The Adventures and Misadventures of Richard Poole

By Richard Turk Poole

Richard Poole was born in 1931 in Memphis, Tennessee.  This book is a combination of his life memories and fictional stories inspired by events that occurred during his travels.  In this book, he writes about his life as a youth born in the '30s, a worldwide traveler, a pilot in the Marine Corps, a nature lover, and memorable life even

• Language: English
• Publisher: Puddle Press
• Release date: Aug 11, 2020
• ISBN: 9780996209847

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The Adventures and Misadventures of Richard Poole

by Richard Poole

Oviedo, Florida

The Adventures and Misadventures of Richard Poole

Copyright © 2020 by Richard Poole

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.

Published by Puddle Press

Oviedo, FL 32765

ISBN: 978-0-9962098-3-0 (hardcover)

978-0-9962098-4-7 (e-book)

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 2020911021

First Puddle Press Edition: August 2020

Printed in the United States of America

Forward: Richard Turk Poole, Jr was born in Memphis, Tennessee on June 16, 1931. His parents, Amanda Rebecca Harris and Richard Turk Poole, Sr, raised their sons—Richard, Edwin, and Wain in Memphis. Richard is the oldest of the three. He left Memphis in 1949 to attend Principia College in Elsah, Illinois. The rest is explained by Richard in the stories and essays included within. This book was compiled by his middle children, Diane and Kathy. The book is in two parts: an autobiographical section, including his thoughts on nature, and a fiction section. The first part is a collection of autobiographical essays written by Richard on a variety of topics. They are roughly arranged by the year the memories take place or begin. The fiction section is a collection of stories covering a variety of subjects often inspired by his various environmental adventures.

Table of Contents

Introduction

A Life in Essays (arranged by the year the story begins)

Sleeping Arrangements (1931)

Gotta Have Another Cigarette (1931)

Formal Education (1937)

Have a Beer (1938)

Put My Head Under Water!?! (1941)

Rufflin’ Feathers (1941)

Jobs (1942)

Naked Adventures (1942)

The Musician (1943)

Did You Play Basketball? (1944)

Fights (1945)

In the Ring and Out (1945)

Living Dangerously (1945)

The Thin Man and Barbells (1945)

A Time to Kill (1946)

Let’s Dance (1947)

Try It, You’ll Like It (1948)

Love and the Wild Blue Yonder (1949)

Ride ‘em Sheepboy (1951)

Alaska (1952)

Creature Discomfort (1952)

Point Webster North (1952)

Wings of Gold (1955)

Major Copeland (1956)

Pets (1957)

Clipper (1964) and Gunner (1975)

Magnolia Park (1970)

It’s a Small World (1972)

The Day I Stripped for the Teenagers (1985)

Snake Skin to Velvet (2001)

Iraq Debate (2002)

Adventures Around the World (arranged by the year the story begins)

Art Piper and Vieques (1957)

The Philippines (1983)

EarthWatch Adventures (1993)

Badger Creek, Idaho—Intergenerational Elderhostel Diary (1997)

Bombay to Wager Bay (1998)

Ghana, Hippos, and EarthWatch (2001)

A Taxi Ride in Africa (2001)

Guatemala Visit (2004)

Thoughts on Nature (arranged alphabetically by title)

African Thoughts

Berries Are for the Birds

Birds Can’t Read

Birds, Cats, and Habitat

Bloody Hell or the Stimulus or Socialism

Butterfly Kiss

Five Favorites

Hurricane Bird Survival in Central Florida

Pack Rat

Recovery of Vegetation after Logging and Burning

Red-Bellied Woodpeckers and Nest Boxes

Too Many Horses

Trees

Why Lawns?

