Hi Deb
Thanks for the nice note and caring thoughts.
We are still trying to make our way out of winter here. It's sloppy wet snow this morning but supposed to be 80 on Friday. Go figure. It's spring. I was down with pneumonia for a couple of weeks, but much better now. I get it once every ten years whether I need it or not. I'm going to get to central NY this summer for a mini family reunion and spend some time visiting my mother at Van Duyn Home. It's so very frustrating trying to talk to her on the phone. She lets the phone drift away from her ear and then can't figure out that she needs to move it back. She is unable to hear me after a couple of minutes so our conversation are very short. She always says there is something wrong with the phone, but this is one of many we provided her with "that just won't work" She accidentally threw out two of her cordless phones(and a tv remote) so this one is attached with a cord, that way we can follow the cord into the waste basket LOL. She is a shell of her former self and I'm sure many of us are getting to experience that these days.
I heard from Albert Weeks that his father passed away rather suddenly last month. I think Al is down in Florida now where his Dad had a home. My sympathies go out to him and his family. I knew his parents well. I think his father hated me for nearly running over his wife with a boat once. We were at Al's camp and out on the lake when Al thought he would "tune up" the boat motor a little, the long and short of it is that Al lost the throttle return spring overboard in the middle of the lake. He was operating the throttle with his hand inside the engine and I was steering towards the dock where his mother was sitting. As we approached directly at the dock (a big mistake !) Albert's hand hit the spinning flywheel on the engine causing him to jerk his hand back putting the engine into wide open throttle mode. At 10 feet aimed directly at where him Mother was seated, I didn't have a prayer and neither did she. The 16 foot wooden boat hurtled relentlessly up and over the dock flinging his mother into the water and the boat coming to rest 15 feet up the shore with it's crushed nose pointed skyward many feet up the nearest tree, thank goodness that tree was strategically placed there or we may have continued up the steep hill , no doubt continuing right through the cottage in an attempt to run over his sleeping grandparents,aunts ,uncles,dog and any other hapless souls within range of that demon craft. Things were silent for a few seconds after coming to rest until the boat crashed down out of the tree, further destroying the fragile wooden hull. Things were never quite the same between Al's father and me and his mother would always leave the room when I entered after that .They would both definitely run when ever they saw me near any piece of machinery more complicated than a screwdriver. His father would get this glint in his eye and start fondling the nearest heavy object whenever I was around. It all made me feel a bit like the dog who killed all the chickens, my days were numbered when I was around the Weeks household. I just have to think the opportunity never presented itself to the senior Mr. Weeks. It all sounds funny now, but I assured you it was the stuff of nightmares at the time.
Enough sweet reminiscing. The birds and animals are back from where ever it is they winter over, bet they are sorry now, showed up too soon. My dog chased a little red fox through the woods behind the house the other day and almost caught him until the fox turned on the after-burner and was gone in a flash.the Sandhill cranes are very populous and honking up a storm every waking hour and "our" big Barred owl makes a racket most nights, living out in the woods has it's drawbacks sometimes. It's very hard to believe that most of us turned 61 this year. What happened, where has our youth gone ? Ah well, it beats the alternative right ? Take care and keep in touch
Ralph
