Barney Rymer leads the visitors to his &uot;piddlin’ place&uot; — a covered workshop filled with assorted tools, work tables, even a refrigerator.

&uot;When you make teeth for a living, you’ve got to find something to do after doing that for eight hours a day,&uot; he says.

And something for this Natchez man is a little bit of everything — from making wrought iron furniture to building sausage grinders for hunting camps to boiling peanuts with friends on a warm summer evening.

&uot;I spend a lot of time out here,&uot; Rymer says.

Time, for Rymer, is marked with things to do. He operates a dental lab — adjacent to his home — and crafts false teeth and dentures for local dentists. He started making teeth when he was 16, and he’s been making them for more than 40 years.

Rymer was born in Rosetta, near Crosby, and graduated from Crosby School. A bout with polio as a child left his legs weak and a broken leg about 10 years ago has forced him to use a wheelchair. But that doesn’t slow him down.

He fishes — the walls of his self-confirmed &uot;bachelor’s house&uot; are lined with fishing memorabilia and mounted catches. &uot;My price list in my lab says we’re closed all day during fishing season. The first thing people want to ask is, ‘when’s fishing season?’&uot; he says. &uot;I tell ’em its whenever the fish are biting.&uot;

He watches the birds — purple martins, to be exact — that flock to the more than 170 houses and gourds lining his yard. The numbers on the gourds are &uot;so the birds can know where their houses are when the come home,&uot;&160;he jokes. &uot;You’ve never seen a fight until one of them gets in the other’s house.&uot;

He feeds the wildlife — from squirrels who feast of the dried sunflowers hanging in his &uot;piddlin’&uot; place — to rabbits, possums, armadillos and ‘coons.

&uot;I used to feed the ‘coons. I had about 30 of ’em,&uot; he says. &uot;They went through a 50-pound sack of dog food each week … until they kept wanting to go swimming in the pool. Then I had to stop.&uot;

He gardens — the plot at his Cherokee Street home yields corn, mustard greens, collards, carrots, lettuce and tomatoes. &uot;Everything but squash,&uot; he says. &uot;For some reason, I just can’t get my squash to go out here.&uot;

And he visits with friends and family, perhaps the most satisfying of all his hobbies. &uot;We get out here, discuss stuff stuff, boil peanuts, whatever …&uot; Rymer says. The backyard pool is a favorite draw for nieces, nephews and neighborhood children, even after they’ve grown beyond childhood.

&uot;I don’t turn them away until they get too old and rowdy,&uot; he says. &uot;Some are still coming here and they’re 24-years-old … they’re so big they’re bending my diving board.&uot;

The Dart is a weekly feature in which a reporter throws a dart at a map and finds a story where it lands.