Post by eagle on Apr 15, 2013 0:37:49 GMT -5
Where to start. I didn't get along with my father, and that was that, and as a teenager he wasn't around much .. off somewhere with the military or something else. Which was all fine with me. I didn't take his bully mentality nor was I "in" the military, so I didn't respond well to 'orders'. Ironic ... later in life we got a long pretty well.... and one day about 1 yr before he died .. he told me he had to tell me something...... he said that he always had the "highest respect" for me, because I never took anything off of him, thought for myself, and had no problems taking care of myself. He said, "you never let anyone push you into anything". As he pointed out, my brother and sister did anything he told them to do , including the career paths they took, and would never stand up to him, etc.
Anyway.... I was very close with my mother and had the highest respect for her. The times my father was around (& even when he wasn't), I spent most of it with my grandfather (mother's father) on his farm, living with him. My grandfather on my father's side died before I was born, so I never knew him. Anyway.... my grandfather always amazed me. As hard as he worked and the long days, etc. ... he still could read a book a day, without fail. He taught me to fish, firearm safety & to shoot, hunt, to fix any piece of farm equipment around and to drive. He had no electricity, water was from a cistern or the well (no ice ever needed, always nice and cool water), and an outhouse. A bath was in a 'tub' outside, or on the enclosed porch when it was cold out. That's when you learned to take a bath in record time or freeze. I cut and chopped all of the wood, and we took turns cooking over a wood burning stove. I got to be an expert on how to do the fire , so I got the right temperature on the cast iron grill that I wanted for the best (fresh) buttermilk pancakes you could eat. In Winter, who was ever up first got to cook, so I always made sure I was up first... so I got to stand next to the warm stove while cooking.
He also taught me how to work on cars, trucks, etc. Now, the way he taught you .... was ... there it is .... "fix it". He didn't show you, you got the wrenches and tools and you got in there and did it, he would explain how things worked and then only make suggestions and give you advise along the way, tell you something 'critical' to make sure to check, etc. , or show me how to do certain "tricks" in doing some aspect of it. He taught me to plow behind a work horse, milk cows, make cream and cheese, feed and care for chickens... including how to pluck one for dinner. I was very handy and good with a sickle, and still am.... a lost skill. We got chicken feed by beating millet heads in the top of the barrels. Gathering eggs was never my favorite thing at all... them suckers always nailed me when I was gathering eggs but never messed with him. I worked about 1 1/2 acre garden where every vegetable imaginable was grown, and weeding it was no fun (all by hand of course). I also learned to can (which I have forgotten). He taught me how to graft plants, and to grow trees, plants, etc. I tried to avoid going out to the bee hives with him, because I always came back with a lot of stings, whereas he would have none .... but I loved the honey. You ever eat "honey sandwiches". Oh, learned to cook bread as well, oooh that was good stuff when it was hot .. and with fresh butter. There were a few ponds and a creek, so fishing was fun and good to eat.
We really didn't visit grocery stores. He would trade honey for jellies and jams some women made, and other bartering for other things. He carried around jalepeno peppers in his pocket as a snack, and would eat them thru the day. After a long day, we would sit out in two chairs outside..... and we'ld watch the lightening bugs, the stars, and just relax. He wasn't a very talkative person, so sometimes we might set there for 2-3 hours without a word being said. Other times, he would suddenly start sharing some "life learned wisdom" to remember.
I also used to take trips with him down to Mexico. And one of the things I learned from him ..... he always told me to take each person for who they are .... no matter what they did in life, no matter what their culture, religion, race or anything else. As he said, good men come from all religions, races, cultures, backgrounds, careers, etc.... and so do the bad ones. Take a person for what "type" of person he is, nothing else. No matter what, always be honest, your word is the 'one' thing you truly own.
Sorry this is longer than I planned. But, one of the things he really had a knack for ... as quiet as he could be..... I might be having a problem with a girl or something else, I would walk in ... and without even asking 'what was wrong', he'ld give me the answer. I never knew how he knew "anything" about any of it. There was no way for him to "know". Like once when I walked in , he asked me to sit down (he never TOLD you). He just said.... if you like her that much, you need to tell her and to show her... and then give her some room... she'll figure it out. His advise, never failed.
And the day he taught me to drive the stick shift pickup truck .... I was about 9 yrs old and he drove out into the middle of the pasture, and said ... it's time you learn to drive this thing. He got out of the truck and told me, "I'll see you at the house" and started walking to the house. I yelled out ... I don't know how to do this, he only said... "you'll figure it out, or you'll keep coming out here until you do .... it's all up to you " . That's why I learned... never be afraid to dive in and learn, even if you don't konw squat about it , because that's the only way you are ever going to. Never fear what you don't know, afterall .. it's really "up to you" if you want to learn it... you will.
He was in the hospital, and that night I was out on a double date. I got a weird feeling, "something was really really wrong .... and felt an empty feeling.... like some part of me was suddenly not there " ... and I knew I needed to get back and check on him. I asked my friend what time it was.. it was 8:00 p.m. I was staying with my mother at that point. When I got there, she was crying .. and I knew. I asked her "what time" he died... and she got mad at me for asking ..... finally she said, "they called me about 10 minutes after 8 p.m. and told me that he had died about 10 minutes ago... why are you asking ".
There has never been a day in my life, that I haven't felt that he wasn't right there with me in one way or another , and that something I did or was doing, wasn't in one way or another influenced by him or something he taught me along the way. I learned alot about my ancestors from him as well, and how important it is to know about it, and a love for history.
