My Christmas List

I have a hard time throwing things away. I have about eight or nine gloves in a box in the basement … each of them for the right hand. I hate to throw them away because I keep thinking somewhere out in the woods somewhere, there are eight or nine gloves which fit my left hand. If I ever find one of them, I will have at least one pair again. It seems silly to buy another pair, because if I do I know that in a couple of weeks or so I will just have one more glove fitting my right hand without a mate. So I got to thinking that somewhere out there there must be someone who has several gloves which fit the left hand only. If we could get together it might be beneficial to both of us.

I have several broken fishing rods also, lots of broken fishing lures, and even a broken reel or two. I wish I could throw them away, but I can't do it. I think it might be a flaw in a person's character when he can't throw away old gloves or old hunting and fishing gear. But then again, it might be a real virtue. I am convinced that nothing is completely worthless even though it may appear so, and I believe I have proven that on several occasions.

I have some old outdoor magazines that I bought when I was only 11 or 12 years old and I have become so fascinated with old magazines I have bought everyone I could find and afford in recent years. I have some that go back to 1908 and some with Zane Grey's fishing stories in the early 1920s. If you have any old outdoor magazines before the mid-1950s, I will buy them or trade you something for them. So there's my Christmas list … some left handed gloves or old magazines! And I wouldn't mind a few more old fishing lures even if the hooks are rusty or gone. Please pass this on to my daughters.

The Christmas issue of the Lightnin' Ridge Outdoor Journal is being printed, and should be ready to send to subscribers about Dec. 15. It has a beautiful color cover of a whitetail deer in snow, and is filled with old-time stories and pictures, some of which are taken from old magazines nearly a century old. This is the beginning of the third year for the journal, which I originally began putting together for readers of this column who like nature and outdoor pastimes such as hunting and fishing and the like with a heavy dose of nostalgia and humor. This is the 11th Lightnin' Ridge magazine, and if you have the other 10, you shouldn't let them get away from you. In a hundred years they may be worth twice what they are worth now!

Many of the newspapers which carry this column will have the magazine for sale in their offices the week before Christmas, or you can call Mrs. Wiggins, my secretary, and ask her where there's a place close to you which sells them. Explain it slowly and tell her where you are from and she'll be able to help a good 75 percent of those of you who call. Her number is (417) 777-5227. If you want to order one from us, send $5.95 to LROJ, Box 22, Bolivar, MO and we'll pay the postage and see to it you get it before Christmas.

My son-in-law, Eric, to whom I have often referred as my no-account Boston golfer son-in-law, has gotten to a point that I am thinking he may not be as no-account as I thought he was. He's about quit playing golf, and talks more like an Ozarkian everyday. I still don't suppose he could hit a gallon jug with a 12-gauge at 35 yards or skin a squirrel or set a trotline, but he has figured a way to sell my books and sign up magazine subscribers over the computer and folks have been doing that right and left. You can somehow get a subscription to the magazine, or buy one of my signed and inscribed outdoor books, and pay for it through the computer with something called "pay-pal." Don't ask me to explain it, I can't. I think it's something he learned in Boston. That Web site you do that with is called www.larrydablemont.com and Eric is in charge of it -- you can even send him an e-mail, which he appreciates.

The magazine, by the way, has some really interesting stuff, 64 pages with no advertising to interrupt the reading, and some beautiful old art inside, most of it in pen and ink and pencil. We don't use many photos unless they are old. Each story begins and ends before something else begins, and the type is reasonably large for older readers. If you like to read, you'll love it. In fact I have always promised to buy back any magazines which were a disappointment to anyone, or send back money for canceled subscriptions and in two years now, we haven't had one come back.

I have learned that the city of Nixa will sponsor another Outdoorsman's Swap Meet on Saturday, Feb.18, from 8 in the morning until 2:30 in the afternoon. Write this down on your calendar, it is a great event. I will be there giving a talk on turkey hunting at 10 a.m. and again at 1 p.m., and this is a chance to become an expert turkey hunter in one hour. If there is anything you don't know about turkey hunting, you can learn it there, because I intend to tell everything I know about it. I will explain in detail why women can't hunt turkeys as good as men, and the best thing is, I will show people how to make their own turkey call in only a few minutes … guaranteeing it to be the best call you can find anywhere to fool a wild gobbler with, and that's no joke. I'll have a bunch of them on hand to give away in some fashion or another, so if you have always wanted one, now's your chance.

Scott Parson is in charge again, and you can call him at the Nixa Parks and Recreation Commission at (417) 725-5486, or write him at Box 395 Nixa, MO 65714. They have booths available for sportsman's groups or just anyone who wants to bring outdoor items to sell or swap. It's a big place, and last year there was a big crowd there.

Uncle Norten is going to bring his sassafras paddles, I'm going to round up all the fishing lures and outdoor paraphernalia in my basement, and we'll be there all day, swapping gear with anyone and swapping hunting and fishing stories as well. I guess I'll have a bunch of right-hand gloves there too, just in case somebody out there needs one.

Write to me at Box 22, Bolivar, MO 65613 or e-mail lightninridge@alltel.net.