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Speaker 1: Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves

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Speaker 1: from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.

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Speaker 1: I want you to stay a while as I share

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Speaker 1: my stories and the country skills that will help you

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Speaker 1: beat the system. This Country Life is proudly presented as

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Speaker 1: part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best

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Speaker 1: outdoor podcast the airways have to offer. All right, friends,

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Speaker 1: pull you up a chair or drop that tailgate. I

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Speaker 1: think I got a thing or two and teach you watermelons.

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Speaker 1: It's watermelon time and I live in watermelon country. Judging

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Speaker 1: by a little research that I did, a whole bunch

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Speaker 1: of us do now where I live. You can't chunk

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Speaker 1: a yard dart in the air this time of year

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Speaker 1: and not have it come down and stable watermelon or

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Speaker 1: somebody eating one. So this week, as we continue to sell,

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Speaker 1: I break the two hundred and forty seventh year of

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Speaker 1: our nation telling England to kiss our behind. We're gonna

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Speaker 1: talk about three different varieties. How to pick a ripe

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Speaker 1: one salt or no salt? Why is that even a question?

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Speaker 1: And seedless watermelons? What kind of witchcraft is that? Hang

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Speaker 1: on to the end and you're gonna get some bonus footage.

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Speaker 1: The first I'm gonna tell you a story. I think

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Speaker 1: about some things and I ponder about others. The difference

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Speaker 1: in my thinking and pondering is when I think about algebra,

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Speaker 1: which is seldom I'm forced to ponder about who decided

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Speaker 1: that fractions weren't hard enough without adding letters to them?

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Speaker 1: Adding letters together is called spelling, not math. Now, what

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Speaker 1: in the world does algebra have to do with watermelons?

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Speaker 1: Not one thing. It's the issue of pondering. So, in

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Speaker 1: the grand scheme of things, is stealing a watermelon a crime?

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Speaker 1: Answers and obvious, Yes, of course it is. But to

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Speaker 1: a couple of high school boys that looked a whole

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Speaker 1: lot like me in one of my lifelong best friends,

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Speaker 1: Greg Hayes, we decided the risk was worth the reward.

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Speaker 1: I believe the mere thought of the sweet nectar of

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Speaker 1: the watermelon is the catalyst that enticed two young boys

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Speaker 1: to demonstrate lawlessness and mayhem. I admitted, I'm a watermelon addict,

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Speaker 1: and I always have been. There was a local farmer

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Speaker 1: not far from town that grew some of the best

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Speaker 1: watermelons in the county. No different were these melons than

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Speaker 1: the ones that we grew on our farm. So why

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Speaker 1: would I be stealing watermelons when we had them at home?

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Speaker 1: You ask, Well, that's a good question, and it brings

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Speaker 1: me back to that pondering thing. Regardless, this man raised

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Speaker 1: a lot of tomatoes, peas, corns, beans, and cows, just

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Speaker 1: like we did. He was a very nice man, and

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Speaker 1: he could have killed me and Greg one night, and

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Speaker 1: we're both glad he didn't. The second night of the

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Speaker 1: watermelon pillaging started out all right. The farmer's watermelon patch

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Speaker 1: had provided a couple of sweet offerings on the previous

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Speaker 1: night to a couple of boys that were hanging around

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Speaker 1: with their friends up town with nothing better to do.

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Speaker 1: It seemed only prudent that we should return for another sampling.

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Speaker 1: Me and Greg had just rolled a couple of mediums

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Speaker 1: up to the fence next to the road, where he said,

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Speaker 1: look at that watermelon up yonder under that night light.

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Speaker 1: Sweet mother. It was huge. It was a perfect specimen

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Speaker 1: of a watermelon. It looked like it weighed fifty pounds.

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Speaker 1: It was one of the biggest black diamond watermelons I'd

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Speaker 1: ever seen in my life. I'm not sure that that

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Speaker 1: light shining upon it wasn't coming from heaven instead of

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Speaker 1: the night light. And what of this night light and

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Speaker 1: huge watermelon that lay beneath it? How could something that

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Speaker 1: is so blatantly obvious now not look like the huge

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Speaker 1: rat trap that it was? Then? Now I could see

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Speaker 1: me and Greg rolling back up to the cool side

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Speaker 1: of the sun, driving in with this monster, where we

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Speaker 1: would gather folks up and share our sweet, ill gotten game.

