[HALLIEBETH87]

I remember it was a cold Christmas Eve day. I'm not sure my exact age, but I was still in middle school. It was during the period wheremy Dad thought he was a frontiersman living in the early 1800s. He always was an outdoorsman but now he was into trapping. It started with the muskrat. They were a problem in our pond at the farm. He told Grandmother he'd take care of it. What resulted was a short lived hobby.
On this particular day his eyes were set on snare traps and he knew just where he wanted to set them, Drennon Springs. He loaded up his old faithful Oldsmobile and invited us to come along. Picture this: 3 teenage gals riding down the twisty hills of Drennon snapped in with their lapbelts and listening to the classic sounds of CCR and the like. We got to the *newer* bridge down in Drennon and he unloaded his supplies. Susan opted to stay in the car...never much liked the outdoors. Heather,Dad and me headedout through the cornfield to the creek's edge. There was a bit of snow on the ground, but not enough to qualify it as a 'white christmas'. Dad said Heather and I could fill the backpack with someof the dried corn cobs to set out on our porch for the squirrels. We did so while he set the traps. Once the pack wasfull we headed back to where wed left him. I must have inherited my gift of clumsiness from my dear old Dad. He droppedaline to the trap on the bank and reached out to grab it......yeah. Tumbling down the bank, he landed at the bottom with a splash in the water with his legs. You could bet Heather and I were scared out of our minds. Once we were sure he wasok,I grabbed the hatchet from the pack and slid it down to him. He tried *unsuccessfully* to climb back up with it. We then moved on to the rope we just happen toput in there the day before. Tying it to a tree trunk near the top, I tossed the other end to him below. It took a few tries but he got back up to us and declared "We're leaving, now." We scrambled to gather the tools and run to the car.....we left the corn.
Thats the last time I recall my Dad going any farther than the farm to set traps. I'm not exactly sure why I remembered this great story but it might have to do with our outing on Sunday. Imagine me sitting (rather snuggly) in my Grandmother's car, between Granny and Joey while JW drives up hilly 71S jamming to some CCR. Regardless, I am sure the group was a bit startled when I broke out in laughter in the midst of silence on the way home. Some memories are just that strong and awesome.

[nowheretorun]

sometimes i think we are surrounded by so much grief that the idiosyncrasies that happen (and seem inappropriate to others) are the very things which humanize us, in a surreal kind of way... how dare we have a personal moment in times of someones passing! i think you are finding your way out of the darkness ((Hallie))