Kerosene, Anyone thirsty?
There used to be a lake in the Ocala National Forest called Long Pond, you can still find it on the maps, but it is pretty much dried up. Prolly more than fifty years ago it was a good fishing and camping lake. The lake was sorta "T" shaped with a Live Oak Hammock in a corner of the "T". This hammock had a well with a pitcher pump so you could get water and also had some tables scattered about. A good place to camp and fish. My grandparents and parents and uncles and brothers and sisters sometimes would camp there for weeks. Trolling with rubber frogs and crickets behind a little spinner catching bluegills or shellcrackers or catching Starhead minnows and wading with a cane pole and catching yearling bass on those minnows. Running a trotline at night for catfish and turtles, always had plenty of fish and grits and hushpuppies with swampcabbage sometimes to eat. Matter of fact I caught my biggest bass ever from Long Pond,on a live frog with a Zebco 33. Didn't have a scale but I know he was over 10 lbs and I don't know of anyone who can prove me wrong.
Anyhow there was no electricity so had to use coleman lanterns and kerosene stoves while camping. I remember being there with my brothers and my Dad. It was summer and hot as blazes. Came back to camp middle of the day after fishing all morning, was thirsty as all get out. My Dad grabbed a mason jar unscrewed the lid and started chugging what he thought was water. It was not water. He got about 2 swallers before he realized it wasn't water. You know back in those days Kerosene was used for medicinal purposes some times. But not in the doses he swallowed. My Dad always had stomach trouble anyway. He heaved that kerosene for hours before he started to get any better. I think he was prolly sick for a week after that, but still managed to catch fish. After that he never drank out of a mason jar.