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Speaker 1: It was ten o'clock and the farmer was no doubt

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Speaker 1: in bed, none the wiser to the hooliganism that was

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Speaker 1: taking place a quarter mile from his house. Next to

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Speaker 1: his barn under that big night light. We eased up

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Speaker 1: to the watermelon that all future watermelons would come to

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Speaker 1: be judged, and gently caressed its cool, dark skin. My

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Speaker 1: mind was racing, my heart was racing, and all of

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Speaker 1: a sudden Greg was racing. Greg was racing. When Where's

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Speaker 1: he going? I was confused, so I'm not sure if

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Speaker 1: I was wondering or pondering at this point. I stood

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Speaker 1: there and I watched him cover the one hundred and

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Speaker 1: fifty yards of watermelon patch in what seemed like five seconds.

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Speaker 1: Now Greg was built for speed, and he held the

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Speaker 1: state record high jump for quite a while, and with

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Speaker 1: one fluid motion, he jumped that five strand bab wir

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Speaker 1: fence that we had crawled under just a few minu before.

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Speaker 1: I heard him. When he hit the gravel road on

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Speaker 1: the other side. The sound of his shoes on that

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Speaker 1: gravel sounded like an antique stopwatch. As he and the

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Speaker 1: racket his feet were making faded into the dark night,

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Speaker 1: out of sight and out of hearing. Then, just as

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Speaker 1: that night light had bathed that black diamond and glowing glory,

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Speaker 1: I had an epiphany. Maybe something was wrong. Maybe Greg

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Speaker 1: was running because he was scared of something while I

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Speaker 1: looked around on the ground. Maybe it was a snake,

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Speaker 1: Maybe it was a dog I didn't see. Maybe it

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Speaker 1: was that man standing in the hall of that bar

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Speaker 1: and holding the shotgun. Yep, that's probably it. I commenced

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Speaker 1: at putting as much distance between myself and the business

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Speaker 1: end of that shotgun as I could, as the Good

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Speaker 1: Lord allowed me to do. I got to that fence

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Speaker 1: and successfully hurtled four of the five strands. The fifth

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Speaker 1: one tore the left leg almost completely out of my Overall,

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Speaker 1: I had never run that fast in my life, and

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Speaker 1: up to that point, i'd never had it, And when

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Speaker 1: a nice old farmer uncorked a couple of shots that

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Speaker 1: I assumed were directly at me, but I'm sure now

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Speaker 1: they weren't. I found a hidden gear that I didn't

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Speaker 1: know I had, and I could have really used it

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Speaker 1: crossing that fence anyway. I bet that farmer told that

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Speaker 1: story many times, and I would have loved to have

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Speaker 1: watched it from his perspective. He taught me a lesson.

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Speaker 1: If it looks too good to be true, you better

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Speaker 1: believe it is. But at least we'd gotten away without

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Speaker 1: being identified. No harm, no foul. Lesson learned. Greg and

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Speaker 1: I worked at the co op, the local farm store

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Speaker 1: together after school and in the summertime, and prior to

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Speaker 1: the incident, we had always loaded that farmer's feed and

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Speaker 1: stuff when he came as fast as we could, and

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Speaker 1: would stop what we were doing to do it because

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Speaker 1: we thought so much of him. A few days after

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Speaker 1: that incident, the store manager called Greg and I to

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Speaker 1: his office, saying someone had left us something. We went

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Speaker 1: up front and there set that watermelon that we tried

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Speaker 1: to steal a few nights before. We didn't know what

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Speaker 1: to say. We just stood there staring, expecting the police

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Speaker 1: to show up to fingerprint us and haul us off

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Speaker 1: to prison. Store manager called the farmer by name and said,

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Speaker 1: he said to tell you boys, thank you for always

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Speaker 1: taking care of him, and anytime you wanted a watermelon,

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Speaker 1: just come by and get one. He usually goes to

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Speaker 1: bed about ten thirty. Now I knew he wanted us

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Speaker 1: to know that he called us, he knew who we were,

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Speaker 1: he knew we were good boys, and he wasn't mad.

