Making a shark fishing pole

Making a shark fishing pole.

Photographs copied from http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Homemade-Fishing-Rod

I had fond memory of watching people fishing for sharks off the pier.  John Palmer was one that I could remember by name.  John did not talk much but he did talk with me.  I must have asked him a thousand questions about fishing for sharks and about his homemade shark fishing tackle.  John use a fishing rod mode of Calcutta bamboo with a 6 ought Penn/Senator reel.

The rods were easy to make but took considerable time depending on just what results you're satisfied. The poles I made took many, many hours from start to finish. It's all in the finishing, just how many coats of varnish, how the guide wraps are to look, etc.

After many days of asking John questions I finally had enough information to make my own shark fishing Pole. J.C. Strother Company had supply of Calcutta bamboo poles.  They were about an inch in miniature and twelve to fourteen feel long. The cost was $1.25.

Calcutta bamboo is not just any type of bamboo growing in someone’s back yard. Calcutta Bamboo, I believe it comes from India. The bamboo it very different from other type of bamboo. It is treated when it is harvested, by soaking it in used motor oil.  As a result, the bamboo has that brownish color. This bamboo is super strong, it bends just like fiber glass fishing rod. since these are holding a reel on I use the hybrid polyethene because it soaks into the cord much better than epoxy would. In fact, I used this same poly on the guides to. I had to do several coats but it dries fast, is easy to use and you can put on multiple coats with no issues. I use this same coating on the bamboo gaffs I make, I use it on the cord and the bamboo, it acts like a glue holding everything together. The poly is like water it soaks into everything also this poly is not slippery when it gets wets. The guides are placed on the nodes of the bamboo so you do not really notice the nodes. 

The first step was to cut (the saw was provided from my father’s work shop without his permission) the bottom off square the pole off at the nearest knot to the bottom of in the bamboo. 

The next step was to make the pole smooth by, remove the knots at the joints especially the areas where the "branches" were attached. The sanding was done heavy grit sandpaper all over, then using fine grit sand paper.  The sand paper was $0.10 total.

  

An easy to make pole would be 10 to 12 feet long, or whatever length you might like, with 5 or 6 guides plus the top or rod tip. The tip of the Calcutta bamboo was kind of large and finding a tip to fit was a challenge.  The tip was set by the size of the eye that would fit. You needed a tip of #26 or larger. The pole was cut to fit the tip and set the pole length to be about ten to twelve feet.  All total there were five guide eyes of different sizes.  Total cost guide eyes and tip was around $6.00

The tip was secured to the bamboo with a special glue (stick shellac) The shellac is better because it can be softened by heating if the tip‐top ever needs replacing. This glue was solid and had to be lit under a flame to melt the glue on the tip of the pole to secure the tip eye.  Once the glued cooled the tip was stuck on securely, not to move under the most extreme condition. The glue stick was $0.95

     

https://flyrods.weebly.com/the-pliant-rod-blog--news/category/vintage%20tackle/5

After a few hours, the pole was ready for the first coat of varnish.  Don't use anything less than marine type varnish because it just will not last.! This varnish was made specially for work around salt water and could be purchased from Strother for $1.25 for a pint can.  Attaching the tip of the pole first allowed tied off with string tied to a branch of nearest tree.  This allow the pole to be varnish with any drips going down the pole.  These drips then could be sanded smooth.  The first coat of varnish It took a day to dry. 

I don't use manufactured reel seat. Instead, just measure up from the butt end about 26 or more inches and then, using nylon twine, color of your choice, wrap an area about 8 to 10 inches and use stainless steel hose clamps to secure the reel where ever fits you best. The area was wrapped with heavy line to provide a firm footing for the reel, and if the wrapping is extended a considerable distance forward of the reel it also serves as a grip. 

Photos provided from https://saltykeen.wordpress.com/2016/04/05/diy-how-to-make-a-custom-calcutta-bamboo-fishing-gaff/         

The eyes guides were fastening to the pole with nylon thread that was rainbow colors.  This takes a special wrap where just as you finish the wrapping, you pull the ends of the string back under the twine you have wrapped on There are no knots to tie, the tension of the wrappings holds the now hidden ends in place beneath the wraps. This wrapping is a time-consuming step in building the rod as you must make two such wraps for each guide.

The pole then received two coats of varnish.   The most popular reel was the Penn/Senator 000000 (6 ought).  This real could hold 875 yards of 80 lb. braided Dacron line.  The cost of the reel was $75 and the line was $12.50 for one spool of 800 yards. 

http://deanlevin.info/fishing-reels/penn-sea-fishing-reels/

The fishing hooks were stainless steel forged with Piano wire for leader with stainless steel swivel.  Cost was about $2.50.

