"My Dad knows how to do everything"

“My Dad knows how to do everything,” I declared to my sixth grade class. My Dad would help out anyone that came over to the house with something that was broken and he could figure out how to fix it. At the Saratoga House Dad had a metal shop, carpentry shop and a hot rod shop all squeezed tightly into the large garage. He would saw, screw and weld to manufacture just the right widget to fix the problem. When I was little I had a little game, I would ask Dad questions to see if he really knew how to do everything. “Dad, do you know how to fix a toilet?” “Yep” “Do you know how to ride a horse?” “Yep.” “Do you know how drive a Tractor Trailer.” “Yep”
Finally I asked the question about something he didn't know. “Dad, Do you know how to fly a helicopter? Not really, I did sit in the co-pilot seat and I got to work the controls, but I have never flown one by myself.
Dad has always been very good at involving us boys at learning how to do things, whether it was doing carpentry, rebuilding an engine, raising chickens or growing a garden. He wanted to make sure we knew how to do lots of things. An early photo shows me as a toddler helping my Dad sand the Jeep and prepare it for a new paint job.
Thanks Dad, For All You Do and Happy Father's Day

Strawberry Fields Forever

The sweet smell of bright red strawberries to this day, remind me of the Hale Ranch. Over twenty acres of fresh strawberries ripe for the picking would fill the air and we would go over the fence and pick a basket everyday if we wanted.
The Mexican workers would see dad with his cowboy hat, dark hair and tan red neck and try to speak Spanish to him. "Agua, agua, por favor." Dad would have one of the boys fill their jug up with water.
On the other side of the neighbor's field was peppers with thick green leaves, the cows would want to get through the fence to eat it up. One mean old cow pushed the calf through the fence, the calf would bellow as he would get a good jolt from the electric wire than ran across the top of the barbwire fence. The fence would be knocked over from the calf's body and the mean old cow could escape to eat pepper leaves. After she ate the pepper leaves she would get sick from the picante hot pepper plants.

Memories and ramblings on of the Ranch in Saratoga

John mentioned a few of his memories of our home in Saratoga. Some things that definitely stick out in my mind is sitting in the old tire swing under the balcony with a washcloth on my head waiting for Dad to get home from work so he could take me to Kaiser for stitches in my forehead. I was preparing to dive in to the pool when Mat decided to give me a little assistance by pushing me in. Somehow I managed to hit my head on the ladder and split it open enough to require 5 or 6 stitches to put me back together again.
Speaking of the pool who remembers Andy standing on the picnic table trying to get a better look at the fish we planted in the pool the year the pump quit working. Anyways he got a nice scar from his belly button to his rib cage, I do believe, from falling over the chain link fence.
It seems like we had a rough childhood 'cause I also remember John or Ed getting some scrs on their heads from rocks being dropped on their heads from high above the fence.
Speaking of the fence, just how many times did we have to cut back the ivy and replace broken fence slats and rotten fence posts?

Even to this day the smell of welding burning steel and welding rod reminds me of Dad welding on the saw mill in the back yard. I remember when "they" came to get the mill and loading it up on trucks and trailers to haul it up to the camp to set it up. I can still remember, years later, going on a hike at Camp Lehi with the scouts and seeing the saw mill my Dad built in our backyard.