FRIDAY BLUES

First and foremost, I want to thank all of you. Friends, family, and all of you out there who follow this little blog. I want to wish each and every one of you a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

This holiday season, hold your loved one's close to you, and give them an extra hug and a kiss. Let them all know how much they mean to you this Christmas.

My Dad passed this morning. I'm going to be away from blogging for a bit. I wish that a lot of you could have known my Dad. I know that he would of fit right in with us bloggers.

He enjoyed a good story and to laugh, even at himself. He had a love of the outdoors like no one I have ever seen. He could catch fish, and hunt, camp. He loved to set in front of a nice campfire. He got his first deer when he was 16, and his first elk when he was 18. He also got his first and only bear when he was 17. I got my first elk when I was 16, and my first deer when I was 17. I never have been bear hunting.

My Dad served 13 years in the Air Force, then he got out because he had two kids to take care of. After my sister and I were in high school, he joined the Air Guard. Then after I was out of high school, he and Mom bought a place in Arkansas. They didn't have a Air National Guard there, but they did have a National Army Guard. So, he transferred to them. He worked in supply and took biochemical and nuclear warfare classes. He almost went in Desert Storm. He did his time in the guard and ended up doing 23 years total. He enjoyed every minute. The stories he had to tell!

Things won't be the same now that he is gone. He will be missed by so many, remembered by so many. And life will continue. The sun will rise and set. The seasons will keep going by. And he will be remembered.

He loved to dance. He loved animals. He was strong in his faith. He was someone you could talk to. And he was always ready to lend a hand to anyone. He loved to talk of firearms, and could answer just about anything you could think to ask about them. He was a jack of all trades, and a master of none. He could fix just about anything. He could be hard on you when you needed it. And Stern. But could cry for a little kitten that didn't make it, or a bird with a busted wing. Or to kiss away the boo boo of a child.

The outdoors will be just a bit more peaceful for me from now on. I won't be able to look at a deer, elk, mountain, or stream, or beaver pond and not think of him. He is now free to do his wandering in the hills of the hereafter.

He was a husband, a grandfather, a great grandfather, an uncle, a brother, a gardener, a hunter, a fisherman.

He was my Dad.