As Buck and Lois West celebrated the arrival of 1930, and the newest decade, little did they know some of what the year would bring. Of these occurrences, perhaps the major happening was the Great Depression. This drastic situation, the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, ground the economy of the country to a halt. On a more positive note, construction began on the Empire State Building in New York City, the planet Pluto was discovered, and frozen foods were first created.

The happy sodbusters did not expect the manner in which their twin sons would arrive. February 22nd rolled around. Country doctor Phillip Gardner tended to Lois as her labor pains began. Buck built a pallet of blankets near their franklin stove so Dr. Gardner could keep warm as the chilly night progressed. The metal-lined fireplace contained a hollow baffle near its rear that transferred heat to the air in the room. It also featured an inverted siphon flue that drew hot fumes around the baffle. Outside, a downpour descended upon their home.

Dusty once told me, "That's the typical way things were handled in rural parts during those times. They were our so-called modern conveniences. I waited until about 9:17 the next morning to make my official debut appearance into the world."

Soon after I moved into Country Comfort, Dusty and I discussed the popular sounds we listened to. When you lived in Nashville there was only one variety. Is there any wonder why the town is well regarded as The Home of Country Music? Back then, for me they were "How Much More Can She Stand" by Conway Twitty, "How Can I Unlove You" by Lynn Anderson, and "Me and You and a Dog Named Boo" by Stonewall Jackson.

Dusty proceeded to inform me, "Some of my best growing up days centered around listening to the Stars of the Grand Ole Opry on a blue transistor radio. I'd turn that sucker up out in the barn as loud as it would play. It was majestic!"

Later, I would come to learn how much of an impact music had on him.

I asked, "What about TV? Didn't you watch television when you were my age?"

Dusty laughed and said, "I was a teen in the 1940s before we obtained our first black and white television set. The monstrousity was big and box-like, about the size of a refrigerator. It had a small screen and scrolls on its side."

Red maples, waxy-leafed Tulip Poplars, Dogwoods, and hickory trees can be located not far from the confines of Country Comfort. As a boy, Dusty spent many hours in those woods. Buck taught him to become an outdoorsman at a tender, young, age. Tarzan had nothing on the way he could swing in those trees. However, Dusty always had to be on the lookout for corn snakes, copperheads, cottonmouths, and timber rattlers, among others. Though a potential threat to his wellbeing, Dusty had no ingrained fear of the hazards he often encountered.

He told me, "Once, I jumped off our rickety old yellow school bus and stepped on a corn snake."

My eyes grew wider at his proclamation.

Dusty looked at me and explained, "Corn snakes aren't venomous and they help control the populations of rodents that damage crops. Anyway, I went to grab the slithery beast. It bit me on the arm. I pulled it off with my other hand. But, growing up in the woods gave me confidence I could survive anything that came my way."

All the time I knew Dusty he never lost that wonderment.

One clear, bright, Saturday afternoon, I bellyached about being bored and told Dusty, "I wish I had something to do."

He asked me, "What do you mean you have nothing to do? We did not have our first color TV set until 1954. I was 24 years old. Take Thunder and go down to the bridge. Fresh catfish would taste mighty fine for supper."

I hustled out the door, grabbed my fishing rod from the barn, and called our German Shepherd. Thunder not only became my constant companion but sported a midnight black patch that covered most of his back. The marking symbolic of his name.

Off we trotted south to the nearby creek that flowed not far from Country Comfort.

(TO BE CONTINUED:)