my dad

Everyone says "you're just like your father." Well...people that know both of us. In some ways I am, but in some ways I am not. My dad is an engineer. I don't know anything about that stuff. I'm not even sure if I spelled it right. And he really likes all things that 50 something year old engineer farm kids would like. I don't really like anything to do with engineering - at least as far as the thought that goes into it. Same for farming, I grew up working summer jobs at farms and I dislike pretty much everything to do with farming except for the end result - food. He also remains constantly busy - something I envy. My dad, along with my mom, moved to Hawaii a few years ago, thus he gave up his business of welding, repairing, drilling and all the other ings that go into working at your own machine shop. His constant desire to be doing things, along with his interests and the options in Hawaii have made for some interesting time killing activities.

Leaving his children on the mainland, he would of course have to find something to replace this void. That was the easy part - biking, hiking and surfing. But how would he fill the farmboy engineer void? Well, first he got a volunteer position as a welder on the USS Missouri. Perfect for a guy like my dad. What would seem like a difficult and dirty job for some is of course perfect for my dad. He gets to weld AND be on a huge battleship with big guns - a historic one at that. In my last trip to Hawaii I got the tour. The free and unlimited tour that battleship enthusiasts would only dream about. I, of course, had no appreciation really at all for it, but it was kinda fun to see my dad so excited about the different welds that kept this thing from falling apart as it's huge something something diameter guns blasted away during WWII. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate big guns just as any Midwestern country boy does, but the thickness of the hull is something I will never really get too excited about. I can only imagine that half the time he is working he is actually day dreaming about taking the ship out to sea and blowing some stuff up...that's what I would be thinking - and that is exactly what I was thinking during the tour.

There are also pictures on the computer of people laying railroad tracks. This is another thing he volunteered for. I am not sure how many people volunteered, but I can't imagine the "come volunteer with us, we'll be laying railroad tracks" flyer got too many volunteers. But this is the kind of thing my dad probably really enjoyed - at least enough to take pictures of. As a kid, I remember him taking our family on a tour of a railroad car. While I am sure he thought it was really cool, I don't remember it being anything special and I doubt my mom or sis did either. There are also pictures of my dad at his Christmas time volunteer job. A mall train driver. While most people would probably assume he did it to help entertain kids, I can only assume that my dad had more fun cruising around on a train than the kids did. If he had the chance to drive a real train on the tracks that he spent so much time putting down, I doubt he would have been shuttling brats around the mall while their parents went Christmas shopping.

Well, as far as I know, no one that actually knows my father reads this blog and my family is unaware that I even have one. But if someday they stumble upon it, I just want my dad to know that I admire his ambition and his ability to put in so many hours into the things he is passionate about, even if I think they are strange things. I say this in hopes that in the future I will also be able to take part in the things that I enjoy...I don't do that now.

And on a different note, after doing spell check (no mispellings - at least according to Mr. Spell Check), I think it's about time that they incorporate the word "blog" into their dictionary. How ironic!!!!!