Marshall Good Life Magazine - Winter 2015

Marshall County

When the Goat Man and his wagons passed, people flocked to see him In a saw-dusty shop on Georgia Mt. Jeff Horton creates kayak sculptures Wildlife photographer Robert Falls tells the stories behind the photos

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November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

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Welcome

First came his GLM story ... then a promotion, move T he fall issue of Marshall County Good Life Magazine carried a one-page story on Brandon Crawford. He was surprised at the attention it generated, from co-workers to old friends he’d not seen in years and even folks at the store where he buys gas in Boaz. A teacher sent home a copy of the magazine with Brandon’s son.

His story was one of four short profiles illustrating how county industries not only produce a variety of products, but also provide employees the means to varied lifestyles. A self-described geek, Brandon is – or was – the information technologist at TS Tech who managed the network that connects the plant’s more than 1,000 electronic devices. But at home he’s a

family guy who loves to plant, grow and graft thousands of ornamental trees.

While the sudden flare-up of fame surprised him, the real shock, he says, was when, out of the blue, he was promoted to a manufacturing liaison position at the company’s national headquarters in Columbus, Ohio. He now deals with technology needs at other TS Tech plants in the U.S. as well as Canada and Mexico.

“I believe a lot of people didn’t know I was that outgoing until they read that article,” Brandon says from Ohio where he, his wife Jennifer and the boys moved in mid-October. “I can’t prove the story is why I got the new job offer, but it’s interesting how it all worked out.

“Local HR (human resources)

reviewed the story before it came out, and corporate had to have read it, too.”

Brandon had to think about moving to colder climes, but he finds the Columbus area, with 1.9 million people, very nice.

He even has someone at home looking after his 5,000 small trees.

“I’m excited and happy,” he says.

Did Good Life help make it happen?

Can’t prove it, but, Brandon insists, “A lot of people read that magazine and enjoy it.”

Sounds like a happy ending ... once he buys a snowblower.

David Moore Publisher/editor

Contributors Annette Haislip’s daughter, Mary, and her high school sweetheart, Doug, who lived up the street, were finally reunited and married in September.

They had the wedding on Annette’s deck in Arab. She’s also been busy baking, loving the fall weather and not only writing her book reviews for this issue, but planning the next two.

Since fall’s issue of GLM, Patrick Oden has started a social media group for local photography enthusiasts of all skill levels. He invites you to join the group at www.facebook.com/ groups/marshallcophotography. You can see another sampling of his work in two stories and one photo spread in this issue.

Advertising/art director Sheila McAnear created more than 80 percent of the ads you see in this issue of GLM. No elf at the North Pole has more magic in his or her box of workstation tools. Give her an idea.

Challenge her. Then, with an artist like Sheila, simply stand back and see what she creates.

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November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

Steve Maze is known for his history stories in Good Life (enjoy a new one in this issue) and for publishing “Yesterday’s Memories” in 19962008. Many people don’t know he was a Cullman County Sheriff’s reserve deputy in 1980-86. He’s also a big fan of Barney Fife ... but there’s not necessarily a connection there.

As this is written on Halloween night, it occurs to the editor that Marshall County Extension Coordinator Eddie Wheeler ranks among the world’s least scary people. The guy is just so nice that’s it hard to imagine he could ever scare anyone. That’s not to say he couldn’t moonlight as a nice scarecrow ...

Believing that our readers also appreciate good photography, publisher and editor David Moore puts a premium on quality photos in Good Life Magazine. Patrick Oden always helps the cause, and in this issue Robert Falls jacks it up another notch for readers. Allan Block’s bluebird and NASA help, too.

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Inside 10 Good Fun

From Christmas in the county to the cosmos

18 Good People

On the cover: A Santa ornament hangs from one of the five Christmas trees Becky and Joe Cantrell decorate in their home in the Grassy community. This page: Dropped off by fishing boat, wildlife photographer Robert Falls of Guntersville shot this image of a puffin on an island three miles off the coast of Maine. He was shooting with a long lens from a photography blind, where he could hear some of the birds land and flap around on the their webbed feet.

Zadie Amberson doesn’t call herself the the Bread Lady of Boaz, but others do

22 Good Reads

Different novels about war and orphans

25 Good Cooking

Tom Sloan and his “squealing” partners offer you some fabulous recipes ideas

32 Good ‘n’ Green

Have you helped a bluebird today?

34 The Goat Man

There has never been an itinerant preacher pass through the county like this one

38 All out for Christmas

The Cantrells pull out all the stops – and the attic – to brighten the season

46 Good Eats

A laid-back atmosphere and exquisite food make Sebastien’s on Main a top choice

50 Ahoooga!

Touring Model A’s from across the country look at home at Arab Historical Village

54 Main Channel

Local to the heart, Clay, Brett and Sarah Smith brew Marshall’s first craft beers

59 Kudzu Craft

In his shop on Georgia Mountain, Jeff Horton creates dream boats, dream life

68 Robert Falls

A look at the stories behind some of this pro photographer’s nature and wildlife work

74 Out ’n’ About

Visit Michael and Melanie St. John’s (large size) nativity at Fun 92.7

David F. Moore Publisher/editor 256-293-0888 david.goodlifemagazine@gmail.com Sheila T. McAnear Advertising/art Director 256-640-3973 sheila.goodlifemagazine@gmail.com

Vol. 3 No.1 Copyright 2015 Published quarterly MoMc Publishing LLC P.O. Box 28, Arab, Al 35016 www.good-life-magazine.net

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The space probe Cassini captured Saturn and its rings cloaked in sun and shadow. Photo by NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.

Take a cosmic journey; go no farther than Guntersville H

ow was the universe created?

How has it changed over time?

How do we know?

These are, in the true sense of the word, cosmic questions. And you gain perspective on them and the universe at “The Evolving Universe,” a truly cosmic exhibit Guntersville Museum will host Jan. 18-May 15. Admission is free.

The exhibition and an accompanying website were developed by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. They are designed to interest visitors both young and curious and technically savvy.

Since 2011, The Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service has circulated the exhibit through six venues including the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C, and the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz.

Following Guntersville, the exhibit will travel to five other cities through 2017.

The exhibit includes 27 full-color images, eight backlit light boxes, 11 text panels with images and 24 sidebar panels and a stunning introductory video.

To say the images of galaxies far, far away are stunning is an understatement.

And viewing them is to travel through time – light from some of the galaxies just now reaching our solar system began its journey billions of years ago before oxygen formed on Earth.

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November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

Galaxies have a very bright center where many stars are concentrated. This photo from “The Evolving Universe” exhibit shows thousands of supernova exploding in the core Galaxy M82. The original exhibition was made possible

by The Windland Smith Rice Nature’s Best Photography Fund.

Photo by NASA/CXC/ESA/STScl/JPL-Caltech et al.

The cosmos constantly changes.

Stars are born, live out their lives, and die – sometimes calmly, sometimes explosively. Galaxies form, grow and collide dramatically.

“The Evolving Universe”

takes you on a remarkable journey from present-day Earth to the far reaches of space as you explore how the stars, galaxies and universe undergo the same stages as life on Earth: from birth, to maturity and, eventually, to death.

Good Fun

Holiday fun’s on the calendar but there’s more in store for you • Through Nov. 28 – Nall exhibit The Mountain Valley Arts Council Gallery is featuring works by renowned artist Nall. A native of Troy, he later lived in Arab and graduated from high school there before earning an art degree from The University of Alabama. He went on to study at the prestigious Ecole Nationale de Beaux Arts in Paris and with surrealist Salvador Dali.

Nall’s porcelain has been exhibited in Paris, Stuttgart, Moscow and New York, and his signature dinnerware was produced by Havelind and Parlon, Royal Limoges and others. He has produced four postage stamps for the Principality of Monaco.

Nall has created commissioned works for New York’s National Arts Club, Cathedral of Saint-Paul de Vence, Prince Albert II of Monaco and others. Among those with permanent collections of his work are Boston Museum of Fine Art and Bibliotec Nationale Paris. He promotes state artists by curating their works into RSA hotels in Alabama and in his awarding winning book, “Alabama Art.” The MVA Gallery is open 1-5 p.m.

Wednesday-Friday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays at 300 Gunter Ave., Guntersville. For more information: 256-571-7199.

• Until Christmas – Free giftwrapping The Boaz Area Chamber of Commerce is offering free giftwrapping for items bought in the city. Stop by the office at 100 East Bartlett Street and bring your receipts and a box, if one is needed.

UA President Judy Bonner commissioned Nall to produce “President’s Mansion, University of Alabama,” his newest limited-edition giclee print, which sells for $500.

Nall said he would bring it with him to Guntersville.

• Nov. 19 – Countywide Early Breakfast The chambers of commerce in Marshall County will hold their annual breakfast get-together at 7:30 a.m.

Thursday at Shepherd’s Cove/Hospice of Marshall County.

• Nov. 19-Dec. 31 – Festival of Trees The Guntersville Museum will feature more than 40 Christmas trees – decorated by community organizations – at its annual festival. A reception 5-7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 19, will include wine, beer and hors d’oeuvres and Katherine Brewer playing holiday music on the grand piano. It’s free to members; or $15 to others, applicable to a membership.

The Ukulele Band of Alabama will play at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 6, and, starting at 2 p.m. Dec. 13, the RSVP choir and dulcimer group will perform.

The exhibit is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m.

Tuesday-Friday; 1-4 p.m. weekends.

For more: www.guntersvillemuseum. org; or 256-571-7597.

• Nov. 20-Dec. 23 – Free gift wrapping

BYOB – bring your own box – along with a receipt from any merchant in town to the Albertville Chamber of Commerce for free gift wrapping. If it’s a really big present, the chamber folks will make you a really big bow.

• Nov. 27–Dec. 31 – Christmas in the Park The annual tradition comes to life that Friday just after sundown when more than 1 million lights come on, transforming Arab City Park into a wonderland. It’s lit nightly until about 10 p.m. Donations are appreciated.

School and local groups provide entertainment on weekends. For a schedule of performances visit: www. arab-chamber.org.

• Nov-27-Dec. 19 (weekends) – Santa in the Park In conjunction with Christmas in the Park, Santa and his elves will be at Arab Historic Village – located in the park – from 6 to 9 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Kids can have pictures taken with Santa, make reindeer food, enjoy cookies and juice and listen to live music. Admission is free for kids 2 November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

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and under, $5 per person or $20 per family. More info? Call: Arab Chamber of Commerce, 256-586-3138.

• Dec. 1-Dec. 23 – Gift wrapping in Guntersville Purchase your Christmas gifts in Guntersville and the Lake Guntersville Chamber of Commerce will wrap them for free 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. All you need are receipts, and boxes, if you want them.

• Dec. 1 – Guntersville tree lighting The annual lighting of Guntersville’s 20-foot Christmas tree starts at 5:30 p.m. at Errol Allan Park downtown. There will be Christmas singing and treats given out. The city and its Beautification and Tree Commission are sponsors. Need more info? Call: 256-571-7561.

