Saying goodbye to a mentor

On March 19th, at 10:30PM, in Riverside, California, a quiet and dignified man finally lost his battle for life.

It was neither unexpected nor sudden, but the tragedy of his passing is not diminished. With his health challenges, he was "living on borrowed time" since 1993, quite literally. Obviously God had him here for a purpose and nothing was going to take him off this planet before his work was done. This is the man to whom I owe so much of what I have today. My wife, who is the center of my universe, who gave me our beautiful daughters who are the light of my life, was the product of this man and his family. In fact, she is very much like him, with quiet gentle wisdom and a wry sense of humor like nobody else I've ever met.

Every major decision I have made in the past two decades has been under his guidance, for better or worse...worse being when I didn't take his advice. The latest being our move to Idaho. A man of few words, he would listen to me presenting a situation, and in a very few words would guide me to the answer. I think when we were considering moving to Idaho, and I called him, I must have spent 15 minutes laying out for him all the pros and cons of the idea. His answer was short and sweet, "If you have the opportunity to move my daughter and grandchildren out of California, do it".

Sometimes when I would call him, I think he just let me talk out loud, throwing out a word here and there, which really helped me sort through the myriad of options in my mind and deduce the right answer.

One of the best things about him was that he never judged, always supported, and always thought the best of me. Never did I hear "I told you so", but a gentle "what did you learn from your decision?".

He always like to say "you're my favorite son-in-law". And of course the requisite reply of "yeah, I'm you're ONLY son-in-law". He would always say "no matter, you're still my favorite". And that was that...it was settled.

When we would talk, he would always close with "take care of my daughters and granddaughters". The last night of his life, when he could no longer respond but he could still hear voices, my last words to him were "don't worry. I will take care of your daughter and our girls. You know I will.".
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In memory of Ron Wilson (1938-2008). Daddy, you will live in our memories.

Too much of a good thing is...well...a lot of extra work!

Don't get me wrong...we love snow...especially North Idaho snow...plenty of it, light and fluffy most of the time, and unlike Wrightwood, it hangs around for us to have a white Christmas, a white MLK day, a white Valentine's Day, and probably a white St Patrick's Day...

But this year is a bit much....even our friends who are natives have been complaining that it's just too much. We're on track to surpass the big snows of 1996 to rival the 1953 snow season. And more than a couple good storms beyond that, it would be the biggest winter year in North Idaho history (back to 1870-something).



See the fence on the left? Yeah...that's a 5' fence....not much left, huh? Our road went from 16' wide down to about 8' wide...but this week we're having it plowed out wider so we can continue to use both cars.

Next is a shot of Avalon at the lake. Got so cold, it froze over (dipped below zero). But it's weird to see a two mile area just frozen over. Not enough to walk on (she's standing on a jetty here), but enough for animals to walk on it.

Math Funnies

In school, when confronted with a difficult math problem, I just skipped it. These folks obviously had a much better idea...

I just don't get Alpacas

OK. I know they're cute, in a "hey, look at that long-necked furry sheep" sort of way...that's Indie on the left, and Blackie on the right. But I just don't really get the point of Alpacas beyond the incredible wool.

Now, before you think I'm being insensitive...I really have been trying to understand the big draw. I feed them with my wife (nothing quite matches the thrill of spreading orchard grass for animals), I find them interesting in a "hey, look at the crimp on that thick wool" sort of way, and I think it's interesting that they hum at you (although having them hum at me because I put their feed bowl 3' from where it was JUST YESTERDAY can make you nuts).

Maybe I'm just not very intuitive...or maybe because we're raising them for my wife who loves them, I'll come to have affection for them some day. But I just don't get it...maybe I'll buy her a turtle...they seem about as emotional...although their poop isn't as interesting, I suppose...

There's No Place Like Home...

Even if it means shoveling snow from the inside of a house, seeing it go up has been amazing. Next week is the siding and roofing, week after that, windows and exterior doors are arriving, etc.

It's been snowing an awful lot lately...figures that we're building a house and this year is a big snow year. But at least it's awfully pretty...

Our spring pond has become a deep pond hole...makes you a big leery to stand at the edge...if you fell in, it could be tough to get out...

May be tough to post more photos of the house...as the snow is plowed back from the house, it's making huge piles that are starting to block the view of the house's lower floor...