Week Recap and a little bit of a Father's Day Tribute

Isn't it amazing how time just slips away from you? I looked at the website and thought 'oh my goodness, I haven't blogged since Monday and it's already Thursday!" This has been a bit of a crazy week. I haven't been able to keep up with what day it is all week. I woke up this morning thinking it was Saturday. Ugh!

So to recap what has been going on this week....

Monday we played in the mud puddles. It made me think of my Grandpa Cassiday. He used to always tell me, "don't get stuck in the muddy holes". I loved my Grandpa. He was a great man. He and I spent hours sitting in his (ugly) brown chair reading the newspaper. Actually it was the Funny Paper. He always read the comics to me. His favorite was Blondie. As I sit and think here are some other things that remind me of Grandpa:

• Drawing farm animals. He always drew farm animals for me while we sat in that brown chair.
• Overalls. Whenever he would come home from his chores he would always clean up, change out of his dirty overalls and put on what else...clean overalls!
• Zest soap. Grandpa always washed up with Zest soap. He smelled so good. Now when I smell that soap I always think of Grandpa.
• Dirty boots. He always took off his dirty boots at the door and put them on newspaper.
• Counting cows. For those farm folk out there you'll appreciate (and understand) this. He and I would count cows. I, of course, would help. :) He always called the cattle in with this call, "siii-cooow, siii-cow, siii-cow", and for the calves it was, "siii-calf, siii-calf, siii-calf". (To fully appreciate those words you must pronounce them with a long drawl and the siii is with a short vowel i sound. )
• Spearment gum. He always had a pack stored in his front overall pocket. Sometimes he would switch it up and have a pack of Juicy Fruit gum.
• Swimming in the wheat truck. My brother and I used to swim in the wheat while waiting for the combine to return with a full load. Grandpa always drove the small black wheat truck and I loved riding with him in that truck. It was your typical OLD wheat truck that barely made it up the hills when carrying a full load. My favorite part about that truck was when you got to the elevator to dump the wheat the entire truck had to be lifted up and tilted because the bin didn't elevate independently of the truck. Occasionally Grandpa and I stayed in the truck. It was so cool to be in the truck as they lifted it up off the ground.
• Scraps. Grandma always kept all the edible kitchen scraps in a can and Grandpa always took those scraps to the barn cats.
• Counting sommersaults. I turned several hundred sommersaults around my grandparents living room. Grandpa counted them all.

Grandpa was a good man. He lived a good long life. He had a stroke in the latter part of his life. The very last thing I remember about my grandpa that I will forever hold dear to my heart was this: I was visiting him in the hospital after the stroke. He could barely talk and I'm not certain of how clear he could think and/or remember, but he looked straight at me and asked me this one thing, "Did I leave a good legacy?" It was kind of hard to make out, but it was clear. Grandpa's last dying wish was to know if he left a good legacy. Of course you did, Grandpa. It's one I will never forget!

To Be Continued....