Birthdays and Boatrides (we all must be living right)

First of all, I need to wish somebody special a Happy Birthday. We will be celebrating my father-in-law’s 80th birthday on Sunday the 31st. WOW . . . if you ran into him at one of the many activities that he participates in you would not guess that he is 80 years old. However, if you had the good fortune to sit and visit with him for a while, you would soon learn that he has done so many interesting things that there is no way he could be any younger than 80. Evidence of his skill and craftsmanship as a finish carpenters show in buildings all over western Washington and beyond. If I had a fraction of his hard earned knowledge of woodworking, I could quit my job and repair vintage boats for a living . . .maybe someday. When I met Ross about thirty years ago, he was just another hard working dad who I was sure was nice to me because his youngest daughter asked him to. But as time went along and we got to know each other better, I found that his kindness and generosity were genuine. Some of the stories of when he was a cowboy that he shared with us in those early years were, much to Rhonda’s surprise, stories she had never heard. There would be many more of camping, hiking, mountain climbing, canoeing, fishing, and, the list goes on. Now I imagine that all of this attention is kind of embarrassing Dad a little bit but I didn’t want this important milestone birthday to slip by without saying congratulations and thanks. We look forward to your next milestone birthday. Thank goodness that Sally didn’t plan the party any later than the 31st because Rhonda and I will be on our way north up the inside passage to S.E. Alaska and the Cape Decision Lighthouse as I had mentioned before. We, or at least I, will be on the lookout for old broken down boats, or should I say old wooden boats that have lived a long and interesting life. If I can’t bring back the boats I will at least bring back some pictures and, at some point, share them with you. The other thing that Scooter and I were hoping that I could bring back from S.E. Alaska is some of the beautiful Sitka spruce that litters the beach up there so that we could make some nice oars for the Whitehall. We shall see. Anyway, I will try to send out something when we get there to let you all know how the boat ride went ,or I will no doubt tell you all about it when I see you on the trail.