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Speaker 1: And the lesson we learned a few nights before was

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Speaker 1: cemented with that revelation. Like I said, he was a

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Speaker 1: real nice man. And that's just how that is what

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Speaker 1: the rush Springs Oklahoma, Weatherford, Texas, Green River, Utah, Beardstown, Illinois, Naples, Texas, Cordell, Georgia,

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Speaker 1: and Hope, Arkansas all have in common. They each call

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Speaker 1: themselves the watermelon capital of the world. Now, instead of

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Speaker 1: us laying these places out all side by side and

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Speaker 1: comparing the measurables of each claim of qualifications and getting

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Speaker 1: folks stirred up enough to start duking it out, We're

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Speaker 1: just going to cut through that waste of time and

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Speaker 1: declare Hope as the real champion Hope is located in

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Speaker 1: the natural state of Arkansas, and it's only a coincidence

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Speaker 1: that that's where I'm from and live. This was an

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Speaker 1: unbiased culmination of thought and research based on It's a

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Speaker 1: shorter drive for someone from Hope to catch me out

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Speaker 1: somewhere and invite me to join them in some pugilistic endeavor. Remember, kids,

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Speaker 1: discretion is the better part of valor. Now y'all know,

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Speaker 1: I'm kidding, not really, And I seriously doubt that I

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Speaker 1: could tell the difference. Yes, I could between a watermelon

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Speaker 1: growing in Hope as compared to one in Beardstown. And

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Speaker 1: I'd hate for the folks to send me free watermelons. No,

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Speaker 1: I wouldn't from those places for me to try. But

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Speaker 1: what kind of watermelon? Did y'all know? There are over

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Speaker 1: three hundred types of watermelons? That's right, three hundred now

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Speaker 1: my mind, there's only two kinds of watermelon, those I

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Speaker 1: have it and those I'm fixing to. To me, they're

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Speaker 1: all good, but just like a lot of things, some

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Speaker 1: are just better than others. We raised Charleston Gray's, which

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Speaker 1: are very sweet and the outside is a light green color.

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Speaker 1: The Jewilie variety were another type that we grew and

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Speaker 1: are probably what a lot of folks identifies what a

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Speaker 1: watermelon looks like, with the light and the dark green stripes.

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Speaker 1: They're all sweet, but my favorite has always been the

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Speaker 1: black diamond. Just a few minutes ago, I related how

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Speaker 1: my black diamond watermelon is session nearly sent me and

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Speaker 1: my buddy Greg on a lifelong crime spree that could

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Speaker 1: have started that very night had we not been shocked

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Speaker 1: back in in reality by a bob wire fence and

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Speaker 1: a double barrel shotgun. Now, my mama was partial to

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Speaker 1: yellow meaated watermelons. It's been said that they're even sweeter

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Speaker 1: and can have a hint of a honey flavor. I've

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Speaker 1: ed them both, and I really couldn't testify to that,

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Speaker 1: but man, they're good. Yellow or red watermelons originated on

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Speaker 1: the Dark Continent and have been around for five thousand years.

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Speaker 1: That makes me kind of sad thinking about all the

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Speaker 1: ones I missed. Instead of diving into all three hundred

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Speaker 1: plus different varieties, let's talk briefly about the three I mentioned.

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Speaker 1: They seem to be the most popular in my vast

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Speaker 1: personal experience that I've had eaten them, and the minimal

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Speaker 1: amount of research I did in preparation for this episode. Now,

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Speaker 1: I don't mean that I was slacking off, but these

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Speaker 1: three are like the biscuits of the watermelon world to me,

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Speaker 1: and the rest, well, they're just the gravy developed by

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Speaker 1: the US Department of Agriculture. And you guessed. Charleston, South Carolina,

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Speaker 1: a coastal city where a reported smallpox outbreak erupted in

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Speaker 1: sixteen ninety eight, followed by an earthquake in sixteen ninety nine.