Woodland Burial

Fictional Stories

They Got Even

When Animals Act Human

The Blinded Eye

Chick Denny

Fowl Play

Good Ol’ Boys Meet the Badger

It’s a Dogs Day for Everett

River Madness

A Tale of a Tail

That’s a Lot of Bull

That’s Not Fair

The Vile Bile Story

EarthWatch Inspired

A Can of Beer

A Clash of Cultures

Ellie and the Eagles

The Manager and the Mongoose

The Poacher and the Jaguar

A Prince of a Shark

The Rancher’s Daughter

Skiers Meet the Wolf Pack

Those Grubby Cows

A Few More Stories

Ballad of the Boys

Bill and the Farm

The Cavalier

The Croc and the Jabiru

The Diaper Dispute

Footsteps in the Sand

The Fox Hunt

The Hot Seat

A Mutt in the Outback

Neeluk Goes Hunting

Only a Bird

Pit Bull in Dominica

The Stranger

That Old Bull Elephant

Two Worlds

You’re a Dead Duck

Introduction (1998)

I had really hoped that by this time in my life, someone else would be writing my biography. Since my life hasn’t been all that notable, guess I’ll have to do it.

After graduating from Principia College I twiddled my thumbs for a few months until reporting to Pensacola to join a few other classmates: Ragates, Are Oh, Byrd, Loechner, and Kiesling. They did great. I barely got through. Early 1955 found me a Marine at a New River, North Carolina flying helicopters and little cessnas. Soon married Margie Johnson (1955).

Out of the marines in 1957, with one daughter, I tried to find a job in NYC with no luck. What the heck, I’ll go back to school and learn to grow plants. Would you believe it? The C+ Principian was an A student at Southwestern Louisiana Institute! My professor said I could get a scholarship at either Gainesville, Florida or Ames, Iowa. It didn’t take me long to decide to head for the palm trees. I figured I’d go until I flunked out.

Seven years later I became RTP, Ph.D. I stayed in Gainesville until I was offered a job in Honolulu at the University of Hawaii. I took my wife and three daughters and we moved to Hawaii. We stayed for two years until I decided I liked Florida better. When I was offered a job in Apopka with the University of Florida, myself, the gals, and one son, headed east. In Florida, I became one of the leading worldwide experts on foliage plants, e.g. philodendrons, dieffenbachias, ficus, etc. There weren’t many people who knew anything about foliage plants.

Apopka was good to me. I didn’t get to travel while a Marine, but managed to visit much of the Caribbean, Central and South America, Australia, the Philippines, Israel, and some of Europe. The pay was good.

1986 was a bad year. I became single and lost my father. A daughter and two sons-in-law were severely injured in a plane crash.

Retirement came in 1993. I liked my job, I love retirement.

In Apopka, I have been active in the Audubon Society and Toastmasters. Also, I tried Rotary for a few years, and was a scoutmaster for seven years. My son got his Eagle. I enjoyed triathlons for about twenty years until my knee gave out. At one point, I got into a tussle with the County Commissioners because they wanted to stick a gun club in a county park. We stopped it. We are now trying to stop the Florida Cabinet from sending bulldozers into a state park. But we are not doing very well so far.

Since retirement I have joined a writing group. Although I published hundreds of scientific articles while at the University of Florida, I can’t get one fiction story published.

I participated in several EarthWatch projects: sea turtles in Costa Rica, jaguars in Mexico, sharks in Bimini, foxes in Yellowstone, warblers in Puerto Rico, eagles in Scotland, and wolves in India. I’ve taken grandchildren on trips and Trent and I were in Australia for six weeks.

Never saw a wolf in India, but I did see someone I liked. I met Christine Brown (from London, England) in the Bombay Airport. We were married two weeks ago and are now trying to convince the INS she should be allowed to stay in Apopka.

Sleeping Arrangements (1931)

My first night was spent in the hospital, I stayed for nine more days. Back then mothers had to stay in the hospital for ten days. I was then taken to an apartment. Stayed only six months. Mother and Dad bought her parents’ house, 1840 Young Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee.

