My Dad

[sonny]

the "tinkering" thread got me to thinking about all of the projects that I have going on as well AND it made me realize that my Dad wasn't the creative type that I think I am. He certainly liked to work on stuff (cars, trucks, etc), was very analytical about how things went together (which drove me a little crazy at times) but I don't remember him ever really making anything.
Just wondering if it's the same with any of y'all ??

I will go on to say that my Dad was my hero!! which I didn't come to realize until a few years ago...I remember talking to someone at work and somehow my Dad kept coming up, whether I was talking about hunting and him taking me along when I was a kid or trying to live up to his standards. I sure do miss him, especially this time of year (hunting season.)

....probably worth pointing out that my name here -"sonny"- was my Dad's nickname. That's why I use it. 

 

[mullet]

Yea, my Dad was like that, too. I got so tired of his obsession trying to make a Perpetual Motion machine. He would buy bearings and stuff and that's all the conversations centered around for 20 some years, but, yea, I miss him, too.

[YosemiteBen]

My dad is still kicking - hopefully for a long time to come. I was named after him. He is a tinkerer and I can only hope to be as good as a tinkerer as he is. When he comes to visit he does not like to get bored and is always working on something - Doesn't lik computers - Maybe I'll have to get him into archery!

[Kpete]

My dad is living.  He was a stone mason and bricklayer.  He was an artisen in that field.  Now he carves wood.  Again, an artesen.  My mother is a good painter and makes dolls, especially refurbishing antique dolls.  My sisters are both good painters and crafty.  I am the tinkerer-the rest get something concrete done.  But my folks always encouraged and supported my hobbies.  In fact, they gave me the first 3 volumes of TBB.  both folks love stuff made of wood.

[bowtarist]

My Pops is way alive.  Retired engineer, never rests.  When it is time to rest he sleeps in the chair then gets up and fixes something.  He didn't get me into hunting, I sorta got him back into hunting when I was a teen.  He's from North Dakota, in his day it was mostly water fowl, I took him on his first rabbit hunt in 1985ish and on his first deer hunt in 2009.  That's a whole story in it's own there.  We used to hunt duck/geese in the "90's.  Always talk about going back and hunting w/ the bow. Took me along time to realize that he's my hero, but when I need an answer, about anything, he's the first one I call. I never really filled his shoes, but I know he loves me.

 , dpg   

[bubby]

my dad is still hard at it when he can get some work, all's he's ever done is work, every day, 10-12 hrs 7 days a week, but he's an artist on a backhoe or an excavator, and he's allways their when someone needs a hand, Bub

[Pat B]

My Dad passed back in 1969 when I was a senior in highschool. He was an attorney and judge and his idea of relaxation when he had time off of work was to get up, put on his business suit and sit behind the newspaper with a Lucky Strike(cigarette) going all the time. Needles to say he died(at 68years old) of throat cancer. He did enjoy a romp in the surf at the beach but that was about it.
  As kids we were never allowed to own guns. Fortunately my best friends Dad, that lived across the street was an outdoors guy so he tought us about guns and their proper use and safety and boats, fishing, etc. My Dad was fine with all of that because he know Bill was a responciple person.
  My Dad's sister Mary was an avid fisherman(woman) and I learned a lot from her.
  I am the only kid in our family that is into any outside activities. My older bro does run (a few marathons) and likes to fish but doesn't do much anymore. I didn't start hunting until I was almost 30 and shortly after that I got into archery and not long after that began making bows.
 I have always been a tinkerer. I remember taking my brother's wrist watch apart completely and putting it all back together ans it worked perfectly...until I decided to try it again but this time with different results. 

[Stoker]

Dad's is still kicking 78. Raised in Holland during the depression then wwII. Opa had greenhouses ifin you needed it you fixed it or biult it yourself. Taught me lots.
Thanks Leroy

[Buckeye Guy]

Its been 25 years since Dad passed away ,Its still hard to think about for Me ! I don't have enough words in me to do him justice ! He was a simple fellow that sought no honor for himself ! He had a heart as big as the whole outdoors ,he believed that if he heard of a need it was his duty to fullfill it . He went off to war and lost the farm he allways had dreamed of then spent many years paying back anyone that he had owed even though he would never get his property back he made sure no one lost anything that he had owed ! in 1957 he helped build a log structure to house the local conservation club it still stands and is used for many gatherings ! He went to work for GM and showed them how to build some of the best engines ever made ,they powered what became known as the muscle cars ! He never took the credit for any of the advances he made for GM as he viewed it as just his job .He was the experimental molding and casting guy for them till he retired in 1976 ! I don't think there is anything my dad could not make ! And my Mom thought it a sin to through any thing away ,find someone that needs it or keep using it yourself !
So I reckon I come by my tinkering and collecting skills honestly ! Don't tell me of a need because I may kill myself trying to meet it
I miss you Mom and Dad
Guy

[Parnell]

Suit and Tie City Guy.  His hobby was cooking and I appreciate being raised in a house where the men do the cooking... now. As does my wife.
He was a wonderful Dad and I miss him very much, but the man had two left hands, was short-tempered, and wasn't much for the outdoors.
I without a doubt get that from my Mom.  She'd rather be outside with muddy hands than in, I've always been cut, more so, from her cloth.

[sonny]

hey, if I might make a suggestion to those of you whose Dad's are still around- have a few pics taken with you and Dad.
When my Dad died back in '99 one of my biggest regrets is that I don't have a pic of my Dad and myself sitting on the tailgate of his truck or fishing together or........you get the point!

My Dad was a welder, worked on heavy (Caterpillar) equipment so I think his tinkering was done at work. He always told me "boy, don't be a welder!" Always came home with aching knees or an aching back depending on what he had been working on that day. Strong as an ox!
We put up some siding on the house at one point and he got frustrated about something and I remember him saying "just damn anything that you can't weld together!"     

I think when I started attempting making bows he thought it was a neat thing to try but that simply wasn't his "thing."
I had gotten into shooting any sort of bow- compound, traditional, then wanted a wood bow of my own making- and he was blind in his right eye so I think his depth perception suffered (enough that he didn't care much for archery.)
Regarding the depth perception- part of the reason I say that is that when I was a kid he used to pretend like he was going to punch me to test my nerve to some extent I'm sure. Well one time he actually punched me in the nose, unintentionally, and it didn't really hurt but did bring tears to my eyes. I don't remember him ever testing my nerve after that.
     

[Kpete]

My dad did teach me to hunt.  Mostly birds, bobwhite quail and pointing dogs were his passion.  I gave him a bow once, but he had two spinal fusions and drawing was never comfortable for him.  He did enjoy rifle deer hunting and we did that together.  When we hunted birds I always knew how we would work the cover, no words ever said.  He likes the idea that I hunt elk, but the big woods and mountains make him uncomfortable in bad weather.  I learned bowhunting with my high school buddy, but
Dad's woodsmanship was at the core.

[Badger]

  My dad never actually took me out in the woods are fishing etc but would show me how to make traps, crude bows and arrows, fishing poles and trot lines, he carved out wooden lures for me etc. I think he was creative but did nothing but work 12 to 14 hours a day. He seemed pretty good at inventing things when he needed to and seemed to be able to fix or build anything. After he retired I took him out snake hunting with me, we got golfers, snakes, lizards, and he seemed to be having the most fun I had ever see him have.

[gstoneberg]

My Dad is still going strong over in Florida at age 88 where he lives very near Eddie.  He helped me shoot my first squirrel at age 9 in a tree in the back yard in rural Iowa.  We started pheasant hunting in earnest when I was 12.  He is still the best wing shot I've ever seen in person.  One year he killed 43 pheasants out of 2 boxes (50) of 16ga shells with his Belgian Browning.  He was a pastor and about the time I could drive his hunting begin to slow down as he also farmed to make ends meet.  Mom contracted Multiple Sclerosis soon after and Dad put his life on hold to take care of her.  He soon retired and they spent the rest of her life living in a trailer on a church camp ground where Dad served as caretaker.  Though she probably should have been in a nursing home he would not think of it and ministered to her 24x7.  Never have I seen someone live out their marriage vow (...in sickness and in health, till death do us part...) like Dad.  When she passed, the entire community came to church, though Dad hadn't been their pastor for years.  He is the finest man I've ever known and, though I strive, I'll be lucky to be half the husband he was.  I had hoped to get him hunting again later in life but so far it hasn't happened.  Thinking about flying him to Texas to go after pigs this spring.  Maybe I'll see if all 3 of my brothers want to come and do a last family hunt.  I  have a picture of him with my 2 younger brothers and I after an Iowa pheasant hunt in the 70s.   Be nice to get a new picture with all of us now.

George

[mullet]

George;

The brief meeting I had with your Dad was very enjoyable and he is very talented with the scroll saw.If he liked that wild hog meat he was cooking when I brought you back I'll try to get him some more.