Last weekend I gave the survivor talk for our ACS Race for the Cure-and I told them about the wonderful effect humor in the form of Patrick McManus had on my recovery!! 

Seven years ago I was diagnosed with bilateral breast cancer stage IIIB, and was terrified out of my mind. This is a section of my talk.

When the diagnosed of cancer was official, I was terrified.

• My brain and my ears could not understand the words they said,
• Neither could I read any of the words in the stacks of literature they handed me.
• What I could finally deduce was that the cancerous mass was too big to remove surgically, so they would begin high dose/rapid infusion chemo, and three weeks after treatment began, my hair would be gone.

One day my husband, Roger, and I were invited to dinner with extended family. During dinner different family members asked me the gentlest possible questions about my cancer and treatment.

I could not answer even one of their questions.

After dinner when we got in our car I said to Roger–“This cancer business is not just about me, is it? It involves our whole family, doesn’t it?”

Roger said “Yes. ”

I realized I needed to make significant changes in my thinking.

One of the first thoughts that came to mind was: “A merry heart does good, like medicine” from Proverbs 17.

My heart had not been “merry” for a long time.

Immediately I told Roger about a book I remembered by Dr. Bernie Siegel who conducted research on the effect of laughter for terminally ill Cancer patients.

We made a decision right then to devote time every evening to laughter and we knew just where to turn. One of our favorite authors when our kids were little had been Patrick McManus, a humor writer for [Outdoor Life and Field & Stream] whose books were a collections of his stories. His best stories were memories of his antics with his childhood friend Crazy Eddie Muldoon and an old woodsman named Rancid Crabtree! When we read his stories we used to laugh until we cried!

Then our kids grew up and moved away taking our McManus book collection with them! So that evening Rog drove to Barnes and Nobel and bought ten new McManus books for our library.

At home that night we read one of our favorite stories, “The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw.” We laughed until tears ran down our faces and joy began to replace fear in our house!

The next day, in response to five requests from friends, we opened a CaringBridge account (which is a free non-profit website that helps connect patients with family and friends).

In CaringBridge we wrote our story. Our family & friends responded.

As the first words of encouragement, prayers, and Bible promises arrived in my computer, I found my mind lifted above my fear, and for the first time after diagnosis I felt peace. The light and joy from good books had started us on this journey toward peace, and I found that the words of friends and family gave me a confidence that I was not alone and that God was with me.

Thank you Patrick McManus and publishers!

Editor’s note: this post has been edited from a longer post, focusing primarily on Pat’s stories. For the original post, click here.

I know a lot of you are experiencing early stages of cabin fever with the heavy winter storms, because I’ve been getting several requests to help people find that story “about cabin fever and playing Monopoly.”

Here is a list of other winter stories to hopefully lighten up these cold, bleak days.

Two-Man Tent Fever

Found in the book Never Sniff a Gift Fish
The fever associated with cabin fever comes in many forms, but by far the worst is two-man-tent fever.

A Really Nice Blizzard

Found in the book Rubber Legs and White Tail-Hairs
When school gets canceled because of a blizzard, Rancid Crabtree shows Pat and Crazy Eddie Muldoon the proper way to ride an upside-down truck fender wearing a parachute.

Cold Fish

Found in the book They Shoot Canoes, Don’t They?
Winter fishing is just as crazy as it sounds. In contemplating this malady Patrick also remembers the person responsible for exposing it to him: Rancid Crabtree.

Cry Wolf

Found in the book Rubber Legs and White Tail-Hairs
For six-year old Patrick entertainment was hard to come by in the dead of winter. Except for Tuesday evenings when they braved snow, ice, and wolves, to listen to the radio at the nearest neighbors.

The Snow Cave

Found in the book The Bear in the Attic
While Pat and Bun were taking a shortcut through the mountains in a blizzard, Pat was reminded of the time he and Crazy Eddie Muldoon built a snow cave during a blizzard in their youth.