The total cost of the rod and reel was over $150 and took 50 to 80 hours to make.  Not many teenagers in 1960’s had the money to buy a store-bought fiberglass pole and resorted to make their own Calcutta pole.  

Fishing for sharks is another story.

http://www.georgiasharkfishing.com/

High School Questions

Douglas Seaman
Class of 1968

1. Did you know your spouse? My wife, Gordy, attended GA but I did not know her. She knew people that knew me, but we never met.

2. Did you carpool? Rode the bus or my mother dropped me off on her way to work

3. What kind of car did you have? Ford Cortina

4. It's Friday night where did you go? Football Game I was in the marching band. After football would go to the drive-in Brunswick, fight the Mosquitoes and steam up the windows. Beach parties were popular on Jekyll

5. What kind of job did you have? Worked as the short order cook for Tastee Freeze. They provided one meal on each shift, and we got to eat our mistakes. Surprising how many bananas splits had to be done a second time.

6. Were you a party animal? Starting the summer of the night grade I would be sick as a dog for drinking too much the night before, does this qualify?

7. Were you considered popular? I was popular with one special girl that is all I needed my senior year.

8. Were you in band/glee club/choir? I was in the marching band and the orchestra (without strings). In the summer would go to Musemount (a fine arts summer camp run by Mr. Barr located in the piney hills of Columbus Georgia, in 1986 was also on Jekyll) and play in their symphony (with strings)

9. Were you a nerd?

Most standard definition= Nerd is a slang term for a socially awkward person who excels in science or technology

Read more at http://www.yourdictionary.com/nerd#UIQXecbdRc7wZLrE.99.

Origin of nerd

from uncertain or unknown; perhaps arbitrary coinage by Dr. Seuss for the name of a creature in his children's book If I Ran the Zoo (1950)

Read more at http://www.yourdictionary.com/nerd#UIQXecbdRc7wZLrE.99

10. Did you get suspended or expelled? No, I did not smoke or skip school.

11. Can you sing the fight song? No, but I can play it on the saxophone

12. Where did you eat lunch? No, my mother made me lunch, most times meat loft sandwich.

13. Did you attend Glynn Academy but graduate elsewhere and if so where? No, was most fortunate to have spent three enlightening years at GA, the best education one could have in the 1960’s.

14. Your Glynn Academy mascot was the Red Terror. Maybe a wild boar, or the rattlesnakes, or the hammerhead sharks? ????

15. If you could go back and do it over again, would you? Would I know then what I know now, yes. If it was just a repeat, yes then I would have double my pleasures.

16. What would you do differently? I did not know the importance of a quality education and in high school did not think about what I would do after. I ended up at Brunswick Jr. College just because it was there and that my selective service number was 28.

17. Did you have fun at prom? Let’s just say I did not “found my thrill on Blueberry Hill.”

18. Do you still talk to the person you went to the senior prom with? Yes, occasionally

19. Are you planning on going to your next class reunion? Yes

20. Are you still in contact with people from high school? Yes

21. Did you skip school/class? Only on the last week of my senior year.

22. Did the teachers like you? Never met a Glynn Academy teacher that I did not like. They all were there for the students. The set the example and set the bar of a 96-100=A. Sadly the bar has been lowered many times and a diploma from GA is not the same 1968 and 2017.

23. How old were you when you graduated? 18 and 10 months (I failed 3rd grade when I spent a year in California.)

24. Did you have a nickname? I think one person I knew called me Duggie, most called me Doug, and I am now a Douglas.
25. What was your favorite TV show back then? The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau

What else should we know or remember about you when you were a Senior?

Shopping for Pork in a Arab country

Islamic jurisprudence specifies which foods are halāl (حَلَال "lawful") and which are harām (حَرَامْ "unlawful"). This is derived from commandments found in the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, as well as the Hadith and Sunnah, libraries cataloging things the Islamic prophet Muhammad is reported to have said and done. Extensions of these rulings are issued, as fatwas, by mujtahids, with varying degrees of strictness, but they are not always widely held to be authoritative.

Pork is harām (حَرَامْ "unlawful") for the Muslim faith and in many countries cannot be found. In Saudi Arabia this is the case but in Bahrain, they do sale pork to the non Muslims.

