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Life Stories (Give or Take a Lie or Two)
Paul G. Avery
Paul Avery was a major influence in my life. He was a police Sgt with the Bath P. D. I was 19 when I met him. His daughter Joy and I met on a Blind date, while I was stationed at N.A.S. Brunswick, Me. After a couple of dates Joy invited me to the Lake where her Parents had a camp. When we arrived, I met her father Paul and Mother Marge, and 2 brothers Rob and Bub and her younger sister Diane. Bub was the older son. If you meet Rob today and put him and Paul together you couldn’t tell them apart.
Joy and I dated for the rest of the summer and in Oct I left on a six month deployment, but in the mean time I got very close with the Avery’s. Bub and Rob were like brothers to me. Over the next couple of years we got closer and I was like part of the family. One year when I came home in Oct from deployment, my first stop was the Avery’s to say hi and let them know I was back. I had left my truck at their house. I told Paul that I was going to the Heathwood (a local Club) to rent a room. I didn’t want to stay in the barracks anymore. Bub had gone in the Navy and was gone to Viet Nam and Paul said I was to stay there, as he had plenty of room. I agreed and I stayed at there house. That was the year of my first Hunting trip...
Paul asked me if I was going hunting with the men. I had been to the cabin up on the Old Stage Rd in Wiscasset, but I had never been in a hunting party. This should be fun. It was finally time to go hunting, so we all arrived at camp on Friday night. The buzz was on. Everyone was excited. There were a lot of people that I would get to know very well over the next few years. First there was Bob Cousins, the retired Master Chief, Black Shoe, and he called me the Air Dale; Dick Marshall, from Conn. and Russell Alexander, another Bath PD cop and Roseasa Champlain who also worked for Bath PD. And of course Bub was there and me.
So there I was in hunting camp listening to the stories from past years. I had never shot a gun except in boot camp. Mr. Avery let me borrow one of his 12 gauge shot guns. I had already bought all the latest hunting apparel and a lot of stuff I really didn’t need, but I was ready to go and shoot some deer. You have to really set the stage for what was going at camp. Wood stove going, people telling stories, everyone running around to get up at 3:30 in the morning to be at our favorite spot by 1st light. Every one was excited and getting ready, and of course the beer was running and the booze was flowing. There was one rule that was stated so everyone knew, and that was once you had your first drink you were done hunting for the day.
I loaded all the shells in my coat and took extra in my pockets. Mr. Avery had given me a crash course in using my 12 gauge. Finally I hit the rack , but I didn’t get much sleep. I kept waking up and looking out the window by my Bunk to look for first light. One time when I was sitting up looking out the window, Mr. Avery was walking towards the door to go outside to take a whiz and he said “what are you looking for” . “ I replied that I was checking for first Light, He laughed and said “won’t see it out that window, the shutters are still up”. I heard a chuckle from the other room and heard someone say "Damn Air Dale". I knew who that was.
Seems like I just got back to sleep and the alarm went off. Everyone was up and the coffee was made and we had coffee and Homemade Donuts. Mrs. Avery always made homemade donuts for hunting camp and they were the best ever. As we were drinking coffee, a couple of other guys showed up. I was going with Mr. Avery and he was going to set me on a run. I loaded my gun and we were off. It was dark and cold and it was just light enough to see our way in the woods. Paul set me on my run and said I will be on other side of the ridge. Not that far away and we were going to still hunt. He told me to keep still and be quiet and wait. He was off to his spot.
There is something about being in the woods early in the morning. It was cold, but It was very calming and beautiful. Everyone should experience that time of day. About an hour went by and I was chilled to the bone from not moving around. I am not a "sit and wait" type of person. I heard a shot and then another. It was not so far away, but I knew it wasn’t Mr. Avery. The red squirrels where playing like nothing was happening. It was entertaining just to watch them playing and working getting ready for winter. Then all of a sudden I heard something coming through the woods heading towards me. I couldn’t see anything but I could hear them. The noise stopped just out of sight. I didn’t move and my heart was beating so fast I had a hard time hearing. I can still remember the feelings as though I was still standing there. I was going to wait and let them come to me. Oh well, that didn’t last long and I moved a step at a time until I could make out 2 deer standing about 30 yards from me. My heart was still beating loudly.
