Ted
Great story on your Dad. Our country's foundation was built by such men.
My Dad passed at 97. A few years before, he would still be found in his tan work clothes and work boots, with either a shovel in his hand in the orchard, or tending his bees. He ended active duck hunting at 87, after being yelled at for skyscraping, as he put it. - - Figured he was losing some acquity in judging range, so felt this is what a sportsman should do.
In his mid years, he accrued sufficient money to buy whatever, in terms of guns, but pretty much always stuck with the field grades. Felt they could do everything one would want a gun to do, if he did his part. Because he loved to hunt, he hunted - and we ate venison, duck, quail and smoked goose as a matter of regular meal fare. I recall gathering his beloved VH 16 and 12 Trojan when we cleared the old house out - - Carefully stored, fastitiously cleaned and showing use but not abuse. I think of him as another one of these working men who's shoulders we stand on today.