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Speaker 1: Those folks couldn't catch a break, but they held on

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Speaker 1: until the late nineteen forties when Gray came along and

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Speaker 1: it was love at first bite. I would like to

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Speaker 1: point out the fact that while we were fresh from

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Speaker 1: taking Germany and Japan out behind the wood shed and

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Speaker 1: teaching them how to play well with others, and instead

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Speaker 1: of setting on our collective behinds and taking a break,

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Speaker 1: we got busy making watermelons. The gold in creating the

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Speaker 1: Charleston Gray was to make a more disease resistant variety,

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Speaker 1: and by the nineteen fifties it had become the most

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Speaker 1: popular grown watermelon, both commercially and in families garden in

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Speaker 1: the nation. Mission accomplished. Did I mention that watermelon is

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Speaker 1: good for you. Check this out. Watermelons are one of

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Speaker 1: the healthiest fruits you can eat. Their low calorie and

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Speaker 1: a great source of vitamins A, B, six, and C,

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Speaker 1: which helped strengthen your immune system and your brain function,

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Speaker 1: and that ain't never hurt nobody. They're also made up

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Speaker 1: of more than ninety percent water, so they'll help keep

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Speaker 1: you hydrated and refreshed during the hot summertime. I recommend

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Speaker 1: stretching after eating a big bait of them, especially if

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Speaker 1: it's just before retiring for the evening. If you stretch

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Speaker 1: your legs good, you're not as liable to pull the

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Speaker 1: muscle jumping up in the middle of the night. Hit

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Speaker 1: the litter box before you wet the bed. They don't

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Speaker 1: call them peach chunks for nothing. Then there's Leesburg, Florida.

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Speaker 1: It was nineteen sixty three, and those boys just down

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Speaker 1: the road at Cape Canaveral were snatching up all the

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Speaker 1: good press because all the talk was about going to

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Speaker 1: the moon. Meanwhile, the good folks at the Florida Agricultural

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Speaker 1: Experiment Station were celebrating the development of the Jubilee watermelon,

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Speaker 1: described as deliciously sweet and bumping the scales at forty pounds,

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Speaker 1: the Jubilee would take your taste buds out of this

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Speaker 1: world and you never had to leave the planet. This

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Speaker 1: springs us to my favorite and I'm ashamed to say

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Speaker 1: that when I sat down to gather up the end

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Speaker 1: information for this episode and I listed my three favorite varieties,

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Speaker 1: the first two in no particular order, but I knew

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Speaker 1: I would end the list with this one. That I

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Speaker 1: was totally unaware that a fella by the name of

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Speaker 1: Melville Dylan developed a black diamond watermelon in the great

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Speaker 1: state of Arkansas. I kid you not, I had no clue.

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Speaker 1: The thing about them is they can get to one

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Speaker 1: hundred pounds and be just as sweet and good as

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Speaker 1: one way in fifteen. I'm sure that and the relationship

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Speaker 1: of us growing them is what makes them my favorite,

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Speaker 1: because I honestly doubt I could tell the difference in

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Speaker 1: a blindfold taste test between the three of them. Now,

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Speaker 1: Clayton Newkelem and I were on a recent trip down

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Speaker 1: to Mississippi and on the way home we got to

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Speaker 1: talking about this episode and clay told me and I quote,

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Speaker 1: it is my goal during watermelon season to eat one

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Speaker 1: every day. I felt this I told them about a

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Speaker 1: five day period last summer that Alexis and I ate

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Speaker 1: four whole ones by our cells. It was what we

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Speaker 1: did every day when we got home from work, go

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Speaker 1: to the back patio, cut the fan on, and bust

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Speaker 1: the watermelon. At an earlier point of Clay Bowl's existence,

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Speaker 1: and before he became the bear grease Guru, he told

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Speaker 1: me about working in the produce section of Walmart, and

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Speaker 1: he claims to be a connoisseur of watermelons. He says

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Speaker 1: he can identify and differentiate the sound of a ripe

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Speaker 1: watermelon as good or better than anyone else. I like

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Speaker 1: to think that I can do that too. But it

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Speaker 1: was his passionate dissertation on the subtle nuances of that

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Speaker 1: sounds that they make when thump that he made me

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Speaker 1: realize that my brother of the Bear was playing on

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Speaker 1: a different level than the rest of us. He is,

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Speaker 1: without a doubt, a Tier one watermelon thumper. So what's

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Speaker 1: the best way to tell onns ripe? Do the old

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Speaker 1: thump test, But you need to know what you're listening for.

