call if you need any work done!

The rest of the weekend was spent around here at Crickhollow, enjoying time with the family, riding the kawasaki mule, eating good food and enjoying life as it was meant to be spent...


Here James is practicing for marine corps sniper school...

Uncle David shows James how to operate the pressure washer

Once he got the hang of it he wanted to clean every inch of the tractor & driveway...

Here he is listening to his uncle Michael explain the finer pints of fence building... The outhouse was built by Michael on a lark... I still get a kick out of it...

He takes everything his uncles tell him to heart and always is ready to hear more..

coloring eggs the night before Easter...

This morning I found a few minutes to hit the woods and "shop" for some more poplar pieces for hiking sticks. It was very peaceful out there this early in the day.

The egg hunt went well & everyone had a great time.

Even Patrick emerged from his fifteen year old's video game stupor to enjoy the day..

the dogs got in on the egg hunt as well..

Here I am with my brothers. This is, from left to right, Michael, me, David, & Stuart..

James enjoyed everything this weekend & is currently passed out, sound asleep...

James and his cousin Silas inspecting every moving part of the kawasaki mule..

Silas loves going for rides with me, James, & his dad...

He almost fell asleep on the seat of the kawasaki waiting for the next ride...

One of the things I love about living here is the small town aspect of life. When we were at the sale there was a constant stream of family and friends that came by to talk, hangout, and see what we had. No one was pretentious or ill tempered all day long. Everyone you encountered was happy to see you and pleasant. Its life as it was meant to be lived, gathering in town on a Saturday just to be out and about enjoying life, good weather, good company and to pick up a few things that might be needed... This entire weekend served to remind me that I am a truly blessed person to be surrounded by such fine folk as this.

P.S.... Happy birthday to my mother.. Today she turned 24 again...

A stroll down memory lane and a walking stick

I went over my mother's place this evening to go through some old photographs. I was looking for pictures from barbecues. I just finished a couple of pieces based on these events. When I was very young my grandfather put on a huge barbecue every 4th of July. They were a week long event culminating in a huge meal for lunch on the fourth. The best part of these gatherings was always the night of the third. That's when all the meat was on and everyone would sit around the fire that my grandfather built to burn the hickory to use as coals to smoke the meat that was cooking. We would sit there all night and listen to my dad and his brothers tell stories from their childhood. The adventures they had around here were quite a story indeed. Over the years my grandfather became ill with diabetes and as he got older he decided in 1985 or 1986 that he wanted to have one last barbecue. It was the fall of the year and the only people that were there were family. I happened across some of those pictures. I happened across many pictures... So I decided to share them so that the people who read this blog could see the folks I always talk about... Along with some embarrassing shots of myself as a child...

I snapped these pictures with my camera as I sat on the floor of my mothers house going through a couple of big boxes of old photographs.. So in some you may see my finger or they may be blurry.. but nonetheless.. enjoy... I know I had one hell of a time growing up on Doc Perry Rd. I hope that these shots let you understand a bit of why I love this place so much...

This is my brother Michael stirring a huge pot of brunswick stew...

From right to left here are my grandfather Doc Perry, David my cousin, Donald my uncle and Peggy my cousin. My grandfather, David, and Donald have all passed on now, but I can still here them as plain as day...

My grandfather was full of wisdom, I miss him every day.

This is my grandmother, Zeddie. She was the best cook ever. She passed away a few years after Julie and I got married. Not one person went away from her house hungry. Her laughter still rings in my ears.

This is my father, grandfather & cousin getting the barbecue pit ready to use...

A picture of my father from the '50s cooking

My brother Michael, Skeeter Martin & my grandfather working on the stew

My uncle Donald and my grandfather checking the meat just before it was ready to come off the pit. His barbecue simply could not be beat.

My mother in the kitchen in the house working on what was brought up from the barbecue shed.

My grandfather was very particular about his stew.

My brother David by the barbecue pit.

My father with my nephew Danny... both napping on the swing on the front porch.

This is the fire that my grandfather would start long before the barbecue. In ealier years he would begin several days before the fourth and drag hickory up from the woods. He would burn the hickory on this rack that he built, as the coals fell through the grate we would use those long handled shovels he made to carry the hickory coals in from the fire to the pit in the shed. He would then instruct us on where to place the coals on the pit to get the best smoke on the meat. Here my father is digging out coals. The shovels had handles of hickory that Daddy Doc would make himself. Note the shovel leaning against the fire on the right...


