Thirsty

The message Sunday morning in church was from II Samuel 23.  David was in a cave with his warriors.  It was hot and there was no water.  They were thirsty.  David, speaking to himself, said, "Oh, that I wish that I could have a drink of water I remember as a boy from the well in Bethlehem."  His loyal "mighty men" overheard him and traveled 12 miles to Bethlehem, breaking through the enemy lines of the Philistines, dropped a bucket into the well, and drew it back up.  They ran 12 miles back to David in the cave and surprised him.  He was so overwhelmed and astonished at their kind deed, risking their lives to please their leader, that he couldn't drink it.  He poured it out on the ground as a drink offering to the Lord.

I began thinking of the water of my childhood.  You may say, "Water is water," but it's not.  Water, in different locales, is different.  The water of my childhood was from the town of Kinder.  It was distinctive.  People (creatively) called it "Kinder water."  It was BROWN!  If you drew a tub of bathwater, it looked like it was dirty.  If you poured yourself a cup of it, it looked like tea.  People said that it was stained by the roots of the cypress trees in the sand near the Calcasieu River.  I don't know if that was true or not.  It was very soft.  Visitors that would come to visit would all complain that it took forever to get the soap off their bodies or shampoo from their hair.

We moved out of town and had our own water well in the country.  The water was clear, but it had a distinctive taste to it.  Then there was the water from the rice irrigation wells at the farm.  It was clear and COLD.  The canal banks were coated in an orange-colored rust from the pipes bringing the water to the surface from 180 feet (give or take) down.  It was so refreshing to drink, but had a metallic taste to it.  Do you remember the differences in the water in various places that you lived?

On a separate, but adjacent topic of beverages, there is an Old Time Country Store in a neighboring town called "Mr. Clint's."  He sells all sorts of old fashioned candy, gifts and country items.  My sons passed by there and, for my birthday, brought me some gourmet soft drinks and candy.  He has a wide variety of interesting sodas.  I'll show you two of them:

The first is Sprecher Maple Root Beer.  I love root beer and this one was so good.  I poured it in a glass of chopped ice and a thick head of foam covered the top.  I smelled it, and it smelled wonderful.

It has real maple syrup in it!  I like tasting and enjoying different things and this was a good one!

Speaking of trying different things, the next one was quite different.  This one is called "Martian Poop Soda."  It is brewed from droppings left behind by alien Martians at Area 51.  Actually, I'm not telling the truth.  If you read the label, although its named Martian Poop Soda, there is no Martian poop in it.  The flavor of it is marionberry.  To be honest, I had to research what a marionberry is.  It is a cultivar of a blackberry grown in Oregon.

It did, after reflecting, have a nice berry flavor to it.  Despite the Martian poop graphics on the label, it was good.  In fact, I enjoyed them both.  I'm no longer thirsty.

Mr. Clint's - Part Deux

We've talked about Mr. Clint's in Welsh, Louisiana before.  It is a neat Mercantile on Main Street that has neat gifts, old fashioned candies, and specialty sodas. We like to pop in there (get it?) and get a few interesting soda pops.  He gets them sent in from all over the place.  It is fun to get a weird ones we haven't tasted before and have a taste test to see which ones we like and which ones are just odd!  Here is the panel for tasteful submissions to our sampling.

First, we have "Bubble Up."  It is a Lemon Lime Soda that was first bottled in 1919.  I remember it mentioned in Merle Haggard's song, "Rainbow Stew."

There's a big brown cloud in the city
And the countryside's a sin
And the price of life is to high to give up
Got to come down again
When the world wide war is over and done
And the dream of peace comes true
We'll all be drinking that free bubble up
And eating that rainbow stew

When they find out how to burn water
And the gasoline car is gone
When an airplane flies without any fuel
And sunlight heats our home

One of these days when the air clears up
And the sun come shining through
[Pre-Chorus]
We'll all be drinking that free bubble up
And eating that rainbow stew

Then there is Lemon Meringue Pie Soda from Boots Beverages of Bellville, Texas.  You can really smell and taste the lemon meringue pie.

Then we have Good ol' Moxie!  Distinctively different, it says.  This is the oldest continually produced soft drink in America, produced since 1884.  It is made with gentian root extract and is the state drink of Maine.

Next on the lineup is Brownie Caramel Cream Root Beer.  Delicious, rich.  You can really taste the caramel.

Here is a Wisconsin Maple Root Beer made with maple syrup.  It tastes like a pancake to me.

This is definitely the strangest one of the bunch we tried this round - A Celery Soda.  Very odd tasting, but not as bad as you might think.

Here is the champion, in my viewpoint - DANG! That's Good Italian Cherry Soda, a delicious, sweet soda I enjoyed the very best.

We've got lots more to try, but that will be on the next trip...