December 15 2007
Well gang, as we all know the last few days have meant heavy ice and snow storms in the mid-west of our country.
Power lines and trees going down, causing power outages for hundreds of thousands if not millions of people.
While this was true, one of our mid-western chapters, devotees of hunting deer in that great section of our nation, went ahead and scheduled an annual deer hunting weekend.
On the way to the hunting grounds, as usual, they gathered as a group at a sacred roadside tavern to have a few beers and tell a few stories before heading into the hills for the yearly pre-Christmas deer hunt.
As the stories and the beers went on through the night, so did the snow and ice storms.
At some point the power went out, and the only light in the tavern became the fireplace and a few candles at the bar.
Shortly after this, a pretty stout fella from Corpus Christi, Texas named "Hoss" laughed at a story and threw himself down in his captain’s chair.
Well, the chair didn’t survive the impact of his weight, and shattered.
"Hoss" started to apologize, but the tavern owner said, "To hell with it, just throw the damned thing into the fireplace"
And that’s what seems to have gotten the whole thing started.
Since the tavern’s oil delivery hadn’t arrived, the temperature in the place got lower and lower, and because everybody was freezing, more and more of the bar furniture was sacrificed to keep the fireplace roaring. At first it was broken accidentally.
And speaking of roaring, at some point, the owner of the place declared that all drinks were on the house.
The stories got more outrageous.
The boom box was turned way up. Till the batteries failed.
The owner got more candles out of the back for light, and more furniture got busted up and burned for heat.
It was winter, in spades, and the night was long.
By the time that the State Highway Department bulldozed their way up to the tavern, the owner was as drunk as a lord, and three quarters of the actual bar itself, had been fed into the fireplace for warmth.
Everybody who hunts deer will tell you that the "Hunt" isn’t just about hunting deer and then killing them.
Oh no.
Sometimes the hunt is fondly remembered for reasons that have nothing to do whatsoever with hunting.

Till next week
Helga Biermeister
Secretary