My First Father's Day

POSTED BY: CLIFF

Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes you get really lucky.

In my case, it's apparent that I have been more than lucky and fortunate to end up with such a great wife and great family. Being my first Fathers' Day, I don't have anything to compare it to. However, unbiased I think it will go down as being a great one even as many more pass. To me it was a perfect day of productivity and playfulness with the most thoughtful gifts from my wife and son (maybe just my wife).

The day's start came with some French toast breakfast... a bonus. I never seem to stay in bed long enough to get it in bed, but I didn't have to make it, so a definite bonus. I proceeded to do some house work in the form of getting that stack of "I'll look at it later" mail sorted and taken care of, only to be annoyed by something that I found in the stack. I had to let it go and move on.

Gavin was not in the best of moods, however he has some new toofers comin' in so I guess I can't blame him. All three of us have been fighting colds that have made my head feel like I was doing cartwheels in the pool without plugging my nose.... yes, it sucks. While Gavin took his morning nap, Erin and I headed outside for a little while. I refilled the birdfeeders with each of our birdseed varieties and Erin refilled the hummingbird feeders. While out there, we noticed there was a low-hanging tree branch rubbing on the old outhouse roof and decided to trim it up. The old wood shake roof of the outhouse is badly deteriorating and will need to be replaced soon if we are going to attempt to keep this old treasure! The trimming of the branch over the outhouse led to a lot more trimming of all of the branches hanging over the old farm shed and rubbing the edges of the shed's corrugated tin roof. We didn't quite have that job done yet when Gavin woke up from his nap, ready for lunch. This is the way it goes these days!

After Gavin had lunch we headed up to Grandma and Grandpa J's to visit and wish Grandpa J a happy Fathers' Day. Gavin and Mom gave me my gift from Gavin which was a Hawaiian shirt bottle cozy, which for those of you who know me understand what a fetish I have with bottle & can cozies "Never leave home without one"... and a note that Gavin had gotten me something for my workshop - formally known as the "Old Garage" - and he would show me what it was. So, out the door and to the Granary we went where it was revealed. Our local main street community had a sewing machine sales & repair shop for years that was called "Cliff's Fix-it Shop". My wife, being the thoughtful person she is, saw an article in the local newspaper that mentioned the shop was closing and immediately called to see what was happening with the signs. She thought they'd be a neat addition to my workshop, being that they said "Cliff's Fix-it Shop" and they're a little piece of local history. Then, she sneakily managed to get them home and hide them. Which, by the way I accused her one night of sneaking off to the bar with our daycare lady when it took her so long to get home, when in reality she was in town picking up these signs. So, I now have some new signage for my workshop.

I also got to work on my duck boat for a few hours. Now, I know I have a good wife 'cause she not only puts up with my Can Cozy fetish, she listens to me ramble on about hunting and the duck boat or new gadgets and stuff I plan to build... We call those "winter projects" (the ones we talk or dream about, but may never actually get done). I worked on the boat while she went to our nephews' and nieces' birthday party, only to return with three baby pheasants, which were my present from her along with some books on raising pheasants. Another thoughtful idea and tricky little plan as she had asked me earlier that day to find a cage for our niece and nephew, Natalie and Jon Michael, to transport there rabbits... very tricky. You would think I would catch on. We plan to release the pheasant chicks in a few days and maybe try to raise some next spring.

We ended the day with a spur of the moment date. One of our neices babysat Gavin and we got to go out to dinner at the Main Streeter, our favorite local Bar and Grill. We both had the Whiskey Marinated Steak. Oh My Goodness! Now this may be your local small town bar and grill, but I've never had a better tasting, melt-in-your-mouth steak! Not to mention, they still make drinks like drinks should be made and don't charge you to death for them. The restaurant was quiet conmpared to usual, and we practically had the place to ourselves. The most deliciously tender steak, crispy onion rings, deep fried Wisonsin cheese curds, and good old Wisconsin brewed beer! Does it get any better?

Dinner was followed by "Up" which was an animatied kid's movie showing at our local small town theater where adults pay just $3 to see a movie and popcorn and pop are about $1.00 each (no ice for your pop). The movie was good and funny "Squirrel!"... Ha ha ha ha. A nice way to end the evening.

All in all it was a great Fathers Day from a great wife and great baby. I really couldn't have asked for anything else.

Thanks Hun!