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Speaker 1: The best way I can describe what Clay said is

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Speaker 1: to listen for a deep, resonating sound when you thump it.

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Speaker 1: If it's a dull thud with no resonance, that joker

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Speaker 1: is probably too ripe, and that means mealy. And when

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Speaker 1: they get mealy, you take a bite of it, and

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Speaker 1: it's like having a mild mouthful of semisweet fine ground

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Speaker 1: corn meal. It is not pleasurable. If the sound is

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Speaker 1: more high pitched, then it's not ready yet. If you're

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Speaker 1: absolutely doing this on your own, it might take you

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Speaker 1: a few to get the hang of it, but you will.

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Speaker 1: If the thumping doesn't do it for you, then you

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Speaker 1: find the field spot of where it was setting on

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Speaker 1: the ground on the bottom. It's part of the watermelon

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Speaker 1: that was in the dirt. A riping will have a

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Speaker 1: butter colored yellow field spot. One that's not ready yet

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Speaker 1: will be much lighter in color or even white. The

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Speaker 1: skin should be firm and not the least bit mushy

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Speaker 1: or soft. That watermelon is ready for the compost. We

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Speaker 1: talked about all that on our ride the other day,

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Speaker 1: and I sat in awe of his tails of watermelon

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Speaker 1: knowledge until he told me he put salt on it. Me.

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Speaker 1: I'm not bold enough to tell The folks from Charleston,

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Speaker 1: South Carolina, Leesburg Florida, or most especially our very own

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Speaker 1: our Kans and brother Melville Dylan that what they made

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Speaker 1: wasn't good enough, but I could fix it, I simply

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Speaker 1: adding salt, No, sir, not me. So why do people

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Speaker 1: do it well? People say sprinkling watermelon with salt is

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Speaker 1: traditionally a Southern thing, Like we ain't getting blamed for

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Speaker 1: enough stuff already. Supposedly the opposed and flavor brings out

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Speaker 1: the sweetness of a fresh watermelon, and somehow it makes

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Speaker 1: it taste even sweeter. I'm gonna have to ponder on that.

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Speaker 1: But some folks like it that way and that's cool.

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Speaker 1: Just don't salt the whole thing before we start eating.

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Speaker 1: That could cause some consequences and repercussions. Just share it

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Speaker 1: and let everyone have it the way they want it.

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Speaker 1: But man, if there was ever a food that was

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Speaker 1: meant to be shared, it's a watermelon. I went coon

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Speaker 1: hunting a few nights ago on the fourth of July

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Speaker 1: with my friends Michael Roseman and Noel Goodwin, just an

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Speaker 1: unplanned Arkansas summer coon hunt. When we caught the nighttime

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Speaker 1: temperature below ninety degrees, loaded the dogs, and an hour

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Speaker 1: later we were standing in the white river bottoms, sweating

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Speaker 1: spread skew the dope on one another and wishing it

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Speaker 1: was fall. The dogs were struggling to find the track

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Speaker 1: because the bandidos don't stir much when it's hot either,

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Speaker 1: and we were all rethinking our decision to go hunting.

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Speaker 1: And then I pulled out a medium sized watermelon I

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Speaker 1: brought in the drink cooler that I didn't tell them about,

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Speaker 1: and it was all smiles. Michael said, I don't care

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Speaker 1: if these dogs do tree. We fitn't eat this watermelon.

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Speaker 1: And we did and it was cold and it was

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Speaker 1: good and it was seedless. So where in the world

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Speaker 1: did that come from? Well, I'll tell you. The trick is,

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Speaker 1: they crossed two watermelons that are genetically different enough that

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Speaker 1: the resulting hybrid seed is sterile. So the seed's created

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Speaker 1: by the cross or real seeds, but they grow into

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Speaker 1: plants that cannot produce their own seed. Does that sound familiar, Well,

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Speaker 1: if you're a bear grease follower of any measure, it

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Speaker 1: ought to what these folks are doing or making watermelon mules.

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Speaker 1: Now I know I done went from the garden to

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Speaker 1: the barn, but stay with me. Mules don't make mules.

