# SPACE SHUTTLE TAKING OFF!!



## Hawging It (Oct 13, 2019)

I chose the Jokes area to post but this story is *not* a joke. It *really *happened. It wasn't funny at all at the time but looking back through the years I think it is hilarious now. I have told the story many, many, many times and always get a belly laugh from all who hear the story.  My dad and I were extremely close. We did everything together. He taught me how to hunt, fish, play golf, baseball, football smoking meat and about how to be a good person. He never missed a single game that I ever played in, from 4th grade all the way through College. Passed in 1995 and I miss him every day. One of a kind sort of a guy that everyone loved.  Here we go! 

*This all occurred Thanksgiving Eve of 1980:* Every Thanksgiving Eve dad and some of his buddies would gather up and smoke hams, turkeys, pork sausage and ribs down at our barn. It was a tradition and it was one hell of a fun day for all. Lots of drinking went on. Jack Black #7 mostly. Usually the same 6 to 8 of his best buddies showed up for the smoking and brought what they wanted him to smoke for their Thanksgiving dinner. It always went off without a hitch with good smoked meat and a lot of fun and did I say whiskey drinking? Me and a couple of my buddies were drinking beer only. This annual deal started early to get all the meat going and ended way after dark. 

Everything was going great! We were waiting on the second load of turkeys and ribs to finish. It was dark and all were sitting around the fire pit telling lies and drinking. Suddenly dad and his buddies realized they were out of whiskey. He told everyone to load up!! We are heading to town!! He told me I was driving since I was OK to drive?? I really was, in my mind. We all loaded up. The big ole Chevy Suburban was full of toasted men and me. Before we departed dad said STOP! i need to fill up the water pan with apple juice it's bout out! He got out and grabbed the gallon jug of apple juice and poured it into the water pan then got in the vehicle.  We live in the sticks and still do. I hit the back roads to our 2 red light town at the time and headed to the one and only liquor store. Still there! Called Pops! They went in and bought a gallon of Jack Black #7 then we headed back to the barn. The barn sits about 100 yards off the main road and the smoker sat about 10 yards from the barn out in the open. As I turned onto the property I saw a HUGE flame near the barn. We didn't know what hell was going on. As we drove closer to the barn we saw a massive HUGE flame coming out of the smoke stack located in the center of the smoker. Looked like the *Space Shuttle* taking off!! The flame was at least 15 feet high!! We got out of the truck in shock! What's going on said one of dad's buddies. Dad said and I quote, OH SHxT!!! I poured peanut oil in the water pan instead of the juice! (we had fried catfish for lunch earlier that day and the extra oil was sitting near the jug of apple juice) It was kinda dark and he grabbed the wrong jug. He said SON!! Your Mother is going to kill us!!. I said, Hell, I didn't pour it in there! We got the fire out eventually. When we opened the door to the smoke chamber the meat was totally burned up. 6 large full size whole turkeys looked like burnt pigeons. Ribs were nothing but some black bones laying on the grate. Not only did he burn up our Thanksgiving dinner but all of his buddies as well! By then it was 10 pm. We had fried chicken for Thanksgiving dinner and mamma was pissed off for a month. Dad and I stayed way away from her for several days LOL! Eventually she came around and for many years after that disaster we sat around the Thanksgiving table with all the family laughing about that horrible day. It was a quality custom smoker and I attached a half ass sketch. You will get the idea. It held a ton of meat with the stack in the middle. We cleaned it up and used it for many more years. He never ever put peanut oil anywhere near the smoker again. I was just thinking today about some of the funny stuff he did and thought I would share the story.  So thankful I had a dad like him. So many fond memories. Thanks for reading the long post and visualizing what happened that day, long ago.


----------



## noboundaries (Oct 13, 2019)

Great memory, well told! Now I miss your dad.


----------



## Hawging It (Oct 13, 2019)

noboundaries said:


> Great memory, well told! Now I miss your dad.


Thanks buddy. Much appreciated. He was a unique dad and people just drew to him.  A very generous and humble man. And a great cook and smoker.


----------



## noboundaries (Oct 13, 2019)

You're welcome, my friend. When all we have left are memories, stories bring them back to life in our hearts.

My dad couldn't boil water, but he could open a can and brew coffee. Folgers was his favorite. He'd drink coffee all day. In my entire life I don't think I ever saw him drink water.  He grew up on a farm with disgusting, sulphur-infused, rotten egg smelling water, and that probably had a lot to do with it.

After mom passed and he didn't have anyone to cook for him, he signed up for Jenny Craig because they delivered all the food he needed. 

Like your dad, my dad was a guy who made friends wherever he went. About ten years before he passed, he took a 6-week cross country road trip with a lifelong friend to visit folks they knew and worked with in the past. Dad didn't want to waste time doing laundry on the trip, so he packed a week's worth of cheap clothes and underwear. When the week was up, he went to Walmart and bought another week of cheap clothes and underwear. He donated last week's clothes and threw away the underwear. He thought that solution was ingenious.

He's been gone a little over a year, but comes alive for me each morning with my first sip of coffee. Thanks for your memories of your dad, and for making my eyes tear up with memories of mine.

Be well.


----------



## Hawging It (Oct 14, 2019)

noboundaries said:


> You're welcome, my friend. When all we have left are memories, stories bring them back to life in our hearts.
> 
> My dad couldn't boil water, but he could open a can and brew coffee. Folgers was his favorite. He'd drink coffee all day. In my entire life I don't think I ever saw him drink water.  He grew up on a farm with disgusting, sulphur-infused, rotten egg smelling water, and that probably had a lot to do with it.
> 
> ...


Wow. What an awesome story. So thankful we have those special memories.


----------

