Joined
·
1,592 Posts
My Father passed away 12 years ago and I still think about him every day.He was one of those people who was always larger then life.
While I was growing up my dad ran a dirt business,and we had a shale pit on our property.He taught me as a 9 year old to run his brand new John Deere crawler loader.It was my job to load trucks. Can you imagine that happening these days.When the pit needed blasted to loosen more shale,my dad would drill holes in the floor with a jack hammer drill.He would then set a dynomite charge and pack the hole with clay.The John Deere loader would be parked over the charge to make it fracture the shale and not allow it to blow up.My Job was to touch off the blast sitting on the loader. Sounds Dangerous,but it really was not. He would say to my mom who would get a little nervious"do you think I would do anything to hurt my loader,it ain't paid for yet".
It seemed like he always had 20 things going at once,but always had time for his family.We had horses and showed them,raised every kind of domestic animal there was,and my dad was a big time dog man. He loved **** dog field trials,rabbit hunting with beagles and bird dogs.
He was also an original junk yard wars type of guy,could always find a way to make something work.Steel was his favorite material in the world.I grew up welding and using a torch.Doesn't every kid have a metal casting cupello in his back yard?
Some of my happiest childhood memories are life lessons I learned riding in a dump truck with my father.He worked hard and played harder.Always looking for things and events that would educate and entertain his children. My house was always the place to be when I was growing up.Some of my friends never wanted to go home.My dad built us a field car track and we had up to 10 cars at any one time.I don't remember anyone ever getting hurt.Old Iron was great wasn't it.
Let me relate my dad's last day:
He got up and loaded 3 12 foot long 6 foot round concrete casings on the side of his Unit cable front excavator.Proceeded cross lots to one of the neighbors. Dug a 25 foot deep hole and stood the casing up in it.back filled it,installed water piping.Presto ,neighbor had a new well. He drove the machine home picked out the tracks.He did some welding on a set of stairs he was building,ate dinner,went to bed,and did not get up the next morning. He was 92
While I was growing up my dad ran a dirt business,and we had a shale pit on our property.He taught me as a 9 year old to run his brand new John Deere crawler loader.It was my job to load trucks. Can you imagine that happening these days.When the pit needed blasted to loosen more shale,my dad would drill holes in the floor with a jack hammer drill.He would then set a dynomite charge and pack the hole with clay.The John Deere loader would be parked over the charge to make it fracture the shale and not allow it to blow up.My Job was to touch off the blast sitting on the loader. Sounds Dangerous,but it really was not. He would say to my mom who would get a little nervious"do you think I would do anything to hurt my loader,it ain't paid for yet".
It seemed like he always had 20 things going at once,but always had time for his family.We had horses and showed them,raised every kind of domestic animal there was,and my dad was a big time dog man. He loved **** dog field trials,rabbit hunting with beagles and bird dogs.
He was also an original junk yard wars type of guy,could always find a way to make something work.Steel was his favorite material in the world.I grew up welding and using a torch.Doesn't every kid have a metal casting cupello in his back yard?
Some of my happiest childhood memories are life lessons I learned riding in a dump truck with my father.He worked hard and played harder.Always looking for things and events that would educate and entertain his children. My house was always the place to be when I was growing up.Some of my friends never wanted to go home.My dad built us a field car track and we had up to 10 cars at any one time.I don't remember anyone ever getting hurt.Old Iron was great wasn't it.
Let me relate my dad's last day:
He got up and loaded 3 12 foot long 6 foot round concrete casings on the side of his Unit cable front excavator.Proceeded cross lots to one of the neighbors. Dug a 25 foot deep hole and stood the casing up in it.back filled it,installed water piping.Presto ,neighbor had a new well. He drove the machine home picked out the tracks.He did some welding on a set of stairs he was building,ate dinner,went to bed,and did not get up the next morning. He was 92
I didn't see him from when I was 5 until I was in my mid 20's. Didn't get a chance to start building any kind of relationship until my mid 30's. Funny thing, even though we weren't close all those years, his tool chest is organized just like mine right down to which drawer he keeps the wrenches in. We went to our first baseball game 2 years ago to see the local minor league team play. We have been trap shooting and to his boat club. Still got to get together and go hunting. Like tisenberg, I'm trying to get some quality time in before I have regrets. My mom is the one that put all the work in to raise my brother and me. She bought my first power tools and my first handgun. I'm lucky to still have them both. I wish my dad had been around more when I was younger, but no one can change the past. He seems more approachable now that he is retired and had to deal with life. I hear from various sources that he was slow to settle down and always saw the grass was greener on the other side of the fence. I didn't get married until I was 39 for much the same reason. I was able to avoid some of the mistakes he made, so even though he wasn't around, I still got the benefit of his experiences. Thanks again for sharing these memories.:thumbsup:
