So my dad calls me yesterday afternoon.

Aug 23, 2021, 1:36 PM

My cell phone rings and “Mom & Pop” is on the screen. Around lunchtime when I see that it’s my mom calling. She’s typically out working in the yard or doing something, which is why my parents are 80 and still super healthy, but Around noon she’ll come in to fix herself some lunch and kickback in the recliner and take a nap. Often that’s when she will give me a call. And of course we always talk every Sunday night. It’s been that way since I went off to Clemson as a freshman in 1984.

Well when I answered the phone it was my dad.

My dad has never liked talking on the phone very much. But he will call me occasionally with some crazy story, but not typically on a weekday around lunchtime. So as soon as I hear his voice I’m thinking OK something is up. Well boys and girls, did he have a doozy of a story for me.

My parents live on Lake Marion at the mouth of Eutaw Creek. Not too far from their house is Cathead Landing. I’m sure some of you know exactly where I’m talking about. Well, he had been working on the pontoon boat, which he usually keeps tied to our dock except when he takes it out the water to work on it. So he was putting it back in the water.

If you are familiar with Cathead You know it’s pretty steep and my dad has a big heavy pontoon boat (29’) And he has a big heavy Livewell and a bunch of other stuff on the boat.

Well, he backs down the ramp and goes to hit the break so the pontoon boat will slide off the trailer and the brake pedal went to the firewall. Next thing he knew his Chevy 1500 was completely underwater. LOL!

Some family friends happened to be riding by on their golf cart and saw it happen. Of course they had a cell phone so my dad calls a friend to come over with his tractor. He knew that would take a little while so they gave my dad a ride home so he could put on some dry clothes and go back with my mom on their golf cart and pull the truck and trailer out the lake with the tractor.

I talked to my mom last night and got more details. She thought it was pretty funny, of course these things are always funny after you know no one got hurt, but she said my dad had yet to find the humor in the situation. He was irritated because the insurance agent hadn’t been by yet.

Had YouTube and cell phones existed back when I was a kid in the 70s I could’ve recorded some epic viral videos at boat landings, especially during shrimping season when you’re out there at 2 and 3 AM at a very crowded boat landing full of people and various levels of intoxication.

For you folks that know what I’m talking about you know boat landings can be like a busy intersection during rush hour and people, especially when they have been drinking, have short tempers and don’t cotton people that are laissez-faire when it comes to getting their boats in and out of the water.

One time a guy jumped in his pick up truck and went to back up and didn’t realize how close he was to a utility pole. Of course the guy was heavy on the gas peddle. Needless to say his door was bent backwards and pinned against the front left fender!

Another time the guy driving the truck Thought his buddy had the boat all the way on the trailer. So he starts pulling up the ramp. It was a Jon boat with a 35 hp Johnson on the back. Well, because The boat wasn’t completely on the trailer and with the guy sitting in the back plus the gas tank and the motor it started see sawing off the back of the trailer. The lower unit hit the ramp and slammed the front of the boat back down on the trailer. Of course the driver was completely unaware of what was happening. About two seconds later the guy was at the top of the ramp and realized the boat was not on the trailer. He got out and stood there looking back down the ramp at his buddy who is still sitting in the boat with the throttle in his hand. I won’t say what was said between the two of them, it wouldn’t be fit for this forum, but needless to say it was hilarious and colorful. About that time because folks are in a hurry a bunch of guys got on both sides of the boat and carried it up the ramp and put it on the trailer and the whole time the guy was sitting in the back holding the throttle.

My dad and I still laugh about that one. One of the funniest #### things I’ve ever seen!

I’m sure some of you have tales from hunting and fishing trips. I would love to hear them! Especially any good stories that happened at the boat landing!

Message was edited by: Lowcntry_Tiger®

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Could not have asked for a better pair of parents.

80 years old and my dad will still grab my mom on the butt when she’s at the stove or the sink.

