“Little Miss Judy’s Believe It or Not!”


“Water or Not!”

My father was a man of many skills. I guess you could call most of them skills. He was a great mechanic and could also do a little handy work with wood. He loved painting as long as he could use the color of paint that was available at the time. He wasn’t much of a color coordinator and he didn’t care anyways. You already know he was a great fisherman and accomplished much in the fishing field. In fact I am still using some of his great fishing inventions!

But there was this other skill that he was great fully known for by many or should I say, “Those ones that loved the taste of it.” He made a mean batch of “pear wine!” The reason that I know this so well is the fact that I tasted it, without his knowing it, during the curing time. Daddy had this 5-gallon water barrel that stayed on his boat during the summer time. There was this ledge that he made in the corner of the boat that it sat on. However due to all of the rocking it had to be strapped to the wall. Every morning he would drop a big chunk of ice in it, pick up the dock hose, and fill it up. This would be our drinking water for the day. He also had attached a drinking cup with a string to the ledge. Everyone used the same cup. Daddy always told me to hang the cup back up on the nail provided. This was due to the fact if I didn’t the swinging cup might make the fishermen customers sick. As a small child I never understood that one. When daddy wasn’t looking I would let the cup swing back and forth, which didn’t seem to bother me at all.

When daddy quit fishing for the season he would remove the barrel. According to daddy it would dry rot if he didn’t take it home. It’s funny at first I really never saw the barrel again till the summer. However, one day while playing in the old shed, which we called the “black house” I ran across the little wooden barrel. I looked inside and there were a lot green peels in it. I stuck my finger in the liquid, tasted it, and it was very sweet. Lots of sugar had been added for some reason. I opened the faucet and out came the mixture. At this point I knew I had best leave this concoction alone.

As time went on I watched without watching the going on in the black house. It seemed to be a pretty business place at least for those carrying cups. I guess it all boiled down to water in the summer and spiked peeled pear juice in the winter!