My grandfather waits until the meat is ready before the preparation would begin. They would take the meat off the pit, chop it up, mix some with sauce he would make and leave some plain. His barbecue was astounding. The entire place around here would be filled with the smell of the smoke and meat. Again.. note the shovel in the background. My brother David had that shovel my grandfather made. I stopped by there to show him the walking stick I had worked on for my cousin, featured a couple of posts ago... He said, "You know... I have that shovel with the really long handle that we used to use down at the barbecue shed... You think you could make a couple of these walking sticks out of it?" I told him I would be honored to do it, as long as I could have one... So he dug it out of his garage and I took it home...


This is James in our front yard holding the shovel.

I was touched to see ash still embedded on the handle near the shovel head.


Here are the two finished pieces. Mine is the one on the right, David's the left... He took the top.

This the nail hole where my grandfather attached the shovel head.

This is the end of my walking stick that was inside the shovel... I didn't carve this at all.. I ever so lightly sanded it to clean it up.. But the carve marks are from my grandfather.. all his work.. I am so moved to own this...

What follows are a random collection of things and pictures I photographed while sitting on moms floor.. I had a great time. Julie had taken her to a party so James and I sat and looked through the box.. He kept asking me why I was crying..


This is my grandmothers pay stub from 1963.. 39 hours in at the mill for a net pay of $47 bucks...

My brother Stuart & myself..

Me at Daddy Doc & granny's for Christmas..

My father in his parents front yard

an old picture of me.. when I had hair..

My grandmother

My grandfather skinning a deer..

My father on a pony when he was little kid.. My mom told me that a guy would come around every so often with a pony for kids to get their picture taken on..

My mothers father. My other grandfather.. "Pa" West..

My father dancing at a birthday party for him & my cousin Colin.. Always the ham..

My parents on their wedding day

This picture seems to sum up my dad for me...

My dad & cousin Colin.. The two men I respect and admire most in life.

My dad holding James..

These were valentine cards my dad got in elementary school.. I got a real laugh reading these... They were all from the 40's

My dad deer hunting.. long johns, a camo hat, coffee and side arm...

My grandfather sitting on his front porch...

My Dad and his brother Thomas hanging out.. notice the prices on the stuff at the stand...

My grandfather in his front yard

my dad & his brothers staging a funeral for some reason.. they were always in trouble for doing things like this.. There was never a quiet moment..

Me at Christmas.. I wish I still had that GI Joe training center...

me sitting on the floor at my grandparents on Christmas eve

i'm about to dive into the pool in the back yard

me & my cousin Patrick on his birthday

Patrick with his steak birthday cake...

My dad & cousin Ken hard at it with the rock em sock em robots...

This was the year that I got this bad ass castle for Christmas... It was the greatest thing ever.. it was years before I found out it was once my brother Michaels... Notice the green licoln log pieces that I put around it.. I still have that lincoln log set... Michael is trying to tell about the castle and dad is getting on to me for mot listening...

It was a good evening to look through all these old pictures and remember where I came from.. It makes me realize how much this land and these people mean to me.

The health care reform bill

Throughout human existence there have been political methodologies used over and over. They have been used repeatedly because they, well.. work. The most popular of these appears to be smear the opposition.

But you must look deeper.

When it became apparent that the alphabet organizations (nsa, fbi, cia) dropped the ball in the lead up to the terrorist attacks of September 11th 2001 by not "connecting the dots" when non citizen middle eastern men wanted to learn just how to fly the plane and not land it, people went a little sideways. Justifiably so...

And here we are again. The conservative end of the spectrum here in this country is convinced that the world and the Republic are crashing down around us. The Liberal end of the same group of people in this country are appalled at the behavior of the conservatives, while going sideways because the health care reform bill doesn't go far enough in providing us with a single payer system, meaning free health care. I love how its harsh to hurl insults to politicians now... Bush certainly never got any of that did he? Its also cute to laugh at how people are reacting with such paranoia over a bill... anyone remember the patriot act? You know the one the democrats assured you would strip you of all your freedoms, the same democrats that voted to keep it in place a little while ago?

