A LONELY STRETCH OF ROAD

Drivin' down old Route 66 I was on the lookout for a place I had seen pictures of in books and on TV. We had actually driven this way before but could not find the old motor inn of John's Modern Cabins. On our second trip we were drivin' along and I just happened to look over in a area that was not that far off the interstate, you can actually see the cars whizzin' by on I-44. There they were, in a place where there doesn't seem to be anything. We had to turn off of the current Rt. 66 and drive about 200 feet to an old stretch of the original Mother Road.


Just a small stretch of lonely neglected road.

With 6 small primitive log cabins.

Here sits John's Modern Cabins.

Or, what's left of them.

Here they sit with their old broken, faded neon sign.

Just a small log cabin that back in the 1930's, if you were travelin' late and needed a place to stay, these were the newest, most modern, rooms for a night available out there. All the modern conveniences available, with two, outhouses out back.

John's Modern Cabins are located about 10 miles east of Rolla near the old town of Newburg.

At their beginnin' the cabins flanked a shotgun shack, which is a type of dance hall or juke joint, back in the 1930's.

I'm sure it must have been a little bit rowdy with all the goin' ons that a shotgun shack provides but hey, with all the modern conveniences, you were willin' to overlook a little noise, right? But if you were by chance spendin' the night of Halloween 1935, you probably got a little more excitement than you bargained for. That was the night that a 22 year old man shot and killed his 18 year old estranged wife and wounded two others in the dance hall's fireplace room.

The roadside inn and shotgun shack later sold to a couple, the John Dausch's, who were from Chicago, in 1951. The place sold for a mere $5000, but back in the 50's, that was a tidy sum.
This is when the cabins received their current name of John's Modern Cabins.

Improvements to the old Rt. 66 caused the business to now be located off of the main road. The shotgun shack was abandoned. A large log cabin was built to house a laundry/snack bar. The owner sold illegal beer on Sunday which earned him the nickname 'Sunday John'.

With the arrival of Interstate 44, business dried up and the motor inn shut down.

This is all that remains. Just some lonely little modern log cabins.

Can you imagine the stories this place has associated with it. I wish there was some kind of time capsule for all these old buildin's along the old highway. I mean you can see them and check 'em out but there's no one left to tell about the history or stories or people involved throughout the years. Just what you can read in books or on the net.

Here between two crumblin' cabins you can see one of the outhouses. It's good to see that they kept 'em in good shape, I mean, they are still standin' better than the cabins.

Can you imagine, traipsin' out in the middle of the night to take a pee? Two outhouses to share between 6 cabins and maybe that meant the shotgun shack too. I bet those ol' one seaters were kept busy. They don't look big enough to be two seaters. For those of you who may not know what I'm talkin' about, most outhouses were either one or two seaters. Yep, if you had a two seater, you could be in there with another person, doin' your business at the same time. Very convenient AND modern!

Actually when I was a kid we moved to a farm that had no runnin' water or bathroom in it. I remember usin' the outhouse and makin' my little sister go out with me at night (I was soooo bossy), and that was 1964! Remember we are talkin' about the Ozarks here.

So I can totally relate to those night time motorists who were lucky enough to be stayin' at John's Modern Cabins.

Hopefully if you get to travel down old Route 66 sometime, maybe the cabins will still be there. I did read somewhere that the current owners want to tear down the cabins, but so far they've left 'em standin'. Just another piece of our history, our roots, gone forever.

Just memories, down a lonely stretch of road.

Youn's come back dreckly now, ya hear?

Rebel

THE QUIET MAN

I don't know how I missed this movie, it's been on the boob tube at least a zillion times throughout the years AND I love John Wayne movies but I have never seen 'The Quiet Man'. Oh my goodness! What a good love story and a really fun entertainin' one at that. CD even watched it with me, and he enjoyed it. It is one of the best love stories and if you have never seen it be sure and check it out. It is traditionally shown on TCM every St. Patrick's Day and I'll be sure and watch it from now on.

I so wanted to just put the video clip here but I can not get it to work for me that way, I don't know what I am doin' wrong, so if anyone knows what to tell me, please do.

Click on the link and watch the clip. I so LOVE this movie. I am such a sucker for a good love story. They don't make very good ones anymore.

Thanks to Jodi over at Live Today, Cherish Yesterday, Dream Tomorrow, I am now able to put that video on here for you. When you see the movie on TCM the quality is a lot better than on this video. Hope you get a chance to see this movie.





R.

"E`irinn go Bra`ch"

HAPPY ST. PATTY'S DAY TO YOU AND YOURN!