The Young house was my primary residence until I left for Pensacola, Florida to learn to fly. After I got my wings, I moved to Jacksonville, North Carolina, the home of Camp Lejeune. I stayed in the BOQ for a few months. After getting married, I moved to a house in Jacksonville on the edge of a swamp. We had frogs in our backyard. After a few months we got military housing, cheaper and better. When my tour of duty ended, we stayed with Margie’s parents for a few months. I decided to return to school and we headed for Southwest Louisiana Institute in Lafayette, Louisiana. Our next stop was Gainesville, Florida where I enrolled as a graduate student. We bought a small house. When I got my Ph.D., we bought a larger one, one I would stay in for the rest of my life.

A few years went by and I was offered a job with the University of Hawaii. We bought a house in Kailua, one I would stay in for the rest of my life. Two years later I was offered a job with the University of Florida in Apopka. We bought a house west of Apopka. One I would stay in for the rest of my life. After 18 years, I moved to a rented room and stayed there for a few months. I bought a condominium in northwest Apopka, one I would stay in for the rest of my life. I stayed for 15 years, before buying a house in Longwood, Florida, one I will stay in for the rest of my life. Still here.

Gotta Have Another Cigarette (1931)

Smoke, smoke, smoke that cigarette

And if you smoke yourself to death

Tell St Peter at the Golden Gate

That I hate to make you wait

But I just gotta have another cigarette

by Tex Williams

As I write this, our house reeks of the stench of cigarette smoke.

My introduction to nicotine (an addictive chemical) occurred after Mother and I left the hospital when I was ten days old, that’s how long women stayed in the hospital in those days. Dad smoked a pipe. Until I became an adult, I did not know I lived in a house with the stench of tobacco smoke.

My first introduction to self-inflicted inhalation of nicotine was a trip with Roy Ray to his grandparents’ farm in Crockett Mills, Tennessee. Before the trip, Roy gleefully told me, I got a pack of cigarettes and we’re going to smoke them. We were early teens at the time. We snuck behind the barn. Don’t remember how much I smoked. Do remember thinking puffing smoke is ridiculous and I had seen yellow stains on smokers’ fingers. Roy thought it was great. Do I have to tell you Roy has been dead a long time.

In my formative years, three men stood above the rest. First was Dad, second, Mr. Sutherin, and Principia Football Coach, Coach Howard. Mr. Sutherin owned a tree surgeon business. I worked for him two summers, after twelfth grade and freshman year of college. One day we were in the pickup, he lit a cigarette. Don’t ever smoke. He said a few other things about smoking but I only remember, Don’t. He dropped a few admiration points for knowing he should stop smoking cigarettes but didn’t. He then retrieved the points for telling me, Don’t.

Junior high and senior high none of my friends guzzled alcohol or inhaled nicotine. Leo Miller said to me, My cousin thinks you should ask her for a date. She was a good looker. I asked her. She brought her cigarettes along. There was no second date.

College was at Principia, no alcohol or nicotine allowed. Summers were relatively free of cigarette smoke. Two summers I worked for Mr. Sutherin. He arrived one day to see how we were progressing. I was sitting in the tree doing nothing. I looked at him and said, I’m taking a cigarette break. Two of the climbers frequently took cigarette breaks. He smiled, shook his head. The other summers I worked at Dad’s steel plant, a ranch in Montana, and caught fish in Alaska. Don’t remember anything about smokers. Lived in a 10 x 10-foot cabin in Alaska. Roommate was a Swede. Glad he didn’t smoke. No alcohol, either.

Then it was the military and my first dislike of smokers. Newest arrivals had to police (pick up trash) the grounds. There were a lot of cigarette butts. One day three of us, two nonsmokers, one smoker, had a chat. The other nonsmoker was a boxer. Smoker wanted to be a boxer. Was told by boxer you won’t have the stamina until you quit smoking. The majority did not smoke. Wonder if being around fuel for the airplanes had anything to do with it.