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Speaker 1: A cross between a female horse and a male donkey

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Speaker 1: makes a mule. Mules can do lots of things, but

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Speaker 1: they can't make more mules. So by crossing a horse

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Speaker 1: and a donkey, two separate sets of genes that are

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Speaker 1: similar enough to be compatible but not actually the same,

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Speaker 1: we get an animal whose reproductive parts are sterile. Seedless

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Speaker 1: grapes made the same way different species of grapes across

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Speaker 1: to create a mule grape, which has no seeds. But

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Speaker 1: seedless grapes are easy to reproduce because once you have

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Speaker 1: one plant, you can just take the cuttings off of

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Speaker 1: it to plant and make some more watermelons. Not so fast,

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Speaker 1: my friend. They ain't as easy because you have to

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Speaker 1: produce new hybrid seeds every year, and there's only one

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Speaker 1: species of watermelon to use for the crosses. To get

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00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:14,359
Speaker 1: two kinds of watermelons that are nearly but not quite

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Speaker 1: genetically compatible. The trick is to change the number of

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Speaker 1: chromosomes in one of them. And because I know that

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00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:23,160
Speaker 1: there's some folks right now that want to hear how

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Speaker 1: it's done, I'm going to tell you the rest of

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00:19:25,240 --> 00:19:28,680
Speaker 1: y'all just hang on just a little bit longer, you're

340
00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:31,280
Speaker 1: going to learn something to impress your friends and intimidate

341
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Speaker 1: your enemals. Since nineteen thirty seven, plant scientists have been

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00:19:37,680 --> 00:19:41,200
Speaker 1: able to double the number of chromosomes in a plant

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00:19:41,560 --> 00:19:45,720
Speaker 1: by treating them during cell division with a chemical called

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Speaker 1: culture scene. Colchi sine is a natural extract from the

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00:19:50,920 --> 00:19:54,400
Speaker 1: autumn crocus flower, which has been used as a natural

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00:19:54,480 --> 00:19:58,679
Speaker 1: medicine for gout for thousands of years. Normal watermelons have

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00:19:59,119 --> 00:20:02,320
Speaker 1: two copies of the the chromosomes in each cell. They're

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00:20:02,359 --> 00:20:07,200
Speaker 1: called diploid. The culture scene treatment doubles that from twenty

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00:20:07,200 --> 00:20:12,480
Speaker 1: two to forty four, and that's called tetraploid. Almost done, y'all,

350
00:20:12,480 --> 00:20:15,960
Speaker 1: don't fail me. Now here's the trick. When the tetraploid

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Speaker 1: watermelon flour is pollinated with the diployed watermelon flour, a

352
00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:25,160
Speaker 1: triploid watermelon is created that has three chromosomes in each cell.

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Speaker 1: This watermelon will have seeds that will grow to be

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Speaker 1: seedless mule watermelons. Now that made my head hurt, But

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00:20:33,119 --> 00:20:36,360
Speaker 1: now I know, and you do too. You don't see

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00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:39,119
Speaker 1: folks gathering enough to eat tomatoes unless there's bacon and

357
00:20:39,200 --> 00:20:44,080
Speaker 1: bread clothes, strawberries, they're great. But again, pull one of

358
00:20:44,119 --> 00:20:46,840
Speaker 1: them out and cut it in half, and it's doubtful

359
00:20:46,880 --> 00:20:49,480
Speaker 1: you'll get a second look. But try that with a

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Speaker 1: watermelon and just see how long it takes for the

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Speaker 1: folks to gather up and socialize. It could also just

362
00:20:56,800 --> 00:21:00,280
Speaker 1: make you want to invite folks into share. I'm going

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00:21:00,320 --> 00:21:02,920
Speaker 1: to share a special memory of mine as a reward

364
00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:06,119
Speaker 1: for those of you that lived through that seedless watermelon explanation.

