I have never and will never consider myself to be a cat person. I have the feeling my cat would never consider himself to be a person cat so I guess that makes us even in that regard.

My daughter really wanted a pet and, well, she bosses me around even though she is 5 years old so getting a cat was a foregone conclusion. I fancy myself more of a dog person but they are so dependent that it just wouldn’t fit my current lifestyle, so I was left to choose between getting a cat or risking the disapproval and tears of the prettiest blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl I’ve ever known. You can figure out how easy that decision was for me to make. We got a cat.

We decided to adopt one from a local rescue shelter that was advertising they were overflowing with cats in need of a good home, so we headed out to make our (actually, let me be honest – her) choice. Now, once again, I will go on record that I am not a cat fella but she did pick out a pretty cute cat given our options.

We sat down to fill out the adoption paperwork and they asked “Ok, what’s its name going to be?” Before I could open my mouth with an opinion, my daughter says “School Bus.” This is where I finally put my foot down and told her flatly, “We can’t have a cat named School Bus, that’s just not a good name for a cat.” Instead, I made the executive decision that his name would be “Giddyup-oom-poppa-oom-poppa-meow-meow.” In all fairness to me, I had just seen the Oak Ridge Boys in concert so their song Elvira was fresh on my mind. Granted, that isn’t much of an excuse but it is what I cling to.

Also, it gave me a cheap thrill to think that one day someone at the veterinarian’s office would have to call out for “Giddyup-oom-poppa-oom-poppa-meow-meow Simmons? Giddyup-oom-poppa-oom-poppa-meow-meow Simmons?”  Yes, in hindsight our cat would be named School Bus if I could live life all over again. Long story (and name) short, we nicknamed him G, although sometimes we call him G Man, G Star, and, more recently, Geepers.

Thus began my life with a cat named G.

I would describe our relationship as a marriage of inconvenience.

He is constantly under my feet no matter where I step and, too many times to count, he has made me dance like Mr. Bojangles to avoid stepping on him. He seems displeased with the general speed in which I refill his food and water bowls, so he feels the need to be right at my heels to prod me along.

I’d rather clean out my toilet, do dishes by hand, clean out my gutters, and hand scrub my floors than have to change his litter. For his part, he can’t wait to “christen” the new litter once it has been changed.

Every so often, we will lock eyes in a tense icy stare that would put you in the mind of Clint Eastwood versus Eli Wallach in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” You’d think we were about to draw on each other in a gunfight.

I look at him sometimes and think “you’re fat and lazy.” He looks at me sometimes and I can tell he is thinking “you’re fat and lazy.” Unfortunately, we are both right. It is actually what finally bonded us.

We have come to a silent agreement where he will lay on my lap and nap while I lean back in the recliner watching TV. It works out perfectly for both of us because he can sleep in peace and I have an excuse to not get out of my chair and do anything productive, I just think to myself “I better not move and bother the poor ol’ fella while he rests.”

I am not a cat person and he is not a person cat but we’ve managed to somehow make it work. Why, I think we are even role models for others for how to get past differences to make peace. In fact, I can even make it rhyme “Be like me and G.” Maybe, just maybe, if the Democrats and Republicans read this story then there will be hope in this world.

Well, it is a Monday so who couldn’t use a quick pick-me-up in the form of a catchy song? We like to keep our Melody Mondays balanced with music from all genres and eras, but this one might take the metaphorical cake. This week features a little tune by the name of “The Unknown Stuntman” by the pride of Middlesboro, Kentucky – Lee Majors. Yes, you may know it as the theme from the television show The Fall Guy and, yes, I am seriously posting this.

Now, I am known near and far as Lee Majors biggest fan but I found the backstory to the song to be interesting as well. Two of the co-writers on the song, Glen Larson and David Somerville, had both been in a vocal group known as The Four Preps – but they weren’t in the band at the same time. Larson left to pursue a career in television – he went on to develop several popular shows of the era including Battlestar Galactica, Knight Rider, and Magnum P.I. – and was replaced in the band by Somerville.

