It’s Rooster Day in Demopolis, Alabama, the second annual festival commemorating the famous Rooster Sale of 1919. The auction of over 200 roosters and one hen, donated by Helen Keller, was to be the local contribution toward a bridge across the Tombigbee River, outside “the City of the People.” It would be the last link in an overland highway from Savannah, Georgia, to San Diego. The sale garnered pledges of more than $200,000, though accounts say many were never honored. I encourage you to search the subject, and be sure to search “Tombigbee flood Rooster Bridge towboat.”
When I was a young whelp in the early 80s, I hitched on with The Jackson Daily News in Jackson, Mississippi. As I was a native of east Alabama, on the Georgia line, I would travel home several times a year to visit family. This journey took me through west Alabama on U.S. Highway 80, then a narrow two-lane road from the Mississippi line to Selma, a distance of about 100 miles. This was before the rapacious scalping of southern woodlands for the export of wood chips, and for some distance forests would grow close along both sides of the right of way. It was like something out of Hansel and Gretel. Right in the middle of this stretch of “the widows’ highway” was the original Rooster Bridge outside Demopolis. It was a rickety iron structure high above the water that carried only one lane of traffic. There actually was a stoplight at each end. If it was green, it was safe to proceed; it it was red, you waited for oncoming traffic to clear. I managed to survive many a crossing at all hours of the day and night, and it was always a macabre highlight of the long drive.
That entire stretch of road is divided four-lane now, and the old Rooster Bridge is gone, replaced by a wide modern span just upstream, also named “Rooster Bridge.” A historical marker that stood at the old bridge has been moved to the new, and it details the unusual history of the rooster sale and the ambitious plan to “span the ‘Bigbee with cocks.” Really. It says that, cast in bronze on the shoulder of U.S. Highway 80. You can look it up.
165 responses to “Rooster Day, 2017”
My sister and her daughters took a train to Germany today to complete their Father’s wish to visit the country of his ancestors’ birth. They will be going to Mass tonight at a Cathedral in Cologne. They posted a picture of it and my daughter commented that she had attended Mass in the same church when she visited in January. I also posted something about my sister and another friend asked if she was a portrait artist. It turned out that his Dad was a Principal at a local school who died in 1983 and had a portrait painted. It turned out that it was my sister.
It is a beautiful day. 72° and sunny. 2 days ago I was bundled up in a winter coat. My son and daughter-in-law came over with our grandson yesterday and we watched him while they ran errands. We were out walking him in a stroller when they came back. A very needed break that perked both my wife up.
Everyone have a great week.
Eating a package of tuna salad on pita chips. Most meals I eat at home now are salads or something similar.
Sunny and beautiful here. The “Lake People” are back to relief of local merchant’s.
No one had done laundry since February so the Chinese laundry is reopened here.
The test says I’m a big kid of 28, which is 44.44% of my current age.
BTW, woke up to snow on the trees, bushes, car windows, etc., with 33°F outside and a brisk wind. Friday we were in the upper 70s.
Hmmmm…… Came out with 31 on the age test. Not even half of the real age. I think that’s good. Means I think young.
‘A very needed break that perked both my wife up.’ Steve, the Village bigamist?, needs grammatical tutoring.
I’m 87, but came out 34. Some of the questions were ambiguous, some of the choices too restricted [steak?]. ‘Hard times’, to some, implies economic hardship. Testee does not know testers’ assumptions. Lots of tests/surveys are like this. Even after decades of exam writing, some student’s query would tell me to throw out a m.c. question. Wonder who someone thought would come out approx. their real age. When I was 5-10, Mom would often say, ‘Stop being a little old man!’ Now I am one [and lots littler than some old men], but I come out 34.
Peace,
Ursen:
I have been up and over the Mackinac Bridge plenty of times. Once we camped in the UP and stopped do laundry and I accidentally went North instead of South. I tried to tell the toll taker that I didn’t mean to, but it is an Interstate, so you can’t turn around. Somehow we scrapped up some loose change and paid the toll. Big Mac is very impressive.
One the the most impressive bridge/Tunnels from Hampton to Norfolk VA. It is there so that the large navy ships can pass overhead. It is the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel (HRBT), I-64. There is a a longer bridge/tunnel in the area that is 17 miles long.
Having driven giant circles around America I have driven most of our bridges at least as passenger if not driver. I got stuck in a traffic jam right in middle of the Mississippi Bridge in New Orleans years ago.
I had a panic attack.
Those who drive regularly in Dallas and Houston know that feeling all too well on their overpasses that stack four high regularly.
Dad’s one cat, Miss Fluff and Puff is what I call her, loves the pill bubbles that his medication comes in. I’ll flip them onto the wooden floor, and with my fingers I’ll send it across the floor with her in hot pursuit. Funny to watch her try and get traction, sliding while trying to stop, slapping it around, then she’ll pick it up, prance back towards me and drops it on the floor….for me to flip it across the floor again. Cheap entertainment when she’s in the mood 🙂
Jackie, have you got your gypsy outfit done??
Started this post about two hours or so ago….bridges seems to be a popular topic. We have here in Martin County, Brook’s Bridge. Several years ago it was just wooden slats and very deteriorated framing held it together. One night, many, many moons ago, my ‘friend’ and I were out cruising. He stopped on the bridge to, errrr, to relieve himself, and his foot went through a hole in one of the wooden planks. I literally had to slap him back into reality. They have since then redone the bridge. We were so stupid back then that some dumba$$es would walk on the top beams.
Steve, glad to see spirits lifted…one of the Beatitudes says, “blessed are the children…..”
later gators….