And, my 2 grandkids who have lived with me much of their lives.... his lessons & wisdom has been shared. Funny thing, my granddaughter came up to me one day and said ..... "granddad, how is it you seem to know something is wrong, and I haven't said a word to you about it " . Now, I understand.
Anyway.... I was very close with my mother and had the highest respect for her. The times my father was around (& even when he wasn't), I spent most of it with my grandfather (mother's father) on his farm, living with him. My grandfather on my father's side died before I was born, so I never knew him. Anyway.... my grandfather always amazed me. As hard as he worked and the long days, etc. ... he still could read a book a day, without fail. He taught me to fish, firearm safety & to shoot, hunt, to fix any piece of farm equipment around and to drive. He had no electricity, water was from a cistern or the well (no ice ever needed, always nice and cool water), and an outhouse. A bath was in a 'tub' outside, or on the enclosed porch when it was cold out. That's when you learned to take a bath in record time or freeze. I cut and chopped all of the wood, and we took turns cooking over a wood burning stove. I got to be an expert on how to do the fire , so I got the right temperature on the cast iron grill that I wanted for the best (fresh) buttermilk pancakes you could eat. In Winter, who was ever up first got to cook, so I always made sure I was up first... so I got to stand next to the warm stove while cooking.
He also taught me how to work on cars, trucks, etc. Now, the way he taught you .... was ... there it is .... "fix it". He didn't show you, you got the wrenches and tools and you got in there and did it, he would explain how things worked and then only make suggestions and give you advise along the way, tell you something 'critical' to make sure to check, etc. , or show me how to do certain "tricks" in doing some aspect of it. He taught me to plow behind a work horse, milk cows, make cream and cheese, feed and care for chickens... including how to pluck one for dinner. I was very handy and good with a sickle, and still am.... a lost skill. We got chicken feed by beating millet heads in the top of the barrels. Gathering eggs was never my favorite thing at all... them suckers always nailed me when I was gathering eggs but never messed with him. I worked about 1 1/2 acre garden where every vegetable imaginable was grown, and weeding it was no fun (all by hand of course). I also learned to can (which I have forgotten). He taught me how to graft plants, and to grow trees, plants, etc. I tried to avoid going out to the bee hives with him, because I always came back with a lot of stings, whereas he would have none .... but I loved the honey. You ever eat "honey sandwiches". Oh, learned to cook bread as well, oooh that was good stuff when it was hot .. and with fresh butter. There were a few ponds and a creek, so fishing was fun and good to eat.
We really didn't visit grocery stores. He would trade honey for jellies and jams some women made, and other bartering for other things. He carried around jalepeno peppers in his pocket as a snack, and would eat them thru the day. After a long day, we would sit out in two chairs outside..... and we'ld watch the lightening bugs, the stars, and just relax. He wasn't a very talkative person, so sometimes we might set there for 2-3 hours without a word being said. Other times, he would suddenly start sharing some "life learned wisdom" to remember.
I also used to take trips with him down to Mexico. And one of the things I learned from him ..... he always told me to take each person for who they are .... no matter what they did in life, no matter what their culture, religion, race or anything else. As he said, good men come from all religions, races, cultures, backgrounds, careers, etc.... and so do the bad ones. Take a person for what "type" of person he is, nothing else. No matter what, always be honest, your word is the 'one' thing you truly own.
Sorry this is longer than I planned. But, one of the things he really had a knack for ... as quiet as he could be..... I might be having a problem with a girl or something else, I would walk in ... and without even asking 'what was wrong', he'ld give me the answer. I never knew how he knew "anything" about any of it. There was no way for him to "know". Like once when I walked in , he asked me to sit down (he never TOLD you). He just said.... if you like her that much, you need to tell her and to show her... and then give her some room... she'll figure it out. His advise, never failed.
And the day he taught me to drive the stick shift pickup truck .... I was about 9 yrs old and he drove out into the middle of the pasture, and said ... it's time you learn to drive this thing. He got out of the truck and told me, "I'll see you at the house" and started walking to the house. I yelled out ... I don't know how to do this, he only said... "you'll figure it out, or you'll keep coming out here until you do .... it's all up to you " . That's why I learned... never be afraid to dive in and learn, even if you don't konw squat about it , because that's the only way you are ever going to. Never fear what you don't know, afterall .. it's really "up to you" if you want to learn it... you will.
He was in the hospital, and that night I was out on a double date. I got a weird feeling, "something was really really wrong .... and felt an empty feeling.... like some part of me was suddenly not there " ... and I knew I needed to get back and check on him. I asked my friend what time it was.. it was 8:00 p.m. I was staying with my mother at that point. When I got there, she was crying .. and I knew. I asked her "what time" he died... and she got mad at me for asking ..... finally she said, "they called me about 10 minutes after 8 p.m. and told me that he had died about 10 minutes ago... why are you asking ".
There has never been a day in my life, that I haven't felt that he wasn't right there with me in one way or another , and that something I did or was doing, wasn't in one way or another influenced by him or something he taught me along the way. I learned alot about my ancestors from him as well, and how important it is to know about it, and a love for history.
And, my 2 grandkids who have lived with me much of their lives.... his lessons & wisdom has been shared. Funny thing, my granddaughter came up to me one day and said ..... "granddad, how is it you seem to know something is wrong, and I haven't said a word to you about it " . Now, I understand.
