How the Jacksons Do It.

Cooper meets Mr. Ed.

Last year my cousin Pam lost her husband in a tragic way. He was my age and we had similar interests, primarily golf. I was at the hospital when he was brought in and did not fully understand the seriousness of his illness. Anyway, almost a year has passed by and Pam has had a difficult time coping with the addditional responsibilities of managing their small horse farm west of Calgary. Aunt Fran is Pam's mom and Uncle Jim is her brother, for clarification.

A couple of months ago, our common uncle Jim called and suggested that we have a work party out at Pam's place. We had a rain out a few weeks ago and re-sheduled to yesterday. Nobody was told to bring tools, yet everybody brought power equipment, compressors, mowers, trimmers, trailers and a variety of useful tools to do the work.

A deck needed renewal

By 9:30 a.m. sister Dawne and Dan were already at work when Gerry and I arrived with my sister Susan and her husband Harry. Dawne was manning an electric lawn mower, Dan was working on repairing a deck that had serious issues. After a 2 minute greeting from Pam, Aunt Fran and Uncle Jim and without any direction, everybody grabbed a tool and headed off in different directions to work. 15 minutes later Doug showed up with a large, ride on mower that would accomplish a whole lot. Along with Doug was his friend and employee Larry Simmonds, who brought out the company bobcat.

One of the buildings that needed a heavy coat of paint. Good Work!!

The interesting part of the day was the lack of guidance as to what needed to be done. It was obvious that there were many chores to do and we were the group to do it. During the day Doug's son Tyler and our son Spencer showed up and found serious chores to do.

We trimmed about 300 yards of fence line, trimmed around dozens of trees, mowed 4 + acres that had not seen a mower in 2007, painted the outsides of 4 buildings, repaired a large deck, cleared and cleaned up 2 large roll off loads of trash, weeded and fixed up gardens, repaired gates and fences and did so without direction and with the best of feelings. Uncle Jim who is 74 worked like a 35 year old, Aunt Fran and Pam put on a wonderful lunch.

Stan, Spencer and Doug

I am impressed with my brothers and my sisters, love and greatly respect all my in-laws, always am impressed with the hard work of Larry, Tyler and Spencer. It was not easy for anybody to be there yesterday. Everybody had other places that they needed to be but there was not one complaint, a lot of good natured banter and a whole lot of love. Thanks to all of you. I am, once again, awed with respect.

Talk to you soon.....

Father's Day

A day to honor fathers. It has been 23 years since I bid farewell to my Dad and it is easy to miss him on days like today. He was a great guy and I wish that you all could have known him better.

Dad had the very old fashioned name, "Horace Milton". It was his father's name and he was proud of it. Most people called him Milt but there were some that called him Jack. Dad had a great sense of humor, loved to be the center of attention, he had a great mind and could argue very successfully on a myriad of subjects. Although he left school early, I remember my father as an educated man.

After he was diagnosed with cancer, we spent a weekend together and we talked. I asked him to recount the times in his life when he had been most happy. I didn't know what to expect but was surprised that the most prolonged happy time in his life was the time he spent in the army. Dad was quick to enlist at the beginning of the 2nd war and was overseas from 1939, returned home for officer's training in 1942 and 43, returned to England until late 1946. (I think.)

Milt and Pat in downtown Calgary, circa 1946.

I miss my Dad, can still conjure up the feeling of his whiskery face. Dad used to kiss me goodbye, it embarrassed me as a youth but remains a choice memory. Happy Father's Day Dad.

mini golf

This is a message to Sam. I added the link to mini-golf as it is working once more. Have fun.

Time to Update

Imagine all the ways that we communicate today. Just the other day all we had were smoke signals and the pony express and now we have so many different ways that it can be a little confusing.

My grandmother Rudolph was a great resource. She had stories about life that spanned the covered wagon to the supersonic age. When Grandma was a young woman up in the Innisfail area, her mother became seriously ill. The doctor made a decision that my great grandmother should be hospitalized immediately. A sleigh was sent out and gallons of hot water were provided in buckets to provide some comfort for the cold, snowy ride. Imagine that today a helicopter might be dispatched from Calgary and almost immediate attention might be given.

Anyway, I digress.

Last week we had the delightful opportunity to grandparent 3 of the grandchildren while Kristy and Lee went to Los Angeles. One year old twins whose greatest frustrations are in not being able to communicate freely express themselves most ably through loud screaming. They were absolutely wonderful as long as we were able to surmise their every wish. On the rare occasion when we weren't 100% tuned into them, our home became a tornado of screams, tears and anguish. Predictably Sol learned to take steps while here so that he could entertain his parents upon their return.

The twins have discovered that their teeth make excellent offensive and defensive weapons. If one of the toddlers takes something from the other, a wildly ferocious brother charges with fangs bared. Happens in the blink of an eye, cute to watch but incredibly effective.

Who needs pacifiers when you have chocolate!!

My apologies to my brother Bob for the following story.

While we were in Hawaii, Sam and I had occasion to be walking to the elevators together. As grandpas are wont to do, I made a rather rude noise, caused by upset stomach. Sammy looked at me and said, "Grandpa, was that you?" Of course, in typical male fashion, I denied it and Sam then asked, "Well who did it?"

(Apologizing now) I said, "Bob did it". I didn't think of brother Bob, just grabbed a name that came to mind. From then on whenever there was a burp, belch or worse, Bob was blamed. He became the invisible friend who took the blame for every rude, rank or raunchy act, as deemed by a five year old.

Well last week, brother Bob came over to our house and met Sam. Of course he was unaware of our invisible friend from Kauai. Upon meeting him, Sam's eyes widened and he said, "Are you Bob?" For the balance of Bob's visit, Sam sat chortling on the couch, repeating, "This is Bob". When I got home, Sam came up to me and reported that he had met "Bob". Hilarious!!!

Until next time.