Tough

I write a lot of posts about mistakes and strange decisions my dad has made in his life, but he happens to be one of the most resilient, self sacrificing and tough men I have ever known.
Dad began to loose his eye sight when he was about 20 when he first noticed a line in his vision. Over 40 years the line has grown in size to where he has lost all color and central vision. When you see him "looking" at you, it is usually with his peripheral vision, giving the distinct impression he is looking past you. Dad drove until he couldn't pass the eye exam at the DMV then forged Dr's notes until he felt he was unsafe to drive. Never to be held back he has ridden a bike to work, DI, and home depot whenever he needs something. He has bus schedules memorized and is on a first name basis with every worker at DI, Checker, Auto zone, Home depot, Lowes, Johnstone Supply and every wrecking yard from Santiquin to North Lehi. It is very rare when he asks for help and when he does it is because he has tried and just couldn't get it right. I often visit the wood shop to find he has used almost all of my tools including my table saw and chop saw,where he measures something and sets up the saw by "feel". Dad never gives up even if it takes him hours to complete a task.
Dad took an aptitude test in high school and they told him he should become and Engineer. To which he stated, to me, one day " I could look at anything and figure out how to make it better" but later relented and said "I couldn't take the math". Dad found mom and dropped out of BYU 1 semester shy of his bachelors degree... he never went back. I laugh about my childhood because of all the crazy things we went through because we were poor but dad was always working some angle to try to earn more money for our family. I think part of the reason he was so grumpy when we were younger was every time he earned any money we would add another mouth to feed, which would require another scheme to earn more money. Dad sacrificed his 20's, 30's, 40's and 50's to us, trying to get us a decent start in life.
recently I was working with Dad on a railroad tie wall were we were drilling holes through the ties and driving re-bar into the holes. I was trying to work fast because sometimes dad will slow you down trying to help. I was busy drilling holes when I heard the Tap... Tap... of the 5 pound sledge hammer driving a piece of re-bar into the tie. Dad would place his thumb over the top of the re-bar and then tap the hammer on the top to find the center. Dad would then take a bigger swing and about 50% of the time would hit the re-bar and the other 50% would hit his hand. I always let him do what ever he wants to try so I went back to my drilling, when I heard a tap of the hammer then dad say "Crap!" then he pulled his arm into his chest and began to make his customary farting noise with his mouth. I have heard the farting noise a hundred times and I think it usually takes the place of him cussing. I asked "you OK?'. He gathered himself together and said "yes". He picked up the 5 pound sledge and started to hammer again when I saw the blood streaming down the re-bar and pooling on the wooden tie. "I don't think you are OK, let me see your hand" I said. Dad presented his hamburgered Dad had pinched his thumb between the top of the re-bar and the 5# hammer causing a through and through gash that needed stitches. "You probably need to go to the hospital to get that fixed" I said. "No" he said "lets get to work."
I wrapped his thumb and he went back to trying to driving re-bar into the railroad ties.
No excuses, hard work and resiliency= tough.

Radar

Cody Bought Radar from Stuart Gray. He was a German Short hair pointer with a dark brown head and a white body with brown speckles, he had a huge abdominal hernia that never healed over and it took away the sleek look of usual pointers, and the fact that he was lazy.

Cody originally let Radar sleep in his bed, we shared a room and I secretly envied Cody because it was a cool looking dog. Each night radar would jump into Codys bed and snuggle up. radar slept in Codys bed until one morning when Cody woke up with a giant pile of dog pooh sitting next to his body and Radar sleeping at the bottom of the bed. One of the few times I've ever seen Cody loose his temper, Cody let loose a tirade of Mormon swear words, like "stupid dog" and "crapped" at Radar while slapping Radars backside. Cured of any bowel and urinary incontinence in one night Radar tried to get on Codys bed the next night and was met with a slap on his back side. Radar dejected turned to my bed and slept with me for the rest of his life.

Contrary to the temperament of most short haired pointers, Radar spent his life laying around under a desk, eating and farting. His farts had a very distinct smell and could quickly clear a room. At the first smell someone would yell "RADAR!!!" to which everyone would cover their nose to avoid even the first smell.

Dyke had a girl friend, Kristy, who made him a plate of cookies and had put them in his room on his dresser. radar went in and ate the whole plate. Dyke was mad but Kristy was madder, forever after anytime Radar crossed Kristi's path he was always followed by a "Stupid dog"

About a year into having the dog Cody and I began to wrestle on the ground when we felt Radar gently nipping at our heals, the longer we wrestled the more aggressive his nips became. We often wrestled in front of Radar to see who's side he thought he was on. one day while wrestling in the front yard Bill Marek came running across the street and grabbed Cody around the shoulders, then let out a loud yelp, radar had bitten Bill on the butt. Luckily Bill didn't sue us but simply stated "No, No, your dog was doing what he's supposed to... he was protecting you".

At about 1 year old Radar was through puberty and had started to carouse a little so we had talked about having him "fixed".

One day I arrived home from school only to find Radar walking with a limp, he held his back legs as far apart as he could while walking like he had saddle sores. He would walk a few steps, sit down and begin to bite at his testicles. Cody and I held him down to find Radar testicles were twice the size of normal and discolored in swirls of fire engine red and purple. Near the base of his testicles we discovered a rubber band wrapped tightly around cutting off most of the circulation. Cody and I tried to get to his testicles but when we began to try to cut the bands Radar began to growl and snip, so we waited for dad, all the time infuriated for the hate crime someone had committed on our dog.

When dad came home we went to him "Dad, we need your help"

"what for"

Exasperated and disgusted "some one wrapped a rubber band around radars nuts!"

Dad (silence)

We lay radar on my bed and turned him on his back, Dad held Radars mouth closed and held his front paws and Cody and I took turns holding back legs and trying to cut the rubber band with out cutting the engorged tissue that had surrounded the bands.

still infuriated Cody said "who would do this to our dog!"

"... I did" said Dad

Dad being the from a farm had done to Radar what he had done to hundreds of cattle, slap a rubber band on the testicles and watch them shrivel up and fall off, only this time all of the blood supply was not cut off so the tissue continued to swell and engorge. Not only were the testis's not salvageable but the vet had to piece together the surrounding tissue after the necrotic tissue was cut out. It cost us double the amount for the neuter $120 dollars, a monumental amount to me. Radar came out unscathed and within a week was back to his old lazy self.