Grandpa Nelson

ETA:  Grandpa passed away this morning, shortly before noon, if I am understanding everything correctly. :(

{First, I have to comment on the photo.  This is typical Grandpa.  Sitting down talking, coffee cup in hand, and by the candy dish.)

I recently realized that I haven't talked too much about Grandpa here on my blog, other than perhaps a couple random memory posts. Grandpa had a lung removed due to cancer 17 years ago. Most people don't survive lung cancer, so that is a miracle in itself. During those 17 years, he still has managed to do many of the things that he loves. Hunting, fishing, and building things. He is currently in the hospital due to a fall and is not expected to live much longer than a week. Things were looking up at one point, but now they are grim. As mom said during one of her phone calls to me, they are planning a funeral. Even if he survives this, his quality of life simply won't be there. Anyway, due to this, I'v been reminiscing a bit and thought it would be a good idea to get some of my memories down.

I lived with Grandma and Grandpa until I was 7 years old, and I remember not wanting to move out.  I pitched many fits, because I didn't want to leave Grandma and Grandpa's house.   I mean, who would want to leave, when you had a Grandma and Grandpa that spoiled you?

Some of my earliest memories include Grandpa.   When I was younger we would go camping way up north, out in the middle of nowhere.   You either bathed in the lake, or used a sun shower.   All meals were cooked over the fire, or occasionally using the small stove in the camper.  For bathrooms, we used a port-a-potty that we brought with.

I believe it was when Grandpa was up re-building or remodeling Hungry Jack Lodge after a fire.  I remember there being a huge long dock, and Grandpa and I sitting at the end of it, casting my pole with a worm on the hook, and catching sunfish after sunfish.  I used to love going on boat rides in Grandpa's old Lund finishing boat.

During the summer Grandma and Grandpa had a HUGE garden.  Grandma made freezer jam, canned, froze, and gave away the goods from the garden.  Nothing ever went to waste.   One of my favorite things when I was younger, was once the pumpkins started to grow, Grandpa would take each grandkid out there, and have them pick out a pumpkin and with his pocketknife he would either carve our name or initial in them.  Then each Halloween we got the pumpkin.  Either to carve, or display as is.

Another summer activity at Grandma and Grandpa's house was the sawmill.  Just thinking about it brings me back there...the scent of sawdust, the sound of the trees being cut down to slabs to be made into something.  Grandpa was out there as much as he would be, typically overseeing everything, as after his surgery, he wasn't able to help out much at the sawmill.

Even after I moved out of Grandma and Grandpa's house, I still went back and visited them often, spending the night.  Whenever I would get there, Grandpa would say, "Come on over and give me a squeeze."  He never called hugs, hugs, only squeezes, as far as I remember.

One of my favorite things was each morning when Grandma and I woke up, Grandpa would bring us coffee in bed.  Cream and sugar in mine of course.  Then Grandma would get up and cook breakfast.  She usually had cream of wheat.  I still love that.   Grandpa would have bacon, eggs, and toast, and of course, I had to be like Grandpa and have the same thing.   There was an occasional bowl of Wheaties with a bit of sugar and cut up banana on it.

Grandpa also used to go into the Duquette General Store and have coffee with some guys in the back room.  When I stayed over, he would buy me a lottery ticket to scratch off.  If I won, he gave me the cash, and let me keep the quarter that I scratched it with.  I always managed to con Grandpa out of quarters and dollar bills when I was younger.

Sometime before Grandpa's lung surgery, he always laid on the floor and would ask me to give him backrubs.  Back then I wanted to be a masseuse, and Grandpa said I would be a good one.  He also taught me how to play blackjack back then too.

I loved it when there were family weddings or places that we could go to dance.  I remember Grandpa letting me stand on his feet and he would dance with me.   I always knew that Grandpa would walk me down the aisle on my wedding day.   I'm so happy that he was able to do that.

Grandma taught me how to sew buttons on, and before long I was charging Grandpa to sew buttons on his shirts.  Back when he was doing construction, he always wore button down shirts, and the buttons would come off.

Grandpa loved to be out in the shop and build things.  When he made each of the Granddaughters a hope chest one year for Christmas, I cried. It is gorgeous.  I will cherish that hope chest forever.  Grandpa would love to show me the shop and what he was working on.   As he got older, the less he did in the shop, but he still carved his canes and build bird houses.   He loved carpentry and building things.

On the weekends Grandpa loved to watch Hee Haw and of course the hunting and fishing shows.  Then every night at 6:30 p.m. we all had to sit down and watch Wheel of Fortune.   Dinner and dishes had to be done by them, so the show could be watched.

I remember being younger and Grandpa convinced me that Boxcar Willie (an old country music singer, if you didn't know) would make the deer come out in the field.  He would turn the music on, and sure enough the deer would come out to the field to eat.   I didn't realize until years later that he played the music at the same time every night, as the deer came out at the same time.