Good morning!!!!

[Larro Darro]

I had meant to say today was the first full day of winter, so you guys up north can start with the snow and ice now. What, wait..... It has already been cold?

Can't get any better taste tester than someone who live thur the times.

My Daddy and Granddaddy both worked during the day, so most folks knew to come in the evenings for their drinking whiskey. But when someone would come to buy liquor before the men got home, if my Granny was the only one home they would have to come back later. She wouldn't have anything to do with it. But if Mamma was there she would put the hose in the five gallon can and siphon out however much they wanted. She was not as calm when it came to delivery though. They traded three car loads for an almost new '56 Ford. They took out the back seat and stacked cans in there, covered them with a quilt and put my little 2 year old cousin on it. They would take it through Marianna during the noon rush hour so the fact the car was weighted down wouldn't stand out. Her nerves were bad, but Daddy made her ride along so it looked like a family outing.

Larro

 

[dave1949]

I had meant to say today was the first full day of winter, so you guys up north can start with the snow and ice now. What, wait..... It has already been cold?





My Daddy and Granddaddy both worked during the day, so most folks knew to come in the evenings for their drinking whiskey. But when someone would come to buy liquor before the men got home, if my Granny was the only one home they would have to come back later. She wouldn't have anything to do with it. But if Mamma was there she would put the hose in the five gallon can and siphon out however much they wanted. She was not as calm when it came to delivery though. They traded three car loads for an almost new '56 Ford. They took out the back seat and stacked cans in there, covered them with a quilt and put my little 2 year old cousin on it. They would take it through Marianna during the noon rush hour so the fact the car was weighted down wouldn't stand out. Her nerves were bad, but Daddy made her ride along so it looked like a family outing.

Larro

That's some interesting family history Larro. I never knew of any one making whiskey in NW Ohio in that time period. People would bring it up from the hills further south, but I never had the idea it was a big business.

I guess during Prohibition, guys would run Canadian spirits across Lake Erie, that was before my time.

 

[bakerg]

Did you miss me?

We did! We did!

but no cruise exists without pictures....

Here's a pic of the ship we were on, toured 3 islands and did not see a single tractor.:confused2:



Uploaded with ImageShack.us

 

[Larro Darro]

That's some interesting family history Larro. I never knew of any one making whiskey in NW Ohio in that time period. People would bring it up from the hills further south, but I never had the idea it was a big business.

I guess during Prohibition, guys would run Canadian spirits across Lake Erie, that was before my time.

Dave, we are in Altha Florida. But there were a lot of folks from Appalachia who made this their home back then. They were not big time at all. The still would hold three 55 gallon drums of mash, and each drum would produce 5 gallons of liquor. My Daddy shared the still with his father, brother and BIL. Each one would take his turn making a run. It took two to three days per run, according to the weather. {it works off quicker in hot weather} They didn't use straight corn like up in the hills, but made their mash from chicken scratch. They all four still worked, but the whiskey sure helped keep their heads above water when there wasn't many good jobs around.

I had my dates and story wrong. The car was a '50 Ford. {I called Mamma and asked her to tell me the story again} It was the man trading the car for the liquor who was scared. He ran the hotel west of Marianna and was just keeping it for a few hours until a truck came to pick it up. When they had the last load delivered and it was time to pick up the car, they had to go to a tent revival to get it. The hotel man's wife had drove it there.

I knew I had the year model of the car wrong because my sister was born in '54, and she came along after they got out of the business. Granddaddy went to jail in '53 for a year and a day. When that happened Daddy gave up liquor making and moved to Tampa to find work. Sister was born not long after they moved to Tampa.

Edit: Mamma just called me back and said they sold the liquor for $3.00 a gallon, or $45.00 per run. The supplies cost $10.00, so that was a $35.00 profit for two or three days work. But in NW Florida in the late 40's and early 50's, that was not chump change. Before Daddy joined the Army in '44 and went to France, he cut cross ties and carried them to the railroad tracks for $0.25 each.


Larro

 

[dave1949]

Larro, Around that time, 50's and 60's, people would come north from the hills to work in the auto and related parts plants. I think the moonshine was a taste of home for them and they were probably the main customers.

25 cents a tie, that would be enough to make me set up a still too.

 

[Buppies]

Come to our county moonshine capital of the world. 59 degrees this evening rain heavy at times maybe snow showers Christmas Day. Rain most of day tomorrow then off for two days. After IPad accident yesterday now back in business thanks to Apple Care. Good Evening

 

[WayneB]

31 degrees this morning and they are calling for rain and freezing rain with the rain starting around mid morning.
High of 41 degrees, but wait tomorrow we are talking a low of 7 degrees so I am sure there will be one or two skating rinks around here.

 

[Buppies]

61 this morning but falling into 40s later. Started raining yesterday morning so better than 24 hours of rain so far and counting. Looks like Santa will have clear but cold sailing on his run thru here and I for one can't wait. Love the season itself the giving ,thoughtfulness of people, the story and meaning of Jesus. Finished shopping yesterday, no work today raining so next day for me is Thursday. May God bless each and everyone. Good Morning

 

[Charlie Packwood]

Well I haven't been posting lately but thought would just let you know that we had an ice storm and the power was out for two days. Temperature hanging around -2C to 0C. Gas and water still on, a lot of limbs down, we have power restored in the last hour, been out since 5am Saturday. Still 250,000 in the area without power. We have a gas fireplace which kept us at 15.5C for the duration and with a Butane side burner we could still cook. The outlook for others is maybe no power before Christmas Day. -3 C now so the trees coated with ice are still a risk and the wind is supposed to rise later today. The result could be more power outages. Other than that all is well, it is really nice to hear the furnace startup. Coffee is brewing as we speak. The best of the season to all.

 

[300UGUY]

Running on the generator now, gotta get ready to take the wife in to the docs. She's having a mold made, as part of her upcoming radiation treatment. Our power was out saturday night, and it might be out until friday. I might get a backup for the backup, losing power out here can be misreable.