1morethan8

It is getting very rare to find any great liquor that's made by a person who makes it for the pride and not the money. There was a time when men would compete to produce the best in an area, to them having that honor was second to money. The shine wasn't made in aluminum submarines, and you didn't worry about lead salt, or old car radiators, or rats in the mash. They made it for themselves and friends and if they didn't know you, you never saw a Mason jar. I've been known to make a few pieces of copper over the years for some of the old friends in east TN, north GA, and the mountains of western NC. Many of them are gone now, and with them a craft that will never be fully realized. One common thread with all the old makers, their rigs were solid copper from the pot, thumper keg and the condenser. And each one had their ideas as to what worked best. Some wanted double wall condensers, others used worms, but no two would be the same unless it was from the same family. One thing that may surprise you, many of the old rigs were made with only a very minimum of solder which was 95/5 and not 50/50 when used. Just about all the pieces were fabricated using copper rivets and hammered seams and to do this without many leaks is a craft that you'll never see again. After doing metal fabrication for 45 years, I no longer get rough drawing from a friend, who has a friend, who needs a favor. The last copper piece I made was a model left over from scrap copper. So when I hear about good whiskey coming from a fancy bottle and cute name, I can look over at the copper pot... and grin.

Lester, Yes, you're right. But the same thing could be said about the people making a choice in each state to secede from the Union, it wasn't 100% in each state.

Thanks Dolomite... like I said, it's not a problem. Just as long as I can post and aggravate people like Caster, I'll be fine. Ha!

Do you see a similarity between the two maps? 2008 election by states CSA and Union States during Civil War If the South had won the war, would we now have a President John McCain? ...or someone related to Jefferson Davis? ... or would their last name be Lee? 72.7% CSA voted for John McCain 27.3% CSA voted for Barack Obama 4.8% Union voted for John McCain 95.2% Union voted for Barack Obama Well I'll tell ya... By looking at the maps my long time suspicion seems to be true! Florida has become a Yankee State... and North Carolina and Virginia have so many half-backs now that it's starting to sway the political vote! Best at ya! -Wayne

Well Caster.. If I had used the name "3squared" many would have thought 3 square meals, just didn't want to confuse anyone!

I've tried several times to sign in using my old user name and password,, even after senting emails, no luck. So my new user name is"1morethan8" and not "Number9"... no problem. I'm now retired as of Aug. 13th. I'm 64 years, 1 week, and 1 day old. I live in Bradley County(TN) about 8 miles east of Cleveland, TN. I've lived most of my life in east Tennessee. I was born at Stone Mountain, Georgia and moved to Chattanooga when I was 2 years old. Then moved to Cleveland at age 15. I also lived in Jasper, TN for 9 years.

Like the teacher asked the little boy... "How do you spell coffee?" And the little boy answered... "J. F. G."!

Like Elmer Keith said... "Hell, I was there!".

CASE!!!??? LOL!! Who gives a crap about a case? I just told what happen to me on the way home from work at midnight... no trick photos... no second hand info... this was first hand... and I know what I saw! ... you're the one, like I was, that have to guess if they are real! Received a PM from a board member, read this!! "I didn't mention anything about it on the board as no one would believe that I have seen a big cat ... and in the city none the less. Sumner of 09' my car broke down on McBrain RD on the East Ridge side about 2AM. I called my brother, who lived minutes away, to come push me out of the middle of the road while I waited for the tow truck. He pushed my car into the old K-Mart parking lot and we stood around for 45 minutes or so until the tow truck arrived. About 15 minutes into the wait my brother says to me "what the **** is that!" as he points towards S.Terrace. I look up and see a large dog sized black animal walking west on S.Terrace. Within a few minutes it made it's way down to the parking lot of that walk-in medical place and we could clearly see that it was a cat. He was only ~50 yards away from us and was in the lights of the parking lot so there is no doubt about what it was. This was not a dog. This was not a deer. It was a cat." Oh, well... probability swamp gas!! LOL!!

Bacon!? Looks like fun...

Be nice if they made them in the new VW plant in Chattanooga!!

Born.. Stone Mountain, Georgia. ...any questions!!??

I've told many people at work about seeing that big black cat. Many who work there are from around Tellico, Polk county, or across the line in Georgia. Most acted like it wasn't any news to them, because they had seen one or more over the years, or their family or friends had. I'm starting to think, that they maybe hidden in plain site!!?

It's a lot easier to find reasons why something can't be true, I guess? Living in east TN all my life, I've heard many different stories about things that just doesn't seem right. And yet many things we know to be true have never been seen. Many people has never seen the Whippoorwill because it's nocturnal... yet anyone outside the city knows it's there by the call it makes on a Summer night. Even by having trusted friends to tell me about seeing big cats, I always had it in my mind that maybe they were wrong, or didn't really see what they thought. When I saw that black cat last Thursday night, my first thought was... Day'am ! It IS true!! Oh... you ever see a pure white squirrel or deer?

All four were seen before cellphone cameras.

To this date over the last 20 years, I've had 4 friends who have seen big cats... 1) A multi-brown in Rutherford County, NC 2) A multi-brown at Signal Mountain, TN 3) A solid black, Hawassee River, Polk County, TN 4) A solid black on Carter's Mountain near Winchester, TN None of the four know each other, all know the outdoors, and are very truthful.

This is my first post to this forum... The way I found it was a Google search with the words... "Black Panther Tennessee". My name is Wayne Brantley and I live east of town, which is Cleveland, TN Well, I haven't seen Bigfoot yet... but as of Thursday night just before midnight... I can cross "Large Black Cat" off my list! Oh well... if the Rubicon didn't have four-wheel disc brakes... I may have gotten you the proff!