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Well I just got back from being part of the group that saw the "Last Auction" at the "Big Red Barn". For those of you that are old enough to remember back, that was the place to be on a Friday night from 1912 to 1987, Jacobs Horse sale in Bellville Mi. No telling how many thousands of horses were auctioned off there. Even after the Horse Sale closed, Bobby Jacobs followed in the footsteps of his Grandpa Julius, and until today sold and traded Boots, Saddles, tack and lots of stories of the good old days. Bobby himself was a rodeo cowboy, and later a rodeo clown that performed along with the likes of Lash Larue, (again for those of you that are old enough to remember). If you look up "horse trader" in the dictionary , it will probably have a picture of Bobby. He bought and sold horses all over the country. Truly the last of a breed, and by the way, he was the guy that gave me my first saddle repair work so many years ago. At the end of the auction I asked Bobby what he was going to do with the sign up on the side of the barn? He smiled and said it is yours, but; you have to take it down. I promptly borrowed a ladder someone bought for $4, climbed up and got it!! I knew it wasn't the original one, but; I was tickled to get it anyway. When I got it home, and looked at it closer, I discovered that the front of the sign, was a plastic covered canvas that the new sign had been painted on and was stapled to an old 4 X 8 sheet of wood. As I carefully peeled the canvas off with the intention of hanging it in my shop along with another old "Hoot n Holler Ranch Rodeo" sign that I received as a gift and now resides in my shop, I found the Real Original Jacobs sign. Needless to say, I am now looking at them and feeling really melancholy, as that was the sign that was up there as I remember it all the way back in the 50's when as a boy I used to get my boots there. Guess I just needed tell somebody. It's hard to realize just how much has passed in a life time. Sincerely, Bob