The problem with free health care is that it isn't free. The money must come from somewhere. When you need money, where do you go? To the people that have it.. And that certainly isn't the federal government, because they are broke. So they must go to the people that they work for and get the money.

Do you go to your employer at the end of the month when it becomes apparent that you went out to eat way too many times and can't pay your utility bills and say, "We had a budget shortfall this past month so we are going to have to increase the amount of funds we get from you by charging you a user fee for the commute we make every day in our vehicle, then there is going to be a vote in my house next week to decide how much we are going to charge you in clothing fees since we buy them ourselves and wear them here at work... we will get back to you on this.." No, you don't do that. But government does. All levels of it, local, state and federal.

There are endless examples of skulduggery perpetrated by government as a whole, just google government waste and read. With the passage of this bill people are screaming all over the place that this is a new level of 'insert soapbox comment here'

But hold on just a wee moment...

Racial slurs tossed out to government representatives? Homophobic cat calls made to others? Lunatic talking heads stirring up paranoia?

You're kidding right?

"The level of vitriol taking place in this country right now is at epic proportions"

Really? Read a little history, IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THIS WAY.

It's business as usual, everywhere. You know what is going to happen when one party gets in office. You know... They are going to bitch and complain about the other party. They use media to get people excited and drive them to desire to hop up on a soap box and blather and froth at the mouth about how stupid everybody is that doesn't think like you do, dress like you do, act like you do, live like you do, have the same educational background that you do.... so forth and so on...

They use people and twist them into xenophobes...

Hate mail will come, death threats be damned. But just try stopping for a second to connect a few of the dots bouncing around in front of you. Regardless of what is in a bill that passes through congress, regardless of how many schools are needed in your district, or roads, or stop signs, or jobs, blah blah blah..

The end result is exactly the same at every turn.. The amount of money taken from the citizens of this country to fund government as a whole goes up every year.

Do you really think that there is one politician in Washington DC that gives a rats ass whether you have insurance or not? They are for sale... And they no longer even try to hide it. They cut deals with each other for what?

MORE MONEY.

And why?

BECAUSE THEY CAN.

If most of us dumb masses were in a position to do this we would. We tell ourselves we wouldn't, but we would. A guy walks up to you and says, "Hey.. you know if you vote this way I will pay off your mortgage..." We would say simply... "umm ok... But make it look legal and ethical..."

In this bill taxes will be raised on people who earn 200k or more a year. Now, again, connect a few dots. The bulk of these people are small business owners. Single owner incorporated businesses. If the business grosses more than 200 to 250k a year their taxes will go up. If you work in a small business or own one you know what this means. Even though you may be on salary for 35- 60k per year with your company... The company is in your name, so YOU are responsible for said income. So before you pay a vendor for something you need to do a job, before you pay your rent, utilities, insurance premium, employee salaries, etc etc.. you have to pay more to the government... But hey thats ok... you will get a tax credit down the road.. Good luck with that...

Before you bitch about these evil rich bastards, take a few minutes to learn who they are. In most cases, they are the people you work for. The same people that sign your paycheck. They run the hardware stores and convenience stores and restaurants and book stores etc etc that you like to go check out on the weekends... Most employers in this country are not huge corporate entities that suck the will to live out of you.. They are just regular folks that had an idea they wanted to give a shot.

People complain about a government that is locked down due to partisanship. I'm all for it. When they can't pass anything that means our wallets are safe.

Term limits. No more career politicians, on any level.

So those on the left continue to spout hatred about those on the right. Those on the right continue to spout hatred about those on the left. Keep playing the game the government asshats want you to play, enjoy being a xenophobic flea, make fun of pelosi & glenn beck, jump up and down because obama is a socialist that wasn't born in this country, point out hannity's coke problem, be sure to continue to group everyone who disagrees with you into the uneducated rube category.... March along with the script prepared for you by your leaders, they are loving it... because they all learned one thing pretty well from hitler... "keep the masses confused and keep the power"... Come on people, democrats and republicans are the same. Stop fighting and look to who the real criminals are, they are smiling at us on television all the time. VOTE THEM ALL OUT OF OFFICE.

Me? I'm going to step back down off my soap box and go carve some more wood, because either damn way this goes its going to cost us all more money.