An Old Crow Lives Here

No! You canNOT change the words on that “Old Crow” sign!!!oldcrow.jpg

Once upon the Jurassic Age, when I was 21 and looked about 15, The Commander sent me out to buy liq-wire. Radical Betty and Duke were coming for dinner and we were out of bourbon. A tragedy! As I now know, it can be handy to have a kid who’s legal so you can send them out on a booze run. She gave me some money and said, “Go buy a fifth of Jim Crow.” In those days, I had no idea what brands of bourbon existed. My repertoire was pretty much limited to beer, maybe gin and tonic, and some of the other oddball things that college kids experiment with — you know, drinks with things like blue curacao in them, etc. So, I said, “okay, Mom,” and off I went.

I got to Neville’s and there were a whole bunch of other people buying liq-wire too. When it got to be my turn, I piped up with, “I’d like a fifth of Jim Crow.” I knew who the woman behind the counter was. She had been only a few years ahead of me in school but she looked like she was about 40 — one of those rather large, no-nonsense women that you wouldn’t want to mess with. A perfect person to work in a liq-wire store. She looked at me incredulously and thundered, “We don’t have any Jim Crow. We have Jim Beam and we have Old Crow!” Ouch! Um, you didn’t have to say that so loudly, did you? And by the way, where is the nearest trap door? So I can make a quick exit.

I don’t remember whether I picked Jim Beam or Old Crow. I’m sure it didn’t matter to the cocktail folks eagerly awaiting my return. But boy, was I glad to get outta there! Eventually Grandroobly discovered Ten High, a less ambiguously named brand of bourbon. But please do not change the words on that sign because every time I see it, I think about trying to buy Jim Crow at the liq-wire store when I was just a kid!

(Uh, Froog, didja realize that your nostrils are inside-out? [scramble scramble] eek-grok grok! What?!?? Whadabout my nostrils?? Grok eeek grok help grok [scramble] Uncle Bob did that! grokhelp grok eekgrok [scramble scramble])

2 Responses to “An Old Crow Lives Here”

  1. joanny Says:

    hi,

    Leave that old crow sign just the way it is! There are someimes too many cooks in the soup changing too many things at the new cain. So much has changed at the cottage… can we keep SOME of it the way it was? Besides, it gives passers-by the illusion that someone lives there, and may be home at any time, and not just a cottage….. in the long run, it could actually prevent a break-in. But for the most part, it reminds me of my dad, and so many of the memories are in my mind, and not much visual stuff left up there…….. *sob*

    I miss you a lot, I miss my family, and I miss the old cabin. Every time I go there, it’s changed a little more. Change is good, they are very good changes, and we all need to move on sometime…. but I still love some of that old stuff, and hope we keep some things the way they were, cause they are nice, and good memories are necessary in life…. besides…. we have new old crows now.

    I hope to see you up north this fall. I missed it last year.

    love,
    jo

  2. froogy Says:

    grok grok. Don’t worry, Aunt Joanny. We won’t let’m change th’ ol’ crow sign. grok grok grok