There is good birding and there is great birding. Good birding means you get out. Great birding means you see something new. Friday morning Lise and I thought we would get some in some quick birding at Legg Park. It was what you would call good birding. We obviously missed most of the warbler migration. Still, at least we were out.
Interesting how some things imprint on you forever. When we first met, Lise was working at McCormick’s Creek State Park, managing Indiana’s largest nature center. Every May she was terrorized with yellow buses filled with school groups. So we are strolling along, in Legg Park straining to hear warbler calls and Lise suddenly calls out, “school group.” Long before I heard anything she picks up the vibes. I think she felt the sound before she actually heard anything. Like a good stereo speaker where you feel the base, not just hear it. Not only did we run into a school group, it was a school group in waders. Those are some mighty brave teachers in my mind.
We have been seeing a lot of Northern orioles. Something this brilliant has to be a tropical bird. It’s like a glass of orange juice with wings.
Friday afternoon I headed back east. Made it to Lebanon (properly pronounced Lepnan). Actually to Lynn and Jack’s in Jonestown. Jonestown, properly pronounced Chonestawn, is Lebanon’s version of the burbs. Lebanon was founded as Steitztown in 1720. Jonestown came along in a relatively recent 1761. Snobbish newcomers too good to settle downtown. Probably didn’t even use mud to chink their homes. That would have been too provincial.
Lebanon is an interesting place. Lots of history and character there, and not all of it good. Some beautiful old buildings made from native stone. George Washington stayed here while buying cannons at the nearby Cornwall ore mine. About the only thing different since then is that we paved the streets and added electricity.
Around the time of the Civil War, six Irishmen came up with an interesting fundraising scheme. They took out a life insurance policy on some guy, then they murdered him to claim the insurance. At the time I’m sure this seemed a good idea. They all had red hair and blue eyes and became known as the blue-eyed six. Arthur Conan Doyle was passing through the area at the time of their trial. Their little escapade inspired the Sherlock Holmes story “The Red-headed League.”
After their hanging a couple of the Six were buried at a place called Moonshine Church, out by Indiantown Gap. Some of my high school friends decided to have a seance in the graveyard one night. At the time this seemed like a good idea. I believe alcohol was involved. A loud screaming whinnying sound scared the holy hell out of them and sent them scrambling for their cars. As a birder now I’m pretty sure it was a screech owl, not the ghost of the Six chasing them. Then again, you never know. This is Lebanon.
Lebanon is of course the home of Lebanon bologna. The only true Lebanon bologna, the stuff legends are made of. Lebanon bologna from any other place, like the crap Oscar Meyer sells as “Lebanon Style Bologna” is not Lebanon Bologna. I didn’t know there was any other kind of bologna until I joined the Navy and they fed us this nasty gray stuff. On New Year’s Eve Lebanon drops a 150 pound ball of Weaver’s Lebanon Bologna from the top of a fire truck ladder. Life don’t get much better than that.
Needless to say, this is the land of great eating. Nothing even remotely good for you but it all tastes so good. I happened by the Lebanon Farmer’s Market. Weavers, one of my favorite butchers and the source of great Lebanon bologna, has a booth there. They had 14 types of sausages, six types of bologna, and four types of bacon for sale. The bacon comes in large piles, not pre-packaged in a sealed plastic bag. Usually you get a price break when you buy ten pounds or more. Just about what you need for a week of good eating. They also had other assorted meats, meat products, and pieces of animals. Meat products are things like that lovely delicacy scrapple. Scrapple is best described as every part of the pig except the curl in the tail. Scrapple is the good stuff. I won’t get into pan pudding except to say I’m about the only person in my immediate family that will eat it.
One of my favorite local delicacies is called honky, or hunky, eggs. Bacon, potatoes, peppers, and onions fried and scrambled with eggs. A real heart attack on a plate. Pair honkey eggs with a slab of scrapple and you have what is best described as a coffin nail. But wait, how can this get better? Why you melt some version of cheese on it. Doesn’t matter what kind, just melt it. This wouldn’t be too bad except the portions are what you would serve to people still plowing the back 40. Enough cholesterol to fell an ox. I love it.
Honkey eggs with a side of scrapple. Life is good.
Honkey eggs are one of the few things my Dad would cook and we could actually eat. He loved making them for Molly. I can remember him meticulously cutting the bacon into fine pieces so they would render perfectly. This would drive my Mom crazy. “Jerry, she’s going to starve before you get the eggs made.” He would just smile and go on with his meticulous cutting. Everything had to be perfect for his little angel.
I went with Lynn and Jack to Miller’s for breakfast. Good stuff. At Miller’s the waitress automatically brings a cup of coffee and then asks if you would like water. Most of their vegetables are deep fried, including the deep fried corn bits. Everything except the macaroni and cheese, which they consider a vegetable. I guess if your mom is going to make you eat vegetables you may as well get them deep fried.
Miller’s – no reservations required.
Heisey’s – another great diner.
Then there is Shuey’s pretzels. Third generation pretzel makers. Best pretzels in the world. Period. No discussion. These are hand made pretzels fresh out of a small brick oven. Where else will you find a line on Saturday mornings waiting for pretzels to come out of a brick oven. Everyone from bikers in leathers to elderly ladies using walkers. The fat gal covered in tattoos was picking up orders for three different people.
The best pretzels ever. Period.
And we can’t forget Wertz’s Candy store. They have been there for over 80 years. Wertz’s caramel corn making was featured in the TV program World’s Dirtiest Jobs. This is where you go for hand dipped chocolate covered Shuey’s pretzels. Milk or dark chocolate. Life is good. Wertz’s also makes chocolate covered bacon. Even I haven’t gone there yet.
Good stuff.
One of Lebanon’s historical sites is the Union Canal Tunnel. Known to us as the Old Tunnel. It’s the oldest man-made tunnel in the United States, built in the 1820s as part of the Union Canal system. Hand carved through solid rock. Black powder, picks, and strong backs. My family has been in Lebanon for many generations. Rumor has it that an ancestor on my Mother’s side helped build the tunnel. My dad taught most of his children and grandchildren to fish there. This was “Pappy’s secret fishing hole.”
The Historical Society has done a good job cleaning the place up. It hasn’t always been as nice as it is now. When I was a teenager with my friends we walked back into the tunnel and fired shotguns. Don’t know why. That’s just what you do when you are a teenage boy with a shotgun. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Did I mention that these were the same guys that did the seance at Moonshine Church? Maybe joining the Navy and leaving Lebanon was a good thing for me.
I found the posted rules kind of interesting. According to rule number #10, immoral acts are not allowed in the park. I guess that means you can’t use the park as a staging area to invade some country because you think they have weapons of mass destruction. Nothing about shooting a shotgun inside the tunnel though.
In Lebanon holding hands out of wedlock is probably considered immoral.
Saturday I made it down to Slower Lower Delaware. Anita and I made a run down to Rehobeth for an order of Thrasher’s fries. The best French fries ever. Period. No discussion.
The best fries ever. Period.
Mine all mine and none for Molly.
Found out why this are is known as Slower Lower Delaware. This is Kirby The Wonder Dog and the customers have to walk around him to get in or out. It is his store and he doesn’t really care if any humans come in or not.
Kirby.
Today was great birding. Added over 25 species to my list. First I need to get some sleep. More to follow.
Marsh wren at Bombay Hook – you shall not pass.
Ed's and Lise's Biggish Years 