Father's Day reminds me of the Peacocks of Eaton

Well yesterday was Father’s Day and I really felt lonely and alone more than usual.  I was actually outside chopping up my 3-ton tree that was removed from my roof this week…Thank You Bartlett Tree…

The fact is, I love to chainsaw and love to split wood. Though using the axe..wedges..plural..and wood maul to bust them was a bit of a challenge considering the size and wet weight of the thing…..

I like to think that “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree’, as dad taught me a lot of what I know and helped me in my many projects even working with me when I was doing contracting in the Syracuse area.

The fact is dad always said if you can read you can do almost anything…and over the years that has proved to be true.  From photography to electricity and farther beyond to house jacking and car repair…we did it all together…and now I do it alone.

Dad served in the Regular Army, National Guard, and Reserve for well over 30 years and was a leader.  My most treasured remembrance of that is my autographed picture of Patton that hangs in my office that Dad was given…by Patton.  In the Army he was truly in everything, Engineers, Tanks, Infantry, Signal Corp….

He also loved to travel which is probably where I get my wanderlust from…can’t stand to be stuck here in old Eaton without getting out and about…

When I came to Eaton in 1984 Dad came down to help install the electricity to the house (house had no’s...no water...no electricity…..many no walls...no floors…you name it and it didn’t have it.)

At that point the old restaurant in Eaton had the only pay phone in town, though the restaurant itself was just a burned out shell. So the night he stayed over in “camping conditions” in the dark, we walked to the phone to call my mother.  Since Dad had been in charge of removing explosives on bridges before  tanks crossed with Patton, you can imagine how calm a guy he was…nerves of steel…until that night!

As the phone connected him to mom in the dark quiet of Eaton we heard a horrific noise...an indescribable bunch of shrieks...he jumped and exclaimed what the h..ll was that! 

I had failed to tell him that the old “Applegate” like mansion on the hill, across the street, had peacocks roaming around…and what a God awful noise they did make!