Grad school had a few smokers. Coming back from a meeting in Miami I rode with the department chairman and two professors. Chairman smoked a pipe, cold outside. I got where I could not stand the stench, lowered a window. Nobody said anything. An aside. When I became a faculty member in the department, there was some discontent. Remember no details. Do remember chairman went to the dean of research and chairman was told he could fire Poole. Don’t know how many, but several profs went to the dean and said don’t fire Poole. Chairman retired soon after.

At the research center in Apopka, one faculty smoked, but not in the building or car. He had a baby boy. One day we were talking about baby pacifiers. Our smoker said his son would never have one to suck. I asked him when he was going to quit sucking on his pacifier.

I joined Apopka Toastmasters. Everything was good until two smokers could not last through the meeting without their nicotine fix. I would come home, stop by the washer and deposit my clothes, then head for the shower. One day I told the president I’m through with Toastmasters, Toastmasters stink, or words to that effect. Don’t remember how long, got a call from the president and I started attending meetings. Don’t remember if smokers quit or decided they could get along without their fix for an hour and a half.

I gave a talk at TMs about cigarettes. Mayor Land said the city needed the taxes from cigarettes. Dr. Akerman rose and told the mayor and the rest of us about the cost of health problems caused by cigarettes. He also mentioned fires started by smokers with damage to houses and sometimes people are critically burned. Julian Roberts, a smoker about my age, said he liked his cigarettes. Later he quit TMs and I did not see him until he moved a few doors from my unit. He was in a wheelchair with tubes in his nose. His first words, Richard, I wish I had listened to you. That was twenty years ago. He died soon after.

Mother and Dad, a pipe smoker, frequently visited. Our house reeked for two to three days afterward. One day Dad could not find his pipe. Laurel said, I hid it. She heard Margie and me complain about the stench and decided to do something about it. The result was Dad got his pipe with the restriction he could only smoke outside. Thank you, Laurel.

We recently had visitors. We did not know one was addicted to nicotine. I did not think I would ever again live in a house reeking of smoke from cigarettes, but I did. The man did not have the decency to go to the bike path for his fix. Twice the kitchen stunk of cigarettes (butts?). Needless to say, he will never return to this house. I was never so glad to take someone to the airport.

Formal Education (1937)

Mother decided I needed to go to a private school for kindergarten; I also went there for first grade. The school was at a house just around the corner. Because it was private, there were no age restrictions and I started a year sooner than I would have started in a public school.

In second grade I went to a public school, Peabody Elementary. I would have been one of the smallest if I had started school when I was supposed to start. I was the littlest kid in second grade. I soon learned about bullies. I can still remember being dragged around at recess. Didn’t like it, so during recess I headed home and hid under the porch. That did not last long. I was at the mercy of bullies. One guy became my protector, Jimmy Seaton. Life was a little better after that. I walked to Peabody.

Seven to nine grades I went to Fairview. Rode my bike there. I had put on a little height and weight, there was no problem with bullies. My grades were passable. Ninth grade I found myself in Latin I. After a few days I decided linguistics wasn’t for me, switched to shop. We made tin cups and wooden airplanes.

Central High was next. I rode my bike, but sometimes took a streetcar as I frequently went to work after school. I flunked Spanish and Speech and had to repeat tenth grade. I was so afraid of speaking when my turn came for a speech, I told Mother I was sick, had to stay home. I was sick, and afraid.

But I did not mind repeating 10th grade. I was with kids more my size and competed in track, boxing, and swimming for Central. I also played in the band. I really had no desire to go to college, Dad finished 11th grade and did okay, but Mother wanted me to go to college. My repeat 10th grades and my 11th grades were Bs and Cs, mostly Cs. I worked at Sears 11th and 12th grades. I was a stock boy working with a bunch of guys with no A/C. There were others that worked in the office with A/C and cute secretaries. Learned they had been to college, the guys I worked with had not. Twelfth grade I never made the honor roll but came close. Still, left Central in the bottom 25% of my class grade wise.

