Turkey Hunting With Popo

My Grandpa...Horace Elmer Riggs...Elmer to the world at large...was just "Popo" to us grand-kids.  Popo never did anything by halves.  Usually it was full speed ahead and keep the dogs and small children out of the way!  When he was working or playing, he developed "tunnel-vision" and all that mattered was the task at hand.  It is very important that you know this...otherwise this story will make no sense.

Popo loved to turkey hunt.  As matter of fact, he was still serenading the old gobblers up into his eighties.  One frosty morning Popo was going hunting with his son-in-law and was supposed to meet him at Bridges Auto Parts on South Main.  They lived at 1310 West Main, beside the Calvary Pentecostal Tabernacle, so it was just a hop, skip and a jump to the rendezvous point.  Knowing my Grandpa, after he ate the breakfast (that Momo had got up early and fixed him), he threw his shotgun and gear in the old red 66 Chevy long-bed, scraped a hole in the frost on the windshield about the size of a coffee saucer and roared off east down West Main Street!  Just try to imagine the man in the pictures below, driving down a dark street, slipping the clutch in third gear to get up the hill past Monks Street, all the while squinting through a little cleared patch of windshield...Got that picture?!

When he stopped the truck in the Bridges Auto parking lot, he gathered up his shotgun and his gear and jumped out to get in Jame's truck.  He was immediately blinded by a spot-light and given the command to "Stay in the vehicle!"  It was a West Plains City Policeman behind the spot-light and he was NOT happy!  Popo started asking "What's the problem?" "What's going on?"  The Policeman said "Old Man, you KNOW what the problem is!"  Popo obviously didn't have a clue so he finally persuaded the Policeman to give the reason for the early morning traffic stop.

It appears as Popo was motoring down dark West Main Street, trying to see through his little hole in the frosty windshield, he had ran the Policeman off the ROAD and onto the SIDEWALK!!  What are the odds?!?  The one car you play "Chicken" with is a Police Car!!

The Policeman ended up giving Popo a field sobriety test (Much to Popo's chagrin and protestation!) and then took him down to the Police Station for booking.  When they got there, it just happened that Judge Frank Hall was in the station for some reason or other.  Judge Hall got a good laugh out of Popo being hauled in for drunk driving!  He then informed the Policeman that he knew Elmer Riggs' character, knew Elmer wouldn't touch liquor and he would take care of the situation.  After the Policeman left, Judge Hall said to Popo, "Get out of here Elmer and go turkey hunting...But next time CLEAN YOUR WINDSHIELD OFF BEFORE YOU GO!!!"

Belated Valentine Trip

Twenty-nine years ago last Friday night, it was my good....

"Fortune" cookie......

To take...

To the Sweetheart Banquet.

(Thanks for saying "Yes" Tamala Ruth!)

And...by the next Sweetheart Banquet in 1986, we were engaged to be married...

Since last Friday was the monthly youth rally and myself being the rally leader, I didn't have the opportunity to take Tami out then or over the weekend.  So today around the middle of the morning, I decided to just take the afternoon off and remedy the situation.  I told her to be ready in the early afternoon, dressed casual.  We drove to Springfield and ate at the new (at least to us) Panda Express at the corner of Chestnut and Glenstone in the old "Krispy Kreme" building.  We ate at Panda Express in California the times we have been there and it is outstanding Chinese food.

Now before anybody thinks I'm chincy or cheap and won't spring for a meal in a classy restaurant...This is where Tami wanted to eat.

I hadn't had breakfast or lunch so I had three entrees with fried rice (Firecracker Chicken, Black Pepper Chicken and Beijing Beef).  Tami had two entrees with fried rice (Springfield Cashew Chicken and Teriyaki Chicken)

We went shopping at the Battlefield Mall.....Visited John and Dar Bean (and Dessa) and some of their friends from South Dakota.....

And then we finished up the evening with a trip to...

And had a BUTTER PECAN CONCRETE!!!  It don't get no better!!

Frozen Pipes

  Leamon Riggs and Helen Fox were married on October 19, 1957.  Their first abode was a small rented house on Rover Route, east of the county road, about a half mile north of "Rouintree Corner."  In today's lingo this would be "On 3730 just north of East 160" (I say something is lost in the modern translation.)  Mom told me that Dad spent most of that winter, thawing out frozen pipes.  To the best of my recollection, this was his observation at the end of that winter.  "I will never go through another winter like this.  I'm going to make sure that the pipes will not freeze in any other house I live in."  He was a man of his word because I can only remember one time when our water froze.
  We were living in the "Farley Place" on Rover Route when it happened.  We built the house in the early 70's but we call it the "Farley Place" because our Pastors, Leon and Helen Farley, lived there in the 80's.  Go figure!  Now days, it is occupied by Freddie and Brenda Howell.
  We woke up one cold winter morning with no water.  The well and pump were in a small, heated building where we kept our deep freeze and our canned vegetables, so no problem there. I'm sure Dad was kinda perplexed because he built and prepared so this would not happen.  It turned out to be a perfect storm.
  When we built the house, there was a place where the sill plate didn't fit down snug against the concrete foundation.  In layman's terms...there was a crack or gap between the house and the foundation.  Can you guess what was directly in line with this gap?  Yep...The water line that served the house!  Since the house faced the west and was totally exposed on all sides, it received the brunt of the winter storms, blowing in from the west and northwest.  Old Man Winter had finally found a way to freeze our water!  Dad thawed out the pipe, sealed the gap and I can't remember our water ever freezing up again.

  When we lived at the "Homeplace", Dad took cold weather preparation to a whole new level.  The "Homeplace" was the last house we built and lived in before Dad passed away.  It was west of the "Farley Place" and just down the hill from "Paunch" Thompson's house.  As a matter of fact, Dad bought the land off of "Paunch".
  To protect the well and tank, we built a small, well-insulated (no pun intended) wellhouse.  Dad wired a light fixture inside with a switch outside so you wouldn't have to take the door out to turn on the light.  A 100 watt bulb provided enough heat to keep the water from freezing.  There was just one problem.  You had to take the door out to make sure the light was still on and had not burnt out!  In his usual fashion, my Dad remedied the problem.
  He took some string he had soaked in lighter fluid, tied it around a Coke bottle (they were made of glass back then) and then set the string on fire.  After it had burned a little bit, he dipped the Coke bottle in cold water and then he broke the bottle in half, right where the string had been!
  He cut a hole in the bottom of the wellhouse door, just the size of the Coke bottle bottom, put the Coke bottle in the hole with the bottom toward the outside, calked it in real good and put the door back in.

  The result?  When you turned the switch on outside, the light inside would shine through the Coke bottle and let you know all was well in Antarctica!


Found these pictures in an old photo album last night....

Standing on the front porch of the "Homeplace" looking north.  This is the winter of 85-86 just after Dad passed away.

 Google "Auto Awesome" gif!!  Cool!!

The view of the back of our shop looking north.

Looking east from the front of the shop, toward the "Farley Place".  As a matter of fact, Brother Leon and Sister Helen were living there when this picture was taken.