ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I am a native Georgian. The tiny settlement of Stonewall, Georgia nurtured my early years of Nehi orange drinks at Rob Thompson’s store, and bright yellow No. 2 Mallard pencils, Cokes, and Baby Ruth candy bars at Clarice Hogan’s dark one-room store. Hogan’s Store was nestled in the shade of sycamores at the Stonewall crossing. Oh, yes, and BB’s! A nickel tube of BB’s could take a lad into the land of great exploration and adventures. The shiny .177 caliber copper finished balls burst from the muzzle of my hand-me-down Red Ryder air rifle along the rural dirt roads and in the back woods.
My family circle was made up of many grandparents and great-grandparents, all in walking distance, where I made my daily circuit. A small glass of cold sweet milk with tiny droplets of condensation beading, washing down a biscuit slathered with fresh cow butter, topped with Blue Plate strawberry preserves, kept me still to listen to accounts of veterans of the War Between the States, haunting, haints, boogers, bears, wild cats and Injuns! Remember the saying “if the Creek don’t rise”? They weren’t talking about high water!
Early child labor laws missed my yard. Holding the egg basket among the many Rhode Island Reds, carefully splitting kindling with a hatchet much like Lizzie Borden supposedly used, thumping tiny fingers with a claw hammer as I straightened nails for my Granddad, and pulling my homemade wagon loaded with vegetables from the garden were just a few of life’s wonderful childhood experiences.
Those were the wonderful years and I didn’t know it. Years passed. I became a Machine Designer for twenty-five years, and a Law Enforcement officer for fifteen. During that time, my once in a lifetime love came into my life, and forty-one years later we’re still in love. We raised a wonderful daughter, too!
My wife and I worked at a living history museum in the small town of Lumpkin, Georgia. The 1850’s living history village is known as “Historic Westville”. Those years of volunteer service and full-time employment were some of the most exciting! Some folks drive to work, we drove into the past. There is a lot of history in the village, we encourage you to visit. We were involved in Civil War re-enacting for some twenty-five years, and also the Southeastern Frontiersman era (c1740-1770’s). There were many hours of time travel spent in those costumes, and demonstrating weapons of the periods represented. There was also a brief period of Cowboy Action Shooting.