Just as I got into a position to see them clearly the doe’s head came up and looked right directly at me. I froze. The one thing I can remember to this day was the eyes of the doe. They were beautiful. I was afraid to move. I wasn’t even sure I could shoot one these beautiful creatures. It was decision time before they ran away. My heart was still pounding. As I brought the gun up and took aim I fired 2 shots. I was planned and second was reflex. I never saw them run away, but they were gone. Mr. Avery came running over. "What are you shooting at?" "There were 2 of them standing right there," I told him. We walked over to where they were and he said "Are you sure this is where they were?" You could see where they were playing. The ground was all pawed up.
"Show me where you were standing, " he said. I took him over and showed him . He said are you sure you were standing here, I said yes there are my shells on the ground. He picked them up and looked at them and asked me where I got those shells. I told him I filled my vest last night from camp. "Yes, but these are Birdshot and I gave you 00 Buckshot." He said. I told him “I didn’t want to run out of shells”. He laughed and said “they are still running. All you did was pepper them” He was really laughing by this time.
By this time here come Bob Cousins, and he said “what you shooting at”? Paul proceeded to tell him what I had done. They were both laughing by this time and Bob states “Damn Air dale, they can’t do anything right” and they were headed back to camp and I follow feeling foolish. As I arrived at camp there were a few of the guys there and the story was being told and it somehow was getting better every time it was told. Paul said we will enter in into the camp log. Paul said unload those Birdshots out of your vest, and we will have someone check you before you go back out. Every time someone showed up that day they were told the story and years later when I was having coffee at Bob’s house with a friend of mine Bob said “I remember a time” and they whole story came out again and we all laughed. I found out later that this is what camp is all about good times and good stories, that get better with time, GIVE OR TAKE A LIE OR TWO.
Roseasa and the Blue Jay
Mr. Avery’s camp was located on the Indian rd., in Dresden, Me. At that time it was a secluded area of Lincoln county. Mr. Avery loved that place and he would go there on weekends just to get away. He had a special relationship with the Chickadee’s of the area. I think that was his favorite bird. He would feed them on a regular basis, and you could even hear him talking to them as he went outside to feed them.
He always kept plenty of food in there feeders for them. They use to fly down and land on his bald head as he walked out to feeder. They knew he was going to feed them. He would actually take an empty tin can and put bacon grease in it and when it was full he would take it out and nail it to the tree. The birds loved that.
I remember one hunting season when we were all at camp and one morning Mr. Avery came in from feeding the birds and he was complaining about the Blue jay that was stealing all of the food and wasn’t letting the chickadees feed. So every time one of us went outside we would chase the blue jay. Roseasa kept saying he's out there again and he decided to do something about it so he got out his 22 rifle and decided to shoot the blue jay. At the time we didn’t realize what a project that was going to be.
Roseasa stalked that blue jay for days sneaking up on it. What makes this so funny was that the bird feeder was out the door of the cabin only about 30 feet. The bird would fly down and land on feeder and eat all of the food. As the days went on we would notice Roseasa was missing and he would be at the back door trying to get that blue jay in his sights.
All of a sudden we would here a pop and he fired at the blue jay and he missed every time. This went on all week and the weekend was drawing near and when you leased expected it you would hear a pop. Another miss. It was Saturday and we were sitting around in the afternoon waiting to go out hunting for the last time at camp. We were joking and cutting up, drinking coffee and telling stories. Again Roseasa was missing and we hadn’t notice. All of a sudden we hear a loud boom and everyone looked around. That wasn’t a 22 someone remarked. Roseasa walked in and said “ that blue Jay won’t bother the chickadees any more as he placed his 12 ga shotgun on his bunk. We all laughed went out hunting. The next morning as we went outside there was another blue jay in the bird feeder.
