That's My Grandpa

What a fun weekend we all shared for your birthday! It was great to see you and Grandma. I got the chance to create a short memory video for your party. It was a lot of fun to look through those pictures and honor your life so far. Thanks for letting me do that for you. It meant a lot to me and I got to know you even better through all of those pictures. Also a few more thanks...

Thanks for loving Grandma soo much. Your example of marriage will always be something that I hope to pattern my own marriage after. You two look for ways to serve and take care of each other. And you are not shy about kissing her and holding her hand. How cute of You!

Thanks for teaching my Dad to be who he is. His honesty, work ethic and kindness towards others didn't come by accident.

Thanks for teaching us about Redfish Lake!

Thanks for smelling like Old Spice - I love it! I even try to buy Trevor the same stuff so that he can smell like you!

Thanks for your warm smile. It is so welcoming and loving. I can see it now.

Thanks for being so sweet to Easton. He is a little bit nervous around you, becasue he doesn't know you very well. But you didn't give up. You kept teasing and talking to himuntil he got to know you a little bit better. That meant a lot to me.

Thanks for not being afraid to tell us that you LOVE us. Not all men do that as often as you do.

Thanks for wearing flannel - It feel so good when I hug you.

Thanks for being my Grandpa. I am not just saying that.I really feel lucky to have you in my life.

I Love you!
Melissa

The Price of Rice in China and the Price of Potatos in Idah

A few years ago when we had gone to Grandma and Grandpa's house, Grandpa was reading the newspaper like he always does in the living room. I had gone in to talk to him. I had asked what section he was reading and he was reading the commodities section. I had asked him what the price of rice was in China. He pretended to know what the answer was and told me. Ever since then whenever I see him or talk to him on the phone I ask him what the price of rice is in China. He would always tell me that he didn't know the price of rice in China was but that he knows the price of potatos in Idaho are and we would have a conversation on that topic for awhile. So whenever I call to talk to Grandma and Grandpa and I ask those questions right away, he automatically knows that it is me calling to talk to him.

To My Dad

I was working in my woodshop the other night, building a window box for the east side window. Susan wants to plant flowers in it just to make it look more friendly in the back yard. I was thinking about what I needed to do for my dads up coming 80th birthday.

Just getting the information out to all the family and knowing that they are all coming was the biggest part. Because as you all know my motto is " it will always work out ". Cakes are being ordered, reservations for the coppermill are done, and we have all the sleeping arrangements made. So I guess I can just think of my dad and what he has done for me in my life.

My first story is about my first car. The 1966 belvedere plymouth four door in INEL gray. I think dad paid 1 dollar for every 833 miles that was on the odometer. For you who don't want to use your calculator to figure that out it is close to 250,000 miles. if that is not the correct mileage, it was close.

I am not sure I got it when I was a sophmore or the summer between sopmore and junior year in highschool. In those days you could drive when you were 14 years old. I remember dad bringing it home and parking it under the tree in the back yard so he could give me a mechanics lesson on car maintence. We changed the oil, and did a tuneup on the car, new sparkplugs, distributor cap & rotor, changed the antifreeze and checked the tires. A couple of days later when we had all the work done on the car I was now mobile, I could travel to the ends of the world. Or at least to the highschool three times a day gas was 25 cents a gallon.

It was not long after the work was done on the car that we realized we had another problem the exhaust manifold was cracked. So we pulled it back under the tree and went to work on it again. We pulled the manifold off and it came off in two pieces ( it is not supposed to be two pieces ) Instead buying a new one dad decided to try and have it welded, manifolds were made out of cast iron in those days and very difficult to weld. He did some research and figured out that when the item was welded it heated up real fast and the secret was to not let it cool quickly or it could warp. So when the welding was done the manifold was buried in a box of sand so it cooled slowly. It worked, and I was now mobile again. Look out world

One of the many things I learned from my dad and I think I still use to this day. Is how to figure out how to make things work. Dad thanks for the 4 days of mechanic lessons. But mostly thanks for the lifetime of being able to figure things out when I need to.

Love Curtis