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Speaker 1: The summer of twenty seventeen, I had a day off

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and I was fishing on the Lower Mississippi River near Osceola, Arkansas.

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I was anchored in the water below a sandbar when

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a summer storm started brewing. I watched it for a while,

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trying to decide what track it was going to take,

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whether to run from it or see if it would

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go around me. I knew it wasn't going around me

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when the wind hit me, swinging the boat on the

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anchor line right into the current. I gathered my gear

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and reeled in my lines, knowing that wind was bringing

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a nasty storm with it. I started the motor and

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I went up river away from the storm a couple

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of miles until I found what I was looking for.

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On that part of the river, the banks are separated

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from the main channel by small islands and places. Most

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are just old sandbars, but I knew about one with

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some trees at the upper end. They might block the wind,

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and the low overhanging willows is a place I could

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park the boat and avoid some of the rain. I

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tied off and I wrapped a tarp around myself just

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as the rain started, and I hunkered down to wait

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it out. I looked up into a cove created by

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the island, and I noticed something moving on the bank

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two hundred yards away. Now I'm only guessing, but it

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looked like it was eight feet tall. It was dark,

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and it was hairy. It walked down the bank until

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it was waste deep in the water, and then slowly

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began walking around, indifferent to the rain and wind, and

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it was working its way toward the end of the cove.

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I was wondering what the heck this thing was doing

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and what I was looking at when I realized what

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it was doing. Now, Asian carp are an invasive species

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in the river. If they're startled, several will jump straight

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out of the water. Sometimes they'll land in your boat.

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This thing was scaring the carps so that they would jump,

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and then he was swatting them onto the bank with

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his hand. I saw it connect with several the fish,

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flying pinwheel style toward the bank, and then the rain

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fell in buckets. I could hardly see this thing anymore.

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The last I saw of it, though, it was gathering

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its meal from the bank, and I could make out

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that it was heading up into the trees with a

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mess of fish in its big hands. I think that

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creature had a good meal that afternoon. Uh, just one

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story in this podcast. I thought this was great. I

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kind of identified with it because I've been on the

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river several times up in that part of the country.

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That's a wide area of the Mississippi River. It moves

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pretty fast through there. You know, there's some pockets in

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the Mississippi River that are eighty and one hundred feet deep.

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All my life, I thought that river was maybe ten

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feet deep the most. But I was involved in the

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steel industry, the steel making industry for a while, and

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all those mills that are being built and producing steel

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on the Mississippi River up there close to Osceola and

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Blivel when they build their harbors. There was a guy

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there one time telling me, he goes man, that river's

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one hundred feet deep in that spot. I couldn't believe that.

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That just blew me away, and it scared me because

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I always thought, well, if I ever if you ever

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come out of the boat and the Mississippi River, you're

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probably gonna be okay. But there's suckholes, and there's whirlpools,

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and there's debris floating down the river. All the time.

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Just get to the bank as quick as you can.

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But I never knew it was that deep, and that's

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where all those big snapping turtles go. I don't know.

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It just kind of spook me. Anything underwater that you

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can't see is kind of spooky. It's kind of like sharks.

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You know you can't see them, but you know they're

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gonna come up from the bottom in each you. But anyway,

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I love the story. I thought it was really good,

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and I put some chickens in this video. People have

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been asking to see my chickens. I quit showing them

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about a year ago because for years every other video

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I did, I would show the chickens only because I'm

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not a visual YouTube creator. I don't create a lot

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of visual stuff. I kind of like doing that, but

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with this podcast it's not necessary, so I just concentrate

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on reading the stories. But it was kind of the

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only thing around my house I could film, and I

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just didn't realize how much people like to watch chickens.

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I guess if you don't have any around your place,

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it's fun to watch them pack around. And if I'm honest,

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in the summertime, I'll take breaks and put out a

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lawn chair right here in front of my little work shock,

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and I'll just watch the chickens scratch around. This time

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of year, they don't there's not a lot of insects

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and things around for them to forge on, so I

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feed them a little more scratch just to keep them

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full fat and happy, keep them laying eggs. And they

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are laying eggs. Anyway, it's fun to have them around.

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And there's the chickens, and I'll do more chicken videos.

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It doesn't take me long to go out and throw

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some scratch out and show the chickens. So I'll show

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more of the chickens, and I'll start putting the GoPro

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on and getting our bike rides in the morning with

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the dogs. I don't you know, I don't have all

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my dogs anymore. My two big ones died and I've

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just got two little ones and one medium sized dog.

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So it's uh. I guess they're fun to watch too. Anyway.

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I just I had no idea of people love to

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watch these chickens, but there it is. Now you got

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some chickens. So anyway, it's only story. I'm putting this podcast.

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I got some things to do today. I'll be back

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tomorrow and I may put another one out, but they

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will start coming at a more regular interval. And I

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appreciate you so much for hanging with me, and we'll

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see you guys on the next one. Thanks,