• Dec. 2-Dec. 31 –Christmas Card Contest The 6th Annual Marshall County Christmas Card Contest will draw several hundred entries from school kids countywide. Their card art will hang in the Mountain Valley Arts Council Gallery, open 1-5 p.m.

Wednesday-Friday and 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays.

A reception will be held 4-5:30 p.m. Friday, Dec. 11. The MVA Gallery is located at 300 Gunter Ave., Guntersville. For more information: 256-571-7199.

Christmas in the Park is a tradition for families across Marshall County.

• Dec. 3 – Albertville Christmas parade It starts with the tree lighting at 5 p.m. at Rotary Park. The parade, sponsored by the Civitans and chamber of commerce, starts at 5:30 p.m. at First Baptist Church, goes up Main Street, then left on South Hambrick, then loop back to the church on Sand Mountain Drive. The theme is “A Picture Perfect Christmas.”

To register an entry, call: Jason Simpson at Alfa, 256-878-1412; or the chamber, 256-878-3821.

• Dec. 3 – Arab Christmas Parade It starts at 6 p.m. Thursday at Arab First Baptist Church and runs south down Main Street. The theme is “A • Dec. 5 – Cookies with Santa See Santa ride “The Polar Express” into the Albertville Depot at 9 a.m. Saturday for Cookies with Santa.

The free, two-hour chamber program will provide parents and grandparents with lots of photo opps, and kids can sign up for door prizes that include bikes, get a coloring book and, of course, cookies.

Picture Perfect Christmas.” Grand marshal will be Joan Scott, winner of the 2014 Outstanding Citizen Achievement Award. For more information or to participate, call: Arab Chamber of Commerce, 256-5863138.

• Dec. 4 – Boaz Christmas Parade “A Picture Perfect Christmas” is the theme of the Boaz parade, which starts at 5:30 p.m. Friday on Ala. 205 at the Farmers Market and First Baptist Church.

Entry forms are available at the Boaz Area Chamber of Commerce.

Awards will be given to the best floats using the theme, best decorated horse and rider and best wagon.

• Dec. 4-7, Dec. 10-3 –“Every Christmas Story …”

The Whole Backstage presents “Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some!),” which has been called fun, silly, naughty and definitely nice.

Even Charles Dickens’ beloved “A Christmas Carol” gets old, so after performing it for the umpteenth time, three actors decide to perform every Christmas story ever told (more or less).

Directed by Rich Resler and starring Mitch Resler, John Cardy and Jon Brown, the old classic turns into a madcap romp through Christmas traditions from around the world, poking fun at seasonal icons from ancient times to pop-culture.

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Performances are 7 p.m. ThursdaySaturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $18 adults; $16 seniors and students; available at the WBS office 9 a.m.-3 p.m. weekdays; by phone at 256-582-7469; on the WBS Facebook page; or at: www.wholebackstage.com.

• Dec. 5 – Grant Christmas parade Sponsored by the Grant Chamber of Commerce, it kicks off at 1 p.m.

Saturday and runs through downtown.

• Dec. 8 – Lights of Love Hospice of Marshall County will hold its Sixth Annual Lights of Love presentation Tuesday at Shepherd’s Cove on Martling Road in Albertville.

A reception is at 5:30 p.m., followed at 6:30 by the outdoor tree lighting ceremony, roll call of those who have passed and other events. Sponsor lights, memory cards and commemorative ornaments for contributions to hospice starting at $10. For more information call: 256-891-7724.

• Dec. 11 – Guntersville Night Before Christmas

Members of the North Town Merchants Association will remain open 5-9 p.m. Friday for shopping … plus an array of free fun things to do.

“It’s grown every year,” says Carlie Ray at Jillie’s Bird, one of the organizers.

Each store plans activities for the fifth-year event, ranging from a live Elf on the Shelf, Disney Kids and cookie decorating, to carriage rides and a “Sip and Shop.” Santa will be at Fant’s, and at Guntersville First United Methodist Church you can stroll through a replicated Bethlehem market place and visit baby Jesus at the stable.

Just in case … Dec. 12 is the rain night.

• Dec. 12 – Guntersville Christmas Parade The parade will start at 5 p.m. this Saturday on Scott Street and proceed down Gunter Avenue to Gilbreath Street. The theme is “A Picture Perfect Christmas.” For information about participating, call: Lake

Family is why we do it all.

Guntersville Chamber of Commerce, 256-582-3612.

• Dec. 18-20 – “Black Tie Christmas” A Whole Backstage performance, this original 90-minute musical production combines beloved sacred and secular holiday classics to entertain and touch Christmas lovers of all ages.

“This festive production, with more than 80 singers and dancers, evolved after the incredible success of the recently completed ‘Black Tie Broadway,’” says director Johnny Brewer, who also compiled the pieces. “My idea is to showcase our musicians … as well as bring a unique warmth of Christmas spirit to the community.”

Performances will be at 7 p.m.

Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m.

Sunday. Tickets are $10 each (it’s part of the season patron program) and may be purchased by calling the WBS: 256-582-7469; visiting the office at 1120 Rayburn Avenue in Guntersville, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. weekdays.

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November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

Remember To Shop Downtown Arab Check Coming Events @

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November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

• Dec. 8 – Arts Factory The Arts Factory will hold an open house 6-8 p.m. Tuesday to introduce the public to its new permanent location for showcasing and selling works by 25 local artists ... perfect for the impossible people on your Christmas list.

An offshoot of Mountain Valley Arts Council, Arts Factory supports sales opportunities for area artists who create paintings and drawings, photographs, sculpture, books, music CDs, hand-crafted furniture and clothing, soaps and more.

HHE Automotive Repair, 10537 U.S. 431, Albertville, provides space for the co-op members to display and sell their work. Southbound on U.S. 431, it’s located about 0.5 miles past Lowe’s on the right at the intersection of Massey Road. Beyond the open house, the Arts Factory will be open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Saturday.

Interested in joining the group?

Contact: Keith Lang, 256-477-5774 or keithedwardlang@yahoo.com; or contact@AlabamaArtsFactory.com.

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17

Good People

5questions Story and photo

by David Moore

Zadie Amberson might disagree, but she’s one of those people who notices things, big and small, around her.

On the small scale, she notes, the initials of her married name are the first and last letters of the alphabet.

Here’s another: she was born in 1925 – 2.5 miles outside of Boaz – married at age 25 and turned 90 on Oct. 25. “Twenty-five is my number,” she grins.

Many years ago she noticed something about their business, Amberson’s Clothing, dating to 1939, the oldest family-owned retail business in Boaz – Zadie noticed she had no desire to work there. She happily left it to her husband, Bill, and later to their son, Phillip.

On a larger scale, Zadie has noticed the importance of loving thy neighbor and helping people. It is part of her strong sense of faith, something ingrained in the fabric of her giving soul. It’s why she’s known as the Bread Lady in Boaz. It’s also why she was highly active in recent years with Marshall County Retired and Volunteer Program.

She joined RSVP in 1992 and in the next 12 years logged 4,928 hours of volunteer work. Much of that was serving on the agency’s board during 1993-2014, where she was instrumental in its purchase of the property at Marshall County Park No. 1 for a new future RSVP center.

Other areas in which Zadie volunteered range from Christmas charities and disaster relief to being a Reading Buddy, helping with litter pickup and assisting with the United Way. “This organization touches more lives, especially among the elderly people, than any organization I can 18

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

Zadie Amberson The Bread Lady explains her “title;” talks about Boaz’s past, RSVP today think of,” Zadie says. “This is one of the most rewarding organizations I was ever given the opportunity to serve.”

Zadie has noticed another thing about life.

“When you live to be 90,” she observes, “your friends and a lot of your family members are gone.”

At the same time, being 90 offers you a first-person window on yesteryear …

1.

What was it like growing up in Boaz in the 1930s and ‘40s?

My grandfather, “Uncle” Tommy Wells, homesteaded enough land out on Mattville Road to give my daddy and his three brothers a 40-acre farm each when they married. Daddy built a big two-story house, cultivated his land and put in a milk dairy. We had 21 cows and furnished most of Boaz its milk. Boaz was much smaller then.

Daddy had four daughters first.

He had to use them clearing land and always apologized for that. Then the four boys came along.

The youngest son is named after him, then I came along and was named after my mother. Isn’t that odd?

My brother ran the milk truck six days a week. Sometimes I rode with him. That was a lot of fun. I wasn’t really big enough to do it, but I would carry the milk to the porches. I also pushed cardboard caps down on bottles to seal the milk.

Besides the family, we had hired help that lived with us much of the time. Daddy hired them for a $1 day.

They lived with us and we fed them.

The house had four bedrooms upstairs and three downstairs.

With the dairy, Daddy had a yearround income. We were a little better off than some of the famers.

Electricity improved our lifestyle a lot … no more burning a great

Aladdin’s lamp or carbide lamps. No more buying 100 pounds of ice daily for dairy use.

Mom was the recipient of help when Daddy bought her an electric churn, which now hangs in my attic.

No longer did someone have to spend hours churning five gallons of clabber milk to have butter and buttermilk for our milk customers.

I was about 13 when Dad left the farm and built a house on Martin Avenue. He was on the city council.

Guy Leeth was mayor.

Growing up, I remember two policemen. They were also the chiefs – Mr. Birdsong and later Mr. Dendy.

They didn’t have much to do. There was not much meanness back then.

There were no streetlights in Boaz.

Everything was pretty much Main Street. We had a big mule barn behind Main Street. Abe Salken had a readyto-wear store across where our store is now.

We had a cotton gin downtown.

Eugene Buffington was president of that co-op organization, Famers’ Warehouse and Gin Company. My daddy was on the board with Eugene.

He went to Atlanta a time or two for meetings.

2.

Who were some of the people and what were some of the events that influenced you?

Daddy was one of the hardest workers to ever grow up on Sand Mountain. He got up at 4:30 every morning.

He had the boys shell corn until my mother had their breakfast ready.

He didn’t believe in them having free time, but on Saturday afternoon they could go to the creek and swim. That was their time off.

On Sundays everybody at Daddy’s house went to church. Only the work that had to be done could be done. He

Snapshot: Zadie Nell Wells Amberson

EARLY LIFE: Born 1925 to Jimroe and Zadie Florence Wells, the youngest of nine children. Graduated Boaz High School 1943; went to Los Angeles and worked six months at an air depot. Returned, worked at Sand Mountain Bank and attended Snead State Community College for a year.

FAMILY: Married Bill Amberson in 1950. They have three grown sons: Phillip, the third generation to run Amberson’s Clothing, and wife, Virginia live in Boaz, have two grown children; Dana and Emily live in Hartselle, have one grown daughter and are expecting a granddaughter – to be named Zadie Ann – in January; Ray and Karen live in Boaz and have two grown children.

