I have been sifting through memories of times we spent together perhaps looking for a funny one share. Ofcourse, I was involved in the toad business and felt as though I had made few power moves that rated at the top { hiding in a 5lb tub of Scallops.} I also think the Jello was my idea, but these clever moments don't really compare to the practical jokes you played on other people. So longer story short, my mind wandered more into the territory of how connected to nature, the woods and sporting you were. I first remembered a nice wingshot you made, grouse hunting, in the woods behind The Emerson's at the end of Varney Road. A great moment to share with a friend,as wingshots without a dog invoved, are very challenging indeed. So that was a great memory but not the one I was really searching for.      Last week a great memory surfaced. One that still fills me with respect and awe. On a warm summer day in Barryville looking for relief from the heat we { Ed, Ginny, Nick and myself} rented a raft or tubes I don't remember exactly and headed down the Delaware. The awesome part comes now! Ed didn"t get in the raft. He wanted to swim along so he could explore the bottom of the river looking for treasure lost by canoeists when they capsized. That he did!!! I swear Ed could hold his breath 3 times longer than any other human being. We went for miles with Ed disappearing below the surface for what seemed like way to long, only to surface thrusting some treasure high as he could in the air so we could see it. A lawn chair at one point. Ed was one with that river with it's Eel, Helgrammites, giant Carp, etc. I had never witnessed anything like that and never would expect to again. That was stunning Ed ! Thank you for that display of natural connectedness. I won't ever forget that afternoon. Peace and Love, Randy Lane

So I learned the gift of the gag from working with ed one time while I had the carburetor off a vehicle at the shop ed kept repeating to me "rumor has it those things smoke bad when you rebuild the carbs on them me being young had no clue what he was talking about but sure enough I fired that thing up and it filled the entire shop full of smoke all the while ed stood back by his tool box laughing see I told you those things smoke bad little did I know as I was contemplating what I had done wrong ed had dumped half a quart of tranny fluid down the opening where the carb went when I wasn't looking .then and there I started plotting my revenge and a couple weeks later my opportunity for pay back came ed had the heads off a Ford pickup belonging to the local ford dealer when he wasn't looking I dumped an entire quart down the exhaust pipe and waited for him to finish finally I'm gonna get him back well just as he's finishing up I look over and exclaim hey rumor has it those things smoke bad when you have the heads off ed just looks at me and smiles that sly smile of his and fires it up it's sitting there running huh no smoke well I didn't realize that exhaust has gotta get pretty hot before she'll start smoking but boy didn't she smoke it filled the whole shop full of thick smoke only problem was two sales guys from the dealer who owned the truck happened to be there while this was going on one of them say to the other wow hope that's not one of ours me and ed just laughed it took a road test almost all the way to freeport to clear that thing out filling both lanes of Rte 1 with smoke ya me and do kept everyone on their toes that year. Me and ed hit it off right from the time we met guess there's truth to the saying birds of a feather.but sad to say ed moved on we stayed in touch for awhile but then life came ed moved out of state children were born and we lost touch for along time.id see genny at the supermarket and always asked her hey how's ed doing we'd chat and then off to finish shopping very recently after much pressure from family I caved and got a Facebook account and the first old friend I searched was ed and low and behold there he was should have done it along time ago but my own stubbornness stopped me.we chatted caught up it was nice after all those years.imagine the shock when I open Facebook to learn wow Eds gone I can't even believe it .rest in peace ole friend some day we'll meet again who knows maybe those things smoke real bad when you rebuild them in heaven 

Ed....the muscular kid with the blonde hair and blue eyes.  Always a gentle soul, yet loved to laugh!  I remember one Halloween there was an old bathtub across from the Eldred Inn just sitting there.  Ed and a few others decided to lift it and put it under the light in Eldred.  Just as they got it under the light, along comes a car!  Ed slides down inside that deep, claw foot tub, hoping that the car doesn't stop....it didn't, but you should have seen the look on his face!  Eddie, leaving black marks with his boots on the wood floors in the classroom.  Peeling out, like he was driving a car...noise and all.  Eddie...mooning the cars following the bus around town before the bonfire at the school.  

I think my favorite story that Mike tells about he and Eddie is their rides to work at Ed Smith.  Every morning, the one driving that day would call the other and make sure they were up.  Mike said they would go as fast as the car would take them down 97 up the hill to the Hawks Nest and into Port Jervis.  One morning one of the old guys that worked with them said, "Come on boys, tell me, when was the last time you went 100 mph?"  Eddie turned to the guy and said, "What time is it?" Eddie was with Mike when they flipped the Duster on Route 55, out by Fox's garage.  Mike and Eddie going to English Town to the Drag Strip.  The Weinie Wagon.  (I posted a picture of it.)  And how can I forget how Mike talks about how every night Ed would wipe every one of his tools down and line them up in the tool box before they left.

