Memories of Daddy

Dad age 65 

My dad taught me about life, he took me fishing and hunting.  He taught me to appriciate beauty, creation and to love the creator.   Dad had a great love for music.  He would sing many songs and would make up silly songs that delighted the heart of most any child.  One song he wrote when my kids were little was called simply "Dirt" It went something like this, Dirt, dirt, dirt, you got it on your shirt, it's in the air, it's everywhere, dirt, dirt, dirt. 

My dad played his quitar and would strum it and tell lots of stories from his boyhood days in a sing song voice.  He knew just when to put anticipation, build up to a climax and add a bit of delicious fear to a story.  He told us all kinds of Indian Legends about Coyota and Wy-east, Pahto, The Rainbow trail, Sleeping Beauty,  Cheif big nose, Coyota's cave,  The stone maidens and more. 

 Donnie and Daddy ready to Jam
 

He sent all of us kids one whole summer to climb a ridge that was a mile from our cabin and then he would yodel to us and we were to yodel back.  In answer to him.  In this way he taught us how to yodel. He would sing the yodeling song, "Chime Bells'  Or The Cattle Call and he would have us sing and yodel back to him.

Another one was "Little Sir Echo"  Then "Mockingbird Hill and add a yodel between the verses.  I learned to play the piano and often with my younger brother on quitar, oldest of the two with the harmonica, we would sing and yodel and play our instruments.  Often friends and relatives came by and joined in.   He taught us a deep appriciation and love for music and singing. 

 Daddy taught all of us kids a lot about survival and woodlore,  of not to panic or get lost in the woods,  He had us carry nylon stockings,A big bar of chocolate, dried raisens and oatmeal, a magnifying glass and matches, A pocket knife some hooks and fishing line and a small bible with us in backpacks and a small bedroll with a canteen.  He had us go out and spend a night in the woods alone.  After he taught us what kinds of wild food we could find to eat and not to walk your back trail.  Listen to the woods around you, the birds and critters.  They tell you when something is not right or a stranger is around.   He would have us run ahead and hide in the bushes and keep as quiet as possible and see if he could see or detect our presence.     

If he found or spied us he would make us do it again.  But first he would go ahead and hide from us.  We rarely ever saw him before he would step out behind us and tell us we were caught.   We got to where we could be less than three feet from someone and they would not know we were there.  He taught us how to shoot a gun and told us there were two reasons to have a gun.  One was for protection and self defense against man or beast meaning us harm.  The other was for food.   He said we should not kill something for the fun of it.   He said guns were weapons not toys.  

 Daddy and Rex

He would take us fishing.  Our poles were cut from hazel brush, a line and sinker and hook attached and we caught many a fish with those hand fashioned poles.  We would go to a creek that had a lot of native Dolly Varden and Rainbow trout and after we had each caught three fish apiece we would take them home for mom to cook up.   

Daddy at Husum 

He taught us to identify mushrooms,  the edible and the very poisnous.  Some kinds are so deadly like the White Death Angel that you don't even pick any good mushrooms near it.   We learned to identify, corals, morrells, inky caps, shaggy manes, boletas, and many others.   We learned about eating maple catkins in the spring and took wild cherry bark strips from the tree for herbal tea and sore throat and coughs.  We gathered oregon grape and root and black berry and root and lots of other herbs for medicinal use.  He would tell us the name of a tree or plant and we had to remember it and if it was poisonous or good for medicine or food.  

He loved animals, we always had cats, dogs, chickens, cows, goats around but we had many wild pets dad brought home as well that we grew up with.   Dad taught us to enjoy life and to appriciate beauty.  He took us prospecting and had us live like pioneers.  We had to learn to wash clothes on a washboard and churn butter by hand,  we chopped wood and kindling and learned to can and put up preserves.  We learned to read and to cook things from scratch.  

Daddy had pet or nicknames for all of us kids,  I was Dautsy girl and sometimes Long-legs,  My sister was Boogie or Rumba Boogie,  My oldest of my brothers was Skookum and my Little Brother was,  Bimbo after the song Bimbo.  Not cause he was a bimbo. He called my mom Doll-baby which got shortened to Dolly which everyone called her after awhile.  He later nick-named my kids too.  My oldest was Rooster man,  My second was Dandie Boy,  My third oldest was Mountain Man and daughter was, Sugar-baby.  

Dad was a wheeler dealer as well, liked by most but also he would get under peoples skin.  Even his alleged enemies liked him.  He was a pied piper and a scoundrel at times.   But he lived life and lived it to the fullest degree and enjoyed it.   He taught us about doodle bugs and puzzle pine and woof wood.   ( Ant Lions, Pondersoa Pines and thick bark off a tree.  He told us about gillikahikes which are crane flies,  Shikepokes ( blue herons) and teeterbutts.  A bird that dips its head underwater to look for food.  He took us to hunt for snipe and played baseball with us and tag.  He showed us how to fly kites and taught us how to ride a bike and later to drive a car. 

Daddy with Donna, ready for camping and prospecting trip 

We explored the local caves and spelunked and walked mountain trails.  We prospected for gold and staked mining claims even though we did not find much gold we played and had fun.  He would take us out of school in the middle of the day or sometimes tell us we were going to school in the mountains or woods instead of a stuffy classroom.   We loved it.  We learned about the trading post and all the treasures to be found there.  ( The local dump )  We milked cows and rode horses and learned to pack a back pack and go on long hikes up steep terrain and take off our shoes and wade in the cold creek beds until.   We explored and found petrified wood and obsidian stone and agates and pink quartz rock that were pretty. 

Daddy looking at some mineral in a rock at mining camp

Dad liked to dance too and would put a record on the player and take turns dancing with us girls and mom and any other lady there. My grandma for one and would get the boys to dance with us too.   We played card games in winter and music and read stories and listened to dad play his sing song stories on his guitar.    I still have a lot of his songs he wrote and poems and stories.  Each of us kids got something of his.  My sister got an old trunk and some other things he had she liked.  My younger brother got his guitar and harmonica.  My older brother got his rifles.  I got his songs and poems, they were willed to me and are mine to do what I want with them.   They mean a lot to me.  

I grew up rich from everything he taught me.  We didn't always have good times, we had some really really bad times and sad ones and very hurtful ones.  But my dad still was someone I loved, and cared about and miss a lot.   He was not perfect but he had a big heart and lots of love for his family and children.   My dad passed away  August 7th, 1997  four days before my 48th birthday.   I miss the jam sessions, the stories and the songs.  I miss you dad.   He was 68.2 years old.   Tobacco is what killed him.  I would not be who I am today if not for my dad, he taught me survival and beauty and appriciation for the little things in life.  

Daddy doing what he loved to best, telling stories and legends to a captive audience of children.  

June 21, 1928, to August 7th, 1997,  RIP Dad.