May you always have walls for the winds.

A roof for the rain, tea beside the fire.

Laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,

And all your heart might desire.

IRISH TOAST

May you live as long as you want, and never want as long as you live.

DRINKIN' TOAST

May your glass be ever full.

May the roof over your head be always strong.

And may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're gone.

IRISH PROVERBS

* A drink precedes a story.
* Time is a great story teller.
* A friend's eye is a good mirror.
* Even a small thorn causes festering.
* Good as drink is, it ends in thirst.
* It is a long road that has no turning.
* As the big hound is, so will the pup be.
* A trade not properly learned is an enemy.
* Put silk on a goat, and it's still a goat.
* When the liquor was gone the fun was gone.
* There is no fireside like your own fireside.
* It is not a secret if it is known by three people.
* It takes time to build castles. Rome was not built in a day.
* The man with the boots does not mind where he places his foot.
* If you do not sow in the spring you will not reap in the autumn.
* When a twig grows hard it is difficult to twist it. Every beginning is weak.

"Only Irish coffee provides in a single glass all four essential food groups: alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and fat."~~By Alex Levine.~~

These things, I warmly wish for you-

Someone to love,

Some work to do,

A bit of o’ sun A bit o’ cheer

And a guardian angel Always near.

God Bless You and have a great St. Patrick's Day

Rebel

ANOTHER HILLBILLY JOKE

Hillbilly Vasectomy

After their 11th child, a hillbilly couple decided that was enough, as they could not afford a larger bed.

So the husband went to his veterinarian and told him that he and his cousin didn't want to have any more children.

The doctor told him that there was a procedure called a vasectomy that could fix the problem but that it was expensive. 'A less costly alternative, ' said the doctor, 'is to go home, get a cherry bomb, (fireworks are legal in hillbilly country) light it, put it in a beer can, then hold the can up to your ear and count to 10.

'The hillbilly said to the doctor, 'I may not be the smartest tool in the shed, but I don't see how puttin' a cherry bomb in a beer can next to my ear is gonna help me..

''Trust me,' said the doctor.

So the man went home, lit a cherry bomb and put it in a beer can. He held the can up to his ear and began to count!


'1'



'2'



'3'



'4'



'5'


At which point, he paused, placed the beer can between his legs and continued counting on his other hand.

This procedure works in Arkansas , Missouri , Tennessee ....and Washington DC .

I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I know I'm ate up with these stupid hillbilly jokes but you wouldn't believe how many family and friends keep sendin' 'em to me! I can't help it! I hope I don't offend anyone, It's all in funnin'.

I want to share with you a wonderful award I received from a very nice fellow blogger.

The Chickenista over at her blog bestowed upon me a Lemonade Award. If you have never visited the Chickenista, please go on over and visit a spell with her. She is a great blogger with a very good sense of humor. She's always got somethin' fun to read and she writes about how much she appreciates her chickens.

As a recipient of this special blog award, you are suppose to bestow it upon 10 blogs that show great attitude or gratitude. Since I feel that all the blogs I visit and all the bloggers who visit me are very special people with great attitudes and gratitude, PLEASE take this award so that I can show you how much I appreciate all of you. You deserve somethin' for readin' my hillbilly jokes!

Love you all.
Rebel

BAD LUCK, GOOD LUCK

Okay so it was Friday the 13th yesterday and I walked around on egg shells, all day, like I'm afraid of bein' seen. If the power who is in charge of bad luck sees me, Wham! Some horrible, ill-wind, hoodo jinx was gonna get me. Everybody knows that bad things happen to good people on Friday the 13th. It's a very stressful day and what's worse we had Friday the 13th two months in a row! Now how does that happen? One of my friends said it had somethin' to do with leap year? I don't think so. I tried googlin' to see what I could find out and it wasn't much help, so I asked CD and he thought a minute, I could tell by the steam comin' out, and he said it would probably happen again around 2015. Now how he figured it out without takin' off his shoes and socks, I'll never know. But back to what this post is really about. I had good luck yesterday. First I had bad luck, not yesterday, three days ago on Tuesday, and then on Friday the 13th my luck changed for the better! Here's my story,

We replace our hot water heater about every 4-5 years. We live in an area with lots of lime stone and have ridiculously hard water. Now I drain my water heater periodically like I'm suppose to but, alas, we can't get our water heater to give us longer service. Soooo, the last time our water heater quit on us, five months ago, we decided it was time to shell out the really big bucks and buy a water heater with a longer warranty time. We bought a really nice one with a 30 year warranty. I suggested that maybe we go with the one that had a lifetime warranty and CD said that a 30 year warranty was a lifetime warranty to us. I don't know where he thinks he's goin' but I plan on bein' here longer than 30 more years! Anywho, we bought this nice big time name brand water heater from a nice big time name home improvement store.

