Although it was a far cry from the X-wing Fighter he once commanded a long, long time ago in a galaxy far away, this 63-year-old Boeing-Stearman Model 75 made a fine ride for Hammock Editorial Director Bill Hudgins on a crisp late February morning. The plane is one of several vintage craft owned and flown by Warbird Sky Ventures in Hudge’s hometown of Gallatin, Tenn. The Model 75s hold an honored place in the defense of our nation, as they were used to train WWII fighter pilots, including our 41st President, George H. W. Bush.
Hudge recalls his flight:
“I’m not a pilot. I had flown in single engine planes (and hot air balloons) before, but never in an open cockpit craft. I wasn’t really nervous; in fact, I had been singing “Snoopy vs. The Red Baron” all morning. The pilot, Jerry Kirby, explained everything he did, including how finicky this restored 25-foot-long beauty is to handle. We flew over the town, my house, and a huge quarry hardly anyone sees because it is nestled behind a hill. Moving about 100 miles an hour in the air, it seems like standing still and there is plenty of time to look.
“We did about 10 minutes of aerobatics at the end of the flight, including loops, wingovers and barrel rolls, pulling around 3Gs. Literally up in the air, upside down, Junior Birdman. Too cool. I wanted to go again. Back on the ground, with the engine shut down, my wife shot the obligatory Hammock T-shirt shot, with a scarf Jerry conveniently had in his pocket. Then I took my best girl for a few root beers at the aces’ cafe.”
We here at Hammock are as patriotic as the next folks, and like most small businesses, we demonstrate our patriotism on Presidents Day by contributing to the GDP.
We did take a little time from our work day to commemorate our nation’s chief executive office (Just a warning…you’ll want headphones for that link if you’re at work today, too.).
Many folks have read about our boss Rex’s recent brushes with presidential greatness, meeting President Bush twice in the last year. Not content with those stories, he had to one-up himself with this tale:
I’ve met, or at least been in the same room with, every president since Nixon.
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Lena Basha’s presidential reminiscence:
My only brush with presidential greatness took place last summer, as fellow Hammorati Shannon, Jamie, Summer and I were in Washington covering NFIB’s Small-Business Summit. Since the event was PACKED, we barely made it in, finding seats only on the press platform (technically where we belonged, as we were covering President Bush’s speech).
The other reporters on the stand didn’t look as excited as I felt the president was their regular beat, after all. As for me, I’m sure I resembled a crazy person, smiling giddily as I frantically tried to write down every word he said. Even though I wasn’t his target audience (he was speaking to the small-business owners in the room, not me), it was exciting I was in the same room as the president! And of course, I still have my ID badge with the Secret Service seal of approval on it.
As for brushes with first lady greatness, Sarah Childress Polk (the wife of 11th president of the United States James K. Polk) and I are alumnae of the same high school (Find out more in the May/June issue of AmericanSpirit!)
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Former ace reporter Bill Hudgins chips in with a classic:
In 1980 when George H.W. Bush was vying for the GOP nomination against Ronald Reagan, he made a stop in Chattanooga, not far from where I was working as a rookie reporter. At the time, Reagan was strongly ahead and looked certain to be nominated. I begged the publisher to let me cover it. Bush met the press in an airplane hangar, and to my brash, green ears, they tossed softballs at him. As the Q&A was about to wrap, I asked him if he’d accept the VP slot. He looked me in the eye and with absolute conviction said he would not. I even read his lips. So I had my lead, and soon thereafter, we had a VP candidate named George Herbert Walker Bush.
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Some presidential trivia for you on this Presidents Day:
Thomas Jefferson was the nation’s first known speleologist.
What happened to Washington’s Birthday? Presidents Day used to be two holidays.
Appropriate to consider during spring training, Benjamin Harrison was the first prez to attend a Major League baseball game.
Youd be hard-pressed to find a more dedicated bunch of movie fans than the folks at Hammock Publishing. So when, in honor of Valentines Day, we asked for favorite romantic movies, we got plenty of nominations, and some of them were a bit, um, unusual. In no particular order, here are the flicks that say lovin’ to the Hammorati:
Sleepless in Seattle
-Submitted by Carrie Wakeford and another Hammock employee who remains nameless because she doesn’t want people to think she’s sappy
Amelie and Sense & Sensibility
-Both submitted by Alison Lund and Jamie Roberts (they have similar tastes!)
