Six Great McManus Stories for Father’s Day

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.

6 thoughts on “Six Great McManus Stories for Father’s Day”

  1. Started reading Pat’s stories in Outdoor Life before he published a book. The books are always close at hand whenever I need a laugh. My boys grew up reading him and whenever I take somebody new to fish in Canada, a book always goes along to liven up evenings and introduce new people to Pat. Thanks for all your help. Many’s the time we’ve pitched an I-FUT !

  2. Where’s the story… Pat was a youngster and his Dad had died. His mother was raising chicks in the attic and they kept growing into chickens. One Sunday at church the pastor/priest invited himself over for dinner (chicken dinner). While visiting, he heard the sounds of the chickens rustling and squaking up in the attic. With the intention of helping the new widow, Pat and his sister (the troll), he gallantly goes up to the attic (I think via a drop-down ladder) and is shocked/terrified when he unearths a flurry of feathers, and squawking chickens!

  3. Hello!
    What collections and publications (books, cds, cassettes, etc) contain the story blood sausage please?
    Thank you,
    James D Eckert

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