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00:21:07,119 --> 00:21:09,400
Speaker 1: One summer day, my dad and I were headed home

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Speaker 1: from his work. We'd been all over southeast Arkansas that

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Speaker 1: day visiting commercial chicken farms. Now, his title for the

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00:21:16,160 --> 00:21:19,439
Speaker 1: job that he did for Valmac, the company that would

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00:21:19,600 --> 00:21:23,359
Speaker 1: eventually be acquired by a couple of different corporations before

370
00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:28,440
Speaker 1: finally becoming Tyson Foods was serviceman. It was his job

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Speaker 1: to drive to all the contract chicken farms in his

372
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Speaker 1: assigned area and help the farmers produce the best chickens

373
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Speaker 1: they could. If they needed to update equipment, a batch

374
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Speaker 1: of medicated feed, or anything related to raising good chickens,

375
00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:46,119
Speaker 1: it was his job to communicate that to the farmer. Now,

376
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Speaker 1: I didn't know that I didn't work for him too,

377
00:21:47,800 --> 00:21:50,520
Speaker 1: because in the summer. I was right there in the

378
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Speaker 1: truck with him. Somewhere along the way on our visits

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00:21:54,000 --> 00:21:57,119
Speaker 1: to one of the many farms, somebody had given us

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Speaker 1: a watermelon. It was a black diamond, our favorite, a big,

381
00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:04,480
Speaker 1: dark emerald green giant of a watermelon. And I couldn't

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Speaker 1: wait to get home, so weekud busted wide open. In

383
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Speaker 1: less than two miles from our house, we passed the

384
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Speaker 1: home of mister Julius Robinson. Mister Julius was retired and

385
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Speaker 1: had been for as long as I could remember. He

386
00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:19,959
Speaker 1: was retired from what I assumed, because I don't know

387
00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:22,840
Speaker 1: what had been a lifetime of farm work, or in

388
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Speaker 1: the logwoods, or in one of the timber mills, which

389
00:22:25,600 --> 00:22:28,040
Speaker 1: is what the majority of folks did in that area.

390
00:22:28,760 --> 00:22:32,439
Speaker 1: Small truck farms and anything related to the hard labor

391
00:22:32,560 --> 00:22:36,639
Speaker 1: end of the timber industry was the biggest employer. It

392
00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:40,239
Speaker 1: was hard work, but people were happy, seemed to make

393
00:22:40,280 --> 00:22:44,200
Speaker 1: it all right. They raised crops. Youngins went to church

394
00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:48,240
Speaker 1: and visited with one another. He was born in nineteen

395
00:22:48,320 --> 00:22:52,480
Speaker 1: o two, when Teddy Roosevelt was president, and nine years

396
00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:56,720
Speaker 1: before the Chevrolet Brothers got together in Detroit, Michigan to

397
00:22:56,800 --> 00:22:59,480
Speaker 1: start the company that would eventually build the truck that

398
00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:02,520
Speaker 1: he was set on. And on this day, when we

399
00:23:02,560 --> 00:23:05,720
Speaker 1: passed mister julius house, he was sitting there where I

400
00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:09,720
Speaker 1: had seen him sitting a million times before. His old

401
00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:12,199
Speaker 1: blue truck sat on the car port with the end

402
00:23:12,320 --> 00:23:14,359
Speaker 1: gate down, and nine times out of ten when you

403
00:23:14,480 --> 00:23:18,320
Speaker 1: drove by, there sat mister Julius gently swinging his feet

404
00:23:18,400 --> 00:23:21,840
Speaker 1: and waving it folks when they passed. He always wore

405
00:23:21,840 --> 00:23:24,960
Speaker 1: over ross and long sleeved shirts buttoned to the neck,

406
00:23:25,040 --> 00:23:28,040
Speaker 1: regardless of the weather. We had the windows rolled down,

407
00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:30,080
Speaker 1: and I guess me hanging out of it waving caught

408
00:23:30,119 --> 00:23:33,600
Speaker 1: my dad's attention. He said, what are you doing? I said,

409
00:23:33,600 --> 00:23:36,479
Speaker 1: I'm waving at mister Julius. Well, no sinner than I

410
00:23:36,520 --> 00:23:39,000
Speaker 1: said that. The Dad slowed down, and as he was

411
00:23:39,000 --> 00:23:41,760
Speaker 1: turning around in the road, he said, let's go share

412
00:23:41,800 --> 00:23:44,800
Speaker 1: this water melton with him. We pulled up in the

413
00:23:44,800 --> 00:23:47,280
Speaker 1: shade of a huge red oak that's been gone now

414
00:23:47,359 --> 00:23:49,840
Speaker 1: for years, and I ran and I hopped up on

415
00:23:49,880 --> 00:23:52,680
Speaker 1: the tailgate beside him. He was smiling ear to ear.

