My Dad, cont'd

To continue my story about my Dad from my book -

When Dad lost his hand, that put an end to his playing the violin and doing other things that required both hands. He was still living with his mother, so never had to really get used to doing things for himself. He and Mother were married just six months later, in September 1917. He was naturally right handed, and it was his right hand he lost. He never did get used to writing with his left hand. We always used to say he had never written a complete check after he lost his hand, but I have found a few he wrote when he and my mother were first married. He could not button the cuff on the left sleeve of his dress shirt, tie a necktie, or lace or tie his shoes. He could tie his work shoes fine. The first pair of work shoes he bought after he lost his hand, the salesman at JC Penny taught him to lace his shoes and fasten them, so he could do it by himself. I tried many times to get him to wear slip-on dress shoes, but he was not about to wear "house shoes" for dress, so he always had to have someone tie his shoes. Even after Mother went into the hospital with her final illness, if he went anywhere to wear dress shoes, he would have to have someone tie them after he got where he was going. Same way with his shirt sleeves. On his work shirts, the cuffs were loose enough that he could slip his hand through without the cuff being unbuttoned. Of course, with no hand on his right arm, there was no problem with that cuff. I tried to get him to learn to wear clip-on ties, but he wouldn't do that either. He was a stubborn man. Dad made his living as a farmer, and there was very little he couldn't do around the farm. The only livestock he ever raised were chickens, pigs and sheep, and they did not require any special treatment that required two hands (like milking a cow).

Some of the things Dad did learn to do were really amazing. He learned to buck 100 pound sacks of grain without any problem. He ould use garden tools just as well as anyone else. He never let his lack of a hand stop him from doing almost all the maintenance on his cars and farm erquipment. He became friends with the head of the San Francisco office of the state Department of Rehabilitation, who filmed him doing some of the chores around the yard, the farm, and the work on his machinery. This was to be used in the training of people who had lost a limb. I never knew how this turned out. If there was something he had a problem with, Mom or one of us kids was usually there to help him out. Some of my best memories are of the times I spent working on the cars and tractors with Dad - getting all dirty and greasy. It always bothered him that I would never cover my hair. But it was just easier to wash my hair than to mess with a scarf or hat. And I used to wash the parts of the engines in gasoline and then let the gas dry on my hands without washing it off. That really bothered him too. He worried about me a lot.

After Dad retired from farming, he took up cabinet work. He did a lot of that. He had a well equipped shop (everything except a lathe which he said he was afraid to try to use - didn't think he could hold things well enough). The only real problem he had with the cabinet work was that he could not "set" the nails. He usually had Mom come out and do that for him. Then, after Mom went into the hospital, the work would pile up until my husband or I could get over there to set the nails for him. I never did know whose idea it was, his or my cousin Bill's, but anyway Bill made a tool for him so he could set his own nails. They say necessity is the mother of invention, and I guess that was the case here. Anyway what Bill made was from a simple steel strap, and a center punch (if you know what that is). It worked very well for him, and allowed him to ciontinue his wood work until a month or so before he died. Dad could make almost any kind of cabinetry you wanted. Just give him a picture, or a diagram, and he would figure it out.

(to be continued)

Today was my birthday. Other than a couple of phone calls from daughters, it was not a whole lot different from any other day. Judy & her husband and I went to church, and then they took me out to lunch. It was a beautiful day, with just scattered clouds in the sky. Steve likes to take some of the back roads home (and so do I), so we did that today - roads I haven't been on for years. It is really nice to get to just ride around the country. We used to do that a lot, when the girls were younger, and I have never outgrown my love for such a pass time.

Well, I will continue my story of Dad another time, along with "quickie" notes on other things, but for now, Good night -