Best Birthday Gift Ever

What a SURPRISE.

My Son-in-Law Eric (who knew of my love for the Mopar 225 ci. Slant 6 engine and my need for a spare vehicle), wheeled and dealed a way to get me one. A 1987 Dodge Ram Pick-up Truck, that he planned to give me for my birthday this year.
He had fixed up a riding lawnmower that he traded for the vehicle, but when he went to get the truck he was despondent over its condition. After being told that it ran good, the motor was in very bad shape, but the rest of it was in pretty good shape for that old of a vehicle.
My son Eric and his friend Chris were with him to bring the vehicle to my home after loading it on Chris’s trailer. And they decided to let me make the final decision on whether I still wanted it. After listening to my son-in-law Eric (a professional mechanic)and my son Eric (a trained mechanic) describe the condition and options of the vehicle, I was sure that I wanted it. Now all I had to do was convince my wife. After telling her what the boys said and told her that our Son-in-Law knew a guy that had a good motor and its price, and that I REALLY wanted that truck and all of the ways we could use it, she said yes.
Then they hauled it away to my son’s house to start working on it. And work on it they did. I am sure it involved a lot more than what I heard about. Well many weeks and a lot of work by all of the “boys” later, I finally got to drive My Truck for the first time. How do you describe HEAVEN? Just listening to the purr of the engine and ticking of the tappets on that “Sweet 6” puts me there. The truck handles GREAT. Oh it has its faults, but nothing that really matters. All but 2 of the vehicles I have owned over my life have been used, and each one had there own “personality”. But I LOVE MY TRUCK. I don’t get to drive it often because of the price of gas and its thirst for it, but I enjoy every moment behind the wheel.

So THANK-YOU (it just isn’t enough to describe the way I feel) to my Son-in-Law Eric (I Love Ya Kid), and Son Eric (for all of the extras and work you did on ANOTHER one of Dads Damn Mopars) and my Wife for all the extra costs that were involved and everyone else who had a hand at giving me the BEST Birthday Gift Ever.

Xmas Frog

A few years ago my wife purchased a 90 gallon plastic pond for our back yard. After installing it we decided to add plants and goldfish. Before winter we scooped out the fish and brought them indoors and placed them in an aquarium so they would survive to be placed back in the pond in the spring. The next year my son and and now daughter-in-law went down to the nearby drainage ditch to get us some cattails to put in the pond and also returned with a couple of bullfrog tadpoles. The tadpoles thrived in our tiny pond and by summer's end we had not only 2 young bullfrogs but a woodland leopard frog as well, he just showed up one day and decided to stay. When the time came to bring the goldfish in for the winter, 2 of the frogs had left, and we decided to bring in the remaining bullfrog and placed him in a terrarium. We fed him crickets we purchased at a local pet shop, and by spring he was fat and sassy. However, after a couple of weeks he left our pond. Evidently he got used to the taste of crickets and went in search of some. Over the years we have had many guests appear and leave our little pond and waterfall.
An eastern box turtle, a very large painted turtle, a tree frog, and many other toads and frogs.

