(Phone rings)

"Hello, Jot 'Em Down Store. This is Lum 'N Abner."

(cue music and applause)

Just smell the air.

Ions weighted down, carrying the scent of wildflowers, tobacco and muck. It is the sweet country air that drags you from the city, luring you with curving roads and your favorite music in the background or, maybe, it's the air that you breathe every morning on your own plot of land just outside the Circle.

I try to get out and inhale it as often as possible.

Recently, I was sitting at the crossroads of Russell Cave and Ironworks Pike enjoying the scenery and visiting Robey Terrell at the Jot 'Em Down Store. He proudly told me that since it opened in 1934, he is the third generation to own the store and not a lot has changed. Maybe an old cooler or two are gone and a television has been added to watch the games. Country markets are still great places to buy a sandwich, exchange stories, and ask directions, but this one in particular has a history.

According to the story told, this store was actually named by the famous Lum and Abner. Old time radio lovers will remember Lum and Abner as a pair of shopkeepers (Jot 'Em Down Store) in Pine Ridge, Arkansas in the early 30s that blended charmingly, innocent philosophy and a few fine messes into a very popular fifteen-minute show. Once when they were visiting Kentucky to buy and trade horses, they stopped at the Terrell's unnamed general store. Everyone knew who they were and they liked Robey's grandfather so much that the next week they brought back a painted sign with its new name emblazoned. And so it was christened.

Stepping inside our Jot 'Em Down Store with its hardwood floors, tin-tiled ceiling, old Hobart scale, and retro deli case, you'll find fairly typical country grocery fare. Along one wall is the cold beverage section (beer, sodas, etc.) while another aisle is filled with pantry staples, honey from the Hacker Family Farm, and cans of ingredients to pick up on your way home from work - but the deli is really why you should go.

If you grew up anywhere near a country store then you know that they always make great sandwiches. You certainly do not go in expecting peasant bread and wasabi mustard.

It's meat and cheese, dressed, on a nice white or wheat bread. Just like your mama made for your lunch box.

Brandon, the nephew, will make you a sandwich with bologna, liver loaf, pepper loaf, roast beef, turkey, ham, chicken salad, or pimiento cheese, along with either colby, swiss, or hot pepper cheese. These are your choices for the cold side of the deli and although there is a hot side that includes cheeseburgers, grilled chicken, Bar-B-Q, and metts, I did not try any of these so I can't pass on their merits.

Actually, I did leave out one sandwich, the country ham sandwich. If you like country ham, which I happen to, then you'll really like this sandwich. A heap of shaved country ham from Crescent Springs, Kentucky placed on sliced bread with a little fresh tomato and mayo, wrapped in white paper. It's perfect picnic-in-the-country food.

If you try to go during lunch on a weekday, be aware, it can be very busy. Not only will you find workers from the surrounding farms, but locals coming in on their way home and tourists from the scenic highway. If you want to eat in, there are four wooden booths with yellow Formica tables and the stories from the clientele are both entertaining and familiar. Be sure to ask about the Jot 'Em Down race at the Red Mile the night before Derby.

This is definitely not a non-smoking venue so if it bothers you (morally, not physically), please leave your polite coughing and over-the-shoulder glare at home and just try to enjoy one of the last vestiges of a unique, family run, community need.

Too many of these stores have faded away.

With a shrinking dominion of black fences, equine bloodlines, and oral tradition, they're gems holding their ground.

This is one and I hope that you take that beautiful drive down Russell Cave Road just five miles north of New Circle and experience it for yourself.

Please email your culinary heads-ups to Karen at kworkman@aceweekly.com.