MY OLD "DAM-GUD" BAG IS NOW ONLY A MEMORY

MY OLD "DAM-GUD" BAG IS NOW ONLY A MEMORY

It was the coolest bag you ever saw.

Visualize a "thermos" bag about 14 

inches long, with a shoulder strap:

it'd hold six or seven sodas and

a frozen block...it zipped right around

the top. Made of white plastic 

interior and light canvas exterior.

In your mind's eye, see it as being

rather rugged and very masculine;

practically crying out "Let's go 

fishing!" Almost like a faithful dog!

Oh, oh! The biggie. It was made 

in CAMO. "Woodland" camo. You

could lose it iffen you got careless.

The "DAM-GUD" Company made 

these fridge bags and I bought ours

in about 1962. Where I can't recall;

"the mists  of time" have taken their

toll.

Depending on the season, 

temperature, weather--like a duck-

hunt or a catfishing  trip (with a 

lawn chair)' it would keep coffee 

and soups hot and sandwiches 

and sodas cold. Big time!

One look at it, hanging upstairs on 

my cozy "escape attic" wall brought

back...um..glorious memories of

times spent in the wild, with good

companions, and oft nice solitude.

Who can forget quail hunts, like

down around historic Claunch....

In the chill fall air, sitting and

leaning against the right front tire 

of the pickup, with the warm fall

sun shining , and rummaging thru

your Dam-Gud bag for sandwiches 

and drinks ...all in that clean red

sand in the  country road ruts--

well, there is nothing like it    on this

earth!

People used to see the trade mark

tag on the bag and say "Ha-Ha, is

it really 'damn good?,' "  I'd say, "My

brother, you don't even know the

half of it!"

Now today, I wish I had bought two

of them, and stored one in a vacuum

bag, protecting it from aging. For

though time has limited my outdoor

excursions, it'd be nice to have a

another brand new bag, like the old!

It seems the DAM-GUD Company 

is no more. Remember, mine was

purchased sixty years ago. When 

I searched the internet to order a

replacement, the displays all said:

"Did you mean damn good bag?"

There is a big empty nail and spot

on the attic wall, over in the corner,

where the old DG bag,  all brittle 

and cracked a bit, hung.....for years.

Then one day, it was gone.What 

happened to it...nobody knows.

Gone.

It was the kind of thing a wife does...

you know...gets a cleaning urge and

spots old stuff of husbands, ("that 

needs to go,") but no one will own up.

Maybe I myself, did it and then 

blocked it out…mercifully.

Someone once said, and it was maybe

in "PATTON,"  

           "All things are fleeting."

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MIL

10 FEBRUARY 2020