Hey Howdy Hey: Bartending memories

With spring trying to give way for summer, it takes me back to when I first moved to Lincoln in the early 90's.

I came up here looking for a bartending job and the first place I hit when I got to town was the Wheel Inn. I asked Doug at the time if they needed any help and they didn't, but that is also when I first met Arny Brown. He happened to be sitting there having a Bud Lite and he told me that he might need some help at the Wilderness Bar. I remember it was a Tuesday because they had 16 oz. beers for a buck. That was the first job interview I ever had where I drank beer during an interview, but before I left, I had a job working for Arny and Ethel at the Wilderness Bar.

On a recent outing up in the hills, I was thinking back when I worked at the bar. It was when they had first gotten their Chester fried chicken cooker. I remember I had to dress up as a chicken and dance around outside of the bar. But I also remember not long after they got the cooker John Wilson brought in a giant puff ball mushroom. I had never seen one before. nor did I know much about wild mushrooms, but we ended up cutting some of the mushroom up into little steaks, buttering and battering them in the Chester chicken batter and cooking them in the chicken fryer. When they were done, we dipped them in ranch dressing, and let me tell you, they were quite tasty indeed.

Like I said before, I did not know much about wild mushrooms, but one day when I was off work and mowing my yard I found some small mushrooms and I thought, "Hey, those will go nicely with that steak I'm planning to have for dinner." Well, needless to say, I made quite a few trips to the bathroom after eating those mushrooms for dinner. It could have been a lot worse; live and learn.

I was also thinking back to a time when and old character lived here by the name of Eldon Bushby. He was a pretty good old fellow, until he started drinking "Loud Mouth," which was another name for whiskey. Back before I was even born down in Drummond, Bushby was a friend to my parents at the time my dad was running the Lyon's Ranch and Bushby's parents owned the bee yard at Hall. Bushby, back in his younger days, was quite a talented guitar player and singer. I remember one time Charlie Pride was playing at Porter's Corner, which at the time was a very popular bar just outside of Phillipsburg. Anyway, Bushby played out there one night and they fired Charlie Pride and Bush took his spot. He probably would have been a big star, but I think the "Loud Mouth" kept him from doing that. Often times when I was working he would pull out his guitar and sing, and he was pretty dang good.

I used to think it was funny, Bushby would be over at Lambkins on the "Loud Mouth," and he would be drunk and chasing off customers. The owner at the time, Garrett Nicolai, would give Bush ten dollars to go over to the Wilderness. I always got a kick out of that. It seemed to happen often.

One last story I remember while working at the bar. I remember one night while working, I had just emptied a bottle of BV so I thought I would pull a trick on my customers, like I often did. I took the empty Black Velvet bottle and I filled it up with water when no one was looking. Then I added a little coke for color and it looked like the real thing when I was done. So anyhow, I poured myself a big glass of this fake BV and I guzzled it down right in front of everybody. Boy, let me tell you, their eyes were big.

I continued to take big drinks from this bottle and staggered around as I worked. I thought I had everybody fooled, but one guy had caught on to my trickery. My old buddy Noel Anderson. When I had to run to the bathroom after drinking all that water, Noel snuck behind the bar and switch my fake bottle with a real one. Well when I came back I went to take a big drink off that bottle and I think my eyes rolled back in my head a few times as I gagged and spit up the 80 proof loudmouth. Everyone got a big kick out of that, especially Noel.

I have many other stories from working at that bar. It would take a large novel to write them all down.

I do miss seeing some of those old characters running around raising heck, but I may never have had the opportunity to meet any of them, nor met many of the new people here in Lincoln if Arny and Ethel hadn't given me the opportunity to work for them so many years ago.

I truly owe it all to them for introducing me to this wonderful little community we all call home.

Stay safe and God bless.