ACTIVITIES: Member of Boaz First Baptist since early 1950s, sang in choir, taught Sunday school. Long active in Boaz PTA groups and Snead State Community College; first secretary of Boaz Chamber of Commerce; an organizer of Progressive Study Club. Served on city beautification board.

OTHER ACTIVITIES: Traveled the country and abroad with Bill and often times friends Barbara and Hoyle Hulgan, Horace and Martha Bradshaw and others. With Dutch Rohlfs organized Keenagers for senior adults at Boaz First Baptist. With Jo Alexander led an effort that raised some $30,000 for an eventually stymied effort to restore the old Boaz Elementary School.

AWARDS: In 2004, she and Bill were named Alumni of the Year by Snead State Community College; 1989, named Boaz Chamber of Commerce “Woman of the Year;” 1996, named Marshall County Humanitarian of the Year;” 2001, won the Marshall County PALS “Adopt a Mile Award;” 2011, she and Bill were named Boaz Chamber of Commerce “Citizens of the Year;” 2011, presented a Marshall County RSVP President’s Lifetime Volunteer Service Award; 2014, presented an honorary degree by Snead State.

did say the kids could play outside but he disapproved of ballgames and golf on Sunday.

He was one of the greatest men I ever knew. I loved him. He was a peaceful, loving, kind gentleman, but he was still willing to speak up and out and stand up for what was right.

Daddy never wanted to be in the foreground. He was quite a simple man. He influenced my life as long as he lived. He loved the community, and if anyone needed help, he and my mother were there.

I guess that planted the seed for what I liked to do.

My oldest sister, Flossie Moore, was my second mother more than a sister. Her daughter, Mary Wells Malone, and I played and later dated together. We’ve been like sisters.

Flossie advised me. If I had a problem before I married I went to Flossie. She took me visiting every Sunday with her after I was married.

She taught me to keep my eyes, ears and heart open to the needs of others.

This brings the greatest joy …

working through service to others through my church.

3.

How and why did you get involved in RSVP, and what would you say to encourage people to participate?

I don’t remember exactly how I got involved, but I am glad I did. They have more volunteers, and they serve people and do things for people.

One of the big things we did was to start a water-monitoring program.

They still do that. And RSVP sponsors a music program in the fall for dulcimers.

Jean Ann Moon is the most outstanding director of RSVP anywhere, especially in Alabama. She lives and breathes the work of RSVP. She’s a hard worker and dedicated to RSVP. And we’ve had good board members.

After I had been on the board for a while, I told Jean Ann Moon (executive director of RSVP) that I wanted the group to have a building of its own. They had had to move several

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times. They used to be on Main Street in Guntersville, then in the old hospital, and now they’re in the old building behind Mike’s Merchandise.

I was there a lot longer than I should have been, but I told Jean Ann I would stay in RSVP until we got a building of our own. We got enough money to buy the property where Marshall County Park Number One is, but about that time the economy dropped. We could not see going into raising funds to build at that time.

We had a committee working on securing a new place or going on with building a new place when I got off the board in January. They’re still working on it, and I hope they get it.

It was a joy and privilege to work for Jean Ann. She was ultra-competent in everything. She has a good staff and delegates authority well, but she knew what was going on in RSVP. RSVP is one of the greatest countywide opportunities for one to serve others. And the needs are so plentiful. It would be something that anyone could do and enjoy. They can always use more volunteers.

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November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

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It concerns me that the younger generation doesn’t look for places to serve. They are already too busy or otherwise. RSVP would be a great opportunity for those people. You don’t have to be retired, and you would have the opportunity for many good experiences.

4.

What is the story behind The Bread Lady?

I don’t call myself that, but some other people do.

It started in 1983 when God planted Sandra and the Rev. Charles Smith, pastor at Chapel Hill Baptist Church, as our neighbors. They became some of our dearest friends and still are. She gave me a loaf of bread and it was the best bread I’d ever eaten. I asked her for the recipe and she gave it to me, and I started making it for my family.

It was the recipe Sandra shared that started my bread ministry. It was all in God’s plan. I just enjoy the fruits of His ministry.

As people in our church got sick or had a death in the family, or if I knew

there was a problem, I always gave them a loaf of bread. And I still do.

I’ve made three loaves every day for I don’t know how many years.

Marion Owens died this summer.

She was 101. I had carried a loaf of bread to her weekly for about 20 years. She loved it.

I don’t go out every day, but I put it in my pickup truck and it’s ready to deliver. Even a sick person can eat sourdough bread about anytime. It doesn’t hurt anybody.

5.

What’s something that most people don’t know about Zadie Amberson?

Bill was in about the ninth grade when his family moved to Boaz, but I didn’t know him in school. I was a little country girl and didn’t run with the city bunch.

He was seriously wounded in Europe in World War II. He was in a foxhole and got shrapnel through his shoulder. His hands were messed up, and he had lots of operations.

After he came back, he worked

with his dad at Amberson’s. I was a teller across the street at Sand Mountain Bank, which is now First Bank of Boaz. Bill and I didn’t formally meet for a time. We just knew each other, but I never gave him a thought. He didn’t impress me a bit, except for the service he gave the country. All of Boaz knew that.

I’d decided I wasn’t ever going to marry. I had seen so much trouble with marriages in my family that I thought, “If that is what it’s all about, I’m happy single. I don’t see any reason to get married.” Then he called me for a date. Being 90 years old, I don’t remember where we went.

But several years ago someone bought the old bank building downtown and put in Q Slow-Smoked restaurant. When they were working on the building, they found “Zadie loves Bill” written up on a back wall.

I had several girlfriends at the bank, and we would go to the back and talk.

I guess I wrote it up there. It’s been a good 65 years of life with Bill and our family.

Good Life Magazine

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21

Good Reads

Young, diverse paths cross in Doerr’s acclaimed war novel

‘Orphan Train’ rumbles back into Vivian’s life with poignancy

priceless blue diamond called “The Sea of Flames” that supposedly possesses mythical powers is exhibited in the Museum of Natural History in Paris. When the Nazis threaten to invade France in 1940, the security of the diamond is threatened.

Two replica diamonds “In his hand, the stone are made to facilitate is about the size of a plans to keep it out of German hands. This is chestnut. Even at this late the backdrop for “All the hour it glows a majestic World We Cannot See” blue. Strangely cold.”

by Anthony Doerr, who

hristina Baker Kline’s “The Orphan Train” weaves together two stories, that of a 90-year-old woman, Vivian Daly, and a young troubled teen, Molly, but basically it reveals Vivian’s life experiences.

As the two organize and clean Vivian’s attic “We are headed toward the they uncover items that her memory had unknown, and we have no long suppressed. Their choice but to sit quietly relationship results in in our hard seats and let Vivian being united with a ourselves be taken there.” daughter she had long ago given up for adoption.

Young Vivian had come from Ireland with her parents to New York City where they lived in a crowded, sordid tenement. A tragic fire resulted in her parents’ deaths.

She became one of the orphaned, homeless children living on the streets that well-intentioned citizens gathered and sent by trains to the Midwest. There they were chosen for either adoption or for indentured servitude.

Vivian was placed with two families who mistreated and abused her before she went to live with a couple who provided her with a loving home and hope for her future.

Her love story with an older boy she met on the train is poignantly, tragically, depicted as well.

Unfortunately, the orphan trains did exist. From 1854 to 1929 more than 2,000,000 young children were rounded up from city streets, sent west and exhibited and selected at advertised stops.

– Annette Haislip

A

tells the story mainly in flashbacks.

Two young people, one French, Marie-Laure, and one German, Werner, become swallowed up in the horrors of war. Marie-Laure is the blind daughter of a widowed locksmith who works at the museum in Paris. Werner, an engineering prodigy, is recruited into the Hitler Youth and later the army.

Through various twists and turns they become pawns in the bloodbath of war.

As the German bombardment of Paris begins, MarieLaure’s father is chosen as one of three employees who flee to different parts of France with the three stones. She and her father seek refuge on the coast in St-Malo, but soon thereafter her father is arrested by the Nazis and disappears.

When the allied invasion begins, the paths of MarieLaure and Werner converge and the fate of the blue diamond is finally, unknowingly, sealed.

– Annette Haislip 22

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

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Sloans pause from catering long enough to share recipes Story and photos

by David Moore

G

Good Cooking

we’d try it full time,” Tom grins. “It got more full time than I thought. We’re still waiting for the fun ...”

Their catering service squeals busily into action about eight times during the week and twice on Saturday. And it’s not just barbecue sandwiches and chips.

Orders might be for chicken salad, meatballs, roasted pork

rowing up, Tom Sloan stayed busy with school, sports, motorcycles and work, but whenever he got a chance he’d hang out in the kitchen and experiment with his mom, Wanda’s cooking.

“Anything mother was cooking, he would come along and doctor it up,” says sister Shan Franks. “If it was chili, he would add seasoning. Basically he fiddled with everything.”

Tom’s cooking credentials are being discussed around his and Kelly’s kitchen bar, where family and neighbors gravitate because they like the Sloans and, OK … they love their cooking.

“It’s an open-door policy around here,” says Kelly’s mom, Mary Snyder, who should know. She lives with the Sloans.

“Tom was a natural,” Shan continues.

“I taught him everything I know,” jokes his dad, iconic Albertville High School basketball coach Shannon Sloan.

A big fan of Tom’s cheese biscuits, he’s already devoured several before dinner.

“It was not like anyone sat down and said to do this and that,” says Shan, Tom Sloan gives hugs to his mother-inher thread unabated. “Tom has a natural law, Mary Snyder and Kelly, his wife. At talent of putting flavors together.”

That background sheds light on the right is the Squeals on Wheels logo. the culinary skills that make Tom’s In the beginning, it was mostly barbecue catering business, Squeals on Wheels, the young company did, delivering so glowingly popular in his hometown it, of course, on wheels. of Albertville.

A

graduate of Jacksonville State University, Tom worked 26 years for Gold Kist and Tyson, brokering chicken sales on the side. Then he worked a short while with an internet marketing program.

Over the years, he’d built a reputation for smoking some of the best Boston butts on Sand Mountain. His cooking was in demand for weddings and other events.

So, when the marketing company went bust, the logical next step smelled a lot like one of Tom’s smoking butts. Mary and Kelly partnered with him in the business.

“We were kinda’ having fun with catering and thought

loin, chicken wings, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, roasted vegetables … everything prepared fresh by hand, including salad dressings and BBQ sauce.

How good is it? At Taste of Albertville in 2014 – the only year the Sloans had enough time to enter – Squeals on Wheels was voted Best in Show.

So far, their single biggest catering “gig,” as Tom says, was feeding 250 people at a picnic in Gadsden. Besides the usual catering, on a monthly rotational basis, working through First Presbyterian, Tom and company help area churches, November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

25

Mitchell Grocery and others deliver 400 meals via “Blessings in a Backpack.”

Once a year Tom takes off a week to cook for the mission fundraiser at the Sloans’ church, First Presbyterian.

This year that required 98 butts and 250 pounds of chicken.

