I had a good friend, Jimmy Flitch, who was living on the old site of Fort Basinger, from the Seminole Wars. It was on the west side of the Kissimmee River. I said Jimmy was a good friend but only if you call somebody that nearly killed you, a good friend... Back in the fifties, Jimmy and I were in his airboat west of Andytown, in the Everglades. We had jumped a little buck deer and we were chasing him just to give him a little scare. We didn`t want to hurt him. We hit a tussock with the airboat, as we were making a turn and the airboat flipped up on its side and I went overboard. Jimmy kept his cool and powered the boat in a circle around me. In those days, we didn`t know what a prop guard was, so I got down in the water as far as I could, but it was only two feet deep. All I could see was that big yellow prop spinning about a foot from my head. But Jimmy kept the power on and the boat eventually came back down flat. He shut the motor off; I got in and told Jimmy, "Let`s go home, I`ve had about all the fun I can stand for one day." Well, all of this was water under the bridge and about ten years later I had endeared myself to Jimmy and his wife, Ann, although maybe it should have been the other way around... Jimmy and Ann`s boys were in the Future Farmers of America and were going to show some steers at a big livestock event in Sebring. Jimmy knew that I had contacts with several cattlemen in Marion County that raised some outstanding calves. I knew a man in Weirsdale that had some Charlois-cross calves that I felt would do a good job for Jimmy`s boys. One of the steers turned out to be a Grand Champion of the show and another was the Reserve Champion and after that, I was a hero to the whole Fitch family. Around Marion County in the sixties, where I was day-working cattle for several cow outfits, the work was getting scarce. It was probably due to all the new subdivisions being developed and the fact that most of the cattlemen leased their pastures from speculators. There had been a building boom in Central Florida for several years, but I`ll have to admit, I was missing the wide-open prairies of Okeechobee County, where I was raised and began my cowboy days.
So, I called Jimmy and told him I was coming down to look for work on a big ranch, he insisted I stay with him and Ann. So, I showed up with my pickup, horse trailer and one of my best horses and they put me up and stalled the horse in their barn.
The next day, Jimmy took me over to the Griffin Ranch on Eagle Island Road. The foreman there told me the Ranch was in the process of being leased to a big cowman from Marion County, Jackie Cullison, who happened to be a friend of mine. I didn`t pick up a job but before I left for home, since Jimmy wasn`t a cowboy, he asked me if I could get one of his cows back that had got out and was roaming around in some woods nearby. I located her, roped her and dragged her home. I guess I owed him. I went back to Marion County, got with Jackie Cullison and he offered me a job back at the Griffin Ranch down near Jimmy`s at Fort Basinger. | 
