My own dad, John H. Morris in his shop we built together back in 2005. He lives in the mountains nearby, he is Papa Jack to my wife, Grandpa to our kids, and at 86 years old, he's doing pretty danged good. He loves building birdhouses for the locals where he lives, and he has earned the nickname "Birdman" and he wears it proudly. Actually he didn't even know he had the nickname till just a few weeks ago, he heard it through the grapevine and he was tickled to death to know that he has an official nickname in his community. Love ya Dad!

 

Just thought I'd share to you all my Dad. Class act he is, he loves solitude, self reliance, his garden, and building these little bird homes. Next to the shop is his single wide trailer that was pulled up on the property in the late 60's, the trailer is old, but he made it home. He's been living there since 2004.

 

Dad, smiling for the camera

 

 

Dad's shop looking out the front door

 

 

He has a work station with the belt sander, palm sander, and cutoff saw, that only he knows why it's set up that way, for his birdhouse, and he gets a lot done

 

 

DeWalt RAS, I know I know, don't say it, the blade guard, I used to get on him bout this, but he's been doing this since I was a kid, I used to cut wood all day myself without the blade guard on his RAS as a kid in his other shop, matter of fact I learned some of my worse safety or non safety practices from Dad, and later learned through working in the trades, what safety really meant, but hey, like I said, you aint gonna convince an 86 year old man otherwise, is what it is.

I did however get on him about using a 10" blade on an 8" RAS, he did heed my warning on that, promptly switched them out.

 

 

Dad, with his hands on his hips, he walks around most the day like that, I think he got that from his own dad, my dad was raised on a farm in the Catskill's of New York, the farmers all walked around like that when they got old.

@aaronc, some of the antler I told you about.

 

 

See, hands on the hips still, told ya!

 

 

Old hand made three wheel band saw I gave my dad, I got from an estate that turned over hand made machinery to me to distribute to folks in need, I asked them if my dad could have this old three wheeler, they loved the fact it was going to dad. Sent them pics of Dad with the BS and they loved it. The saw works great by the way.

 

 

Just another view out the front of the shop

 

 

This is shot from his trailer, looking out, he actually has a stick built sun room built off the side of the single wide, he spends all of his time there with his dog Susie. He watches TV, reads, surfs the net, and he has this view, sorry the image is blurry, but it kind of gives ya an idea of what he sees every day, just beautiful country up there, 45 minutes from us.

 

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Love it!

John, you are a blessed man to have your father for so many years. Most of us lost our parents years ago. Cherish the moments!

Good story John. All I can say is enjoy every day and ask questions and write down the answers now. Make copies of what you write and these articles for your children .My Dad died at age 70 and was still working. Often wondered what he would do in retirement but thinking now he would be gardening. He used to have a dream of having a farm with Hereford cattle .

8 minutes ago, Ron Altier said:

John, you are a blessed man to have your father for so many years. Most of us lost our parents years ago. Cherish the moments!

Thank you Ron, it's amazing how healthy he is, I take encouragement from that fact, that hopefully I'll have a full long life as he has. We will cherish the moments, I promise!

2 minutes ago, Gerald said:

Good story John. All I can say is enjoy every day and ask questions and write down the answers now. Make copies of what you write and these articles for your children .My Dad died at age 70 and was still working. Often wondered what he would do in retirement but thinking now he would be gardening. He used to have a dream of having a farm with Hereford cattle .

Thank you Gerald, as we all get older I am starting to see how important it is to do as you stated, when I was younger, death for anyone in our family seemed so far off, but we do all leave this life eventually, and my dad aint getting younger, as a family we are working on seeing more of him, and being more tentative to his needs. He's the only dad/gramps we got.

 

70 is pretty young Gerald, I bet your dad is living his dream elsewhere.

John,

You and your dad are lucky men.

I lost both my Grandpa, & Dad at the same age I am now. (61)

So seeing your dads name is John also, are you John Jr.?

Hey John I forgot about this but I bought one of those books with questions about your favorite things and opinion . Only got one book and me with two boys. That was maybe 8 years ago and I still have not completed it.