“All of the money they make funds local missions, Christmas Coalition, the Child Advocacy Center and others,” Kelly says. “We are delighted.”

A

t the Main Street Music Festival this year you were lucky to be one of the 1,000 folks who bought a plate from Squeals on Wheels’ portable kitchen, The Silver Bullet. It’s a ’64 Airstream that was gutted and totally refurbished with running water, a three-bay sink, oven, prep tables and serving window.

That was back when Tom was getting Squeals cranked up with the help of Kelly, next-door neighbor

Denise Willoughby, and her husband, Rodney.

“We did every bit of the work on it,” Tom says of the Bullet.

They also got the commercial kitchen up and going on U.S. 431 across from Nissan of Albertville. That’s where all of Squeals’ catering dishes are cooked.

Then there’s Tom’s “office,” his outdoor cooking area by the pool where his brick smoker can handle 12-15 butts at a time. Plus Tom has mobile smokers that handle 25 and 90 butts each.

“His regular workweek wears me out,” laughs Kelly, a full-time pharmaceutical rep.

I

t takes an effort to handle all of the cooking and deliveries and events. Extra hands for big events come from Denise.

(Rodney still helps maintain the Silver Bullet.)

Then there’s Mary, who claims, to

a chorus of objections, that she can’t cook.

“But I am the best sous chef and dishwasher,” she adds “We have a theme,” Tom laughs, “know your roles.”

Sister Shan and Olivia, the Sloans’ only child left at home, are recruited for evening and weekends when needed, which includes serving at events. Olivia also helps bake biscuits.

“We have always loved to cook, but we can’t cook just this much,” Kelly says, cupping her hands for a small serving. “This was a love that turned into a job.”

So when work is over, what’s for supper around the Sloan house?

“We go to a restaurant,” says Olivia.

OK, but sometimes the Sloans do cook family-size meals. Here are some of their recipes …

Good Life Magazine

GARLIC CHEDDAR BISCUITS 2 c. biscuit mix 1 c. shredded mild Cheddar cheese 2/3 c. milk 1/4 c. butter 1/4 tsp. garlic powder

26

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

Preheat an oven to 450. Grease a baking sheet.

Mix biscuit mix, Cheddar cheese, and milk together in a bowl using a wooden spoon until batter is soft and doughy. Drop spoonfuls of batter onto

the prepared baking sheet. Bake until biscuits are lightly browned and cooked through, 8 to 10 minutes.

Heat butter and garlic powder in a saucepan over low heat until melted.

Brush garlic butter over cooked biscuits.

SILKY, SPICY CHICKEN PASTA 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts 1/2 Tbs. salt 1/2 Tbs. onion powder 1 tsp. thyme 1/2 tsp. black pepper 1/2 tsp. white pepper 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper 2 Tbs. butter 3 cloves garlic, minced 8 oz. fresh mushrooms, thickly sliced 1 zucchini, cut into small matchstick pieces 1 medium tomato, chopped 1 Tbs. cornstarch 1 c. milk 1 pint heavy cream 1 pound linguine, cooked 3-4 scallions, chopped Grated Parmesan cheese Cut chicken breasts into bite-size pieces; set aside.

Combine salt, onion powder, thyme and peppers; set aside. Melt butter in a 12-inch skillet. SautĂŠ garlic for about 30 seconds. Add chicken, mushrooms and spices. Cook for 8-10 minutes.

Stir in zucchini and continue cooking for 6 to 8 minutes.

Blend cornstarch into milk and slowly add to chicken mixture along with cream and tomatoes. Cook over medium heat until bubbly. Reduce heat and simmer another 5 minutes.

Serve over linguine and top with scallions and Parmesan cheese. Serves 4-6.

CHICKEN SCALLOPPINI 4 6-oz. skinless, boneless chicken breast halves 2 tsp. fresh lemon juice 1/4 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. black pepper 1/4 tsp. paprika 1/3 c. flour 1/2 c. chicken broth 1/4 c. dry white wine 4 tsp. capers 2 Tbs. butter

Place each chicken breast half between 2 sheets of heavy-duty plastic wrap; pound to 1/4-inch thickness using a meat mallet or rolling pin.

Season flour with paprika, salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in seasoned flour.

Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high

heat. Add chicken to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until chicken is done. Remove from pan; keep warm.

Add broth, lemon juice and wine to pan; cook 30 seconds stirring constantly.

Remove from heat. Stir in capers and butter. Serve over angel hair pasta.

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

27

FIERY CAJUN SHRIMP 2 c. butter, melted 1/4 c. Worcestershire sauce 1/4 c. fresh lemon juice 2 Tbs. ground pepper 1 c. hot sauce (Frank’s is preferred) 4 cloves garlic, minced 2 tsp. salt 5 lbs. unpeeled medium shrimp 2 lemons, thinly sliced French bread for dipping Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Mix the first seven ingredients together. Pour half this mixture into a large heatproof dish, then layer in half the shrimp and half the lemon slices; form a second layer with the remaining shrimp and lemon slices, and pour remaining sauce into the dish.

Bake uncovered for 20 minutes or until shrimp are pink, stirring twice.

Pour off the sauce into individual serving dishes.

Serve the shrimp with plenty of French bread for dipping in the spicy butter sauce.

MARINATED CHEESE Thanks to Sue Parker 8 oz. sharp Cheddar cheese 1 8 oz. package cream cheese 1 tsp. sugar 3/4 tsp. dried basil 1 dash salt to taste 1 dash black pepper to taste 1/2 c. olive oil 1/2 c. white wine vinegar 1 2 oz. jar diced pimentos, drained 3 Tbs. chopped fresh parsley 3 Tbs. minced green onions 3 garlic cloves, pressed Spinach Salad With Balsamic Vinaigrette 1/4 c. balsamic vinegar 1 Tbs. chopped garlic 1/2 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper 3/4 c. olive oil 1 tsp. Dijon mustard If you choose, you can add 2 tsp. of brown sugar to richen the taste.

Mix all ingredients and serve over a bed of spinach sprinkled with bleu cheese, cranberries (strawberries in the summer) and chopped walnuts.

28

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

Cut cheddar and cream cheese into 1/4-inch slices, then again in half.

Using a small dish, place cheese slices on end alternating cheddar and cream cheese.

For marinade, combine sugar, basil, salt, pepper, oil, vinegar, pimento, parsley, onion and garlic.

Pour over cheese, cover and refrigerate overnight.

Serve with crackers. This is as pretty as it is yummy.

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CHOCOLATE KAHLUA CAKE Preheat oven to 350 1 pkg. plain devil’s food cake mix 18.25 oz.

1 pkg. chocolate instant pudding mix 5.9 oz. ¾ c. Kahlua

½ c. water ½ c. vegetable oil 4 large eggs 1 c. sour cream 1 tsp. cinnamon

Mix until smooth, about 3 to 4 minutes. Put into a prepared Bundt cake pan (spray with vegetable oil, dust pan with sugar, cinnamon and cocoa). Bake 45 minutes, cool 20 minutes, then turn it onto a cake plate.

MINT JULEP PUNCH 1 10 oz. jar mint jelly 2 c. water 1 liter bourbon 1 46 oz. can unsweetened pineapple juice 1⁄2 c. lime juice 2 c. water 2 28 oz. bottles 7-Up, chilled lime slice (optional) fresh mint leaves (optional)

Combine the jelly and 2 c. water in a saucepan and heat, stirring, over low heat until the jelly melts. Let cool. Add the bourbon, juices and 2 c. water and chill in the refrigerator.

To serve, pour the juice mixture over ice in a punch bowl. Slowly pour in 7-Up, stirring gently.

Garnish with lime slices and fresh mint leaves, if desired.

RED ROOSTER PUNCH Combine all of the ingredients in 1-1/2 quarts cranberry juice cocktail 1 6-oz. can frozen orange juice a large plastic container. Freeze for concentrate, defrosted several hours. It will not freeze solid, 2 c. vodka but rather achieve the consistency of a slushy. Scoop into punch cup or wine glasses and serve.

30

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

BENEDICTINE DIP 1 large cucumber 8 oz. cream cheese, softened 1 Tbs. grated onion 1/4 tsp. salt to taste 1 Tbs. mayonnaise Peel, pare and finely grate cucumber. Drain well (I let the cucumber sit in a sieve to drain it). Combine remaining ingredients in food processor or with a mixer. Sometimes it requires a little more salt than the 1/4 tsp. Serve with crudité and crackers.

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31

Good ’n’ Green

Bird photographer Allan Block shot the Eastern Bluebird above. For more of his work, visit: www.feathertailedstories.blogspot.com.

Story by Eddie Wheeler

T

he Eastern Bluebird is one of the better-known songbirds in Alabama and among the most beloved backyard visitors. But you might not realize that their population numbers declined during most of the 20th century.

One reason for this is loss of habitat and available nest sites. We have steadily depleted the bluebird’s natural habitat through constant land clearing and development. Also, the increased populations of the house sparrow and the European starling have greatly impacted bluebirds.

Recently, though, bluebirds have started making a comeback, thanks in part to the increase in man-made nest boxes.

You can help make a difference and enjoy nature’s show by providing bluebird nesting boxes on your property.

Bluebirds readily take to man-made nest boxes. However, nest boxes need to be built according to specific dimensions.

32

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

Bluebirds are declining But you can help them; build nesting boxes

You can either build the bluebird box (plans are found on the Alabama Cooperative Extension System website: www.aces.edu), or purchase one from most stores that sell bird feeders.

I

f you would like to create a bluebird habitat on your property, three important essentials need to be provided: food, water and nesting areas.

The bluebird’s favorite meals include insects and fruit. But another way to attract them is by planting native plants, such as flowering dogwood and holly to provide fruit and berries.

Birdbaths close to their nesting sites are a simple way to provide fresh, clean water. However, they prefer running

water, which can be accomplished by adding a dripper to the birdbath.

Bluebirds naturally nest in hollow trees and tree cavities. But a properly built wooden box will substitute.

Check out the plans at aces.edu, but briefly …

• Use 1-inch thick rough-sawn (or ¾-inch finished) pine, cedar, cypress or exterior plywood. Do not use treated lumber.

• Provide both drain and ventilation holes.

• Do not provide a perch; it tends to attract house sparrows.

• A round entrance hole 1.5 inches in diameter is required.

• Pine and plywood must be painted

Retired Albertville Postmaster Ray Barnes began installing bluebird nesting boxes eight years around his and wife, Kathy’s home. This was his second year to build his own; each takes about 45 minutes. In late January he’ll clean out old boxes and put a little pine straw in them for starter purposes. He says bluebirds start showing up the first week of February. “We love to watch them,” he says. They have a dozen boxes in their yard and along the road, fittingly enough called Bluebird Trail.

Kathy, who retired as postmaster in Boaz, named the road back when E911 was renaming roads around the county.

Photo by David Moore. to resist decay, but only paint the outside.

Use light color paints, such as gray, white or tan in sunny areas; use darker browns or greens for houses mounted in the shade.

