Buck's Compass

The story begins one morning back in the 1970's at the Blue Circle Cement plant in Calera, Alabama. “Pawpaw” Hubbard, foreman for the labor crew, quizzed “Coon Dawg” concerning the whereabouts of his coon hunting buddy, “Buck.”

Coon Dawg was disingenuous as to the whereabout of Buck. Pawpaw knew that two of his prime laborers had planned a coon hunting on the previous day. “You and Buck go coon hunting last night?” Coon Dawg, with denying shyness, mumbled a feeble negative.

Most all of us knew that they had been coon hunting. Their passion for coon hunting was notorious. Registered hounds, four-wheel drive pickups, hunting gear, and any accessories they could buy, beg, or trade they owned.

Buck had bragged that he had a new compass for coon hunting. This was before GPS and smart phones. For years coon hunters used knowledge of the woods, sounds of the dogs, and memory to hunt coons. Hunters would train dogs to primarily to hunt coons and reject the scents of deer and other creatures of the nocturnal. Possum hunting was another pastime but coon hunting primary.

One time Buck secured a load to buy his wife a new washer and dryer. Buck bought a coon dog instead. One night the dog, Old Blue was in hot pursuit of a coon. The coon crossed the Southern Norfork train tracks, but Old Blue did not. No washer and dryer, no coon dog, and no coon.

There was a very large tale circulating in the plant about a poor blue tick hound that Southern Railroad paid for hitting. As most coon hunting stories go, it was said that the blue tick owner bought a new washer and dryer for his wife.

Buck did not report to work, and Coon Dawg shuffled around all day as an alcoholic with a hangover. Here’s what happened according to Buck.

Coon Dawg and Buck went hunting in Bibb County Alabama in the Talladega National Forest. Buck was excited to try his new compass. Seven miles from the Talladega National Forest Highway they released their dogs and listened to the dogs bark as the followed the scent of a coon.

As the sounds of the barking changed tunes and grew intense, Buck decided to find the dogs leaving Coon Dawn in the warm pickup truck. Coon Dawg was a little on the skittish side and said he would just wait until the dog treed.

Buck used his compass to locate the dogs and made his way toward them. Coon Dawg’s imagination ran wild as shadows came alive, sounds grew horrific, and stars disappeared. Darkness was not an old friend but a demonic surrounding capturing Coon Dawg who quickly escaped into the woods screaming for Buck.

Hollering back and forth Coon Dawg found Buck. The dogs stopped hunting. Buck used the compass to locate the pickup. Coon Dawg, lost to where he was stayed close to Buck. As they approached the clearing where they left the pickup, Buck noticed that Coon Dawg fled the pickup so quickly that he forgot to turn off the lights. The dynamic salt-pepper duo once again had no dogs, no coons, and now no battery. Their journey to the highway was a long four miles of walking in darkness with flashlights as way to see.

After hours of walking, they made it to US Highway 82. As the sun shined a faint pink, they tried to hitchhike. Two bearded, nasty, muddy, nomads at the breaking of dawn watched as vehicle after vehicle slowed only to speed away when the two mountain men tried to flag a ride.

Buck told Coon Dawg to wait in the ditch in hopes someone would not. That did not work either. It was more horrifying when Coon Dawg jumped from the ditch. They made it home. Coon Dawg reached the plant minutes before worktime. The following day, Buck bragged about using the compass and the foolish scaredy-cat Coon Dawg. Buck and Coon Dawg should have used a moral compass.

A compass is essential for navigating. The world which we live in dynamic. The earth is changing every day. From early explorers that used a technique called “shooting” to find their latitude (north or south position) by measuring how high above the horizon the Polaris (North Star) appeared at nightfall using a sextant.

Today a digital smart phone compass uses magnetometers to measure magnetic fields. By measuring the strength and direction of Earth’s magnetic field, it can determine which way is north.

A moral compass is essential for navigating life’s ethical challenges, helping society make decisions that align with values that contribute positively to community. Without a moral compass there is anarchy and a rapidly decaying society as we are experiencing today. God gave Moses Ten Commandments or a moral compass.

“Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” Matthew 7:12 KJV

“Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers

that be are ordained of God.” Romans 13:1 KJV

 

Note: In Colbert County Alabama is the Key Underwood Coon Dog Memorial Graveyard. Dedicated to the burial of coonhounds since the 1930’s. You can use a GPS to locate it.

Where Are You?

