Happy 60th Birthday

It has been awhile since I’ve posted anything.  Life is become very busy with summer here and child number three arriving, but even with all the busyness of everyday life, I find myself thinking of dad a lot.  Sometimes the memories are of those last days when he was very sick and everything seemed so unfair.  Although those memories are sad, it was a growing point for me and my family’s faith in God.  It was a growing point in all of our lives and I find comfort in knowing that it was part of Gods plan for us.

The memories I truly relish are the good times I had with dad before the cancer, and if you haven’t noticed from this blog, dad created many great memories for all of his family and friends.  Because it is hard for me to get on the blog and post a memory as soon as I have it, Tammy gave me the good idea of putting a note of the memory in my phone and coming back and posting them later when I have time. 

The first note I have in my phone is the memory of shooting bats in our back yard off the roof of the house.  We did it a few times that I can remember but were only successful once.  Still sitting on that roof, throwing a sock with a tennis ball in it up in the air, and shooting at bats that swooped at it with a shotgun was a memory I will never forget.  Guess that’s where I got my redneck side from.

Second, I remember the times we would go to the warehouse at dads work in the winter and shoot our bows.  Dad would set up an old tack board behind the target in case there was a terrible shot that missed the target (which of course none of us ever made that terrible of shots).  We would scavenge the warehouse looking for things we could shoot.  It was usually plastic silverware or tacks.  Then we would see who could hit them first.  It was stupid but I loved it.

Third, I remember the trips to check the back on Sunday nights, when I was just a young boy.  Dad would have to do a walk through to make sure everything was in order and he would attempt to make it as scary as possible.  He even created a scary sound track for the walk through the tunnel (Do do….Do do….Do do).  He always made things so much fun for us kids.

Finally, I always enjoyed the random calls to see if I wanted to go to Gander Mountain.  Sometimes we would go with a purchase in mind and leave empty handed and other times we would go just to browse and leave with bags full of stuff, but no matter the outcome of our trip, we always enjoyed going and talking about our favorite hobbies (hunting and fishing). 

Even more than memories, I find myself having thoughts of how great it would be if dad was still around for certain things.  For example, dad would love to be able to help with projects at Chad’s new house and Tammy’s new house, he would love to see our pigs and help out with me and Chad’s hobbie farms, he would love to work on our old Case tractor with us (or at least give us grief), and most of all he would have loved to have met my new baby boy, Sullivan Richard.  I also miss being able to tap his knowledge when I have a project I want to do or when something breaks. 

The family got together on dads birthday at his grave site and it was just nice to pay our respects to the greatest man we’ve ever known.  I hope we continue to do this for years to come.  Maybe even share some good memories together (as if we don’t do that all the time anyway).

The Channel

Just a quick memory...

This weekend our family camped at the Holland State Park.  It brought back a couple of memories.

First, it reminded me of dad's complaining about having to go camp at the beach...even though I think he didn't mind it that much.  He just liked to give mom a hard time.

Second, I had a hard time walking past the channel without picturing dad sitting out there on one of the cement benches.  He could sit there for hours just watching the boats go in and out.  I don't think he ever got tired of sitting out at the channel.  I miss sitting there with him.

A Box Of Fun

Recently, I have been taking cardboard boxes home from work for our baby ducks and chickens to live in.  Before it becomes a place for our farm animals to stay, Rogue and Blair like to play in them like it is the greatest toy ever.  Seeing my girls have so much fun in a cardboard box reminded me of the time dad brought some huge boxes home from S2 Yachts (it may have been more than once but I was too young to remember all the details.  Tammy or mom may have a better memory of this story).   He set up the box in the basement and made a play house out of it with windows and a door.  I remember having a blast in that box. 

DAD-ISM'S

I wanted to do a post to remember some a dad's famous one-liner's and/or quotes.  Dad always had a good come back to anything you could say.  I'm not sure how he thought so quickly sometimes.  Here are some of my favorite "dad-ism's".  Please add to the list as I KNOW there are so many more!

• Are you going to make a career out of that?  (for example:  someone turning into their driveway slower than dad would like them to)
• Do you have a monopoly on that? (I was asked that question often during my teenage years while using the bathroom)
• It’s a 4-way stop, not a parking lot.
• Yuppies
• Some of us have to work for a living (said to us kids while we were playing and he was leaving for work)
• Are you fake the jakein’ it? (Said to us over and over whenever we stayed home from school sick.  Sometimes I even began to feel guilty that maybe I really wasn't sick)
• Life ain’t fair
• Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then
• Close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades
• Did you see that __________ (fill in whatever project he just did)?  That's darn nice!

Can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with!

Missing Rick!

    I think of Rick everyday.  I enjoyed taking him out for coffee to McDonalds the last few months of his life and taking him to the Holland pier to fish.
    I also appreciated that he took the time to fix my boat floor and fixed the wiring when he was getting so weak.  And the time he went with me and Larry to Silver Lake to fix the boat lift and he was upset that it took us so long to fix it.  He was always willing to help anyone and could fix anything. I miss him.   Dad Kleinheksel
  

Snowmobile prayers

As we have been snowmobiling lately, I remember the nights that Rick would be out there pulling the kids on the sled behind the snowmobile.  All I remember doing is praying that no one would get hurt. All I could hear was Andrew screaming all the time and I never knew if he was hurt or if  Rick was teasing him and making him chase the sled and then taking off just as he got close. That is what he did but poor Andrew was much younger and had a hard time running as fast as everyone else. Was I right?

Snowmobile (Part 2)

As I drove into mom's driveway yesterday, I noticed something was different (and no, I'm not talking about the chicken coop sitting on a trailer along with a hot tub turned on its side).  I noticed there was fresh fallen snow everywhere and the yard was untouched.  This is probably the first time that I have ever driven into dad and mom's yard after a snow fall and not seen snow mobile tracks.  It made me really miss dad.

I know we already had a snow mobile post, but dad loved snow mobiling so much that I am sure there must be more snow mobiling memories, good and bad.

I remember when we were younger, each winter a group of about 12 snowmobiles would show up at our house.  Dad would put his snow gear on and head out.  Him and the guys (I don't know who all came) would head out and snowmobile late into the night.

I remember riding with dad to grandpa and grandma Kraker's house and going inside to get warmed up and eat Doritos and Cheese Balls.  We would fly down the gravel road so fast (at least I thought it was fast at the time)!

I remember dad was always tinkering on or fixing a snow mobile.  I think he did more of that, the older us kids got.  We seemed to always be breaking something on them.  I can remember one time that Bryan and I went snowmobiling.  We were flying up and down the ditches out near 146th.  Bryan was following my tracks.  Apparently, I narrowly missed hitting a culvert.  Bryan wasn't so lucky.  He bent the front ski up and did some other damage.  We limped the sled home, having to stop every so often to put the spark plugs back on.  When we got home, dad was not there.  Bryan, thoughtful as he is, parked the sled right in the front yard in perfect view for dad to see as he drove in the driveway.  Bry and I went inside and waited for dad to come home, peeking out the kitchen window to see the expression on dad's face.  I don't remember what dad ever said to Bryan about it, but I do remember the expression on his face as he did a double take at the sled when he drove in the driveway was priceless!!  Poor Bryan....and dad, since he would be the one fixing it....again.

I know there must be more memories.....so please post them!  They make me smile :-)    Even the bad ones.