I went on line to find what local stores had pork for sale, not every grocery stores will sell harām meat. I found one food store that is within walking distance (when it is not 100 degrees F outside). The grocery store is one of several and a second store was located a couple of miles away. We decided to visit both.

Yesterday, Sunday 24 September 2017 was a local holiday at work, (in Saudi it was considered Saudi National Day) and I did not have to work. Gordy and I relaxed around the house until 11 am and ventured out to the first store located down the street in the Nakeel Center http://nakheelcentre.com/. I have driven by this location since May and never stopped in to see what stores are there. Of course there are two coffee shops, one Starbucks and a Esquires Coffee shop.

We arrived at the time of the day when parking was not a issue. In the evening this location the parking lot is always full, one of the reason why I have never visited the stores. We found the Alosra Supermarket a small be very clean and well stocked grocery store.

The store seems to be stocked with items that Westerners would like, a lot of US and UK brands.  Of course the cost for a lot of items is very expensive,  They did have a small room  with pork in display coolers.  We found  couple of pounds of bacon, two nice pork chops, we pass on the sausage, made on site but did not like the packaging.

We found a lot of hard to find cooking items and the location make I easy to pick things up on the way home from work.

After a few things on our shopping list, we cashed out and went home to drop what we purchased then left to go to the lager Alosra Supermarket located two miles form our flat.  We finished our shopping list at this location and returned home by 2 pm.     I am looking forward to a BLT, for lunch and the pork chops for dinner one night.        

When researching where to buy pork in Bahrain, some locals Muslin responded and were surprise that pork was available.  The information on the internet said that a non Muslin would handle the pork for cutting and packaging and that a muslin cashier would not handle the pork in a package.    When I checked out at both location there was a muslin cashier and I told here I had pork.  Both cashier told me to hold the pork so she could use the infrared scanner to read the price.  I then placed the pork in the shopping bag.    

I know that pork is a no no in Saudi Arabia but have found that in the UAE and Bahrain  pork can be found if you know where to go.  There are several restaurants in Bahrain where pork is sold, last weekend after Mass Gordy and I went to Rick's Country Kitchen and met another family for breakfast.  They had bacon, sausage and pork BBQ.  They even had grits which made Gordy happy.                                                                                                           

Douglas Seaman photos

 ITSI, Afghanistan 2011, I am the fat guy on the left end. I worked in Afghanistan for several companies, ITSI was the best project and the best fellow coworkers.  We had a good team to work on two protects in Lash Ghar.  One project is were we lived inside a compound inside the project.  The second project was in Marjha, the drug capital of the world. This project we had to drive to once a week in a arm convoy.  We were in bullet proof SUV escorted by a truck full of armed hired security Afghanistan.  The trip took 30 min to arrive and 30 min to return.  We were on site for about two hours.  Our security guards were South Africans and the best group of men that I have met.  We finished the projects one time and on budgets. We had a great support from several Philippine Engineer that new how the Army Corp of Engineers did their paper work.  The made the project work.

 Taken on the steps of the Valley of the Kings, Egypt on my vacation 2010.  This was a trip to remember.  Gordy and I sailed down the Nile in a barge pulled by a small tug boat.  On a few nights the barge unfurled the sail and we were free to follow the wind.  We stopped at several archaeological sites.  This one was most impressive.
 https://www.google.com.bh/search?q=photos+of+the+valley+of+the+kings&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS743US743&oq=photos+of+the+valley+of+the+kings&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i65l2j69i60l3.7529j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Outside the main gate at Camp Leatherneck 2008,  This  sign was painted on one of the concrete barrier called Taxes T and stood 12 feet tall.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/05/20/satellite-photos-of-camp-leatherneck-in-afghanistan-before-and-after-u-s-withdrawal/?utm_term=.0c695d7cae3d

 Camp Leatherneck first earth walls 2009.  The very first fortification at this location was build y the British.  It was construction out of metal baskets with geo-textile on the inside. This allow the dirt to be placed inside and the basket to be stacked.  Constituted correctly the baskets called Hesco, after the suppliers could make a bomb proof enclosure.  After years in the desert the basket wire would deteriorate leaving the dirt hard packed.  From a distance the old compound looked like a strange geological feather. This first compound was call Fort Bastion.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hesco_bastion

 Douglas Seaman, Class of 1968 Glynn Academy.
http://ga68.atspace.com/

 My first family, David, Teddy, Christopher, and Gordy1976.  Teddy and Christopher lived with us for nine months.

 Douglas Seaman in Scotland 2017.