I wanted to go to the University of Tennessee; Mother wanted me to go to The Principia College at Elsah, Illinois. We made a bargain; I would go to Prin a year, then wherever I liked. Wasn’t sure I could get admitted to college but guess the registrar looked at my senior year and decided to give me a chance. Heading north to Elsah, I decided to major in geology.

My first few months were similar to starting at Peabody. No, nobody picked on me. I made the football team, but still I wanted to go home. Yes, I was homesick, very much so. Thanksgiving vacation I headed home even though Christmas vacation was only a few weeks away. Something happened winter quarter. Prin has quarters, not semesters. I wrote home saying I had a job at Prin during spring vacation and would not be home until summer. Yes, Mother won. I liked Prin.

But I just could not get interested in cold old rocks and switched to biology my sophomore year. It was fun. I was told to take speech; they didn’t like my southern drawl. I never got sick, got a B! I also took Spanish. We drove to California to visit Mother’s brothers. I could understand the Latin programs and read El Cid in Spanish. At graduation I made a slight improvement class standing wise. Finished in the top half of my class, just barely.

Didn’t have to worry about a job. Headed for Pensacola and flight training, which meant 16 weeks of preflight (no flying). We went to class, six subjects, in the morning and usually some kind of athletics in the p.m. and a lot of marching in between. There were about 40 in our platoon. At the end of preflight I received the highest grade in one subject, second in another and a third. Scored in the top ten in two more. Got one point above failing in the sixth, engines. Yes, I learned they needed gasoline to run but that was about it. I eventually got my wings and became a marine.

I thought about applying to grad school for a master’s degree in Wildlife Management. Sent applications to Michigan State, Penn State, and Cornell. A no from Cornell, yes from Penn and Michigan. While in the Marines, I went to a wildlife national conference. At that time the programs were almost entirely about how to raise more quail, ducks, and other animals so people could kill them. I also became acquainted with a wildlife officer in North Carolina. He told me that people wanted to import deer from Michigan, they’re bigger up there, so the people in North Carolina could kill bigger deer. I went hunting a few times in North Carolina, but soon got sick of it.

Here’s the hunter, or fisherman, equipped with all sorts of gear including gun or reel. If the fish or deer wins, it stays alive. If the hunter or fisherman wins, a dead animal is the result. If the fisherman or hunters (i.e., those who enjoy killing) loose, they can tell about the big one that got away. That’s sporting? More like a cowardly act.

After my discharge, Bob (Margie’s dad), said he could get me a job with Mobil, he was big shot there. We headed for her parent’s house on Long Island, New York. But I was a liberal arts graduate with a major in biology. Tough competing with Ivy League business majors. I decided to be a nurseryman, grow and sell plants. I worked for a few months at a nursery in Memphis. I had the GI bill, I was a weekend warrior (flying in the reserves), and a part time job. I thought about going to Ag school for a while, then try my luck in Memphis looking for a job.

There was a college on Long island that had some good courses. But this was November and I couldn’t start until September. I learned about a school in Louisiana down south, more to my liking.

I started in January. They signed me up for 21, yes, 21 semester hours. I didn’t know about semesters. Grades improved. I got all As. Ten hours in summer school, 6 As, 4 Bs. Nineteen hours fall semester, 16 As, 3 Bs. Besides studies there was one weekend a month in New Orleans flying helicopters, part-time job and active in church. I was on the college flower judging team, composed of two college football players, one ex-football player, and a champion weight lifter. Nobody made fun of the flower judging team. We won the state championship and I took first place for individuals.

One of my profs asked if I was interested in graduate school. I had been earning money since I was ten. Now I liked school. Sure. We can get you a scholarship at Iowa State or Florida. Live in Florida or Iowa. Which would you pick?