Mike and Eddie had not been in touch in many years.  Niether knew what had happened to the other.  When I moved to Charleston, WV, we found Eddie on facebook, got his number and kept in contact with him via phone conversations.  It was like all the years melted away.  Mike and Eddie were best of friends, and Mike misses him horribly.  Every day he makes a comment about Ed.  We had planned for him to come and stay with us for a visit.  We are just so very sad that it never happened.  We love you, Ed!  Wish this was just a dream, but save us a place.  See you on the other side, Ed!  

It all began when Ed was living with us here in Freeport. Nick was very young and he had this ugly, bumpy, green, rubber toad toy, life size. Ed started the game by hiding the toad inside the pillowcase on Nick's bed. Nick reciprocated by hiding it in Ed's work boots. Back and forth it went until Ed found his own apartment and invited Nick over for dinner, just for bachelors...I told him to tell his Uncle Ed that he would bring dessert, which was a lovely bowl of jello with sliced bananas at the bottom, which conveniently hid the toad. So began the toad war between Ed and I which became an epic battle of humor and cunning and deception. Some of my favorite hidings on Ed were Inside some beautiful bay scallops that I froze and gave him (took months until he discovered him), under his plunger in his bathroom, in a hanging houseplant. There were so many funny ones that he was champion of, he hid toad in the branches of my pepper plant and I thought I had a rotten pepper only to discover it was toad. He hid toad in my container of salad, which I found with my fork while eating at work...my co-workers thought it a bit strange as I laughed hysterically. Toad was in my workout sneakers in my gym bag, hiding in the nest boxes of our chickens, it went on and on for 25 years and always started with a call asking, "Have you seen my toad?" and then you knew he was hidden somewhere in your belongings. It got harder when Ed moved to New Hampshire, but that didn't stop us. The ultimate toad event was when I discovered a friend who was a sales rep for dental products who traveled to Dover frequently, and Ed worked at Duponts garage at the time in Dover. This is how it went down. Ed was busy at work when one of the guys came to get him and told him some lady was there asking to see him about her car. He grumbled as we all know Ed could and went out to find her. Karen was there with a young unsuspecting training rep and she said that her car was making really weird sounds coming from the engine and someone gave her his name saying he could help her out. He growled at being bothered but went over to the car and opened the hood looking in....and yes, there was toad sitting on the engine. Karen told me that Ed's head swivled around looking at them both and yelled, "Who the Hell are you people?" The young guy probably peed his pants and said, "I know NOTHING about this, honest". Well, I got a phone call about a minute after that, hearing Ed screaming at me that he hated me and now how the Hell could he ever beat THAT? SWEET VICTORY! Just this past February when Ed and Sarah came over for his birthday dinner celebration I made him his favorite ice box birthday cake, telling him I was sending the remainder home with him. I had secretly made a seperate small cake with toad hidden inside and sealed in the tupperware, which Sarah ended up discovering when she had a late night snack after getting back home. The torch has been passed to Sarah to continue toad war with me. I know she is up for the challenge. <3

Wish I had the picture, but...  The first time I met Eddie, it was Tim and Eddie and I in Mom and Dad's basement...  Eddie put on Mom's giant turquoise gardening hat.  He proceeded to rant and rave about...God knows what.  We were all so involved in conversation/debate over whatever it was, we all forgot he was wearing the hat. All of the sudden, I looked up at him and just lost it!  Imagine the president of the United States in a giant gardening hat and the just grinned.  God love him!

One of the last times Eddie and I talked, he wanted me to teach my daughter to be strong!  The  way he did with his daughter Sarah.  He said, "my daughhhteh knows how to shoot to kill!"  You better make sure your daughter can do the same.  That was scarey.  Then, he told me how he would never worry about the "boys" coming around-cause Sarah could take 'um down!  He was so proud of you Sarah!!!

 One of my favorite times with Ed was when I was home from college and he invited me to the park tavern in Yulan NY across from the ballfield to watch him in an arm wrestling contest. There were some pretty big guys there but Ed beat every one of them and I couldn't believe how strong he was with his muscles bulging in that classic Ed t-shirt with the sleeves ripped off. I'm sure they saw this young guy coming and didn't consider him a threat but he walked away with some cash, and the undying admiration of his older sister.  I never looked at him the same again!