 Douglas Seaman at the Carmichael Estate, Scotland August 2917
https://www.carmichael.co.uk/clan-carmichael/

 ITSI construction management team, Lash Ghar, Afghanistan 2011, I am the one in the middle.

 Douglas Seaman, Scotland August 2017.

 Douglas and Gordy, Pigeon Forge 2016
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2016/11/29/tennessee-wildfires-gatlinburg/94591254/

 Gordy at breakfast Dillard House, Ga. 2016
http://www.dillardhouse.com/

 Douglas Seaman, Afghanistan 2009

 Douglas Seaman, Yulee Florida 2013

The Seaman Family, Frank, Ruth, Cheryl and Douglas 1950 Atlanta Ga.

 Douglas & Gordy Jones Road, Yulee 2009

 Douglas & Gordy on the Nile 2010

 Douglas Seaman Camp La Jueune, NC 2009

 Douglas Seaman rafting the Colorado River 2005

 Douglas Seaman, Disney 1971.

 Douglas and Gordy somewhere 1968

 Douglas Seaman, St. Augustine 1970

 Douglas Seaman and Easy, Signollia Sicily 1974

 Douglas, Gordy, David and Jessica at boot camp 1998.

 PH2 Seaman, USS Mt. Whitney LCC-20 Norfolk, Va 1971
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Mount_Whitney_(LCC-20)

Douglas Seaman. Glynn Academy class 1968, photo 1966

The first Islanders

Before they settled in permanent villages, American Indians came to the coast for shellfish, hunting, and a wide variety of edible plants. The Native Americans would then head back inland towards their villages. Moving between the coast and inland began to change, and the indigenous people moved towards the coastal areas permanently. The Guale settled around the year 1500 in St. Simon’s with almost 200 people, establishing a village called Guadalquini.

The traveling of “Visitor” to the coastal island of Georgia has been going on since there was Wooly Mammoth grazing the pasture lands.  Traces of the human existent have been discovered along coastal Georgia who lived in the Golden Isles 3000 to 5000 years ago. The Native Americans were the first Visitors to enjoy the cool summer night breezes of the coastal island along with the fortification of being away from the Big Chiefs on the Mainland.  Before there were permanent villages on St. Simons Island the Visitors come to coastal Georgia for shellfish, variety of edible plants and for hunting such as fish, alligator snapping turtle, deer, opossum raccoon, alligator, buffalo, fox squirrel, songbirds, wild turkey, bobcats, armadillos, black bears, beavers, geese, coyotes, wild hogs, rats, raccoons, woodpeckers, and foxes.  From excavations, it has been determined that oysters were an every day their diet

At the end of summer, the Native Americans visitors to the coastal island would head back to their inland villages.  I am sure a few remained to watch over the settlement and became they became the first permanent “Resident” of Saint Simons Island.

Many of the local Native Americans followed an annual economic cycle that saw them undertake seasonal migrations in pursuit of plants and animals needed for their existence. It is accepting that the Native American would follow the game and arrive for the warmer months and then migrate to inland during the cooler winter months. The local tribes that lived on the coastal islands were the Guale, Yamasee, and Timucua who are the first residents of the Golden Isles.  Other tribes were Creek, Hitchiti, Oconee and Miccosukee most likely, the first tourist to the Golden Isles.

I am absolutely certain the Yamasee chiefs would complain that the Creeks were coming.  But the Yamasee would trade with these visitors anyway, who had goods such as flints, Pipestone, sterile, hematite, and ochre. These stones found in the archaeological sites are not native to the area.  The Yamasee would tell their children to stay off trails, so they do not get stampede by one of those crazy Creeks riding his big horse. 

One of largest Indian villages of Mocama Indian village named Guadalquiniwas located in Saint Simons Park on Saint Simons Island.  The park is the open space located in what used to be the Tasty Freeze (now DQ) and the ballpark.  In early 1960 the mounds of oyster shells were excavated by a group of armature archeologist.  Some would say they were not an archaeologist but were looters looking for something of wealth in the trash heaps of the Yamasee and their ancestors. In the garbage mounds of oyster shells, turtle bones and other animal bones were discovered the bodies of five Native Americans.  

