Summer of 1950, Pappy was haulin slab wood from a sawmill near Wynoose, Illinois. He had a big wagon that he'd stack the slab wood on and boomer down. It was a real hot summer day when he didn't show up when he should've. We jumped in the old 36 chevy of my brother Jim and started out lookin for him. He was pulling the overloaded wagon with an old F-20 International tractor. We found him south of the Gallager store pulled off the side of the road. As I recall it was near a hundred degrees that day and it was just too much for pap. He'd overheated while loading the wagon himself and took out hoping to cool off with the moving air around him. It didn't work out as he'd planned. He was so sick he didn't know where he was, who he was or anything else. We loaded him in the back seat of the old Chev and couldn't even close the rear door. He was a stiff as a board and had his feet stickin out that door. We got'm home and in the house finally. Mom worked on him for hours, cool wet wash rags, towels and with his feet in cold water. He was a sick old pappy for several days after that. Jim and John went and got the wagon the next day and brought it home, stacked the slab wood while pap rested. He was never any good after that in the heat. He was so proud of his winters supply of firewood that year--just waiting to be buzz sawed up to stove lengths. He had every right to be---it was 12 ft high and over 100 feet long! More than enough to heat our drafty old house back then. In 1958 my uncle Perry Fulk drilled 5 oilwells on our farm. Number 4 was the closest one to the house that had extra gas. Pap converted an old wood heating stove to burn field gas. The EPA would've had a fit it they had been around then. A 3/4" black pipe through the floor into an L, thru a gate valve and into the stove. A tee was inside the stove with a 6" nipple on each end of the T. After 2 years the nipples were completely burned off. Pap would have the windows, doors open when it was -25 below and 100 inside. Said we might as well have the heat in the house as burning the gas at the well in a flare! In 1966 pap was back burning wood as the wells had played out. He had sharpened his buzz saw and was try'n it out with a tiltin table. The saw grabbed and pap lost his left index finger. He went into the house and asked mom for a bandaid. After unwrapping his handkerchief from around it---she called Sis and me! We hurried him to the hospital!!!! My, how times have changed! I still liked the woodfires but it was a lot more work than the field gas!. Matt. 24:44

-- old hoot gibson (hoot@pcinetwork.com), July 17, 2000

Answers

It was paps right index finger instead of his left. He had troubles keeping his fiddle bow over the fiddle. It wanted to ride down the neck much to his dissatisfaction. Matt. 24:44

-- hoot gibson (hoot@pcinetwork.com), July 17, 2000.

Hoot:

Your story reminds me of one my neighbor told me. As a youth one way they earned a bit of money was hand cutting railroad ties. These would be hauled down to a dock at the Tennessee River and sold to a middleman. Between here and there is a hill. The mules couldn't carry up a full load so they would have to unload half, take the first half to the top, unload it, come back for the others, then reload at the top of the hill. The ties weighed something like 200 pounds each.

-- Ken Scharabok (scharabo@aol.com), July 24, 2000.