Spoke with baby sister, and while they were out on her property picking up branches, she found a yellow, morel mushroom that measured 8 inches. It is mushroom picking season here…they have become so hard to find in recent years that people can fetch up to $50 and higher for a 5 pound bag of them…been years since I’ve fried a mess of morel mushrooms. Dipped in egg batter, floured, and fried…..tis quite a delicacy here in SIN.
Having pork tenderloin and stirred fried veggies for supper….
Found the boho vests for my gypsy costume this morning. They were in back of closet. Those are the colorful fringed vests like Cher wore back in the 60s. They hang down long and have fringes about two feet long. One is magenta, the other turquoise. Very colorful gypsies.
I love costumes. I have never done a costume for myself or my kids that didn’t win prizes if there were prizes to be had. Taking theatrical costume design and set making didn’t hurt. Got college credits.
This was in prelaw school. Remember that song in Chicago where Richard Gere sings about how law is all theater and puppets and Razzmatazz?
It is if you do trials. All play acting.
Doing laundry and will be for days. No one even put away what I laundered back in February! I am doing it myself.
Have to get my Easter bunny costume put together. Found the ears, two sets actually, a face mask with sequins, a bow tie, a body suit, stockings and a tail. Just need to put in one place. A basket might help? With prize eggs.
Jackie, I’m still here. Less going on directly in my life these days, though.
The current soap opera is around helping with my in-laws. My M-in-L has been living with my wife and I for the past month. She had a pulmonary embolism in early March. It was a near thing– they did an emergency catheterization to apply TPA clot-buster to both sides of a very large “saddle embolism” in her lungs. It was clotted at the point where the pulmonary artery from the heart divides to each lung, so both lungs were affected. We’ve been caring for her at our home since she’s been out of the hospital. Several appointments a week for the various medical issues. (She was scheduled for double hip replacement this week which was postponed indefinitely).
The real issue is my father-in-law and dementia, though. He insists he is fine, and needs no help. However, since he’s been at home alone he’s become more lonely and the dementia is more apparent since my MIL isn’t there to compensate for his memory issues.
He has agreed to move with her to a senior living facility, though. They are going sometime this month. The hardest thing is for him to understand and remember what’s going on from day to day. We are working to help him, but he is resistant. The best thing is that he agreed to sell their house, so finances won’t be an issue for a while. They are both 81, but have long-lived family. We expect/hope Elise’s mom to make it for another 10 years.
My transplant is still doing well and the type-II diabetes is under satisfactory control. The knees are fairly strong. I’m able to do moderate work for an hour or two before needing rest. I even have tomatoes in the garden! Squash and cucumber plants have sprouted and okra is planted. The only thing left to do is plant the sweet peppers.
So glad to hear from so many Villagers today! How about some more of y’all checking in? We miss all orphans.
In keeping with this theme and how young we all still feel, here is Toby Keith singing “I’m Not As Good As I Once Was.”
https://youtu.be/ldQrapQ4d0Y
Jackie, I googled Cairo, IL and the MS and OH rivers converging together…remember going over some old bridge back in ’75 en route to Corpus…I remembered the sound and the power of those two rivers coming together…thought I’d post a link…
Came back here and started watching Toby Keith videos…very entertaining and so much like old time, smokey hometown hick bars of days gone by….too funny.
Love this one where the band is behind chicken wire 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Fulz4ytZ54
I took Ghost’s test and it came up with 29, big kid. Slightly less than half my calendar age.
Jean, I found the video about the chicken interesting. I’m surprised that I never saw the chicken. The Huey P. Long bridge, known locally (New Orleans) as the Huey P. Narrow, can certainly give one a panic attack. I’ve been over it many times, but wouldn’t do it today. In building the bridge from both ends they actually failed to meet and just put in a sudden sharp turn of about a foot, and it’s a difference that is important on that bridge. A garbage truck actually hit the curb there and went over. It’s a long way down.
Debbe. You mentioned morels, and I started drooling. I haven’t had any since I was a child. We used to pick them in Michigan. We cooked them up the same way you do.
I took the age test. I’m 31.
I can’t believe I got a popup saying that I was posting too fast. I guarantee that my posts are the slowest here.
I’ve been on the Huey. P Long bridge many times. It reminds me of something made with an erector set.
On subject of bridges, who besides me loved The Bridges of Madison County? I did actually like the bridges themselves but loved the movie and always wanted someone like Clint Eastwood to show up in my bathtub.
And no, I have never actually taken a bath with a man in either a modern nor antique bathtub. But as I keep saying, it’s never too late for a first time. Now how would I hoist myself into that tub?
One may think civil engineering unimportant until one finds oneself in the middle of the span of a scary bridge.
I agree, Laura. It looks like they had a lot of girders left over from another project. Or, being Louisiana, the girder-making company was politically connected.
http://www.nopb.com/images/stories/Bridge/hueyplong.png
Surprisingly, they found a way to add two more lanes to the Huey P. Long bridge, making it a four-lane bridge, with a dual railroad track in the middle. It scared the hell out of me as a two lane road when a friend drove me to the airport there. I would like to ride the Amtrak across it though, and sit up in the upper observation deck. This is the closest I have come to that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13DjPgzGTKM
Turned out my age is 18, “Big Kid”. No where near close to me geezer-hood age. BTW I have traveled the Mac in all weather, snow, reduced speed limits to 25, everything. Used to live in the Upper Peninsula a while. You never get blasé, you do get better at it.
I know a mother and daughter that were transiting Mobile AL. The daughter, who was driving and freaked out by the idea of taking the I-10 tunnel under the Mobile River, diverted to the US-90/US-98 bridge that crosses the river north of the tunnel. They BOTH freaked out going over the bridge.
🙂
http://cheezburger.com/8995136256