My favorite, the classic, An Affair to Remember, an old Cary Grant/Deborah Kerr movie–also a great book, referenced in Sleepless in Seattle
-Submitted by Julia Boklage
Schindler’s List
Pulp Fiction
Deer Hunter
-Submitted by John Romance, not my strong suit Lavey
The sad ones:
The Way We Were
English Patient
Life is Beautiful
-Submitted by Jamie Roberts
Dirty Dancing
-Submitted by Shannon Who didn’t want to cheer when Patrick Swayze said, No body puts Baby in the corner! Scully
Casablanca
Chocolat
-Submitted by Barbara Mathieson
The African Queen
Bedazzled (1968 version with Dudley Moore, Peter Cook and Raquel Welch)
The Lord of the Rings
-Submitted by Bill Love’s just part of the story Hudgins
From Lena Basha, Hammorati’s official T-shirt travel and Hollywood gossip blogger:
No, Im kidding. I brought it back.
Here I am in San Francisco visiting my friend Miriam. We did all the typical San Francisco activities walked across the Golden Gate Bridge, visited the sites immortalized by one of my favorite movies, The Other Sister, sat in a park and ate an Its-It and saw MANdonna. We also did some shopping in Haight Ashbury, the district made famous by those crazy hippies. Oh, and I saw a man whose entire face was tattooed and I wanted to take a picture of him. Scared that he might beat me up, though, I used my better judgment and refrained.
All in all, a great time!
Judging from the quantity and quality of homemade goodies that flow into our offices, you could jump to the conclusion that we will work for food. So, just in time for SuperBowl weekend, here are some quick-easy-hope-for-overtime dishes for the last real football weekend of the 2004-2005 season:
Laura’s Black-Eyed Pea Dip
1 can black-eyed peas
1 can field peas
1 can shoe peg corn
1 c. chopped onion [I used sweet onion]
2 garlic cloves, minced [I used more]
1/2 c. olive oil
1/4 c. red wine vinegar [I used more]
1 t. Tabasco
1/2 t. dry mustard
1/2 t. pepper [I used more]
1 c. chopped parsley [I forgot it]
2 T. chopped fresh basil [I forgot it]
Drain & rinse peas & corn. Mix with onion & garlic. Add everything except parsley & basil; add them at serving time. Serve with Fritos.
Note from Laura: I think black-eyed peas just soak up seasonings, so I kept adding ’til I was happy with it. Of course, I just tend to cook that way, using recipes as a suggestion. It makes my mother nervous but it works for me.
For this and more great recipes like I’ve been bringing into the office all week, get the Notably Nashville cookbook at www.jlnashville.org.
Blair Tangos (chocolaty peanut butter and oatmeal snack)
2 cups of sugar
1/4 cup of cocoa
1/2 cup of milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 stick of butter (none of that wimpy margarine stuff)
3 cups of oatmeal
1/3 cup of peanut butter (low fat peanut butter won’t work well, so don’t try)
Mix sugar, cocoa and milk together and boil 1 minute. Remove from heat. Melt butter and mix with oats. Combine into milk mixture. Stir in peanut butter and vanilla. Mix quickly. Drop by teaspoon onto wax paper on cookie sheets. Chill. Store in refrigerator.
Allison’s Rum Cider
If it is cold outside, a great warm drink recipe:
Hot Cider with Buttered Rum
5 cups apple cider
10 whole allspice
8 whole cloves
2 tbsp. sugar
cinnamon sticks
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup (or more if you like) dark rum
Combine first 5 ingredients in saucepan over med. heat. Bring to a boil stirring until sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Add butter and rum and stir until butter melts. Serve while hot. Garnish with extra cinnamon sticks.
(You will want to keep this warm on the stove or pour into a crockpot set on low.)
Susie Dips (Artichokes)
Easy and Delicious Artichoke Dip
Ingredients:
1 can Artichoke hearts
1 can chopped green chillies
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup mayonnaise
Drain artichoke hearts and chop. Add all ingredients, mix and bake for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Dip is good with any crackers, chips or veggies, but my favorite is melba toast.
Summer Sausage Dip
Every Super Bowl party needs a great dip!!! This is a dip that one of my sisters-in-law made for a party last fall. Super easy and super yummy with chips, crackers and/or fresh veggies.
6 pkgs cream cheese
3 cans Rotel
2 pounds cooked sausage (one pound regular and one pound spicy)
Dump everything into a crock pot and warm it up. It can stay warm on low for snacking all through the game, and it also heats up very well the next day.
