# My Dad



## slipshod (Sep 19, 2003)

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


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## Bigdog (Sep 18, 2003)

Slipshod, That's a great story. I hope I can go out the same way. Your dad must have been quite a guy, you should be very proud!


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## Argee (Sep 17, 2003)

Great story slipshod. Your dad sounds like someone everyone should aspire to be. Thanks for sharing.


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## leolav (Sep 16, 2003)

Great story. I think we all aspire to be fathers like our fathers. My dad is still alive and going strong and we still talk every day and do stuff together (like work on Model A's, or going shopping at Home Depot). He has always been quiet, but extremely smart and always was there when we needed him. Like me, he travelled extensively in his job and we now can trade war stories about where we've been and what we saw. He also was never able to play ball or run around with me when we were kids because he has had several back surgeries over the years that really limited his mobility. Don't get me wrong, I don't hold that against him at all.

Now that I have two sons, we talk about those days when he brought me around to see my grandfather. How we used to go to Red Sox games (I remember those games vividly like it was yesterday. To this day, when I walk into Fenway Park, the memories fill me with happiness. ) Now we are reliving the past with the roles changed. I just hope I can do as good a job raising my sons as he has done raising me. I just can't imagine life without him. Because I am the only son in my family, he was often like a big brother to me. We would tell jokes to each other, work on projects together.

Earlier today, I heard one of the guys I played football with in high school passed away in his sleep yesterday morning. He was 33 yrs old and had a massive brain aneurism. He was just married last year and has a 3 month old son. It makes you really appreciate the time you have with those you care deeply about. I feel really sad for his little guy who will never know his dad.


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## Stewart (Sep 17, 2003)

Thanks for sharing!:thumbsup:


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## tisenberg (Sep 20, 2003)

I've been trying to spend more time with my Dad so I don't regret it later. He is funny, he always talks about me growing up and time's away due to the Army and stuff. He always wishes that he didn't dwell on the silly stuff... clean up your room, eat all your vegies, etc. He looks back and regrets getting upset over silly stuff. I told him to stop worring about it mostly because.... I DON'T REMEMBER IT. I remember the good things and I guess that is what we should all try and do.


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## johnray13 (Oct 30, 2003)

That was a great story. It is great that he lived a long ,full life. I hope my dad lives that long.


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## Kevin Beitz (Sep 17, 2003)

I wish Dad was still around to sit on my tractor....
<img src=http://user.pa.net/~kbeitz/Post-em/New%20toy.jpg>


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## amicks (Sep 16, 2003)

Thanks slipshod for the story and thanks Kevin for sharing the picture.


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## bontai Joe (Sep 16, 2003)

Thanks for sharing such great memories. I'm 47 years old and I'm still getting to know my dad. My folks got divorced before my 6th birthday. He got married 3 more times after that. He just lost his 4th wife to cancer and is starting to shop around for #5 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:


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## guest (Sep 16, 2003)

nice story slip. your dad sounds like quite a guy, 92 and still working hard and helping friends.. . thats pretty good.

My father died when he was 50 (19 years ago) and i still think about him every day... always think what would he do or what would he think or what would he say.. for those with fathers.. enjoy them while you can... now i remember the little things that i took for granted, fishing, driving in the car or hanging out.. the goofy stuff that i took for granted so much then is what i tend to miss the most now... 

for those who have lost them... all we can do is remember them and times spent with them..


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## Deere (Sep 16, 2003)

My dad died at 59 last January 29. We're coming up on a year and it doesn't seem real yet. 

Treasure the ones you love and love the ones you treasure.

-Deere


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## bear (Oct 20, 2003)

your father sounds like a great guy slip. if you do have to go thats the way to do it. he sounds a lot like my grandfather i have a lot of great memories. he was not as fortunate when it was time to leave. he was in a nursing home for 4 years spent the last year in bed.


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## BradT (Sep 16, 2003)

Lost my dad about nine years ago at the age of 93. He was a mechanic all his life and owned an Allis dealership for a number of years. He was kind of a grumpy guy, but was always there for us. When we were kids, we loved to tear things apart, but could rarely get them back together in working order. My brother and I still laugh about Dad saying "EVERTHING YOU KIDS TOUCH TURNS TO S***!!" I miss him a lot.


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## slipshod (Sep 19, 2003)

*brad*

My Dad used to say ,"Damn it if it ain't broke ,don't fix it"


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## dixstir (Sep 7, 2009)

the post about dads realy hit home.my dad passed 1984 mon 1986 I think about them almost every day like I wonder what he would think about my 2305 jd I can see him setting in the cab blowing snow thinking this would have been a lot better than the H farmall .dad was 70 and mom was 64 I wonder how many years I have left (70) .I hope my son thinks of me like I did of my dad lots of memories.


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