• Place boxes 4-6 feet above the ground, mounting them on a wooden post,

private utility pole, tree trunk or a metal post. Metal has the advantage of being harder for predators to climb.

• It is best to get new nest boxes out in late winter before their first nesting cycle of the year. Prime locations include edges of open fields, large lawns and pastures.

A

ttracting bluebirds to your property can take some time and patience.

But once these beautiful birds come, they’ll bring their special bluebird charm to any yard or garden.

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33

Story by Steve A. Maze

H

e was an itinerant preacher whose congregation consisted of people he met on America’s roadsides and the goats that traveled with him.

His mobile church – pulled by a small herd of goats – resembled a couple of covered wagons more suited for the 19th century Oklahoma land rush than the asphalt highways he traveled during much of the 20th century.

Charles “Ches” McCartney, better known as the “Goat Man,” was a free spirit who roamed our nations’ roadways for seven decades.

He was born in Sigourney, Iowa, sometime between 1892 and 1901. At the age of 14, he ran away from his farm and married a 24-year-old Spanish knife thrower. He eventually returned to farming but lost mostly everything in the Great Depression.

The Goat Man then went to work for the Works Progress Administration. One day a tree he was cutting fell on him, knocking him unconscious and shattering the left side of his body. A search party discovered his lifeless body pinned to the ground several hours later and assumed he was dead.

Ches was taken to a funeral home but regained consciousness just as the shocked undertaker was preparing to stick an embalming needle into his arm.

His crippled left arm left him unable to work a regular job, so he decided to travel.

He hitched two goatskin covered wagons to his goats and set out with his second wife and their son, Gene, to travel America’s roadways. In keeping with the theme, Ches had his wife stitch together goatskin clothing for him and the boy.

T

he Goat Man claimed that his wife soon tired of the road. He and Gene continued their journey alone. Gene later split time between his father and his mother’s parents, and eventually Ches was left to travel on his own.

There was a rumor that the Goat Man had actually sold his second wife for $1,000, but that was never substantiated.

Regardless, he did not seem to have much luck when it came to matrimony.

When asked by a Kentucky newspaper reporter during the 1960s as to the reason he took to the open road, the Goat Man said that after his third wife left him he vowed to 34

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

The

Goat Man

“I am not a man of earthly goods, though I thank God for the little I have,” said Ches, “The Goat Man” McCartney, above, with one of his few possessions. At left, his passing “goat train” would bring people to the roadside to see him. When he stopped for the night or for a spell, crowds would come from afar to see him and sometime hear him preach. The photos are from the author’s collection.

never shave or take a bath and to roam the earth until her return.

“I’ve had three of those things and I don’t want no more,” he added. “In the Bible God promises every man seven wives, but somebody else can have my other four.”

Legend has it that the Goat Man walked 100,000 miles and preached the Gospel in 49 of 50 states (all except Hawaii) during his lifelong journey.

The location of his slow-moving caravan was never a secret. Newspapers had ample time to inform their readers when Ches and his goat train would be coming to their city, and radio stations would do the same.

T

he procession of goats and wagons effectively blocked one lane of the road and often caused traffic nightmares for police.

Impatient drivers would honk their car horns at the Goat Man and maybe curse a little as they eventually made their way past the wagons sporting signs that read “Prepare to meet thy God,” and “Jesus wept.”

Jesus wasn’t the only one weeping as the motorists inched their way along behind the caravan of goats and iron-wheeled wagons loaded with pots, pans, rusty car tags, hubcaps and five-gallon buckets as they banged, bleated and clattered their way into towns.

Ches and his goats could be heard – and smelled – well before reaching their destination. They would often stop near the outskirts of a town where he and his goats would set up camp for the night.

Curious residents and travelers could not resist stopping to see the long-haired, bushybearded man with a sooty face. His left eye seemed to be in a never ending squint, and the palms of his weathered hands were as wrinkled as a worn out road map.

The goats grazed on nearby grass while their owner picked up sticks, paper and other trash to make a cook fire. But the most important ingredient in the fire would be a an old tire he’d find on the side of the road.

The acrid smoke it emitted gave a special flavor to Ches’s favorite meal of cabbage and chicken eaten out of a dented tin can.

He was known to startle onlookers by squeezing fresh, hot milk from a nanny goat and drinking it from a dirty Mason jar.

C

hes financed his travels and goat feed by selling picture postcards of himself and his goat train, and other trinkets from his wagons. Of course, he also accepted donations as any good preacher would.

Some people felt sorry for him, but others were disgusted by his lifestyle.

Goat Man visited awhile in Marshall County during the 1960s. It was in Arab that he met another free spirit by the name of Tat Bailey.

Unsurprisingly, the two immediately hit it off since both marched to a different beat than the rest of society. Tat allowed Ches and his goats to camp in a patch of woods next door to a shop he was living in on Main Street beside the Old Arab Cemetery.

“He camped next door to me for a few days, but he only had one wagon with him at the time,” Tat once said. “He had trained his goats to pull the wagon up and down the mountain between here and Guntersville.

“He would tie some large billy goats to the back of the wagon going down the mountain to use as brakes and keep the wagon from running away. They would push against the wagon with their heads to give it momentum going back up the mountain.”

Ches had used Jeffersonville, Ga., as his base of operations since 1942. Most people assumed he had no money due to his nomadic lifestyle, and that might have been true. But he managed to finance at least five churches in Georgia during his lifetime.

Legend has it that his goats once ate a lady’s rose bushes while they were grazing, and she demanded that Ches pay for them.

He wrote her a check on a Georgia bank, but the lady was skeptical. She called the bank to see if the check was good, and was told as long as it wasn’t for more than $60,000.

E

ven though he was a peaceful man who never hurt a fly, the same could not be said for some of those Ches ran across on the road. He was mugged several times during his travels. But it was an incident in the 1960s, just outside of Chattanooga, that would be the beginning of the end of his goat train.

He was viciously attacked one night and gained consciousness to find a gash in his head that required 27 stitches to close. Eight of his goats were killed, their throats slashed.

Ches managed to make it down to Conyers, Ga., where two of his goats came up missing. One was never found, and rumors persisted that someone had eaten it.

The remains of the other were found tied to the local railroad tracks just prior to the arrival of the morning train.

One persistent rumor circulated that Ches had been killed when an 18-wheeler struck him and his goat train. The truth was November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

35

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that he had returned to Jeffersonville and was living in a small shack he had built. He parked his wagons and never again took his goats on the road with him. He did, however, continue to tour the country by walking and hitchhiking.

When his shack burned in 1978, Ches purchased a dilapidated school bus and remained there until 1985. Around that time he entered a nursing home in Macon.

He passed away Nov. “The colder it gets, the more 15, 1998, and was buried goats I cover up with,” Ches said. in Jeffersonville City Cemetery next to his son, “Thirty degrees is a one-goat night who was found shot to and below zero is a five-goat night.” death in May 1998 at the abandoned school bus the two once shared.

NOTE: Thanks to author Darryl Patton of Gadsden for allowing the use of excerpts from his book “America’s Goat Man.”

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37

The Cantrells have themselves a merry ‘little’ Christmas

Becky and Joe Cantrell live on the curve in Mayberry Lane, north of Ala. 69 in the Grassy community. You can’t miss it.

In a simpler time, the Cantrells had “Charlie Brown trees,” but they seem to thrive on the work it takes them to decorate these days.

Santa’s elves are busy at the North Pole, and Becky and Joe are busy in Grassy Story and photos

by David Moore

H

ere’s an understatement for the holiday season: Becky and Joe Cantrell decorate for Christmas. Ha! That’s like saying Santa might eat, oh, just a few cookies while making his annual rounds.

Decorate? The Cantrells’ yard looks like a state fair set up there. The lights are probably visible from the International Space Station. Certainly Santa can spot the yard from reindeer altitude.

And inside? The Cantrells deck out a Christmas tree in the living room. Others stand in the dining room and computer room. Then there’s the kitchen tree.

And the one in the den rotates. Set up throughout the house is enough decorations and Christmas bric-a-brac to fill an aisle at Hobby Lobby or Walmart.

40

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

Their house joyously bedecked to the gills, the Cantrells somehow find room to fit in a dozen or more family and friends for gift-giving on Christmas Eve, and to accommodate what Santa delivers in his big goody bag.

Dealing with all of the decorations is an exercise in advanced logistics and pure grunt work.

Once a game room for their son Joseph, an unfinished room above Joe’s detached garage was commandeered for essential storage space. Along with Becky’s extensive collection of interior and exterior autumn and Thanksgiving trimmings (which Joe gets to set up in midSeptember), the Christmas decorations are packed into mountains of plastic tubs and wedged into the attic room like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle of sardines.

“The sidewalls are packed,” Joe says.

“The rafters are packed. You can’t get any more up there without taking something out. You have to know where everything goes to make it fit.”

The Friday after Thanksgiving he hauls out all of the Christmas stuff.

Interior decorations are lugged down to the big, screened in back porch. Exterior decorations are temporarily stored in the garage.

“I should put an elevator in,” Joe laughs.

S

anta calls upon his elves. Becky and Joe call upon their grown children and their families: Joseph Cantrell and Brittany Upton of Morgan City, Kim and Brad Holmes of Arab and Kelly McDaniel of Huntsville. They arrive Saturday morning after Thanksgiving, bringing three of the Cantrell grandkids along to help.

Timers for all the lights, blowers and motors are set to come on at dusk and stay on four hours.

Even so, the Cantrells’ power bill cha-chings up about $125 for Christmas, a kind of bonus for Arab Electric Cooperative. “We used to blow fuses and burn light cords,” Becky says. “But we pretty much have it figured out now.”

Amazingly, all of the exterior decorations Joe dragged out Friday are usually set up and turned on Saturday night.

“We get at it and don’t stop,” he says.

Over the next week, Becky tackles one room a day, assembling trees and stringing them with lights. The kitchen tree has pre-lit branches, but she finds it hard to plug the three tree sections together.

And it’s only the third year for the pre-lit tree, so they don’t yet know what happens when the builtin lights start burning out.

No telling how many individual ornaments she hangs.

The Cantrells try to work smarter every year.

To that end, they use color-coded ribbon to match storage tubs with the right trees. Joe finds that bagging strings of lights in separate bags saves untangle-time.

Even when every room is fully festooned, decorating is not over.

“She will move lights and ornaments around for a month,” Joe grins.

I

t wasn’t always this crazy for Becky and Joe, who married in 1970 and moved to the Grassy community in 1986. Times were once necessarily simpler.

“After we got married we had a lot of Charlie Brown trees,” Becky laughs, referring to the scrawny trees Charles Schultz’s beloved cartoon character always got.

“Whatever we saw from the road, we went and cut,” says Joe. “The kids made decorations. We couldn’t afford trees and presents.”

Becky sometimes laments the loss of simpler, less commercial holidays.

“I think it was better before spoiling our kids,” she says, accepting some culpability.