416
00:23:53,960 --> 00:23:56,240
Speaker 1: We always saw him there, but we rarely saw him

417
00:23:56,240 --> 00:23:59,480
Speaker 1: with anyone. He patted me on the knee and said

418
00:23:59,480 --> 00:24:02,960
Speaker 1: that what you fellers doing. My dad came around behind

419
00:24:03,000 --> 00:24:04,720
Speaker 1: the truck and said, Julius, you want some of this?

420
00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:07,600
Speaker 1: And he said, I sure do, buddy. And we sat

421
00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:10,360
Speaker 1: there and I listened to them talk about that country,

422
00:24:11,400 --> 00:24:15,200
Speaker 1: old times and our people, and we ate watermelon. They

423
00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:18,159
Speaker 1: both talked to me and included me in the conversation.

424
00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:23,119
Speaker 1: Mister Julius knew my grandfather, a man that my dad

425
00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:26,520
Speaker 1: hadn't really known. He'd been killed in a work related

426
00:24:26,600 --> 00:24:30,720
Speaker 1: accident in nineteen forty three after going to California to

427
00:24:30,760 --> 00:24:33,680
Speaker 1: build navy ships and support the war effort, and my

428
00:24:33,800 --> 00:24:37,240
Speaker 1: dad was only six years old. We spent most of

429
00:24:37,280 --> 00:24:42,640
Speaker 1: the afternoon there just talking. Long after that watermelon was gone.

430
00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:45,560
Speaker 1: We stopped by a few more times until mister Julius

431
00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:50,280
Speaker 1: didn't live there anymore. He passed away twenty three years ago,

432
00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:54,480
Speaker 1: and his wife, Nancy, thirty two years before that. And

433
00:24:54,520 --> 00:24:57,880
Speaker 1: because of my dad's random idea of wanting to share

434
00:24:57,920 --> 00:25:01,320
Speaker 1: a watermelon with a lonely neighbor, I got to have

435
00:25:01,359 --> 00:25:05,159
Speaker 1: a wonderful memory and another connection to my family's past.

436
00:25:06,040 --> 00:25:08,560
Speaker 1: It didn't matter that we weren't related, or that we

437
00:25:08,600 --> 00:25:12,359
Speaker 1: didn't look alike. All that mattered was the connection of

438
00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:16,960
Speaker 1: three generations. The country folks shared that afternoon in the

439
00:25:17,000 --> 00:25:25,520
Speaker 1: shade of that oak tree. It seems like there ain't

440
00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:28,360
Speaker 1: near enough of watermelon sharing going on these days, but

441
00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:32,320
Speaker 1: I bet it's more than were there. So your challenges

442
00:25:32,400 --> 00:25:36,679
Speaker 1: this Go to the farmers market, roadside stand or a

443
00:25:36,720 --> 00:25:40,919
Speaker 1: grocery store and get two watermelon. Take one home and

444
00:25:41,040 --> 00:25:43,120
Speaker 1: enjoy it with your family and friends. The other one,

445
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:46,800
Speaker 1: put it in your truck and start driving. One thing's

446
00:25:46,880 --> 00:25:50,159
Speaker 1: for sure, you'll never see your mister Julius until you

447
00:25:50,200 --> 00:25:54,080
Speaker 1: start looking for him. I sure enjoy telling you all

448
00:25:54,119 --> 00:25:56,879
Speaker 1: these stories. If you enjoy them, please share them with

449
00:25:56,960 --> 00:25:59,520
Speaker 1: your friends, and if you get a chance, leave this

450
00:25:59,560 --> 00:26:02,680
Speaker 1: country life for review. I don't know the math that

451
00:26:02,800 --> 00:26:05,320
Speaker 1: goes into that, but it definitely helps spread the word.

452
00:26:05,840 --> 00:26:08,960
Speaker 1: I'm sure it's a number of fractions in leathers. Hey

453
00:26:09,400 --> 00:26:12,160
Speaker 1: keep the salt away from the watermelon. This is Brent

454
00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:15,240
Speaker 1: Reeves signing off. Y'all be careful