St. Simons Park St. Simons park was the site of a Mocama Indian village of approximately 100-200 people. The inhabitants used marine resources, agriculture, square wattle and daub houses, stamped and incised Irene Style ceramics, and burial mounds characteristic of this late prehistorical coastal culture. The burial mounds were in use within the chiefdom of Guadalquini from the 1450s-1600s. Artifacts found there include ceramic bowls, pipes, and a rare chevron bead. The refuse midden area revealed that the Indians consumed fish, mollusks, deer, and small animals.
Erected by Georgia Historical Society, Friends of the Park, Coastal Georgia Historical Society and Neptune Garden Club. The armature excavation continued for a few weeks until, the State Archaeologist from Hotlanta, were informed of the excavation.  The State Archaeologist visited the site on Saint Simons Island.  After a review of the documentation being kept by the armature archeologist, the State Archaeologist decided to shut down the local “Armatures.” The remains of the burial are still in the same locations as to where they were discovered in the park.  The remains are guarded by the majestic oaks that have been there for the last 300 to 400 hundred years. That tree guards the burial site to this day with a healthy growth of poison ivy.  I know this for a fact since as a young boy of 14 I observed the excavation for many days.  Without noticing, I leaned against the might oak, and in a few days, I develop an extreme case of poison ivy.  There I a curse on anyone disturbing the graves of the Native Americans Residents of Saint Simons Island.

In the state archives, it has been discovered a record of the first residents of Guadalquini meeting Big Chiefs from the mainland about improvements the Big Chief wanted to make for the “Residents.”  The big chiefs wanted to improve the area along the beach to park more horses saying it was for the benefits of the “Residents.”  The “Residents” responded with, “Guadalquini is for residents first and a tourist’ destination secondly.” The Big Chiefs from the mainland who has governing authorities is always trying to develop the coastal island of Saint Simons Island, and the residents Yamasee would always say no to development.   

Translated from the archives is a story, where the Big Chiefs from the mainland had suggested of wampum, could be exchanged to help pay for the development of new beach access improvements.  One of the Yamasee Residents responded, “If I have to pay wampum every time I go to the beach, that’s a lot of wampum surcharge a year for choosing to live here on the island.”

Amid the cozy log huts and gnarled oaks of this tranquil island, new grand lodging cabins have built to capitalize on island growing appeal for the visitor to vacation. But “Residents,” say this wave of great log huts will destroy the quaint character of Guadalquini. In the past year, six great lodging cabins either have begun construction or received approval the mainland Big Chief in Charge of Planning to meet the growing demands for grand accommodation huts.

Guadalquini' reputation as a popular getaway is nothing new, dating back when wealthy families from mainland began building summer log huts on the islands. One Resident voiced his concern, "How many of these things are we going to make in the Village so nobody can see the campfire on the beach?”

Years later an explorer from the old world discovered the new world, and it was not long that visitor came to Guadalquini, for a wide variety of coastal activities in a beautiful natural setting of sprawling moss-draped Live Oaks, green-gold salt marsh, and sandy beaches.

The European visitors changed the name of the settlement at the south end of the island to San Buenaventura de Guadalquini 1605-1684 and another settlement on the north end of the island called Santo Domingo de Asao/Talaje 1661-1684.  In 1597 there was an uprising resulting in several of the Visitors being killed by the Residents.  The Visitors finally retreated to St. Augustine in 1680.  The respite of from “Visitors” lasted a few years when a not ground of “Visitors” arrived.  Too many in number to fight, the Residents only recourse was to leave their homes of hundreds of years to less populated areas.

The island gets its name from a short-lived Yamassee Indian village known as San Simon, which was established near Fort Frederica by refugees during the late 1660s to 1684. English settlers anglicized the name to St. Simons.  The new residents, the English were now the residents of St. Simons and had to fight a war in 1739 to keep the European visitors the Spanish, from returning.

There is no right way to eat a oyster

Yes, the Native Indians seemed to enjoy the bivalve that was plentiful in the coastal waters. It is unknown why a man work contemplates eating a raw oyster was something good, maybe it was a dare or the rumor that fresh oysters were an aphrodisiac. Maybe after the first man eats the first oyster, he told his friends that it tasted like chicken and other tried it. Realizing they were tricked, they kept the story going until it became part of their diet. The conventional approach to eating oysters is to serve them raw. Typically, fresh oysters are served on the half shell with plenty of lemons for squeezing, Tabasco sauce and shallot vinaigrette (mignonette).: “Raw oysters—grayish and wet and cold and somewhat jellylike, briny-tasting and fresh to a flagrant degree that even sashimi cannot match—are not exactly the most user-friendly of the foodstuffs.” The very suggestion of consuming a raw oyster on purpose must seem, to the sorts of depressingly numerous weenies who must pinch their noses and chew at light speed just to choke down a Brussels sprout without dry-heaving, patently ludicrous.