We felt very reassured in the product we bought since we have owned more than one of their washin' machines through the years and I have a dishwasher right now that is the same name brand and I have always been happy with this company. BUT tragedy struck on Tuesday of this past week and after only 5 months of faithful service, kaput, no hot water was comin' forth from the faucet! We have a friend who is a handy man type and he checked it over and said it could be the computerized circuit board or the heatin' element and we should call the well known companies warranty center. My husband was on hold for 45 minutes! I went online to the address listed in our owner's manual but it was not a valid address. Hmmmm. I finally found a place on their website that had nothin' to do with the warranty but I emailed anyway to see what I could find out. I still have not received a reply from the company.

In my search for a new contact for the warranty I stumbled upon some comments made by fellow, no hot water, people like us. I was in shock over what I learned. There are hundreds and hundreds of unhappy people out there who have had their water heaters quit while under warranty with no satisfaction in gettin' their water heaters fixed or replaced and like me, there is not even a way to contact the company. Not all the complaints were aimed at my brand of water heater, it's pretty much all water heaters. Our friend said there are only about 3 companies that make water heaters even though there are several different names out there. So they are all pretty much affiliated. Great!

So I called the number from our owners manual the next day and after bein' on hold (it's a electronic voice that comes on and says hold please) for 35 minutes I hung up. When my husband got home from work we took turns holdin' the phone while bein' on hold for 70 minutes! At this point I was just ready to take the water heater back and go buy a new cheap one. Our friend, who deals with this kind of stuff all the time, said that the home improvement store would not be able to take the water heater back without an authorization from the well known hot water heater company. I'm wonderin', how do I get that when they won't answer the phone and they've shut down the link to the repair center? Now remember this is not just happenin' to me but to lots of people.

So, my hubby went and bought another water heater, he thought he had to have hot water. I told him we were NOT goin' to fix the broken one, I WAS goin' to get it returned. Our friend said, 'It's not goin' to happen.'

The associate that I spoke with at the home improvement store said that they could not take back the water heater without a return authorization from the factory. I told him about not bein' able to get in touch with the company, he gave me a phone number but it was the same one I already had.

Aggggh! I was so frustrated by this point.

Later that evenin' I called the home improvement store again and spoke to a different associate. I've learned if you don't get satisfaction the first time, try again. Our friend just laughed and said, 'They are not gonna take it back.'

I was told the same thing by the second associate as the first. He asked if I wanted to speak to the night manager. YES, please. She said their hands were tied and she had to have a return authorization.

Okay now, I'm really startin' to get mad here. The next mornin' I called the home improvement store and asked to speak to the manager again. I figured that if I'd spoken to the night manager the night before they must surely have a day manager and this manager was probably the BIG cheese in the department. When he got on line I went into this big spill about how I couldn't get in contact with the factory to get a authorization number and further more I thought he probably knew there would never be an authorization number! I went on to say that we purchased a lot of goodies from them, and we do, we live in an older home that we have been remodelin' through the years. I wasn't rude, just firm. When the man was able to get a word in, he just said, 'Bring it back.' That's all he said, just bring it back. So we did!

So on Friday the 13th the expensive well known name brand 30 year warranty water heater went back to the well known home improvement store.

I'm thinkin' now that maybe Friday the 13th isn't such an unlucky day. I'm also thinkin' that if you know you are in the right, hang in there and keep at it until you have completely exhausted your options. And then, Still don't give up if you know you are right.

Our friend says that the next time he needs help with a return problem, he's havin' me handle the situation!

WHAT I WANT

Well, we've been havin' another round of winter here in the Ozarks, just like a lot of you folks are. I don't know about you, but I'm kinda gettin' tired of all the teasin' that Mother Nature keeps handin' out to me. And I'm a person who likes Winter! But I've finally had enough. I woke up this mornin' to 20 degree temps out there and I knew, without a doubt, that I want this,

Oh boy, do I really want this,

And this

Ohhhh, and this,

What are these? I just know I want 'em.

And I happen to be pretty sure granddaughter wants this

And I know I can hardly wait for this,

I want this part, too.

See the minnow? He wants it too.

I especially want this.

I'm full of wants, how 'bout you?

Youn's come back dreckly now, ya hear?

Rebel