“You want them to have it better than you had,” says Joe. Becky is in her 20th year working with the extended day program at Arab Primary School.

Joe retired in October 2014 as a superintendent Each of the Cantrells’ trees has a theme. Clockwise from upper left are: the den tree, with ornaments related to travel and their kids, is mounted on a turntable and Joe’s favorite; Becky inevitably gravitates to the snowman tree in the kitchen; Christopher Radko ornaments – most of them gifts from Becky’s friend Deanna Flanagan – make a colorful presence on the living room tree; Santa rules the dining room tree, table and walls; moose and bears hang out on and around the computer room and in its tree.

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

43

and operations manager for MCC Group, which builds casinos, hospitals, schools and hotels across the Southeast.

“He worked on the road and paid for the house and never got to enjoy it,” Becky says. “He’d come home two days and have to put up decorations then go back out.”

Now he has more time to decorate.

I

n a sense, these all-out Christmases go back to what Becky and her three sisters promised their mother shortly before she died in 1990: They would always stay close.

“And we have,” Becky says. “We do vacations together, get together for birthdays and surgeries. We do Thanksgiving together so every family can do its own thing at Christmas.”

Along with Becky, sisters Vondy McKee of Athens, Nancy Perry of Ardmore and Darlene McKee of Florida – plus their families – annually rotate hosting a crowd of 50 or so for Thanksgiving dinner. (Brother Jimmy Steidham of Muscle Shoals was recently pulled into the mix.)

Black Friday shopping sprees by the sisters began to follow their Thanksgivings together. These gatherings also resulted in the sisters discussing new Christmas decorations and ideas.

“When one sister started a snowman tree, most of the others jumped on board,” Becky says.

And so the snowball began rolling down the slope.

When the decorating cycle restarts this year, Joe will go out and spend a few hundred dollars on replacement lights.

“Every year we talk about cutting back,” Becky says. “Then people start asking when our lights are going up. We have a reputation … the house does.”

It’s true. People stop and shoot photos of the lights. Some drive out of their way so their children or grandchildren – or they themselves – can enjoy the lights.

Small traffic jams sometimes occur. Joe has invited total strangers inside to see the rest of the lights, Becky says.

“Yeah,” he admits. “Nothing wrong with that.” Just part of the Christmas spirit.

F

or Christmas Eve Becky will serve soup to family and friends. For Christmas dinner she’ll cook turkey, dressing and 44

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

Becky’s holiday decorating extends to adding some Christmas color to their master bath. When the work’s finally done, she and Joe do get to enjoy it. ham. Joe’s brother and his wife will visit, and everyone will trek into Arab to see the 1 million lights at Christmas in the Park.

The Cantrells expect another glorious Christmas.

On Dec. 26 Becky will probably go shopping for ornaments on sale.

The weekend after New Year’s, it will be all-too-soon over.

“I dread taking down all of those trees, boxing up the ornaments and dragging it

all up the stairs. We sweep up fake snow and glitter for months,” Joe says, but you get the feeling it’s not the worse job he’s ever had.

Then something a bit odd happens in the suddenly and strangely empty feeling Cantrell house.

“We pull out our normal decorations for the house,” Becky says, “and I have to figure out where they all go.”

Good Life Magazine

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Good Eats

Sebastien’s on Main Laid back and exquisite dining in downtown Albertville

Story and photos

by Patrick Oden

R

Hungry? French-born chef Sebastien Maris displays a filet he’s grilled in the kitchen. The restaurant offers more than 40 wines to complement your meal.

ich in southern culture and cuisine, Albertville has always hosted many wonderful local eateries.

Though it’s hard to beat a fresh skillet of warm cornbread, when local residents wanted a more elegant meal, travel was often involved. But for those who have discovered Sebastien’s On Main, the laid-back atmosphere and exquisite cuisine have made it a favorite in Albertville.

Jeannie Courington, Keith and Lesa McGee and Steve Kaple were among the early discoverers in the know.

Before Sebastien’s was “On Main,” the restaurant was out on Ala. 75 North in a spot now occupied by a Dollar General store.

It was a regular haunt for Jeannie, Keith, Lesa and Steve, who gathered there on Tuesday nights to socialize.

When they got word Sebastien’s was closing, Jeannie remembers the group thinking, “What are we going to do now?”

What they did was pool their resources and buy the place. That was 2011, and Sebastien’s reopened in the same location under their ownership in 2012.

They kept the restaurant’s namesake and head chef, remodeled the old location, reopened in 2012 … and six months later chef Sebastien Maris left to pursue other opportunities. But the menu was in place and was very popular, and Sebastien’s carried on.

In December 2013, landmark Hammer’s Department Store on Main Street in Albertville closed its doors for good, and an opportunity arose to move the restaurant.

“We wanted to be a part of the revitalization of downtown,” Jeannie says.

The space provided the owners with an opportunity to start from a blank slate, to create the restaurant they envisioned, and a chance to utilize some of the group’s other skill sets.

K

eith McGee, a contractor, wanted to make sure the restaurant could accommodate live entertainment, so one of the first things constructed was Sebastien’s stage.

“Before we had a kitchen, before we had anything, we had a stage,” Jeannie grins.

46

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

Pam Maris chats from behind the bar with one of the co-owners, Jeannie Courington, third from right, during dinnertime. The red, grand piano at the front, and the chic touches in the restrooms add to the atmosphere Sebastien’s creates with old wood floors and exposed brick walls.

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

47

Yes, you get white tablecloths, but that doesn’t mean you can’t get a serious burger, like this Smokey “Fire Hydrant.”

The group wanted to preserve Hammer’s warehouse atmosphere and decided to work around the existing hardwood floor and exposed brick of the inner walls.

It was a popular decision. They even have guests who request tables by the name of what Hammer’s once had in that space.

“People will ask to sit in the old lingerie section,” Jeannie laughs.

While the creative and custom appointments of the restaurant engage the eyes, Sebastien’s is heaven for all the senses.

The large bar in the center of the restaurant abounds with laughter, the air is permeated with savory smells, and when the taste buds are engaged it’s pure sensory euphoria.

The group’s goal of creating an affordable fine-dining establishment with a neighborhood feel is an undeniable success.

And it just gets better.

48

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

J

eannie, Keith, Lesa and Steve not only persevered through the loss of chef Sebastien, they rallied and grew the restaurant. And it’s a good thing they kept the name, because in July 2015 chef Sebastien returned to Albertville.

Sebastien was born in Carcassonne, France, and by age 13 was enrolled in the Groisy Culinary Institute. At 14, he began his apprenticeship at The Torque Royal, a Michelin five-star restaurant where he continued his career.

Though accustomed to cooking for celebrities and royalty, his lifelong desire to move to America was realized in 2005 when he was hired to open the original Sebastien’s on U.S. 75.

And while he did leave the restaurant and city for a short period, it’s a testament to southern culture that he returned. The kindness and hospitality he had grown to know in North Alabama was lacking elsewhere, so, following his heart, he returned to Albertville, to the

restaurant which still proudly bore his name.

Chef Sebastien says the dish he is proudest of is his filet. He hand-cuts the Black Angus steaks, which he also dry ages himself in the restaurant.

According to his wife, Pam, also the restaurant’s manager, his favorite meal at home is cornbread and milk. A simple southern staple that has endeared itself to the chef.

W

ith fresh, locally sourced vegetables, homemade dressings and sauces, fresh seafood and a deliberate dedication to quality, Sebastien’s menu prices are surprisingly affordable.

Don’t let the white linen tablecloths or polished appearance of the wait staff keep you on the cold side of the large glass windows along Main Street.

Sebastien’s is a warm and inviting place, as much a local treasure for its people as its cuisine.

Good Life Magazine

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49

They came, they saw, they ... honked ahoooga!

Photos by Patrick Oden

M

aybe you passed a long line of Model A Fords tooling down the highway, or watched them putter past.

Maybe you heard an ahoooga horn, turned and saw drivers and passengers waving to you.

Either way, it probably brought a smile to your face if you saw any of the 55 Model A cars that visited Marshall County in mid-October with the Ninth Annual Sweet Home Alabama Tour.

The three-day tour was sponsored by the Central Alabama Model A Ford Club and was hosted by members Dick and Jane Haldeman of Guntersville. Among the other members assisting with outings and events were Charles and Diane Wilson of Horton.

Hampton Inn in Guntersville was the rally point for the classic cars and 115 enthusiasts from 13 chapters of the Antique Automobile Club America, as far away as Michigan.

T

he first day took the group to Guntersville Dam, Lake Guntersville State Park and the scenic outlook at Buck’s Pocket State Park.

Day two, they traveled to the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament in Hanceville, Ave Maria Grotto and then to the Arab Historic Village.

On the final day the beautiful ol’ driving machines toured along the lake and over to Cathedral Cavern before visiting Kate Duncan DAR School in Grant.

Ahoooga!

50

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

A caravan of finely restored Model A’s visited Arab Historical Village during the Sweet Home Alabama Tour.

The tour attracted Model A owners from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. Some of them wore nice period hats to match.

That’s Gareth and Debra Eich of St. Petersburg, Fla., to the left.

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

51

The visiting Model A’s – all built from 1928 to ’31 – looked right at home at Arab Historical Village.

Clockwise from top: Cecil Freeman of Lincoln, right, looks right at home, too, with Arab Mayor Bob Joslin, who also restores old cars. Bill Newland of Arab, far right, admires a MODEL A-tagged coupe belonging to Jimmie Chestnut of Gadsden, whose father traded a cow for it in 1958; Frank Bechtol of Linnville, Tenn., admires his own ’29 roadster near the old Hunt School; parked cars line up at the village, located in Arab City Park; above, the dash of a welltraveled Model A includes magnet souvenirs from tours around the country ... plus something Henry Ford did not include as standard equipment: a GPS. 52

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

54

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

artist about the brewery months ago and stressed their dedication to all things local. They’d discussed Michael possibly painting a mural on the taproom walls or hanging some of his eye- and mind-catching work there.

“I can see something going here,” Michael says, taking in the still empty walls. “I like it.”

And so the opening of Main Channel has been anticipated like … well, like a great-tasting beer.

Story and photos

by David Moore

M

arshall County has its first locally brewed beer. If others were legally brewed before Prohibition, it could not have been with the skill, craft, variety and passion that Main Channel Brewing Company pours into its beer.

People who’ve had Main Channel draft at area restaurants and bars can attest to its great taste. And by the time this magazine ain Channel opened with three beers from the dozen is published, many more who have been waiting will have or so recipes Clay has enjoyed Main Channel concocted. Others will at its newly opened come. What they serve in taproom on U.S. 431 the taproom, they brew in Guntersville, just on premise. north of the Ala. 79 For now, because of intersection. production capacities, The opening has Blue Plants Brewery been long awaited by the in Madison produces brewery’s brotherhood the Main Channel beer of partners Brett and Supreme Beverage Clay Smith, and Brett’s delivers to other venues. wife, Sarah.

