whats up dad

The last month or so I've found my self wanting to give dad a call. See how things are how the gardening went his Summer . Ask how he felt about the bail out of bad business. Tell him how the grandsons are doing .Talk about how good fishing was this Summer and how I felt him next to me when ever I was at my best. Then it hits me dads not goin to answer the phone any more . Some times I would call way to late and he would all ways answer he new it was me some how we would talk about the garden or the boys , politics , plans ,dreams

Your Country Thanks You

Tuesday was Veteran's day. I've always been proud of my Dad's service to our country but I could not help but feel just a bit more connected to it all when I flipped through the paper and saw a picture of a boy of 9 or so placing a wreath on his Dad's tombstone in a military cemetery. Every since Dad was diagnosed I've been back to my feelings as a boy and there I was again lost without him - yet proud. It took a long long time and I'm thankful for the blessing of that time. But in the end... yes he died in the line of duty - serving his country. I'm sure he was a hero in small ways.. and maybe even bigger ways than we may ever know.. but he did his best and served his country and died because of his service so although he may not been noticed in name in services, I still hope he was there in the thoughts and prayers of so many who said thanks to the men and women who serve and have died in service to our country. I guess this is also on my mind as Dad's flag from retiring from active service has been on my busy desk for the past month.. sitting silently with me each day...

persimmon memories

I received a couple persimmons in the mail yesterday and it got me to thinking about Dad. You see if you were to take a right at the end of the his driveway on a lovely fall afternoon on your way to visit Moses or just to get some fresh air you would pass a great, tall Persimmon tree. Dad would sing the praises of a ripe persimmon and proceed to determine if the persimmons were ripe as yet. I seem to recall one of the ways he knew they were ripe without getting a horribly puckered mouth was if he had seen the deer eating them. I like these memories of "Nature Dad" , like how he could tell if it was an armadillo with a slight limp that had crossed the riverbed or a raccoon hunting crayfish in the moonlight. And man could he locate any troll in any state under any bridge!!!