There's no right way to eat an oyster. Take your tiny fork and sort of move the oyster around in its liquid-filled half shell to make sure it's detached. Then put down your fork, pick up the shell, and slurp down the goo chew one or twice before you swallow it. It's an urban legend that you are supposed to let it slide down your throat without biting into it. Think of an oyster like a grape: if you don't chew the grape, you won't get the full flavor.

Watch this Dad

Watch this.

I would like to share with others about my “watch this” experience.  My son, David, was twelve years old and enjoyed skateboarding.  It was the Christmas of 88 that Gordy, David and I were visiting my mother who lived on the Althomal River near the town of Baxley. When my mother lived was all dirt roads and no hard surfaces to go out and skateboard.  There was one paved surface, and that was the road down to the boat ramp on the river.  The paved road started at the top of the bluff and went down to the boat ramp, a drop of 300 feet in a quarter mile.  That would put the slope of the road at about 17%.  After many hours of David complaining of nothing to do, I agreed to take him to the boat ramp.  Gordy decline to watch and remain in the kitchen helping with Christmas dinner.

We stopped at the top of the paved surface and looked down this paved road as if it was a sky jump.  I told David it was too steep and unsafe to skate down.  In those days there were no helmets, knee pads or elbow pads.  Maybe the safety equipment was available, but no one used them. David insisted that he could manage the slope and wanted to try.  I stood back and said OK ready to “What this”.  Now let me explain that in 88 we were living in Margate Florida that is about as flat as you can find.  There were no hills, no slopes and no skate parks that would have provided David a little experience in skating down 17% incline.  But that never stopped anyone from trying something new, something never done before.

He placed the skateboard on the asphalt, put one foot on it, turned to me and smiled as if to say, “Watch this.” The other foot pushed off and gently he was traveling down the slope.  At first, the speed was manageable, but within a short distance his speed was what one could say was fast.  At this point, he was in the middle of the road seems to be under control.  At this point, he was halfway down the incline going maybe 10 mph or 15 mph something started to go wrong.  The skateboard began to wobble side to side, and his track began to drift right.  He corrected but too much and went to the left.  Again, he corrected and brought the skateboard to the center then overcorrected to the right.  It was that this time at the top of the hill I knew something was going to happen.  It did happen, and it was in slow motion.  David attempted to slow down by putting his weight on the back of the board, raising the front up.  With only back wheels on the pavement, the control skateboard was reduced as if he had any control going 15 mph on a piece of wood fastened to skate wheels. At this point, he attempted to step off the board, which he did but physics took over.  His body was going 15 mph when his foot touched the pavement he body was stopped at 0 mph. The top half of his body kept going downhill forcing him to fall forward on elbows, chest, and legs.  Next to his body went sideways and now he was rolling over and over.

I got in the car, raced down the hill and reached him about the time his forward motion had stopped.  At first, he did not say anything, his breath was knocked out, and he was gulping for air.  Not wanting to scare him as to his condition I mentioned that that was a great ride and that he did well until that squirrel ran in front of him.  He said catching his breath, what squirrel?   I think he realized I was trying to distract him.  He looked at each arm and from the wrist to the elbow there was road rash.  He sat up and looked at his legs, both had road rash from the knee down the shin.  While his chest took the dominant force in the fall, it seemed ok.  He got up on his own two legs, got in the car and we headed back to his grandmother’s house.  It was only a few minutes, but the road rash started to be very wet and red.  By the time we enter the room, it looked like David had tangled with a bear.  That would have been a better story than skateboarding down the boat ramp and would have kept me out of trouble with Gordy.

I put David in the bathtub, clothes and all.  As the warm water touch the area of road rash, the water turned red.  His shirt and pants were removed showing some addition bruising Gently we washed the grime and grit out of the wounds.  The bleeding seemed to have stopped but by this time the reality had hit him and so did the pain.  In a few minutes, he wounds were clean and exit the bathtub.  He complained that his elbow hurt and not it was time to drive to the emergency room.  >That trip from the river to Baxley hospital was about 20 minutes.

The emergency room paperwork had to be filled out first then waited a few moments   to see the doctor.  The doctor looked at David and said what happen to you, tangle with a bear.  David laughed a little felt paid and said no skateboarding. After an examination and an x-ray, it was determined there was nothing broken.  This was welcome news and hoped it would keep me from being in the doghouse.

That Christmas was one that was remembered for a long time with David sitting at the table, wrapped in bandages and with me taking the blame for, “Watch This”.