He called me about two weeks ago because they were boiling a bushel of peanuts and putting them in the freezer.

My dad is in fact a character! Always the life of the party, or the picnic, or the fish fry! LOL!

Back in the 80s and early to mid 90s every memorial day, Fourth of July, and Labor Day our whole community over on the lake would have a huge celebration. A great big picnic where everyone would bring food and everyone puts their food on the table for everyone to share. Not a dish. But a whole meal as if you were feeding your family.

And my dad used to have barbecues and fish fries at my parents house for family and friends and for the guys that worked for him at union camp.

At one fish fry somebody was teasing my mom about some thing and my dad chimed in and said ……. you know that reminds me, I have always been kind of a jack of all trades But the one thing I have never been very good at is plumbing. But I don’t feel too bad about not being a plumber because God ain’t no plumber either, because women’s plumbing is always leaking!

Now keep in mind my parents are extremely involved in their church. Always have been. Even when we spent our summers at the house on the lake before they moved there permanently we would go to a church there in Eutawville. A lot if not most of the people at these picnics and cookouts and barbecues and fish fries we’re good family friends not only from our neighborhood but from church. And pretty much most everyone in that neighborhood went to the same church or one of the other small Baptist or Methodist churches in the Eutaeville or Holly Hill area. But none of the people we were friends with were the uptight types. Although my mother is very much an evangelical. But you would never know it because she’s not judgmental and not a holy roller.

So even in that crowd my dad was always a hit. And of course when he said that everyone busted out laughing and I’m sure a few people probably wet their pants. Of course my mom laughed but her face was beet red and she said remind me to kill you later! Which made everyone laugh more because they know what my mom and dad are like together.

My mom is a great sport. She had to be to still be married to him since 1963.

I’m sure your mom is a great mother as well! That’s what’s wrong with the world today. Kids aren’t being raised by a loving mother and father and they don’t have to be home in time for dinner when everyone sits around the table and has dinner together.

To tell you how crazy my dad is you’ll love this story.

My grandfather was an entrepreneur. He owned several small businesses and a couple of little rental houses next to the house my dad grew up in that my grandfather built. It’s the same house my sister and I grew up in.

The house next-door faced the side of our house with my mother and father‘s bedroom. And this was back in the 60s so often in the spring and fall when the weather was nice we didn’t run the air conditioner because we had a big attic fan and we would have the windows open, especially at night. Well they rented that house to a couple that they were close friends with. But this couple often had some big fights partially because he was an alcoholic. One night at like 12 o’clock or 1 AM they’re yelling and fighting and my dad is pissed because he’s got to go to work in the morning and he can’t get to sleep because he can hear them yelling at each other.

So my dad gets out of bed and goes to the phone, because back then you had one phone hanging on the wall, usually in the kitchen. So he called next door and the husbands name was Billy and my dad yelled into the phone….. Billy either put the #### windows down or y’all need to yell louder so we can hear what the hell you’re arguing about!!!

That’s my dad! God love him!

Message was edited by: Lowcntry_Tiger®

So my dad calls me yesterday afternoon.

Re: So my dad calls me yesterday afternoon.

My parents are awesome!

Re: So my dad calls me yesterday afternoon.

Yeah my parents are Close to fountain lake.

Re: Yeah my parents are Close the fountain lake.

Yeah I miss them.

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Re: So my dad calls me yesterday afternoon.

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Re: So my dad calls me yesterday afternoon.

My sister lives in Coldstream

oh the fun i've seen at boat launches...

Crowd...***

Bravo!

You say a Crown gave you the Clap? Oh, them pesky Royals.

Re: So my dad calls me yesterday afternoon.

My uncle did that very same thing, except his seatbelt

Re: So my dad calls me yesterday afternoon.

Not bad but I'm going with the submerged truck.***

Two of my favorite places.

Re: So my dad calls me yesterday afternoon.

Easy now!

Re: So my dad calls me yesterday afternoon.

I got punched in the head at a boat landing...

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