Tall Tale Tuesday
Shared pain is lessened, shared joy is increased.
Thus we refute entropy. — Spider Robinson
Callahan’s Place is located on the side of the highway, a medium-sized single-story wood building with a flat roof. Inside is a warm, wooden bar, polished to a high shine by the bartender and owner of Callahan’s Place, Mike Callahan himself. There’s a dart board, and several tables all grouped together to promote conversation. There’s no juke box, but music is provided on Friday and Saturday nights by Jake, resident musician, and on every other night by the old pianist, Fast Eddie.
On the floor, a little off from the bar, is a chalk line, and from there, a clear path to the parabolic fireplace. Have a drink, step up to the line, and make a toast. When you’re done, throw the glass into the fireplace.
Monday Nights are Pundays, and Tuesdays is Tall Tale night. Wednesdays are Riddle nights, and Friday and Saturday, Jake and Fast Eddie play.
A possible “new feature” I’m going to try and keep up with: On Mondays, “Punday Night”. Tuesdays are “Tall Tale Tuesdays”. Wednesdays are “Riddle Nights”. In the future, tall tales will be original, but for now, enjoy this quickie from American Folklore.
One winter, shortly after Paul Bunyan dug Lake Michigan as a drinking hole for his blue ox, Babe, he decided to camp out in the Upper Peninsula. It was so cold in that there logging camp that one evening, the temperature dropped to 68 degrees below zero. Each degree in the camp thermometer measured sixteen inches long and the flames in the lanterns froze solid. No one, not even Paul Bunyan, could blow them out.
The lumberjacks didn’t want the bunkhouse lit at night, because they wouldn’t get any sleep. So they put the lanterns way outside of camp where they wouldn’t disturb anyone. But they forgot about the lanterns, so that when thaw came in the the early spring, the lanterns flared up again and set all of northern Michigan on fire! They had to wake Paul Bunyan up so he could stamp out the fire with his boots.
Learn more about Callahan’s Place at SpiderRobinson.com, Callahans.org, and Callahan’s Place.