3 minutes ago, Larry Buskirk said:

John,

You and your dad are lucky men.

I lost both my Grandpa, & Dad at the same age I am now. (61)

So seeing your dads name is John also, are you John Jr.?

Larry, you are going to break the mold on this one, you're just too busy to die any earlier than 101yrs old!

 

I was named after my grandpa, John Courtland Morris, I am John Courtland Morris II. If I was named after my dad, ya I'd be Jr. My mom hated the whole Jr. thing, so she talked my dad into naming me after his dad.

4 minutes ago, Gerald said:

I still have not completed it.

Story of my life Gerald,

Hey do you remember what the books title is?

1 minute ago, John Morris said:

Larry, you are going to break the mold on this one, you're just too busy to die any earlier than 101yrs old!

John,

I might break the mold, but I don't think I care to see the century mark. 

14 minutes ago, John Morris said:

Story of my life Gerald,

Hey do you remember what the books title is?

"A Father's Legacy"- your life story in your own words.

Did not realize there were so many versions of the same idea.

LOOK AT THESE TITLES

Edited July 27, 20196 yr by Gerald

Just now, Gerald said:

"A Father's Legacy"- your like story in your own words.

Did not realize there were so many versions of the same idea.

LOOK AT THESE TITLES

Thanks!!!!!!!

John, your posts about your visits with your dad are always highlights of my day. I'd bet it's the same for him, too. What's he think about his grand daughter's exciting news? How's the roof repairs holding up? I'm with you on that guard less RAS. Those things scare me WITH a guard! 

 

Quote

I'll stop when it doesn't hurt.

@Larry Buskirk, on the subject of dad's, your sig line reminded me, when I was a kid and I had a boo boo or aches and pains, dad never showed much compassion for any of it, he'd dismiss it with "Hey John, don't sweat it, it'll feel better when it stops hurting!". I've always said the same to my kids since they were little, it confused the heck out of em at first, now they just moan when I state it to them.

John, your Dad seems like a very happy content person. Not really possible to have a more satisfying life than that.

2 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

John, your posts about your visits with your dad are always highlights of my day. I'd bet it's the same for him, too. What's he think about his grand daughter's exciting news? How's the roof repairs holding up? I'm with you on that guard less RAS. Those things scare me WITH a guard! 

 

Thanks Gene! I am glad you enjoy them!

He is very excited bout his grand daughter, and very proud, his buttons pop with his grand kids. He especially impressed with our new future soldier in the family, since Dad was a Navy Corpman, he still loves to see youth enter the ranks.

 

The roof repairs we did with those coatings, worked very well, the only problem is the water went to another area of the roof and found new places to leak, but the area that was coated, never leaked after. We'll get another layer of coating up there soon before the next rain season.

2 minutes ago, Artie said:

John, your Dad seems like a very happy content person. Not really possible to have a more satisfying life than that.

He is Artie, he's fine, he's had a lot of hardship in his life, relatively recent years he/we tragically lost both his daughters (my two sisters) a couple months apart from each-other back in the mid 90's. He was destroyed for a long time, but as we all do, we cope, we adjust, we rationalize, and he finally adjusted as we all had too, and he has finally found peace I can say. You can tell just by the smile, he's finally there I'd say.

1 hour ago, John Morris said:

I did however get on him about using a 10" blade on an 8" RAS

I use a 10" on a 9" saw, but I found a 10" guard from a later model that fits. Can't hardly find 9" blades anymore.

5 minutes ago, Gene Howe said:

Those things scare me WITH a guard! 

Some operations won't allow the use of a guard, such as using a dado set, or moulding head. 

1 minute ago, Larry Buskirk said:

I use a 10" on a 9" saw, but I found a 10" guard from a later model that fits. Can't hardly find 9" blades anymore.

What's your opinion Larry using a 10" on an 8"? My biggest concern was speed off the outside diameter, turning too fast beyond manufacture specs that it could be a danger somehow.