Besides the Smiths’ Clearing bureaucratic taproom, since late channels for a October Main Channel manufacturing license has been sold in for a microbrewery is a Guntersville at The drawn out process. Then Bridge Café, Somewhere there’s construction to on the Lake, Wintzell’s, do, equipment to order Aqua restaurant at the and set up.

Wyndham Inn, Rock “I told everyone it’s a House Eatery and, if you fluid process,” Brett says want to fill a growler to of those who’ve been go, The Cellar at Mosley wondering about the Monogram. It’s also on holdup. tap at Anaheim Chili in “Two more weeks, Huntsville and Carson’s that was the running Grille in Hampton Cove. joke on when we’d The Smith brothers’ open,” laughs Clay on beer is steeped in their a wet evening prior to Guntersville roots. Main opening. At this point, After a year of effort, Clay, Brett and Sarah Smith toast in their Channel, of course, is a a few final inspections salute to the Tennessee and installing TVs are Main Channel taproom in Guntersville prior to their opening. For starts about all that’s left for they’ll serve Clay’s recipes for an unnamed amber, Choppy Water Wheat River; their logo depicts the old George S. the partners to do. and Face Plant IPA, from left in the photo on the opposite page.

Houston Bridge.

M

Local beer is finally here Two brothers and a wife make fine brews at Main Channel

T

he brothers and Sarah are in the taproom this evening to meet a photographer. Lights are on, visible through the glass front of the Jitney Junior they’ve remodeled, and vehicles are parked in front, false signs of business that attract hopeful attention.

A pickup parks, and three guys climb out only to get sad news – not open yet.

Patrick Roberts drops by to check progress and talk flag football coaching with Brett. Craig Cornwell, a member of the local Arts Factory, checks in. One of his giant fishing lure sculptures sits on loan in the taproom.

Later, Michael Banks walks in. Brett had told the Guntersville

Beer names are anchored to the river and lake, too. For instance, Buck Island Belgian Witbier. Choppy Water is what they call their wheat, and their IPA is Face Plant, a skiing and wakeboard term. Their double IPA, 358, refers to the river-mile marker number at Veterans Memorial Bridge. Porter’s Point Porter doesn’t refer to Porter Harvey, rather to a point on the lake off Willow Beach Road.

“You had to have hung out there as a debauched teenager to understand that one,” Brett grins. “We are conscious about who we are and where we came from. The lake, or main channel, if you will, defines us.”

They picture their beer as the sort that mixes with a day in the November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

55

Main Channel Taproom …

• Not a late-night honky-tonk, it will be open Wednesday and Thursday until 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday until 10 p.m. If there’s a demand, it might be opened Sundays.

• It’s not a licensed restaurant, but food trucks are expected to show up and there’s a restaurant next door. Potluck dinners might be even be arranged.

• The sliding door glass front will be opened when the weather’s nice.

• Music will depend on which Smith is bartending, but it will be cool.

Acoustic musicians also are expected to play.

sun on the boathouse deck. In other words don’t look yet for wildly hopped, high-gravity brews.

“We will have big beers,” Brett says. “I think the guys are willing to try heavier and darker beers, but you need one the girls want to try.”

That would be the Brown’s Creek Blonde Ale.

A

long with their older brother, Drew, Brett and Clay are the sons of Patricia Jackson and Paul Smith.

Brett is 10 years older than Clay, so as kids they didn’t fight like most brothers.

“He was too young,” Brett grins.

“He’d just sit on me,” says Clay.

After graduating from Guntersville High in 1993, Brett went to The University of Alabama where he majored in public relations and, more importantly, met Sarah, a business major from Mississippi. Actually they met while bartending.

Though Clay was 13 when they started dating, Brett liked to include him when they went to concerts or the beach. There was – and is, Sarah says – a closeness.

In 2001, she married Brett, who went into sales. They lived a while in Birmingham before moving to Guntersville to raise a family.

Clay left about the same time to earn a degree in chemical engineering with a biochemical specialization from Auburn. While there, he took up a hobby – homebrewing. He later got a job at Redstone Arsenal and an apartment in Huntsville – still making his own beer.

In 2010 Brett and Clay attended the Rocket City Brewfest.

“You could taste 200 beers, and his is better than all of them,” Brett says. “I told him one day, ‘I know what you like to do, and I know what you’re passionate about, so get your homebrew equipment and bring it over.’”

Main channel waters were flowing.

B

Clay’s Scottish ale, left, and his wit, or Belgium witbier, are among the brews Main Channel plans to sell in the future. The Smiths say they have received a lot of support from family and friends to city officials and a number of the local craft brewers. “We owe a lot of people a lot of beers,” says Sarah Smith. Haley Smith of TBD Creative in Birmingham came up with the name and logo for the brewery. She’s the wife of the oldest Smith brother, Drew.

56

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

rett talked about starting their own business, a microbrewery, urging Clay to believe in his skills. They did the research and decided to take the next huge step.

A year ago, Brett left McDaniel Refreshment Solutions in Albertville as its operations manager and threw himself into the brewery full time while Clay continued at the arsenal and Sarah is the director of Marshall Wound Healing Center.

They finally found a location and began licensing procedures, doing hot, dirty construction work, investing in equipment and perfecting recipes. After a year it’s finally come together with a clinking of glasses.

“Craft beer is growing in Alabama,” Brett says. “It’s a good time to do this and a good place for it. Clay’s beer is as good as anybody’s. He brings all of the brewing acumen. He understands why we do what we do when we’re brewing.

“It’s something to bring us together, something we can do together. It’s worth leveraging you life over.”

Sarah is excited, too, but not just about the beer.

“I think,” she says, “the neatest thing is watching them follow their dream and be a part of it. It’s a dream I don’t think either one of them thought they had.”

Good Life Magazine

The Main Channel brewery is on the side of the taproom building. Three vessels are used, above, in the brewing process, during which the malt is mashed in, left. Cooking the mash allows the extraction of fermentable sugar. That goes into one of two 250-gallon fermenter tanks with a manway, above, that opens for checking the wort during the week or so it takes yeast to produce alcohol. From these tanks, the brew goes into a bright tank where it clarifies and carbonates for up to 48 hours. Main Channel can brew up to 850 gallons of beer monthly – enough for 56 half-kegs, in which craft draft beers are usually sold to restaurants and bars.

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

57

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November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

Jeff Horton stands outside his workshop with one of his custom canoes, a virtual sculpture of wood and treated cloth.

Jeff Horton Story and photos

by Patrick Oden

J

eff Horton is living the dream.

Jeff didn’t say that in so many words, and it’s not likely he would, but to many of us, that’s exactly what he’s doing.

It’s said that one of the keys to a happy life is finding what you love to do and finding a way to make a living doing it.

For the past seven years Jeff has done just that. Jeff loves woodworking and paddling, and his company, Kudzu Craft Skin Boats, allows the lake-lover to get plenty of both.

Crafting a dream

and beautiful boats

in his Georgia Mt. shop With a mechanical engineering background, the 57-year-old former home inspector now spends his days designing and fabricating custom kayak and canoe kits. Thanks to a little curiosity, a little ingenuity and a bit of good old fashioned entrepreneurial spirit, Kudzu Craft was born.

But it all came about quite unintentionally.

“I started doing the boats to make a little spending money,” Jeff says. “I never imagined it would grow like it has.”

J

eff and his wife of 33 years,

Annise, sold their lakeside home and were moving … building a new house on Georgia Mountain. Jeff left behind a kayak he had so the new owner could enjoy the lake the way he had.

Jeff, who had built his first kayak a dozen years earlier, wanted to build a sailboat in his new home’s workshop.

Realizing it would be a two-year project he decided to build another kayak in the meantime. He had been researching skinon-frame designs and wanted to see if he could build one.

Indeed he could … and did.

During the process of building it, he had new ideas, and he built another November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

59

Jeff Horton built his first boat, a small kayak, a dozen years ago. Today’s project is restoring an old kayak he designed and built, which first requires stripping the “skin” and some disassembly.

Any project requires some attention to Bonnie, his dog.

Most of the big tools Jeff uses are from a collection of old woodworking equipment he acquired some years ago (please see story on page 65). His workload varies from five to 40-plus hours a week, which he figures averages out to 20-25 hours, leaving him time to get on the water. On top of the few custom crafts he builds, he sells 25-35 kits a year.

Most of his sales, though, are parts. In addition to woodworking, he loves working with old cars. It’s been a while since Jeff focused on them, which is no real surprise. Pulling a ’55 Chevy into his sawdust-coated garage just would not do.

kayak, followed by yet another, and so on.

And what about that sailboat?

“I finally sold the plans to it.” Jeff says. “I ended up with too many kayaks.”

Jeff was enjoying himself and the reaction he was getting to the kayaks he built let him know he was onto something. Before he knew it, his collection of restored antique woodworking tools were humming in joy and Kudzu Craft Skin Boats was born.

62

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

N

ow with a full offering of skin-onframe kayaks and canoes, Jeff primarily caters to the DIY builder; the majority of his business being kits Jeff produces and the buyer puts together.

Unlike a coffee table from Ikea, it’s not an assembly task for just anybody, but Jeff says a woodworking hobbyist should be able to put a Kudzu Craft boat together without any problem.

And if a problem does arise, Jeff has

produced a series of how-to videos and is glad to talk you through the process, if all else fails.

What makes Kudzu Craft boats unusual – and so beautiful – is the skin-on-frame design. Jeff’s boats begin with a series of ribs cut from fine Baltic birch connected by red cedar stringers and covered with an extremely durable polyester cloth.

The paint scheme is left to the builder, but Jeff says the polyester cloth “takes the paint beautifully.”

Jeff enjoys the design process and loves the woodworking aspects of building his kayaks and boats, but is all for a reason ... to get himself out on the water. The kayak he’s paddling, called Short Shot, is 16.5 feet long and 23 inches wide.

O

nce the cloth or skin is painted, the kayak is sealed up tight and will withstand quite a bit of abuse. Driving home the point, Jeff pounds on the bottom of one of his oldest boats with a hammer.

They’re also really light. At about 30 pounds, one person can easily carry a Kudzu Craft kayak alone.

And there aren’t many kayaks on the water anywhere that can match a Kudzu boat for style or quality.

With an average kit running about $350, Kudzu boats are very affordable and totally customizable.

Because Jeff’s customers span the globe, shipping a finished boat is pretty expensive, so he doesn’t build many to completion for his customers.

But he will. Jeff builds one or two boats a year for clients who simply don’t want to tackle the project.

As a testament to the quality of his Kudzu Craft kayaks, Jeff is about to begin

production of two custom kayaks for an executive at Wooden Boat Magazine.

S

even years after building his first kayak, Jeff works most days with his dog, Bonnie, in his sawdust-laden workshop.

But he leaves plenty of time to paddle.

No question … he is having fun doing what he loves. However unintentional, Jeff Horton seems to have stumbled squarely into the American dream.

