As with most little girls, my dad has always been my hero. Here's a little of what comes to mind when I think of my father... first he was a young man, many years before even thoughts of me twinkled anywhere.
My father was a cowboy who would tell me tales of his horse and how the horse would work with him. A cowboy's horse is an asset like another set of arms or legs.
My father was/is a U.S. Marine, and being a cowboy and Marine I always thought of my dad whenever I saw John Wayne movies.
Here he is with the
VMSB 343 - Marine Scout-Bomber Squadrons. He's in the back row, right of center.
Another hat that daddy wore was that of a singer. One of the family's favorite
pastimes was to get together and sing, and
Ohhh the harmony was glorious. Nothing will bring tears to my eyes quicker, or joy to my heart, than to hear, or even think about my dad and his brothers singing. Dad rarely went to a gathering without bringing his guitar along.
When I was small my dad was the biggest, tallest, strongest man anywhere.
Dad could do ANYTHING. He 'helped' us make wooden
rubberband guns and sailboats...
...and he built heavy duty
swingsets for us. This
swingset was actually used to pull engines before it held swings, and it stood in my parents backyard for many years.
The years have flown by, he's not as tall or strong as used to be, but my dad still and always will be MY HERO!
HAPPY FATHER'S DAY, DAD!
Last night I went into Wichita and joined my brother's family for a Father's Day dinner with dad. Below he's sitting next to my Aunt (mom's sister) reading Father's Day cards while waiting for our table.
My brother and his granddaughter...
...one of my grandsons in the middle and my brother's two grandsons, wife and my mom.
The next two shots are two of my grandsons and their bottles of
Sarsaparilla...
...they thought that was some pretty good stuff.
After a filling meal and by the light of a beautiful evening moon...
...I bid my dad Goodnight!
I Love You, DAD!
HAPPY TRAILS!!!
I've been getting a lot of nature shots. This hawk and small bird were flying above us when we were at Kingman for a T-ball game. Not real sure what kind of a hawk it is, but I don't think it's a redtailed. I think it's small than that.
With my trees getting so large and the bounty of mulberries and sandplums, I've been noticing birds and butterflies that I noticed before. Below is a Brown Thrasher. They're suppose to be timid but this one was so intent in his bug hunting that he allowed me to get fairly close.
I'm not absolutely positive, but I believe the butterfly below is called a Question Mark. ?
Father's Day was the first without my dad. Two of my granddaughters had spent the night and both their father and mother worked on Father's Day so I had the girls make cards. When their mother went to work she dropped their brother off also and he got in on the card making too.
A few weeks ago when I went out to get the paper and mail I found a baby Bluejay sitting on my sidewalk. Days following I saw it in various spots in my yard but more often saw it's daddy flying around and dropping into hidden places in the yard.
Then a couple days ago I spooked a young jay out of my Rose of Sharon bush and up into the maple tree. I don't know if this is the same bird of one of it's siblings. It became interested in the beeping of my camera focus and even came in closer but those pictures didn't turn out real well because he kept flapping his wings.
My garden is coming along, planted late again. This picture is a week or two old, I need to get some new pictures to post.
The pools seen quite a bit of action already this summer. Can you see my cherry tomato plants along the top of the pallets? If they manage to survive I'll need to put them in bigger pots.
And then there's been the T-ball games. I have lots of pictures I need to post from these. I'll probably make slide shows from the games and post them all together in one post. PK has really been enjoying herself playing ball.