My First Gun
After my first hunting season, I was all excited about hunting, but I didn’t own a gun. So I went down to the local pawn shop to go shopping for a gun. Not knowing anything about guns this was not going to be easy. I didn’t even know if I wanted a shotgun or a rifle. When I walked into the pawn shop I saw this 12 gauge shotgun. It caught my eye as it had the longest barrel I had ever seen. So I inspected it and it was within my budget. It was only $25.00 (remember it was the Sixties). So I bought it!! And I now had my first gun. 12 ga shotgun with 36 in barrel.
Now that I had my gun I headed to Mr. Avery’s house to show him of my Great Find. When I arrived at his house I showed him what I had bought. His response was “ this thing is so long you can reach out and hit the deer over the head”. He then proceeded to explain that this was and excellent duck gun, but I didn’t care as I had my first gun. Now all I had to do was get a gun rack for my truck. It was close to thanksgiving and Mr. Avery came and said he was going to a turkey shoot and wanted to borrow my 12 ga. He asked me to go and he said he always won a turkey for dinner all the years he had been going, but I had duty, but I was so proud that he wanted to use my shotgun. I got home about 6 that night and Mr. Avery wasn’t home yet and Mrs. Avery said he should be home anytime. About an hour later in comes Mr. Avery and the first thing he says to me is “ where did you get this gun”? I replied that I had gotten it at a pawn shop downtown Brunswick. He then proceeded to tell us the story.
There he was lining up to shoot and after he fired his load he missed the target completely. He couldn’t believe he missed and shot again and again he missed the target completely. Trying to figure out what was going on. Mr. Avery had a second shot gun so he got his turkey that year. He also said on the way home he stopped at a gunsmith friend of his to check out the shotgun. Turns out the barrel was bent and the gun couldn’t shoot straight. Mr. Avery of course had a solution. He informed me that this gun would make a great lightning rod. My feelings were hurt a little but you have to admit it was funny. Finally, we took that gun and made it a camp gun, one we left at camp which hung over the front door and every time some asked about the gun the reply was “Oh that is tom’s gun. He bought it to shoot around corners” A couple years later, we lost that gun in a fire when two 16 year olds boys decided to burn the camp down while they were drinking. They didn’t even know who the camp belonged to. Anyway that is the story on my first gun.
Running Water
Mr. Avery’s camp was located on the Indian rd. , in Dresden. It was only about 18 miles from the Bath Bridge. One year Paul came to me and said “Are you coming to camp with the guys or going playing with the girls at Rollin Andy’s “(a well know night spot in Brunswick, Me). I stated that I was going to do both because I was young and didn’t need as much sleep as the old guys. He chuckled and asked when I was coming to camp. I told him I would be there Fri night after an appearance art Andy’s. He said fine an that was that.
Friday night came and I went to Andy’s with the guys. It was raining hard and it was Indian summer (warm) so we didn’t have any snow to content with so I was heading to camp. I had had a couple of beers and back in those days there was as much to do about drinking and driving. I think we called it Young and stupid. Any way I was fine and was heading to camp.
It was raining so hard when I crossed the bridge into Woolwich and picked up Rt 127. Didn’t know who all would be there. I had to slow down a couple of times because of the rain but my 1947 ford p/u was running right along. I had to slow down as I turned on the Indian road because it was a dirt road. Only about 3 miles and I would be at came and even through it was 45 degrees or close to that there would be a nice cozy fire in the wood stove and it would be nice and toasty in camp.
As I rounded the bend, I saw a ladder up against the front of the camp. As my headlights flashed on the camp I could see two people on the roof in their white skivvies with flashlights. It was Paul and Russell and they were surprised to see someone coming down the road at 2 am and they were also relieved it wasn’t someone they didn’t know. I asked what they were doing and Paul replied that they had finally gotten running water in camp but that it wasn’t exactly where they wanted it; In other words, there was a leak in the roof over Paul’s bed. They couldn’t sleep so they decided to fix it. That picture was worth a 1000 words.