I do not remember ever being lost, physically I mean.  There were several times I did not know where I was.  Heck, one time after working mid-nights, I couldn't remember who I was.  Now, that was scary, but that is for another article.

I remember the eerie feeling of not knowing where I was, even though I could see the lights at my house and those of my grandmother and aunts’ houses.  Here’s how it happened.  My good friend Tony, his dad, and his brother wanted to go “coon huntin’” in the woods behind my house.  It is ideal coon huntin’ woods with swampy conditions and Possum branch as the main tributary.  Sure enough, we weren’t in the woods no time when the dogs treed a coon.  The problem was we never saw one, even though the coon “dawgs” were barking, howling, and carrying on something fierce.  That’s part of  the lure of coon hunting, or so I was told.

I remember walking around the tree and looking in the top at the same time.  I realized later that that is a sure fire no no.  After a keen search for a coon by my experienced friends, they decided to go down the branch.  A bass pond lay at the mouth of Possum branch and I started what I thought was down the branch, away from the pond.  One of my friends said that he wanted to go down the branch, not to the pond.

Well, the “dawg gonest” thing happened.  Yeah, I know that this is not standard American English, but I’m trying to recall it like it wuz, I mean was.  Possum branch was running the wrong way.  Somehow, in the looking up and walking around the tree, I crossed the branch.  I was turned around, and for a moment, I thought I had entered a spectrum of time known as The Twilight Zone.  I never let on to my friends.  You know all the ridicule and such I would have received if they knew that I was turned around in my own backyard!  It was so weird, hard to explain.  I knew I was not lost, I knew where I was, only turned around.

A person being turned around was nothing new to the community of Bessie, the community I call home.  My place is called Sugar Ridge, which is in Bessie, which is part of the area called Mars Hill.  No, Paul did not preach there.  Mars Hill is across the railroad tracks from Jemison which is sorta, that is Chiltonian for sort of, like being from the wrong side of the tracks and having no signs to tell you where you are. 

I grew up knowing where I lived without the help of signs.  We did have Land Mart, not a landmark even though it was a Land Mart and was a landmark, which is a store in Bessie where two highways cross.  People were constantly asking, “Which way to Jemison, which way to Maplesville, Thorsby, Randolph, or Montevallo?”  Some would even ask, “Where are we?”

That brings me to the inspiration of this article.  Enroute home from Betsy Layne, Kentucky after a wonderful time with Baptist Builders, some friends and I searched for a place to eat.  We departed the motel after a delicious breakfast of bagels and cream cheese.  It was to hold us until we could get a real breakfast.

We descended from the wonderful cool and pleasant mountains of Kentucky to the hot and humid hills and post oak of Linden, Alabama. 

Down the mountains of Kentucky and through Virginia, we looked for a Krystals.  There were none. My companions reminded me they were hungry but there were no Krystals.  One lady companion finally said, “I need to eat!” We suggested a Ruby Tuesdays.  Being we were using a high-tech gadget called a GPS, I asked the nice lady in the GPS, you know the one always telling you, “When possible please make a U-turn” to find one.  If you ignore her long enough, she will change her directions to where you wanted to go anyway because you got there without signs for years.

The nice lady directed us off the Interstate and to a strip mall with a Wal Mart and several restaurants, one being a Ruby Tuesdays.  Across the highway was a college. A hostess greeted us, took us to a table, gave us a menu, and said someone would take our order.  A young man appeared at out table, told us his name, took our order for drinks, and went to get them.  One of my friends noticed a woman who appeared to be logging in orders from customers.  She asked her, “Where are we?”

The woman had a bewildered look and said real plain and slowly, “R U B Y  T U E S D A YS.”

I belly laughed, my companions chuckled, and the lady snickered, trying to hide it with her hands.

My friend was not specific with her question, so she said, “I mean, what town are we in?”

We were in Morristown, Tennessee the home of Davy Crockett.  You know Davy Crockett went to Washington to serve in Congress and to Alamo in San Antonio, Texas without signs. 

We had a good laugh, good food, and a good mission trip.  The sad thing is most people do not know where they are in life’s journey.  This time I mean spiritually.  Take old Adam for instance.  When Eve and he disobeyed, God asked Adam where he was.  Now remember, God knew where Adam was.  God was trying to see if Adam knew where he himself was.

And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? (Genesis 3:9 KJV)

Where are you in life’s journey?

We knew where we were, but we did not know where was.