A Big Chill

Found in the book The Bear in the Attic
While Pat was playing hookey from school, Rancid Crabtree stops by and takes him ice fishing. Rancid falls through the hole in the ice and they build a fire to dry his clothes. Things were going as well as could be expected until some helpful neighbors come along and help Pat burn the old rags he had found.

Journal of an Expedition

Found in the book They Shoot Canoes, Don’t They?
Patrick presents his journal of a winter expedition with Al Finley and Retch Sweeney to Tuttle Lake.

The Human Fuel Pump

Found in the book The Grasshopper Trap
When the fuel pump goes out in Retch’s new pickup, in the mountains, in a blizzard, Al Finley heroically fills in.

You Never Forget Your First Love

I remember the first McManus story I read. I was 30 years old (I don’t remember those first 30 years as being particularly boring, but without Patrick McManus what a dismal time it must have been). I was at a family reunion and my older brother handed me a book and said, “Here, you need to read this.”

The story was “The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw.” I was immediately struck with Pat’s dry, understated style. He made it seem so easy. I had never read a story that made me laugh so much.

As hysterical as his stories are when you’re reading them to yourself, to get the full effect you need to read them aloud, or listen to them being read. Those who know me know how much I love to read aloud. In my high-school years our family didn’t have a television so I would read out loud every night for our entertainment. I wish I had known about McManus back then.

Later that afternoon when the family was all together I read “The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw” to everyone, as well as “A Really Fine Blizzard” and “Getting it in the Ear.” It seems like I can only read a few out loud at a time ’cause I’m exhausted from laughing.

In the comments below tell us about your first McManus story. How old were you? How did you discover him?

There were many men in Patrick’s life. His father, stepfather Hank, and the fathers of his close friends all helped shape Pat into the man he is today, for better or worse. In honor of Father’s Day take some time and share these stories with the fathers in your life.

1. In Judgment of Men

Found in the book The Bear in the Attic.

Patrick contemplates the qualities of his father, stepfather, and other men that his mother might have married. He also remembers getting his first guns—a BB gun, a .22 rifle, and a shotgun.

2. Mean Tents

Found in the book The Grasshopper Trap.

Patrick describes the various tents that have tormented him throughout his life. In particular, he tells of shooting arrows through Cousin Buck’s new tent, and the time he and Crazy Eddie were mistaken for a mummy late one night in the Muldoon’s kitchen.

3. The Big Fix

Found in the book Rubber Legs and White Tail-Hairs.

Changing a flat tire today is nothing compared to “fixing a flat”. Patrick remembers the Sunday family outings of his childhood, with their regular flat tires. Watching his father’s antics was highly entertaining, since carrying a spare (and a jack even) were considered profligate.

4. Sequences

Found in the book The Night The Bear Ate Goombaw.

A task or goal may seem simple enough, but unless you’re careful you will be sucked into an endless vortex of sequences. It’s usually best to just go fishing instead.

5. Salami on Rye and Hold the Wild Gobo

Found in the book Never Sniff a Gift Fish.

Pat remembers his Dad’s advice about proper etiquette regarding Gram’s cooking of wild greens.

6. Blood Sausage

Found in the book Real Ponies Don’t Go Oink!

Hank’s culinary horrors are finally surpassed when a butchered-pig’s blood is saved to make sausages.

This time of year people are always looking for the perfect scary story.

Each one of these stories gives me that indescribably pleasant shiver and also have the added benefit of making me laugh out loud.

1. The Big Woods

Found in the book How I Got This Way.

Mr. Muldoon takes Crazy Eddie and Patrick into a clearing deep inside the Big Woods on an errand to pick dewberries. As the sun sets Eddie’s imagination gets carried away, and all three of them flee the clearing with ghosts hot on their tails.

2. Mean Tents

Found in the book The Grasshopper Trap.

Patrick tells of the many tents he’s had the misfortune of encountering in his life. However, none of them are as fearful, to all parties concerned, as the one he and Crazy Eddie made out of gunny sacks one late-summer evening.

3. The Swamp

Found in the book The Grasshopper Trap.

