The Local Watering Hole

Jacks' Place - Food*Fun*Spirits



Tracy's Tavern

 I'm not sure where the term "Local Watering Hole" came from, but it's the place where people "Wet Their Whistle". These two photos display a small Tavern and Bar in my town. After work some of the nearby local people would stop in to have a few drinks and some food, perhaps a snack or a light dinner. They would play pool or watch people trying to play pool. Play darts and listen to music. Might even catch a few Lovebirds dancing in the corner to Frank Sinatra, Patsy Cline or James Taylor. You can even watch TV or play the Lottery. A Bar is named for the "Bar" that people "Belly Up" to and the Bartender serves them their drinks. A Tavern in older times served alcohol and food but also some of the patrons could spend the night in sleeping quarters. A Pub was usually owned by a Brewery which liked to feature their particular brand of beer. What I like about these places is they let local musicians  try out their material on the customers. Karaoke night also is great for seeing which local resident can sing and who can't, which can be even more entertaining. According to my phonebook there are 32 Bars/Pubs/Taverns in Jackson but  this is just the surrounding area. Many more in the entire county, that's for sure.

Graffiti meets Advertizing

Custom Finishing

As I was Pedaling down Mechanic Street I noticed some Graffiti and thought some gang put it there but as I got closer I noticed it seemed to be a sign for this guy's business. Its a neat idea. Put your own graffiti on the wall not only to advertize but to fool graffiti artists into thinking some gang already put some graffiti up. I think graffiti artists will usually respect each others works and will probably leave it alone. So this business guy needs not worry. "Fight Graffiti with Graffiti". Very ingenious. Lets just hope the City doesn't clean it off his door by mistake thinking it's gang Graffiti!

Dog Day Afternoon

A Neighborhood Hotdog Stand



Busy Fixing Up the Dogs

 This is the entrepreneurial spirit which helped guide the USA to its #1 World Power Status. The Hot Dog Stand. A person working by the sweat of his/her brow with only a few rudimentary pieces of equipment and a large bag of hot dogs can turn a hefty profit. Location is also a nice added feature when garnering customers. This Hot Dog Stand is near the Hospital which employs a lot of people and to the west and north are other small shops and factories with very short lunch breaks and workers with a carnivorous taste for hot dogs fixed up many different ways. Add to this no other Eateries in the nearby area and this makes a recipe for a howling success!

Recreating the Past

Abe Lincoln with Lady Admirers

If you have never been to a Civil War Muster, by all means try to see one. My town has one every year and they do a different Battle each time. The Uniforms are very authentic looking and they use real cannons and muskats. The campsite looks amazing also with tents pitched up and soldiers playing cards and chess. Sometimes there is a military band playing on old brass horns. These soldiers even sleep in the tents overnight. There is also now a town like section with a jail,post office and other buildings with women and men doing things they did back in Civil War times while wearing perfect period time clothing. Sometimes entire families will participate in these events. I wonder if they do Revolutionary War Re-enactments? Even WW1, WW2, Korea or Vietnam re-enactments would be interesting, tho the Tropical setting of Vietnam would be difficult in some areas of the USA. At our Civil War Muster they will setup tables to sell old artifacts like pistols, muskats, knives, uniforms, old coins and homemade candles and baked goods they make on site. Bring a camera and record a recreation of history. I did and will never forget it.

I do Declare: It is a Hot One!

Sister Missy and Cousin Kim keeping cool



Neighbor Cathy, Sister Mindy and Cathy's Mom Janet




Mindy, Jimio, Cathy and Momio

 We may be having a heat wave these past few days but I remember heat waves past and without Gilletts Lake to cool us off, I don't know what we would have done. We had no air conditioning back then, not even in our cars. "Michigan is too far north for A/C", people would say. You know it had to be hot when Momio and her friend Janet went swimming. In fact this was such a rare event that photos had to be taken to verify this momentous occasion and they did it in style. I remember one time I was riding my 1966 black Schwinn Racer over in the motorcycle trails by Warriors Hill and it was so hot by the time I got back I had a heat rash and I jumped straight off my bike into the lake. That was so refrshing.

Nothing Like a Down Home Local AutoRace

Driver we Sponsored winning a Race

This picture is of a Driver Dadio and I sponsored. He won Rookie of the Year in the Detroit Iron Class. Going to the race was a fun experience. This was a small local racetrack not like Nascar. Half the fans knew each other. This race was 19 years ago and things have changed a lot since then. Back then you could bring bottles and alcoholic beverages in the stands. People brought Coolers with their BBQ rib left-overs and put their plates, knives and forks on the wooden benches. They were not going to be denied a picnic while watching the auto-race :-]  Kids would run all over the place and stand right down near the track behind an old wire fence. Over the loudspeaker a person would yell out the raffle numbers that were on your ticket to recieve prizes. In between races the loudspeaker would belch out old country tunes. One thing I saw that was groovy was when I looked up in the sky, it had this purple color to it. I suppose all that auto exhaust had something to do with it. Some weird chemical reaction I guess. This Racetrack was so local, I had to drive down 2 miles of dirt road to get to it and park on grass. It gave a kind of down home feeling but that was dissapated quickly by my fear of getting a flat tire. These local races are very entertaining to watch because they would have a crash every 2 laps. This guy would come on the track with a pickup truck and sweep the broken auto parts into a big shovel and toss them in the bed of the pickup. Another guy would spray any other oil and debris with a hose. If a racecar could not move off the track, 3 or 4 guys would come out of the Pits to push the car into the infield. Sometimes 2 drivers would get into a fight over a wreck. What was really cool was the little homemade stand with steps they built for the guy to wave the caution yellow flag, the warning red flad, the green go flag and the checkered winning flag from. It was fun watching 3 or 4 different races. One race had little tiny cars and some races had pickup trucks racing. They even have bus races but never saw them. Here's the Website of the Racetrack I went to.  http://www.springportmotorspeedway.com/ and the wiki page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springport_Motor_Speedway

Are Books Going Extinct?

The Book Exchange

We have a used bookstore downtown that has been there 12 years but Im afraid business will really slow down due to digital ebooks on Kinder devices and such. Hopefully Im wrong and that the desire to collect the physical books will bring in new business. The Book Exchange even takes money off the selling price if you bring in another book for the store. With Kindle and other e-reader devices, readers can have books in seconds anywhere they go. Still the cost of a Kindle varies from $114 to over $300 and you still have to buy the book online. Going to the library offers a free option but the selection is not always good and the hassle of going there plus the gas and time spent cuts into the free part somewhat. Garage Sales somtimes will have a few books at very cheap prices.  I need to add to my book collection desperately. What few books I have are screaming for more friends.