Took me two years to get my masters in Ornamental Horticulture. Not many As, but I passed. I switched to Plant Physiology in the Botany Department. Not an outstanding student but I got my Ph.D. at the age of 33.

Have a Beer (1938)

My first recollection of beer was when Uncle Sam, a Masonic friend of Dad, died. I was around five or six. Uncle Sam lived in the front room of our house. He was fat. Edwin and I sometimes would sit on a leg and he would read us stories. About the only time he left the house was to get in a taxi to go somewhere and drink beer. He had a stroke and died while asleep. I was moved to the front room and slept in his bed.

I’m not sure when I was first told, Have a beer. Perhaps it was in the eleventh grade while working at Sears. After school, I would go to work and stay until five except Thursdays I would stay until nine and Saturdays were from nine until nine. Thursdays and Saturdays I would go with some of the guys across the street to a diner. I was the youngest. With our meals I would have a chocolate milkshake, they, a can of beer.

After a few meals, I heard, Poole, have a beer.

I like my chocolate milk shake.

A week or two went by. Poole have a beer. Some of my friends at school had started drinking beer and said it was great.

So, I thought, I’ll give it a try. Yuck, this tastes like piss!

How do you know, have you ever drunk piss?

No, but it looks like it and smells like it. I’ll bet it tastes like it.

Another week or two went by. One of my buddies said, Actually, the first time I tried beer, I wasn’t too fond of it, but after a few times. Terrific. Have a beer, Poole.

Okay, gimme a sip. I had a sip. You people really pay money for this? You’re nuts. I’ll take my shake anytime.

Our drinks consisted of one milkshake and several beers. Between my sophomore and junior year of college, I went with a college buddy to his dad’s ranch in Montana. They had mostly sheep but some cows. One day we were putting cows in a railroad boxcar. I was stationed along the chute to get the cows into the car.

I happened to be near a post. Poole, they’re breaking the post, get ‘em away! I tried but I was no match for a frightened cow. Down went the post, down went Poole, and down went the cow. I felt this warm liquid running down my face and into my mouth.

I WAS RIGHT! The cow was more scared than I was. They have a tendency to piss when frightened.

Many years later I was talking to a friend who went to Apopka High with Eddie Wiliford. I was a scoutmaster then and Eddie visited the troop once in a while, both at the meetings and while camping. He knew a lot about the outdoors. I was told he could go into the woods with only a pocketknife and come out fatter than when he went in. I was also told by a classmate of Eddie’s in Apopka High about the time some of the boys were giving Eddie a hard time at school because he wouldn’t have a beer.

Eddie learned they were going camping in Wekiwa. After dark Eddie found their camp. They were sitting around the fire drinking beer. Eddie approached the edge of the camp and made a few unkind remarks. The beer drinkers immediately went after Eddie. Eddie let them stay close for a while. When he figured they were far enough from the camp, he lost them and made a U-turn to their camp. Upon arrival at camp, he unzipped and added to the beer cans, then hid in the dark awaiting their arrival. They finally made it back to camp. Eddie expected them to take a sip and spit it out. But, no, they kept on drinking. Next Monday Eddie took great joy in telling his classmates how he watched them drinking piss.

Going from a church school to the Marines I was told, You’ll be drinking soon. Didn’t happen. I have memories of those who did. I went to a Bar B Q for the squadron. I was a little late. As I approached the hangar, a young kid came around the corner and puked. Just missed my shoes.

When someone said, Have a beer, he did. He was obviously trying to be one of the boys. Being ‘one of the boys’ was never a goal in my life. And there was my first officer’s party when I joined the squadron. There were games, some mental, some physical. Neither required a lot of thought or dexterity. Every game was won by one of two of the officers. The two that said no when told, Have a beer.

Put My Head Under Water!?! (1941)

Mother decided I should learn to swim and enrolled me in a class that was held at an indoor pool in a hotel. Upon beginning the lesson, my first reaction was BRRR! The water was cold. Soon after I was told I had to put my head