Looking for an area on the Pack River that hadn’t been fished, Pat, his friend Birdy and the old woodsman, Rancid Crabtree, find themselves deep in a swamp. When darkness comes they narrowly escape an attack of a killer bat.

4. Grogan’s War Surplus

Found in the book A Fine and Pleasant Misery.

Late one night, from ten feet in the air, encased in a chicken-down sleeping bag, Patrick accidentally falls from his jungle hammock onto the unsuspecting family dog.

Happy Halloween!

Whenever our family gets together there is always a time set aside for some Patrick F. McManus stories. There’s nothing like laughter to bring everyone closer together.

If you enjoy reading out loud then set a time for mid-morning or mid afternoon before meal preparations begin.

If you don’t typically read out loud you might want to prepare everyone in advance. Plan to read just one story and test the waters. Ask parents to encourage the younger children to be respectful. A typical story could last fifteen minutes or so. Even if you haven’t read out loud very much, when you hear the laughter you’ll be swept up in everyone’s enjoyment.

Here is a short list of stories that have never failed to bring tears of laughter at our family reunions.

A Really Nice Blizzard

Found in the book Rubber Legs and White Tail Hairs.

When school gets canceled because of a blizzard, Rancid Crabtree shows Pat and Crazy Eddie Muldoon the proper way to ride an upside-down truck fender wearing a parachute.

The Grasshopper Trap

Found in the book The Grasshopper Trap.

Finally, one of Crazy Eddie’s ideas for a contraption actually works. With Rancid Crabtree’s help they build a grasshopper trap that works, in some ways, even better than they imagined. In other ways, not quite.

Pouring My Own

Found in the book Real Ponies Don’t Go Oink!

Pouring concrete isn’t nearly the fun experience you might imagine, and Pat explains why.

Pigs

Found in the book Rubber Legs and White Tail Hairs.

Returning from a fishing trip, Pat, Retch Sweeney, and Al Finley, find a farmer selling pigs for $7 apiece. Unable to pass up such a good deal they load up six of them in gunny sacks. Bedlam ensues. Of course.

Ralston Comes Through

Found in the book The Bear in the Attic.

Out of desperation, Patrick and his cousin, Buck, seek the advice of a fortune teller to find out where they might find some good fishing. Pat also uses this opportunity to test Buck’s fear of spiders.

Tenner-Shoe Blight

Found in the book How I Got This Way.

As Pat is explaining the necessities of all his different types of outdoor shoes and boots to his wife, Bun, he is reminded of the universal footwear of his childhood, tenner shoes. One time his cousin Buck won a contest to see who could keep their tenner shoes on the longest. He kept them on so long his toes grew together.

There you go, you rockstar you. And you don’t even need to wear leather and makeup!

Here it is the dead-heat of the summer and all I want to do is head up to higher altitudes for a relaxing camping weekend. We know how those “relaxing camping weekends” can turn out to be not so relaxing, but that’s another post.

While you’re packing up everything don’t forget to take these Patrick McManus stories with you.

1. Get Ready

Found in the book How I Got This Way.
note: Read this one before you go.

Preparing for your trip can be so tedious, you might just want to do it the way Patrick does.

2. The Big Trip

Found in the book A Fine and Pleasant Misery.

Patrick finally gets to experience the big trip of his childhood imaginings, full of more misery and hardship than he could possibly hope for.

3. The Family Camper’s Dictionary

Found in the book Never Sniff a Gift Fish.

For those new to the sport of camping, Patrick has compiled a helpful dictionary of terms and phrases.

4. The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw

Found in the book The Night the Bear Ate Goombaw.

When the Muldoons invite Patrick to go camping, his Mom makes him take along an old fur coat to ward off the chill of the cold mountain night. This leads to a problem of mistaken identity.

5. But Where’s the Park Papa?

Found in the book A Fine and Pleasant Misery.

Taking the family with you? Patrick and his family spend their vacation at a national park, with the rest of humanity, it seems.

Now you’re all set, get out there and relax!