OK, maybe just one more story about Ward Anthony. This adventure was in ’68. Ward had several old cars down at his place and one caught my eye more than the others. There was a 1930 Dodge 3 window coupe that hadn’t run for several years. I had asked Ward about buying it several times but he always had a feeble reason or another that he didn’t want to sell it. He might need this or that off it he said, which was unlikely at best. Then he kept asking what we were going to do with Grandpa’s old saw mill. It had been used by Grandpa and Axel to cut dimension lumber for building the barn and some granaries but hadn’t been used since the early ’30s and was in kind of bad shape. It was mostly made of wood and much of that was shot. The iron parts were good but the rest needed rebuilding. Anyway, Ward asked several times and I in return asked him what he thought he was going to do with it. Finally he told me he wanted to set it up and have some guys help him cut lumber. Maybe Alcide and some others were in his deal too? I asked Dad what the plan was for the old sawmill and he said it was pretty much done and it probably could go for scrap. The next time I ran into Ward, the first thing out of his mouth was, “How much do you want for that old sawmill?” I said, “I tell you what. You really want the sawmill and I reallywant that ’30 Dodge coupe, so how about we trade and I will even do the hauling both ways?” He grinned and said, “Oh boy, we got us a deal!” I remember the day we were going to load the mill and go get the car. It had rained and I knew the old trail to Anthony’s would be a greasy mess so John Bogus and I hooked Dad’s old red and green boat trailer behind the tractor and loaded the sawmill and headed out. It was a muddy mess all the way down to Ward’s but we made it and unloaded and then got the old car on the boat trailer (flat bed type). We were hot and tired and Ward had us in for some coffee and cookies.

Now this is the good part. Big John had never been to Anthony’s and had no idea about what it was like. We were in the house and Ward was telling about his new .22 rifle he just got. We went from the dining room into the living room so he could show us. As I was standing in the middle of the old dark living room, I noticed a picture on the south wall that appeared to have a hole through the glass and the picture. It sure looked like a bullet hole to me so I said to Ward, “It looks like someone shot a hole through this picture.” He giggled and said. “I shot that picture and a bunch more holes over there under the TV.” I looked under the TV and the linoleum was all ripped up! When he said that, John just stiffened up like he had seen a ghost. I said, “What the hell did you do that for Ward?” He let go with that crazy laugh of his and said, “Sometimes I get carried away watching those cowboy shows.” John went into survival mode. I asked Ward, “What does your mother say when you do stuff like that?” She yells down from upstairs, “Turn that damn TV down!” Then Ward turned loose his crazy laugh again. John wanted to run for it about then. I thanked Ward and we went outside and got on the tractor and headed home. We hadn’t gone very far and I asked John what he thought? He finally regained his composure and said, —actually no, I won’t repeat what Big John said. I think he might have had somewhat of a religious experience that day at Anthony’s. I’ll attach a couple pictures I took of the car on the trailer after we got home that day in the summer of ’68. Thanks Gary!