For his part, Dave Somerville would go on to fame as a member of another popular vocal group known as The Diamonds. The Diamonds had a smash hit with “Little Darlin'” that spent eight weeks at #2 on the charts – they were kept out of the top spot by the one and only Elvis Presley. The song would end the year 1957 as the third best selling single of the year despite never making it to #1 on the charts.

Flash forward, Dave Somerville composed a song to be pitched for a television show about an unknown stuntman – which wasn’t The Fall Guy and wasn’t picked up by the network. A year later, Somerville brought the song to the attention of Glen Larson who, oddly enough, had an idea for a television show about a stuntman. The two pitched the show and song to ABC and the network agreed to consider picking up the program.

Lee Majors was chosen to star in the pilot (he had previously worked with Larson on The Six Million Dollar Man) and the decision was made to have him sing the song himself, rather than farm it out to a more accomplished singer. The end result was the iconic version of “The Unknown Stuntman” that we know and love (or hate, in some cases) today. The Fall Guy would go on to be a hit show and the theme song became very popular, they even released an extended version for radio airplay but it didn’t make a lot of noise on the charts.

“The Unknown Stuntman” is consistently listed on charts of best/most recognizable television theme songs, mainly powered by the lyrics “I’m not the kind to kiss and tell but I’ve been seen with Farrah” (an obvious tongue-in-cheek reference to Majors marriage to Farrah Fawcett) and “when I wind up in the hay, it’s only hay, hey-hey.”

Almost as unforgettable as those lyrics is the image of Lee Majors portraying Colt Seavers smoking a cigar in a bathtub while playing with a rubber duckie. On the show, Majors’ character Colt Seavers was a Hollywood stuntman who also did side work as a bounty hunter. The show aired from 1981-1986 but the theme song lives on to today.

One piece of local history worth checking out is the Jackson Ferry Shot Tower located in Wythe County off the Ft. Chiswell exit. The tower began construction in the 1700s just after the end of the Revolutionary War and was used to make lead shot for use in the firearms of the day. The tower itself is 75 feet tall and has a shaft inside it that drops down another 75 feet close to the shore of the New River. The shot was made by taking firewood and lead to the top of the tower where there was a furnace that melted down the lead. The molten lead was then poured through a sifter that allowed the desired shot size to drop through.

As the led fell the 150 feet the resistance created by the fall would round it into shape and cool it off enough to keep form when it hit the bottom. At the bottom of the shaft was an awaiting kettle full of water into which the lead would plunge and finish cooling off into the hardened lead shot. This finished product would then be sold to merchants, traders, hunters, etc. for use in their firearms. The Jackson Ferry Shot Tower is one of only a handful still standing and is located right here in the good ol’ Appalachian Mountains.

I just found this photo and I’m in love with it because this picture truly says a thousand words, as the old saying goes. 

It is from Welch, West Virginia in the 1940s. The first thing that jumped out at me was the writing on the lower left of the restaurant’s window. It says “We Cash Koppers Scrip” – a reference to the scrip issued to miners rather than cash from the Koppers Coal Company for use in their company stores to purchase food, clothing, and other basic necessities.

Scrip was initially not transferable until the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 outlawed the practice, which had previously completely locked in a miner to spending the scrip in the company store without option. Local businesses took advantage of the change in law to offer cash in exchange for scrip (at a cost, of course). Of course, it wasn’t nearly as beneficial in those instances where the coal camp was so remote that the town couldn’t sustain an alternative to the company store.

The practice of using scrip was finally banned altogether in 1967. 

Not coincidentally, the establishment lists its beer license right under that statement as beer wouldn’t have been available in the company stores. They say necessity is the mother of invention but time has revealed to me that profit must be the father of invention. Sadly, alcohol has always been a factor in the coalfields. where the men toiled long days doing backbreaking work who were often desperate for some type of escape from the pain in their bodies or the loneliness in their minds. This demand for alcohol married with local businesses cash registers to create a new way for coal miners to lose the value of their hard-earned dollars, as these scrip exchanges came with a fee.

I would also like to point out how well-dressed the gentleman is sitting on the stoop. It was an different era in so many ways – days that have truly gone by.

The coal boom has passed and the scrip system has long been a memory so it is great that folks took the time to capture these moments on camera for us all to see and learn from.