Tag Archives: Dad

Happy Father’s Day

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Dad likes nothing better than sitting in the shade talking.

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Dad, Mom, and my aunt Lois somewhere in Ireland I’m guessing.

Made with This by Tinrocket

Here we are in Coyote, New Mexico. I had to label everything because when I said that I was the good looking kid people were still confused.

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With son Logan at Dad’s church in Idaho.

#tbt Smokey Bear dot com posted this photo today on their Facebook site today. It shows me and my father in 1957 at the Pecos Ranger Station in New Mexico. My dad was the district ranger at the time. #ForestService #1950's #NewMexico

Forest Service publicity still in 1957. I am still waiting for my royalty checks.

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Dad at his beloved Flandreau, South Dakota with my cousin Bob on his right, and Dad’s brother Glenn on his left.

Dad with Baby

Dad with one of us kids. I am not sure which kid. Not a very good son am I.

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Here we are, my sister Ellen and brother Bob in Payson, Arizona.

Happy Father’s Day to all you Fathers out there!!

Our World – Off to Idaho

I have been off to Idaho to visit my Dad for a long weekend.

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Here is me and my Dad in his very first every selfie!

UntitledThis is in the Tulsa Airport using the Harris Effect App on my Ipod Touch. I love people watching.  IMAG0427I flew to Denver and changed planes. United and their partners in crime Skywest fly the most uncomfortable cramped planes I have ever been in.  Other than that, everything was great. IMAG0428 Anyways I got in kind of late and needed a bite to eat. So we went an Idaho outlet of a good old Oklahoma company, Sonic.UntitledWhen I got home I saw that Dad had properly stocked his refrigerator.  We can’t get Fat Tire beer in Oklahoma because our messed up liquor laws. #LowRider at my Dad's neighbor in#IdahoFalls it has been for sale for five years #givemeabreak #you'rekillingmesmallsLooking for a car? Dad’s neighbor has a low rider for sale. Let me know if you are interested. IMAG0442I went on a couple walks. Idaho, like Oklahoma is kind of rural. IMAG0440On a geocaching search I came across this old park. It is not maintained any longer for some reason but somebody put up a brand new net on the basketball goal. _DSC0983I took a walk along the Snake River and looked at the Falls that has given Idaho Falls its name. _DSC0986

And downstream a replica of one of the original bridges way back when.

Anyways, I head back home Monday, I’ve had a great weekend visiting with my father.

Linking with Our World Tuesday

Father’s Day

While we were on our family vacation in Hawaii, The Smokey Bear facebook site posted this photo below. I would have missed it by myself but we had some family members who subscribe to the site who tagged me in it. It was quite a thrill seeing this picture. It shows my Dad and myself at the Pecos Ranger Station in New Mexico. I have a Smokey Bear and dad is pointing off in the distance. I was just two years old at the time and of course have no memory of it. Dad was the District Ranger which put him somewhere below the President and above just about everybody else in my mind.

Dad me at Pecos Ranger Station

The photographer who did the shoot for the Forest Service sent Dad a bunch of prints including this one where my Dad is pointing off in some other direction and brother Bob was looking elsewhere.

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Dad is now retired in Idaho. I have always been proud of him. Way back then and even more so today.  He has always been my idol.

Happy Father’s Day Dad!

Birthday!

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It’s my Dad’s birthday today. He’s still doing great.

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He worked long and hard during his tenure in the US Forest Service while being a great husband for over fifty years and raising three kids.

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He deserves to sit back and tell a few stories

Happy Birthday Gramps!

The Damn Dam of Flandreau

The Dam

The Damn Dam spans the Big Sioux River just outside the small town of Flandreau, South Dakota where my dad spent his boyhood. He and his brothers and another friend all went in together and bought a canoe and lived what sounded like the Tom Sawyer life on the lake behind the dam. Fishing, camping, canoeing, and “hanging out.”  It still looks like a good place to hang out.

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It was called the Damn Dam by my mother and my Aunt who were very tired of visiting the dam every year and never missed an opportunity to not go. It was all in good fun though. My Dad and his brother still like to go and I like to go because they like to go and they have great stories. The stories get better ever year. I’m much to polite to say anything about that though.

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Cousin Robert, Dad, and his brother at the Damn Dam.

National Day of the Cowboy

I learned something new the other day. The fourth Saturday of each July is the “National Day of the Cowboy.” Don’t get too excited.  You don’t get any time off or anything. It is a day to remember the Cowboys and Cowgirls of our country and their heritage. I grew up in the west and know a lot of Cowboys but I’m definitely not one of them. I’ve always been a city kid. Even when Iived in the country amongst cowboys.  One thing I ‘ve learned is that cowboys come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.

Fall Roundup Crew

For example above is a group of cowboys in Idaho. Only three of them have cowboy hats but that doesn’t matter. I think this is a late 1980’s photograph. The guy to the far left is my Dad. I don’t know what kind of hat he is wearing but I don’t think that John Wayne would be caught dead in it. The guy next to my dad is from Peru or somewhere. The photo was shot at a roundup for cattle for my Uncle Frank who is third from right with his wife, my aunt Lois.  They had an annual roundup of cattle in late Fall on my uncle’s ranch where they would gather up the cattle and doctor them up and figure out who was going to stay and who was going to become Wendy’s burgers.

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My Dad is hardworking and tough and probably a good Cowboy but he makes a great grandfather. Here he is with son Logan.  Logan still likes Dad even though he would squash the old guy since Logan clears over 200 pounds these days. (But I can still take him. Or so I tell him quite often)

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Here is Dad, the at Geronimo’s grave a few years ago at Fort Sill.  Wow, that’s post for you. Getting grilled by the MP’s at the gate (and Dad telling them that he used to be in the army about what we are doing to driving up and down the back country roads of Fort Sill passing all sorts of signs that look like we are about to be in trouble looking for Geronimo’s grave and finally finding it after dark when we were supposed to be back off the post.

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Oh sorry, back to the subject. Here are the Cowboys all mounted up ready to go the roundup.

Mazatzal Mountains - Arizona - Early 1960's

And about twenty years earlier when Dad was the Forest Ranger on the Tonto National Forest in Arizona.

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And even earlier when he was on either the Pecos or Santa Fe National Forest in New Mexico. (I forget, I’m sorry)

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And about the same time. I don’t know why he is standing in the back of the old pickup.

Anyway, my Dad is my favorite cowboy, who is yours?

According to the National Day of the Cowboy dot com. The following exemplifies the Cowboy Code. Nothing in there about beer or martini time but it still pretty much describes my Father.

1. Live each day with honesty and courage.
2. Take pride in your work. Always do your best.
3. Stay curious. Study hard and learn all you can.
4. Do what has to be done and finish what you start.
5. Be tough, but fair.
6. When you make a promise, keep it.
7. Be clean in thought, word, deed, and dress.
8. Practice tolerance and understanding of others.
9. Be willing to stand up for what’s right.
10. Be an excellent steward of the land and its animals.