After sitting down for some "facebook crap" time (another Sister Susie quote)...what do I see but Sister Susie herself has been loading pictures on facebook of what they have found at the bottom of the pond:
Now, if you were any normal person you would look at this snapping turtle and say, "cool," "wow," "yuck," "creepy," or any other normal turtle adjectives.But if you're a Vandercar, you immediately go in to Flashback mode and think of a log cabin, a bathtub and Pat Solomon.
Now, I'm gonna need help here...so feel free to comment and fill in the blanks.One of the many cast of characters that visited the Log Cabin station on a near daily basis was Pat Solomon (Pappy)...(am I right were Pat and Pappy one and the same person?).
I can't tell you where he worked, what he did for a living, how he fits into the Solomon clan, where he lived or even if he ever spoke. I only remember two things about him:
1. He would sit down at the card table in the log cabin with a big onion and peel it like an orange with his fingernails that looked like he never cut them and then he would eat the onion like an apple. Just bite right into it without cutting it up. Did he ever buy anything to go with it? Pop, candy, chips? I don't know...I just remember that onion. Maybe he only did this one day...but it seemed he and his onion were there everyday...that's how vivid it is in my memory.
If that wasn't strange enough here's my second memory:
2. Every once in awhile he would show up with a snapping turtle and "store" it in the bathtub behind the station. Yes, I said bathtub.
(There was an old claw foot bathtub behind the Log Cabin that Dad used to check for holes in tires). I don't know why he brought the turtles to us. I don't know what he or dad or we did with the turtles (i have a feeling onions might have been a part of the turtles destiny as well), but I do know that this was grounds for an immediate call to Kendel (696-0832), with orders to "get over here as fast as you can and don't walk, run." I would find the longest stick in the yard and proceed to poke in the water until the turtle latched on and would pull him up out of the water and tell Kendel he was gonna snap him (all the while hoping and praying that the turtle would let go, because I was just as scared of the snapper as Kendel, but would never let him know that). This torture of the turtle and Kendel would go on as long as Dad or daylight would allow. It never got old.
(the tub (and occasional turtle) was to the left of the chimney right below the electric box)So, elders.
You have to give the answers on this one.
Who was Pat?
Was Pat, Pappy?
Where did he work?
What was up with the onions?
Why didn't he clip his finger nails?
Did he always wear a conductor type hat?
Did he drive an old pick up?
Did he ever buy anything else or did he just stop in to eat his lunch, snack, huh?
Where did he get the turtles? (Susie you said get off 65 at Solomon's pond...what)? Is that where his turtles came from?
Why did he bring the turtles to the station?
What did he do with them? Other than the obvious...soup???
Did he and Dad have a standing agreement? Got turtles? Come to the cabin???
Where did that tub come from anyway? I would think Grandma and Grandpa's farmhouse, but Grandma Fern had a claw foot tub in the little red house. (But if I'm right, Tom, you have the actual tub in your barn)??
Where did the water come from? (The turtles always just seemed to appear, I don't ever remember seeing Pat bring, hold or move it from wherever it came from...as a matter of fact for years I was kind of afraid of the tub, I just thought they lurked around until it rained and then crawled in there). I think I must have checked it everyday, just to make sure.
How Pat related to the Solomon's from church. Father? Uncle? Brother?
Where can I get a picture of him?
And finally, is the guy in the pic (from the deer hunters) Pat?
I remember him being much older and grayer.
Directions to here:
Put your memory caps on and send me some answers!
8 comments:
#1
Pat & Pappy were to different people. Pappy lived down in the marsh. Pat lived in the hotel in town. He used to walk to Doug's almost everyday after the station was closed. Jerry still farms Pat's brothers farm land (Roy and Irene).
#2
I think he was a laborer, Not sure.
#3
Just liked them.
#4
To peel onions.
#5
That is all I remember. Must have been a gang symbol.
#6
A old red Chevy. Again Doug helped him move it from the hotel when he had to quit driving.
#6
The Log Cabin was his hangout always looking for a card game or some of his buddys. Ralph Tilton, John Ross, Big John,or any other regulars. Everyday he would buy a candy bar and give it to Bosco.
#7
He caught turtles on fish hooks he set out then brought them to the tub to let them clean out in. Then off to the soup pot.
#8
Yes the tub is in the Buseum.
THANKS Tom!
for the feedback...and answers!
so Pat and Pappy were brothers?
you mean he walked to Doug's house in town?
and what hotel in town did he live in?
sounds like I need to catch up with Doug to get the rest of the story!
Pat's name was Clarence. We've had fried turtle before...tastes like chicken.
doesn't everything taste like chicken. i don't mind it.
Nancy,
I don't know if Pat and Pappy were brothers or not. Someone else will have to help you with that one. Ruby's Hotel and Restaurant (always had blue plate specials) is right on the west side of the driveway going in to Costas grocery store off Rte. 2. Pat was always quiet with not much to say. We always said there was a groove wore in the floor of the station where he would pace back and forth between the window and the door waiting for one of his buddys to show up. Ask Mike about how excited he would get when he brought his Indian by. I remember him talking about having a Harley in his younger days. Get with us someday and we will round up Doug and Ellen for the rest of the story.
One of the main things I remember about Pat was that he was a big Cubs fan. That would explain many of his idiocracies. He used to make me so mad when he would come in and walk straight to the TV and flip it to channel 9 for the Cubs game. It didn’t matter if you were right in the middle of a program, he wouldn’t even ask, just go to the game and often times after 5 minutes walk out.
Pat’s real name was Clarence he is buried in Orchard Grove about half way down the south side of the hill just east of the drive. His brother was called Roundy, that’s who Tom was referring to as Roy which was his real name.
Pappy Solomon is who owned the farm off I-65 where the lakes are. I’m pretty sure his name was Charles, and I think his son Charlie still lives there and has a trucking and excavating business. I don’t think there was any relationship between them.
Pat did work construction and I think for a long time he was with Dyer Construction. Yes the same Dyer Construction that Jeremy now works for. He may have worked for Superior Construction for a while also. I think he mostly worked on bridge jobs working with concrete forms.
I can’t remember for sure what year it was, around 1967, but I do remember when he bought the red Chevy step side pickup that Tom was referring to. He never really liked it and often made the comment that he wished he could by a brand new 1957 Chevy Apache pickup, now that was a good truck according to Pat.
I have no idea how or where he caught the turtles as Nancy said they would just show up, I’m guessing some of them may have been caught on some of the bridge jobs he worked on. I do remember watching him chop them up and dress them for cooking and I do remember Mom frying one and not being too happy about it but I do remember it wasn’t all that bad. As Susie said tastes like chicken.
I had forgotten how much he admired my Indian, long before it was restored, and him talking about having a Harley when he was younger.
I don’t know why he ate the onions, other than just because he liked them. I don’t remember him eating them until later in his life, maybe he had heard they were good for you.
He also used to make Dad mad when he would come in and pick up the newspaper and pretty much separate every page and then leave them scattered all over the place instead of keeping it together and leaving it how he had found it. This is one of my pet peeves also, I will often kid Verna about her reading the paper and leaving it like Pat.:)
I also forgot about him living at the Hotel. Ah Ruby’s that’s another whole story in itself. I ate there many days when I worked at Harding’s. I was just telling Verna about Ruby’s a couple weeks ago. I think when I first started going there lunch was 50 cents. She had one special everyday and that was it. If you didn’t like the special you were out of luck, nothing else was offered. She would bring a huge plate of food out for you and if you didn’t eat all of it she would get mad and yell at you.
I will close with saying I am impressed with the size of that bad boy from the bottom of the pond. Makes you wonder how they get there.
Just remembered Pappy Solomon was Lloyd his son is Charles (Charlie)
I remember Pat would also eat sardines and crackers along with onions. I can remember his finger nails scrapping across the tables when he would pull in his "tricks" in the card games. Dad would also get so mad at him because he chew skoal and then would spit it in the waste basket (also known as the cardboard box by the bench)and it would get the cardboard all wet. He did have an old red pick up. I remember he would cover up the turtles with and old metal tub type pail. He would give bosco candy bars. I can remember him sleeping in his truck alot. Now that it was mention about him living in the hotel, I can remember that. Dad was not always happy that he would put those turtles in the tub. Wasn't there a hose or a water spicket some where around in back? Where else would he have taken the turtles? Seem like a remember him either wearing bib overalls or a jean jacket. I can remember standing there waiting for him to count out his change with those long dirty finger nails. It would take forever..
I think the picture is of Pappy. Don't ever remember a picture of Pat.
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