“Patriots” Burns Mexican Dip
This is an easy mexican dip?
In a baking dish spread on the bottom a layer of salsa, then spread a layer of sour cream over the salsa and top with shredded cheddar cheese. Put in a microwave for 3 to 4 minutes until cheese is melted and serve with tortilla chips.
The following is a hammorati dispatch (blog-spatch?) from Rex:
I was interviewed Friday by the folks at the public radio show Marketplace for an upcoming story regarding CEOs who blog — or, something akin to that topic. The interview went about 15-20 minutes which means I probably said a sentence of something worth keeping in the story. When I find out if and when the story is to air, I’ll post it here on Hammorati. Also, it was the first time I’ve been in the new studios of WPLN which are very nice. (Sidenote: A thank-you shout-out to Scott Smith, who has more songs on his iPod than anyone I know, for giving me a tour and being kind enough to explain to me in terminology I could understand, the digital means being used to connect me with the Marketplace producer.)
As Hammock Publishing has supported WPLN in the past and will be doing so again this year, it is great to see the facilities they have — and to recall how far they’ve come since those days in the Ben West Public Library. Come to think of it, it’s great to recall how far the library has come since those days in the Ben West facility.
Sweet tea, Alabama: As luck would have it, several folks at Hammock Publishing have connections to Alabama (does that make them Bamarati?). Such down homeness has caused a pavlovian response among this contingent to that state’s current tourism promotion, “The Year of Alabama Food.” As part of the celebration, its tourism development folks have posted a list of 100 Dishes to Eat in Alabama Before You Die (which, frankly, could be renamed 100 Alabama dishes if you eat too often will cause an early death, but we’ll not go there).
This promotion seemed so mouth-watering, we asked Hammock’s Bamarati what dishes on the list were their personal favorites. Here are their cravings:
Jamie Roberts: Milo’s in Birmingham. My parents knew Mr. Milo, so I was weaned on this burger joint’s super-secret brown sauce. Milo’s adds an extra sliver of beef to your burger and drowns it in the heavenly sauce. (A little cup of sauce is also perfect for dipping into Milo’s cheese-dusted fries.) And don’t get me started on their sweet tea–it needs its own 12-step group. When headed south on I-65, make a detour on Montgomery Highway headed toward Vestavia. You won’t regret it. Also, Johnny Ray’s pies. My former workplace used to order these for special client lunches. I don’t miss my former workplace, but oh, Lord, I miss those pies. Also, even though I make fun of my family for eating at Lloyd’s in Birmingham almost every Sunday after church, their perfectly fried onion rings can make a convert out of anyone. And I don’t even like onions.
Shannon Scully: My all-time favorite restaurant on the list is City Cafe in Northport. Their fried okra rivals my grandmother’s recipe. In Tuscaloosa, you can’t beat Dreamland ribs with white bread. In Auburn, Toomer’s Corner lemonade hits the spot on a hot day (or after a win by the undefeated Auburn Tigers!!). (note: Shannon grew up in Tuscaloosa yet went to Auburn — something akin to zigging while other folks zag.) In Dothan (recently added to my list of ‘favorite’ cites), Peanut Pie at the Garland House, though I’m told the Peppermint Puff is their best dessert.
Rex Hammock: Wow. Two close runners-up: Lloyd’s onion rings, although I think they were better back in the old days when Highway 280 south of Birmingham was a two lane highway winding through two mountains and Lloyd’s was located on a stretch of it near Chelsea called, “the narrows.” A cheeseburger from the Dew Drop Inn in Mobile (said to be inspiration for native son Jimmy Buffett’s song, “Cheeseburger in Paradise”) is one of life’s simple pleasures. But, forgive me for drooling when I recommend the pork chop sandwich with mustard sauce at 13th Street Bar-BQ in Phenix City. (Or, on second thought, if you’re ever in Phenix City, get a barbecue sandwich (chopped, inside and out — trust me) from a restaurant not on the list, The Smokey Pig, on Opelika Highway). Face it, barbecue sauce is made with mustard. How come only folks in the Chattahoochee Valley have figured that out?
