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Nice car but they never let me drive it. - Curt
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Daddy's Tavern a novel
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Hi!
As a young man of 16, I went to work at a Wisconsin saw mill. I got so caught up in the natural colors and patterns in the wood that I was forever endeared to the beauty of nature's own art form. My bosses weren't so taken by my new-found interest and they fired me before the lunch whistle blew.
I have just retired from Brown-Forman Distilleries Worldwide at our Bluegrass Cooperage plant in Louisville, Ky. That's where we make about a half million new, charred, white oak barrels each year for our Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 brand. We have also made barrels for Maker’s Mark, Jim Beam, and Woodford Reserve, all fine Kentucky bourbons.
Now I'm going to try to enjoy retirement. Hopefully I can use eBay to pay for my new hobby of hand turning pens of exotic woods. I try to select the most beautiful and striking woods I can find. I look for natural treasures in the wood, sometimes only getting one pen from a large block of wood. Often, I spend too much time creating these pens but isn't that what a hobby is all about? The brilliance of woods like amboyna burl as it polishes down, the gentle aroma of the Holy Land olive wood being turned on my lathe, the careful, time-consuming inlay of turquoise, etc., all tend to offer a peace of mind that I could never find before retirement.
I hope you enjoy your pens as much as I have enjoyed making them. I'd like to give a special thank you to the wonderful people from around the world who buy so many of my pens for your collections.
Curt Gibson - Retiree - Brown Forman Distilleries Worldwide
I just finished a novel called: Daddy's Tavern. It is available at amazon.com and others. If you would like to read more about it, go to:
http://www.freewebs.com/blackjackcooper/
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