This year we were again blessed with a full grown bull frog, much to my 3 year old grand-daughter's delight. Whenever she visited she would search "Mr. Froggy" out and talk to him.
Well this year we were very busy and waited too long to bring in the fish and before I new it winter had arrived. As I was going by the pond last week, I noticed the fountain head of the water pump sticking out of the ice that had formed. We had turned the pump off when the weather started to get cooler back in September. I decided that I had better remove it for the winter and broke the 2 inch thick ice in half and pulled out the section with the pump in it. I then decided to see if the goldfish were still alive and got out the long handled net and a bucket. When I returned to the pond I pulled out the remaining sheet of ice, that still had cattails sticking out of it, and flipped it upside-down in the yard to break the ice to return the roots back to the pond for winter. Imagine my shock and surprise to see a large goldfish and bullfrog stuck to the ice. Neither of them were moving. I reached for the goldfish and he suddenly started to wiggle and dislodged his top fin from the ice. I quickly picked him up and placed him in a bucket of pond water and he started to slowly swim around. I then turned my attention to the frog, he was just lying there upside-down on the ice, not moving. When I touched him to pick him up, his legs feebly twitched, he was still alive, but his head was stuck to the ice. I scrapped at the ice crystals formed around his head with my fingernails and he easily came free came. I was overjoyed, but then became worried when I noticed how white his eyes and surrounding skin were. I placed him in the bucket with the fish and he sank to the bottom, moving feebly whenever the goldfish bumped into him. I then started dipping the net into the pond searching for the other 2 goldfish I was hoping were still there, but only came up with 1. Our largest and oldest goldfish with white markings was nowhere to be found. I returned all of the plants to the pond and placed the bucket on the freezer on the back porch. Hoping the warm air would slowly bring up the water temperature while we got everything ready to house our guests for the winter. My wife and I cleaned the aquarium and other necessities for the fish and the old leaky aquarium that we used for a terrarium for the frog.
I filled the aquarium with cold tap water, but our well water was still warmer than the water the fish were in. I brought the bucket indoors and when the water had warmed up a little, I transferred the fish to their winter home. I then took the bucket into the living room were we had set up the terrarium and placed it in a warm spot to bring up the temperature of our hibernating frog and noticed the white skin had returned to its natural color. Two hours later I looked in the bucket to see a wide awake frog starring at me with his head out of the water. He was going to be fine. I picked him up to place him in the terrarium and "Mr. Froggy" made me aware that he was not happy with the idea. He squirmed out of my grasp and was hopping all over the cover of the terrarium and me, until I finally got a hold of him and gently put him in his new winters lodging. I waited a couple of days for him to totally thaw out and wake up before he got his first meal of crickets, and he was ready for them. Gulping down seven of them in as many minutes.
My wife talked to my granddaughter on the phone the other day and told her of our new house guest, and my soon to be four granddaughter let grandma know that next week she would be staying overnight so she could see "Mr. Froggy" and watch him eat the crickets.

Now, why did I title this story as Christmas frog? Well my children, Miracles always happen at Christmas time. And I consider "Mr. Froggy" being alive and "well" a miracle. Maybe not a big one, but I will give thanks for little ones any day.

Road Kill

Well it was more like suicide on his part. While driving into town the other day on an errand, I was passing by a corn field near our house, when suddenly this large Fox Squirrel came running out of it right in front of me. I swerved to avoid it, but it was determined. I felt the crunch under my rear tire. I looked in the rear view mirror, and there it laid. I backed up to assess the situation an remove it from the road. Mr. Squirrel's poor little head was crushed. It couldn't have been a quicker kill if I had used a shotgun. But the rest of him looked alright so I took it home and skinned it and all was well, no bruising or broken bones in the rest of it's body. So tonight I put him in the slow cooker to cook until tomorrow when he will end up as a fine stew.
My wife has been kidding me about eating ROAD KILL, but it was fresh, because my car killed it. I was brought up with a "waste not want not" point of view and to hunt by the theory of "you kill it, you eat it" philosophy (with a few minor exceptions, like varmints, etc.).
I am sure my daughters will cringe while reading this, but it is local food and organic to a point. It is also healthy food.
Today was the opening day of gun deer season and last night I had the "FEVER" bad. This was the first time that I really wanted to go deer hunting in many years. Even before the Post Polio Syndrome slapped me down. I had planned on building a heated blind on our property and hoping for a chance encounter, but just couldn't find the time or ambition to make it. Maybe next year. I did go out with my cross-bow a couple of times but since the limb had cracked during pre-season target practice, I didn't have much faith in anything but a real close shot. My conscious got the best of me, I hated the thought of only wounding an animal and not having a quick, clean kill. So until I get a new bow for my cross-bow I won't use it. After all, I do have my own set of hunting ethics instilled by my Great-Uncle Joe Baker who was a mentor to many of my hunting and fishing skills. And of course Ol' Fred Bear. But those are stories for another time.