The Return of Snagley
I am back.
I want to give one tribute to my cousin and his son. As you know my cousin died this past week. He was close to me he taught me to fish. His father taught me to fly fish. His son Erwin was my best friend as a boy.
Erwin Snagley goes to camp. Erwin’s mother sent him to summer camp one summer when he was around 13 years old in Plains Georgia. It was the usual hot humid day that the south is known for. 99 degrees in the shade 90+ percent humidity. This was a motivational camp for kids. They had daily speakers.
The first speaker was a woman with no arms. She gave a motivational speech and they got to see a video. It was a video of her doing daily tasks. He was impressed with her ability to pick up an avocado with her foot and thump it with the toes on her other foot. It was a real freak show and of course 13 year olds love a good freak show. She gave him her autograph with her foot, then he shook her foot and that was all for that day.
The next day Jimmy Carters mother (remember they are in Plains Ga.) spoke. All of the kids went to sleep but it was still a big deal. You too can be president.
The third day was the real kicker. A local peanut farmer came out to talk about peanuts. Boring. But after the speech there was to be a peanut hunt, the south can be a fun place,. They painted a peanut gold, red, and blue if you found the gold peanut you won $100.00 red $20.00 and $10.00 for blue. All of the kids knew that they were going to win $100.00 this was in 1978 and $100.00 was a ton of money. They led the kids out to a large field. The Peanuts were loaded into a plane and the idea was to “crop dust” the kids with peanuts. The excitement was at fever pitch as the plane took off. All of the kids and Erwin stood in the field. Erwin and the other boys had removed their shirts because of the weather. As the plane flew directly over it released the peanuts. As Erwin related the story to me Tuesday he said, “Have you ever been hit by a 150 mile per hour peanut”. The kids were covered with peanut welts. The peanuts turned out to be green and raw so they were inedible. Erwin’s dad’s glasses were broken in the hailstorm of peanuts. And needless to say the gold peanut was never found. The Children did learn a valuable lesson on trusting adults when it comes to money.
Ah the where else but the south would a motivational camp turn into a peanut cluster bomb incident, where else but the south. Ah well, luckily there are more stories from this branch of the Snagleys so don’t be surprised if more show up.
Oh and thanks for the kind words. The world is a better place due to the life my cousin, and a bit lonelier now that there is one less Snagley among us.
I want to give one tribute to my cousin and his son. As you know my cousin died this past week. He was close to me he taught me to fish. His father taught me to fly fish. His son Erwin was my best friend as a boy.
Erwin Snagley goes to camp. Erwin’s mother sent him to summer camp one summer when he was around 13 years old in Plains Georgia. It was the usual hot humid day that the south is known for. 99 degrees in the shade 90+ percent humidity. This was a motivational camp for kids. They had daily speakers.
The first speaker was a woman with no arms. She gave a motivational speech and they got to see a video. It was a video of her doing daily tasks. He was impressed with her ability to pick up an avocado with her foot and thump it with the toes on her other foot. It was a real freak show and of course 13 year olds love a good freak show. She gave him her autograph with her foot, then he shook her foot and that was all for that day.
The next day Jimmy Carters mother (remember they are in Plains Ga.) spoke. All of the kids went to sleep but it was still a big deal. You too can be president.
The third day was the real kicker. A local peanut farmer came out to talk about peanuts. Boring. But after the speech there was to be a peanut hunt, the south can be a fun place,. They painted a peanut gold, red, and blue if you found the gold peanut you won $100.00 red $20.00 and $10.00 for blue. All of the kids knew that they were going to win $100.00 this was in 1978 and $100.00 was a ton of money. They led the kids out to a large field. The Peanuts were loaded into a plane and the idea was to “crop dust” the kids with peanuts. The excitement was at fever pitch as the plane took off. All of the kids and Erwin stood in the field. Erwin and the other boys had removed their shirts because of the weather. As the plane flew directly over it released the peanuts. As Erwin related the story to me Tuesday he said, “Have you ever been hit by a 150 mile per hour peanut”. The kids were covered with peanut welts. The peanuts turned out to be green and raw so they were inedible. Erwin’s dad’s glasses were broken in the hailstorm of peanuts. And needless to say the gold peanut was never found. The Children did learn a valuable lesson on trusting adults when it comes to money.
Ah the where else but the south would a motivational camp turn into a peanut cluster bomb incident, where else but the south. Ah well, luckily there are more stories from this branch of the Snagleys so don’t be surprised if more show up.
Oh and thanks for the kind words. The world is a better place due to the life my cousin, and a bit lonelier now that there is one less Snagley among us.
