Off Topic - LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!!!

[Allen Morgan]

Last Friday night, as I was going to bed, I started having some pain in my stomach.  I'm using to gas pressure, which is what this felt like, but it was in a weird place.  I dealt with it as best I could for a couple hours, then called me wife to come and get me.  I went to the ER.  Come to find out, my appendix was starting to become inflamed.  We found that out around 0430 Sat.  Since I live in a smaller town, the local hospital's surgery was closed for the weekend.  My wife drove me up to the "mother ship" Hospital in Tulsa, and I had my appendix removed about an hour later.

I spend the night in Hospital.  I got out at lunch time on Sunday.  I'm currently at my parent's, as they have some recliners that do the same thing as a hospital bed.

I should be back to work in a week or so.  I'll be on light-duty restrictions for several weeks.  That means no fishing for catfish and/or Stripers.

[Jim Gronaw]

Glad you are feeling better...prayers to you!

[Lord of the Fly , Rods]

Sam , I guess I could keep a sharp eye on you and make sure you dont eat any strawberries, right now we are eating Cave City watermelons , " The sweetest watermelons in the world ", if you tried one you would agree. LOFR

[Sam Holt]

LOFR,

 Somebody needs to keep a sharp eye on me!! Ha!

Man you make my mouth water talking about watermelons! I never have heard of a Cave City watermelon.

Back in my younger days living in northwest Louisiana, my grandpa and one of my uncles raised a lot of watermelons. 

My daddy always made a healthy haul of melons every time we went up to the country to see my grandparents! Guess who got to get out of the car or truck and climb through the barb wire fence in the frigging hot sand to pick these melons??

Boy we sure enjoyed them after we took them back to Shreveport and put them on the shady back porch and would select one each morning to place in the fridge to cool during the day for us to eat in the late afternoon!

Also you probably remember back when they had what they called " Watermelon Gardens" where you could go in to these places ,usually open air set ups and sat down at these large tables and ordered a big slice of any type of watermelon they might have that day! They always had these melons in big refrigerated coolers and they were chilled!!

Some of the names of the melons back then that I remember were names like Black Diamond, Congo, Congo Red, Dixie Melon, Sugar Melon, and Dixie Queen. I am sure there were others, but these are the names that stuck in my mind!!

What is the origin of the Cave City melons?

As you probably know, watermelons have a lot of good medicinal attributes! Especially if one is diabetic!

Anyway going to the store tomorrow and pick me up a good melon! I love `em!!

[Steve Crowder]

Wishing you a speedy recovery Allen and an even a faster trip to your favorite fishing hole!

[carl hendrix]

Sam;  just remember to use a piece of broom straw; laid across the melon to check to make sure the melon is ripe!!   thats the best way  for checking melons!!

[Sam Holt]

Whoa Carl!

Best not to indulge too much in that " Tennessee Moonshine"!! LOL!

When going through a watermelon patch just before sunrise going squirrel hunting, never had time to worry about a '"Broom Straw"! Back in the day my daddy would roll a melon over to one side and give it two or three good thumps with his middle finger and either say let`s try another one or he would say' Dead Ripe"! He would then send his fist right into the center of the bottom of the melon and most of the time the melon would split almost in two equal parts! So all one had to do now was reached in with your paw and scoop out a big piece of the heart of the melon and start munching!! An as you are munching you are doing double time towards the squirrels woods before the sun gets up!

Naturally you hoped for a creek, stream, or bayou to wash off you sticky paws! So I learned the trick on thumping melons to check for ripeness a long time ago!! Ha! And have not ever cut into a green one yet!!

One thing about melons, seeds are usually pretty easy to detect in your mouth to spit them out, thus no worries about errant watermelon seeds finding their way to your appendix!!

The only time I worry about " Broom Straws" is during Halloween time! Some of those " Gals" have some awful silent brooms to sneak up on you!!

[carl hendrix]

hey Sam;; your right about thumping melons;; one thing tho;;  you have to be  able to hear it thump;; i cant!!  I have a hearing problem;; so;; had to find other ways of finding ripe melons!

[Sam Holt]

Dadgomme Carl!

 Sorry to hear about your hearing problem! But join the crowd! I have lost 40% of hearing in my right ear and 35% in my left ear! When ladies talk to me, I usually have a hard time understanding what they say! Although sometimes it is a good thing!!

 Ok! Now I am going to bite! What indication does a " Broom Straw" laying on a watermelon give to indicate that it is a ripe melon??

[Lord of the Fly , Rods]

Sam , I had to go to the hills Friday to do some business and after it was over I went down to Cave City , just 10 miles out of the way , and picked up 5  Cave City melons, I stopped at the river on the way to the Cabin and noticed one of the melons had busted open  so I had to share it with the people that were at the river, it was so sweet and juicy that the juice would run down your arm to your elbow while you were trying to take a bite, good thing I was standing by the cool waters of the Strawberry River  to wash off after eating it. Standing there in the shade , full of sweet watermelon, on the banks of my favorite smallmouth river all I could think is that Life is  GOOD.  Finally , on the way home this morning I drove past a little country store that was selling melons and purchased two of the prettiest Black Diamond melons I have seen in years, they are all in coolers now on ice, it's watermelon week at my house this week . Wish I could send you a slice.    LOFR

[Sam Holt]

I got a melon in the fridge, unfortunately it is not good old Black Diamond!!

Here in Aurora, Colorado around 8:00 P.M. tonight, there was a " Wee bit of nip in the air"!! So hope that is an good omen of an early fall for this year!!

I bet those small mouths were licking their chops when water borne traces of sweet watermelon juices started to flowing through their gills!!