John Lavey: (note: John, while a native of northern Virginia, was lucky enough to “marry into” Alabama and has become quite the expert in the state’s delicacies.) Sadly, while I’ve been to a dozen of the establishments listed, I’ve only sampled the following “go-to” dishes: ribs and bread at Dreamland (really good, though Perk’s in Harperville and Twix and Tween in Centerville are better in my mind), Fried Catfish at Ezell’s Fish Camp (this redefines fried catfish, cooked on the bone) steak at Jesse’s in Magnolia Springs (which, by the way, is the town that matches a Yankee’s mythic version of the South: sleepy, Spanish Moss, big oaks). I will consider myself lucky to hit a high percentage of the other restaurants before being scattered in ash-form over the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Gulf Shores.
Coming soon: Dishes from other Hammorati home states that must be eaten before you die.
Here’s the latest sighting of the Hammock T-shirt, Louise’s on Bluemound Road in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Pictured from left, Lisa Kretlow, Barbara Mathieson, Angela Miller and Lisa MacCauley. Lisa, Angela and Lisa are Quad employees who work on the Hammock account. Their coworkers are all jealous of the tee.
We’ve received some more T-shirt shots and we’ll be adding them during the coming days, but we thought it would be nice to show-off some of the Hammock Publishing staff gear from the 2005 collection. This year, most people added something warm to their staff gear wardrobe as our Monday morning meeting is held in an office with the temperature set by its occupant to that of a “meat locker.” (That would be me.) The warm-hearted and warmly-attired Hammock folks pictured above are, from left to right: Susie Garland, Lisa Ask, Lynne Boyer, Carrie Wakeford, Jamie Roberts.
(Don’t forget: E-mail us your Hammock Publishing T-shirt shots: blog@hammock.com)
Hammock Publishing’s Bill Hudgin’s has spent the first few days of this vacation week with other members of his church in the aftermath of Sunday night’s fire at the historic building of First Presbyterian Church of Gallatin, Tenn. Here is his wrap-up report from the scene:
Monday night, 24 hours after the fire, we held a prayer meeting in the parking lot. My estimate is that more than 100 people came despite falling temps. A bunch of the firefighters came, too – they arrived in their truck which startled all of us at first, thinking yet another hot spot had been found.
The – captain, I guess, I didn’t hear his rank – explained how difficult it was to reach and fight the fire, and apologized for not knocking it down further. No one wanted his apology – he and the crews had saved the building despite considerable personal risk to themselves! We cheered them, as he introduced them individually, like they were NFL stars. There were some light moments, as when the captain said he belongs to the Church of Christ and wasn’t sure about some Presbyterian terminology. Apparently, the Church of Christ doesn’t use the term sanctuary to describe the area where worship is held. They also do not use musical instruments in their worship service, prompting our minister to slip in a jibe,” So that’s why you let our organ burn up?” Everyone roared with much needed laughter, no one louder than the captain himself.
There was good news – the sanctuary floor had been vacuumed dry, the pews were safely in storage and looked like they can be cleaned to good as new, except for a few that will need more work to reverse water damage. The roof and stained glass window are still uncovered but will be shortly. Waterlogged ceiling tiles and insulation are coming down and the drying process has commenced. We have the continued use of the jail trustys to clean up – it struck me, and my wife and others, I am sure, that this is the reverse of the New Testament command to go into the prisons and minister to those incarcerated.
And there was a defining moment, at least for me. Toward the end of the 30 minute service, our pastor, Mickey Shealy, was relating this good news and the process to decide where to meet for the interim. He spoke movingly about the cross on the organ gleaming in the afternoon sun streaming through the roof. As he answered questions about what had been salvaged, I saw a hand rise above the crowd, holding a small, stemmed silver cup. The member holding it pressed forward and Mickey took it. For a moment, he just held it in his hands, and the enormity of what had happened seemed to weigh down on him. Then he shook it off and lifted the cup.
Our communion set – chalice, wine carafe, plates – always sits on a special table in the center of the dais we use for a pulpit. The table, which bears the carved inscription “In Remembrance of Me” was smack dead center where the ceiling fell in. Drenched plaster and lath flattened the table – a TV station showed it being pulled from the rubble – and it dented the communion set, but did not destroy it. This battered cup, hastily shined on someone’s jacket, shone in the floodlights aimed at our gathering. “This season is about hope, and this is about hope,” Mickey told us.
I hope they don’t send the communion set off to be smoothed and restored. The dents are part of our history now, People will tell their children and grandchildren, will welcome new members with the story and show them where the ceiling fell. It’s another of the small miracles we have shared, and will share.