Good Life Magazine

November | DECEMBER | JANUARY

63

An old tool collection finds unexpected new life in Jeff’s loving hands Story and photos

by Patrick Oden

J

eff Horton designs and builds amazing kayaks and canoes as a by-product of a passion that surpasses even his love of the water – old woodworking tools.

The heart of his workshop is a large collection of these specialty tools, and for anyone who appreciates the industrial craftsmanship of the early to mid-20th century, they are a beautiful sight to behold.

And beyond that allure lies a special story.

Jeff, a member of OWWM (Old Woodworking Machines), has a real appreciation of these special tools and, some might say, a spot of luck.

Consuming an entire wall of Jeff’s shop is a bench, smack in the middle of which is an antique DeWalt radial arm saw. A beautiful piece of woodworking equipment Jeff has restored … resurrected. And it’s that saw that’s responsible for a good number of the other special tools in Jeff’s collection.

Having seen the rusty old DeWalt for sale online, he contacted the seller in Mississippi and made arrangements to go pick it up. But when Jeff arrived, he found far more than the saw he had bargained for.

The seller had an entire cabinet shop full of old power tools, a legacy from his father’s cabinet-making career. Most of the tools were in rough shape, and the seller needed to get rid of them, but he was reluctant to scrap the cumbersome collection because of its sentimental value to him and his mother.

By the end of the visit, the man had found a perfect home for his father’s collection, and Jeff had found a vintage woodworker’s dream he was eager to restore.

Jeff ended up not having to buy the DeWalt saw he had gone after that day. His desire to restore the tools was the perfect solution to the seller’s storage situation and his concern for his father’s tools, so he put the entire lot into Jeff’s caring hands – for free.

The two men loaded the trailer full, and Jeff returned to Georgia Mountain.

T

he old DeWalt radial arm saw was the first Jeff restored. And he continues to bring the old tools back to life.

After restoring the tools, he photographs them and sends the pictures to the man who gave him the amazing collection. Jeff says the elderly cabinetmaker’s widow has gotten a thrill out of seeing the loving care that’s been put into her husband’s legacy.

Good Life Magazine

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Jeff Horton makes good use of the collection of large, old woodworking tools he unexpectedly acquired when he drove to Mississippi to pick up what he thought would be just the DeWalt radial arm saw below.

Marshall County

Catch an eagle, so to speak, during program’s 30th year

Marshall County

Marshall County

reputation of Mill street has grown beyond Boaz

For years sam harvey asked the questions; table’s turned

WIntEr 2014 CoMPlIMEntary

Marshall County

Marshall County albertville-Guntersville football rivalry turns 100 on halloween

Boaz‘s renée Pierce wear crown with purpose and a sense of humor

Mary Terrell paints with flowers, and a look at her yard proves it

since the earliest times man caves have provided shelter from the wild

love of quilting attracts artisans from every part of the county

Fall 2014 CoMpliMentary

Milton Eubanks reigns (and works) over a spring kingdom in scant City

sPring 2015 CoMPliMEntary

MARSHALL COUNTY

Marshall County

Jim and Carol Meekins call honeycomb natural bridge home

Glenn Mcneal proves that Mr. nice Guy does win sometimes

Visit the eight local pipe organs and the musicians who play them

once so well-known, stocklaw’s legend lives on as a colorful character Follow the cycle of vine to wine at Jules J. Berta Winery in albertville

suMMer 2015 CoMpliMentary

students, volunteers talk about serious fun... fishing for your schools

suMMEr 2014 CoMPlIMEntary

Good Life Magazine

Marshall County

MARSHALL COUNTY Sometimes a garden is a garden ... but Jane McDonald’s is more

Predictions on the Bassmaster Classic? records will fall in ‘gi-normous’ event some great ideas for adding an outside living area to your home yachting couple respond to the lure of america’s Great loop

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For the Sumners on Sand Mountain, farming’s a multi-generation lifestyle FALL 2015 COMPLIMENTARY

Haven’t hiked Cooley Cemetery Trail? Fall should be a good time

to tens of thousands of readers

seaplanes take to the sky – and lake – for a world of fun Jim and loretta Kennamer’s house stands unique among lake homes add a wild (game) twist to your holiday meals

has delivered happiness

across the county without charge because

When the Goat Man and his wagons passed, people flocked out to him In a saw-dusty shop on Georgia Mt. Jeff Horton creates kayak sculpture

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Wildlife photographer Robert Falls offers a visual tour of Appalachia

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Marshall County May You Experience Joy And Prosperity In The New Year David Moore Publisher/Editor

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Nature and wildlife as seen through the eyes and lenses of ...

Robert Falls

Story by David Moore

R

obert Falls has shot a treasure of 92,000 nature and wildlife photos during his 25 years as a professional photographer.

The images provide viewers not only a window to his mind and eye, but a window to learn about the world around them. And he learns along with them.

“I feel that I learn something from every image that I create,” he says. “If nothing else, it teaches me that humankind still has a great deal to learn about our environment. My heritage is part Cherokee, and I think we could all benefit from Native American ideas about living on, and with, the ‘Mother Earth.’”

Robert’s publishing credits include National Geographic Books, National Wildlife Federation, Chanticleer Publishing and the Audubon Society. His work also has been featured in Outdoor Photographer, Nature Photographer, Outside Magazine, Outdoor Life Magazine and Outdoor Traveler.

Falls wrote and photographed “Exploring Gulf Islands National Seashore” and the photography book “Alabama Impressions.” His photography, accompanied by Dr. Doug Phillips’ text, is published in the books “Discovering Alabama Forests” and “Discovering Alabama Wetlands,” the latter with a forward by Alabama Pulitzer Prizewinning author/professor Edward O. Wilson.

I

t was the eagles in Marshall County that brought Robert, now 74, and his wife, Jackie, to Claysville in 2005. But obviously his photography interests extend beyond any county lines.

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With a general theme of the Appalachian Mountains region, he picked out a handful of images to share here.

While one can learn from viewing these photographs, one also can learn and be entertained from the stories and snippets he provides with them.

Good Life Magazine

Robert and Jackie enjoy staying in a cabin 4-5 months at a time in Little Switzerland, N.C., just off the Blue Ridge Parkway in the Mount Mitchell area. One time, they wandered across a black bear – prevalent in the forests there – making faces. “He had been digging into a fallen tree that had insects in it,” Robert says. “I think maybe some of them stung him on the tongue, and that’s why I had to photograph him.” Shooting with his 500mm lens, Robert felt safe from 100 feet away. “I was backing up,” Jackie says. More worried about his tongue than his company, the bear sat there while Robert shot pictures for a few minutes before they slipped away.

Sitting on their patio swing one morning doing Yoga breathing, Jackie had an even closer encounter. “I hear a snuffle on my side.

I turned and looked and there was a mama bear with two cubs. I ran through the door, they ran the other direction.”

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One fall about 12 years ago, Robert and a buddy photographer took his camper to Baxter State Park in Maine. They liked to go out early and shoot before, as Robert puts it, “the society photographers, who have to get up and have breakfast first, started showing up.” This particular morning they found a male and female moose standing in a pond, feeding off the aquatic plants there. It was an unhurried session. “We spent two or three hours shooting,” he says. “They were still there when we left.”

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Little River Canyon in neighboring Cherokee business opportunity when it was established a lot of photos for the office when they opened, country because it was in the news.” A favorite day before. To get there early, he spent the the next morning and shot all day. “It’s a

and DeKalb counties provided Robert a as a national preserve in October 1992. “I shot and I sold stock photographs around the was shot in a snow that had been forecast the night in Fort Payne, made it up the mountain totally different world in the snow,” he says.

Over the past 15 years or so, Robert figures he’s shot thousands of photographs of the eagles on the north side of Guntersville Dam. “I followed the first nesting pair for 11 years,” he says. “One day, I was shooting the original pair – I think they are dead now – and one of them left the nest and flew to this old tree because he saw another eagle in the area.

In the picture he is squawking at the other eagle, just raising Cain. After that he flew at the intruder and chased it away.”

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His wife, whom Robert fondly refers to as his photography assistant, was driving one day outside of Bakersville, N.C., while he watched for scenes to photograph. “We were on a county road winding up into the mountains and passed by this barn close to the road. I wanted to shoot it, but we had to go about a half-mile down the road before we could find a place to turn around and go back. Jackie’s really good about doing that. I am a very fortunate man.” Then there was the “Mug House” they found one day down a maze of back roads in western North Carolina. It was apparently a mobile home – no one was there – that the owner had covered with assorted coffee mugs, most of them weathered and holding water. “I got bitten several times by mosquitoes before I got out of there,” Robert says.

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Robert was shooting pictures one afternoon in the Cades Cove area of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. “I was walking across one of the fields – the hay growing up – and I just happened to look around and there was a buck looking at me. I shot right through the grass. I like the look it gave me, and the image has been a good seller.” He shot the groundhogs, left, in Maryland. “I was driving by this guy’s field, and they were near the road, sticking their heads up out of a hole. I got out and they ducked back into the hole. I got back in the car, slammed the door and put the window down. In a minute or two their little heads popped right back up again.”

They’re very curious.”

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Robert and Jackie find that Little Switzerland, N.C., makes a great base of operations for exploring up, down and along the Blue Ridge Parkway. It’s a photographer’s paradise, especially given enough time. “When we go, we stay from early spring until late fall,” Robert says. “There is excellent shooting anytime of the year.” Spring brings a profusion of wildflowers. June finds Catawba rhododendrons exploding in all their grandeur, the white ones blooming first at lower elevations, he says, the pink ones a little later at 4,000 feet and higher. Fall explodes in grandeur of its own brilliant colors. Mountains and vistas, of course, are there year round. Robert spotted the rhododendron, above, alongside the road and shot the image with his 24-105mm lens pulled into 35mm. Shooting wide angle at f/11 kept the backdrop of mountains and clouds in focus. The image at the top of the next page shows the Blue Ridge Parkway curving through the fall foliage at the peak of its color. Robert photographed the split-rail fence and cornfield, right, near Linville Falls using a focal length of 16mm. All three of these scenes are within 50-60 miles of Little Switzerland. The best fall colors are found to the north, while the south has the beautiful Craggy Gardens.

Says Robert, “I like everything about it.”

For more on Robert Falls and his work, visit: www.robertfallsphotography.com.

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Out ’n’ About If you’re out ‘n’ about sometime this Christmas season, you might like to check out Michael St. John’s crèche, or nativity scene he and his wife, Melanie, are setting up in Arab at their radio station, Fun 92.7. Most of the figures are 40 inches tall. As a young altar boy in Huntsville, Michael helped the priest set up the crèche. “The figures were almost my size, and I always wanted some like them.” A few years ago, a Cullman priest told him about King Richard’s, a church surplus and supply company in Alpharetta, Ga. It was there Michael fulfilled his dream, buying a nativity scene that had been in a former church.

His mother-in-law, Janet Weaver, did restoration work on them. Photos by David Moore.

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