Capt'n Stotts of Lawrence County. "He's a Good American Teddy Bear."
It's funny how things work out here around the bear shop. We had no idea that Capt'n Stotts was going to show up. I'm sure all the smart people have a plan not just for today but for the future. That's why they are the successes they are and we spend our days making Teddy bears. It's daily proof to me that God has a sense of humor.
Anyhoo, we had run an ad in the Lawrence County Record, the outstanding local weekly paper looking for vintage furs. Remind me not to do that again. We found out lots of people have furs in their closets and each is quite valuable to them. I mean we can't afford to pay Grandma paid. So like most of my ideas, I find this didn't work out like I envisioned. Probably that darned lack of planning. But one day a local couple showed up and they had a fur that had seen a lot of American History. I had my doubts but Vicky could see through what looked bad to the heart of the coat and she knew there was something special there. So we the elderly couple a check for $40.00. This made us feel good because we also helped out the local economy. They took that check right in to the bar next door. What happened to the money after is unknown to us. Each fur coat is different. It depends on the type of fur, how they have stored, how good a quality they were to start with. So the fur kind of have the final say about what kind bear we can make. So with this fur we began to cut away the bad stuff. There are always what we would call nicks and bruises in older furs but to us that is just character. But this mink had been stored in a barrel in a shed for no telling how long. That's an improper fur storage technique. But as we began to trim, the fur that was left got better and better. You could see how beautiful the mink was. It had a really cool pattern effect in the grain. It's hard to see in the pictures. We cut most of the coat away but what was left was perfect. Then we started in with our own little bit of practical magic. So that is how Capt'n Stotts showed up. The Capt'n is around 22" tall standing up which is what he does when the flag passes by. The mink had a little twist which showed up in his face. We thought it gave him kind of a quizzical Stotts City look. You know like, "What just happened." Capt'n Stotts prefers not to go most places without his vintage American Flag. Capt'n always says ,"better safe than sorry, if you're not carrying a flag, how could anyone tell that you really are a Good American Bear."