Dear Sam Venable,

  I love your column.  My all time favorite was Reggie and Buffy until those zany county commissioners began generating the best matrial ever.  I especially like Father’s Day when you write about Big Sam and Mother’s Day when you write about your mother Mary.  She was a wonderful woman and a pleasure to know.  I’m sorry that we moved here too late to know Big Sam. 

   My husband, Tucker Childers, was a Management Consultant for over 30 years and he used personal stories to make points during training sessions.  Fellow consultants urged him to write a book that would include the down home stories that he used while speaking.  His stories seem to flow from him in much the same way that your’s flow from you.  I thought that you might enjoy reading his book.  Please read the story that begins on page #14.  It concerns the arrest of an elephant and is my favorite.

  Thank you again for a wonderful column that helps us to laugh our way through some serious times.

Yours truly,

Becky Childers

P.S.  I think that you will surely enjoy the dog (or dawg) stories.

Speaking of having no good questions to answer,  I would really enjoy responding to your questions if you have any.  Just send them to the web sight and I’ll get right back.

Have a nice day.

Tucker

The interview will take place on WBIR-TV’s “Live at Five” show and will air on Wednesday June 6th. 

Thank you so much for the review that you wrote for Amazon.com.  I feel good about seeing it there, I intend to get it on my web page and I may even have it laminated in plastic so I can carry it in my pocket and show it to anyone who will look. 

Have a nice day.

Tucker

I made my trip to Tellico Planes and found that it has changed quite a lot.  I couldn’t find Babe’s Flying Saucer and it wasn’t really necessary since there are other restaurants in town now.  Babe is a really neat lady and the name of the restaurant has nothing to do with throwing dishes.  The building is round and apparently reminds some people of a UFO.  They always had good food though.

I believe I mentioned the day that the place was closed to the general public because it was the day of the Monroe County Coon Hunters Society’s monthly meeting.  Since it was the only restaurant in town and I was quite hungry, this caused a problem.  The Society president, however, was kind enough to invite me to have lunch with them.  That was certainly a lucky day.  Not only was I allowed to eat, but I learned something about coon hunting.

I never had any interest in coon hunting.  Have you ever heard a description of the activity?  1) You gather up the dogs and go to the mountains or some other remote place where it takes a 4-wheel drive vehicle to get there.  2)  Release the dogs and hope they find a coon soon.  They most always do.  3)  Build a small fire.  4)  Open up a jar of moonshine and keep it available for sipping.  5)Then everyone settles down to listen to the dogs and argue about which one is in the lead.  6)  The barking, at some point,  will change and everyone will know that the coon is up a tree.  Then they hike through the rough terrain and get their dogs.  The coon will remain unharmed except for the long run and really the exercise should do him good.

That day, I learned what the real attraction is to coon hunting.  They were the funniest people that I have ever been around.  If they had invited me to go coon hunting with them, I would have gone. 

My favorite story was one that was told by a man who was talking about a friend who was a fanatic coon hunter.  I’ll try to tell it in his words.

We were laying up on the mountain listening to the dogs run.  The weather was really nice and we had a cool breeze blowing.  I turned to my buddy and said, “Man, it don’t get any better than this.  There’s just one thing wrong and I feel guilty about it.  It’s Wednesday night and we should be at prayer meeting down at the church.  Don’t you feel guilty?”  My friend was quiet for a minute and then he said,”Naw, my wife’s been so sick lately that I wouldn’t feel right leaving her.” 

Again, I’m sorry that I took so long.  It won’t happen again.

Wow!! What a great trip. Now we may need to go back next year because we have learned so many things to do next time. The big shame is that the Dodgers are moving their Spring Training to Arizona and will do only one more year in Vero Beach. That is the most pleasant park that I have ever seen. It’s around 60 years old and perfect in every way. What a shame.

I managed to give away 3 books last week. That may make me the top buyer. It is in its’ second printing now, so I guess it’s doing pretty well. One thing that I have enjoyed is speaking about it and I hope to do more of it. Need a speaker? Check with me.

I have to go down to Tellico Plains next week. Have you ever been there. My guess is “no.” It is a nice little town. When I used to go there years ago, they had only one restaurant. It was named Babe’s Flying Saucer and it was a fairly good place to eat. Better than it needed to be since it was the only place in town where you could eat lunch. Reliability wasn’t their strong suit though. The last time I went there for lunch, the whole place had been taken over by The Monroe County Coon Hunter’s Society. I’ve never been attracted to coon hunting. The description of the activity just doesn’t sound like something I would enjoy doing. However, these people could see that I looked darn hungry, so they invited me to have lunch with them and it was there that I learned the true attraction to coon hunting. That was the funniest bunch of people that I have ever been around. As time goes by, I will share some of their stories with you. Tune in.

“Hi, there. Thanks for stopping by. I can’t begin to tell you how much fun this has been since the book was released a few weeks ago. So many people have contacted me to say that they have read it and enjoyed it. I hope that you are doing the same thing.

I always try to respond to comments and questions on the same day, but that won’t work this week. My son, Camp, and I are going down to Florida to Spring Training, and I won’t be back until the 20th of this month. On the the other hand, if George S. unexpectedly asks me to sign a big contract to help the Yankees, you know I’d have to accept that. But I assume you would understand.

In the mean time, if you don’t have a copy of the book, buy one. In fact, buy one for each of your friends and all of your relatives too. It may change their lives, and you and I will get the credit.”

If any of you reading this message need to contact Tucker during his Spring Training adventure about a speaking engagement or other event and you are pushed for an answer from him before he returns, just write webmaster@tuckerchilders.com, and we’ll make sure he gets your message. Thanks.

Today I’m pleased to report that I’ve just spoken to him as he and Becky were driving back home after the doctors finally gave him his walking papers. So it shouldn’t be long before the author himself is back in the saddle and up to his old tricks and, we are all hopeful, none the worse for wear.

Now we’ll just have to wait for WBIR to get their act together and reschedule that TV appearance. If WBIR is next, can Oprah be far behind?