My Last Best Dog....

 Prince Indy's Ace

My last best dog.  OK, I confess.  They are all my last best dog.

We bought Ace for my granddaughter and he belongs to her and my wife, I just take care of him.

We had a scare last week and a quick trip to the vet where he got checked out and he's doing fine!

Things like that make you aware of the impact that the loss of a dog can have on people, especially my people, who are very attached to him.

We bought him to replace Golden Ace who was a very aggressive Golden Retriever and not a good fit for our family.  He was rehomed and is doing great.

These things always seem to germinate in my mind...should I get another dog ?  It is a long term commitment and has always been a part of my life.  We were sitting on the back porch and I "found" a litter of black lab puppies that were papered.  I say "found" because you can find anything almost quickly as you think it...not sure that is a good thing?

We went to look at the litter and as soon as we got out of the car Ace came running to us, he was only 7 weeks old.  The other puppies were hiding under benches and whatever they could find.  I told my wife, "this is the one".  She got a little stirred at me because we were supposed to evaluate every puppy and then think about it...not hardly.  I wrote them a check and we went home and surprised Grace with him that afternoon.

He's a good dog and always has been.  Never a growl or snap at any of us.  He destroyed the yard for the first year then settled down.  He graduated at the top of his class in obedience school.  Good dog !

I have had many last best dogs, but I really think that this is my last best dog?

Red or Blue ?

 

Red or blue ?

My 1912 Hendee belle...what color to paint her ?  Since the engine cases and the wheels will match the frame I have to decide early what color.  A friend came by and asked if I was going to paint her the usual red or do something different ?  Blue was an official Indian color.

The perfect color...patina never looks right unless its original

Goodbye Bro......

 David Lawrence Drennen 

May 23, 1950 - December 20, 2021

It's difficult to tell the story of my oldest brother David without going too deep into family history.   I dont remember David as being a boy, he became a man very early in life.  

While my dad was traveling all over the world, David tried to take care of my mom.  He did his best.

David loved my maternal grandfather Willard Truax who had a large farm in North Dakota.   David loved working on the farm with my cousins the Truax's.  I dont remember David being idle for too long. He was always building and experimenting. 

One time he and his friends built a huge balloon out of dry cleaning bags.  It must have been 10 feet high.  They assembled one night in our friends the Waldo's back yard and heated it up so it would float way up high.  They rigged a sterno burner under it which kept it airborne.   The next day there were write ups all across the state of Montana about a UFO !

David was all of our hero from a young age.  Believe me, we needed one ! He was always there to rescue you. We had a very volatile family so it was good to see him coming !

He left home right after he graduated and went to college for a short while in Minnesota. We still lived in Montana after leaving North Dakota.   

Shortly afterwards he enlisted in the Navy and had some good years in the military.   He married his 1st wife Pat and had 2 sons who he dearly loved.

When his 1st marriage ended he went into the US Army and served in Germany.   This was before the Berlin wall came down. He was an Army Scout and patrolled the German border .

I have a picture of him in civilian clothes standing in front of the Russian Kremlin.   He was smuggling bibles into communist Russia. 

About this time he came back into my life. I had a pretty serious accident and my life was in a shambles.   He came out to California and stayed with me and really helped me get back on my feet.  Together we formed Bro Construction and worked all around Vallejo until we saved up enough money to journey across the country on another great adventure.

We drove across the country in my van and I still remember everything. He had to stop everywhere that was interesting. 

I went to visit him in Alabama before he left for Europe.   This was a truly life changing weekend.   We went spelunking in some caves that he and his friend Steve Calvert knew about.  I'm not sure how bright it was but it was interesting!

We were going to go to Europe and tour around together.   I wasn't able to go but he did.

He ended up back in Germany where he became a German trained engineer.  

This is when he met and married his dear wife Heide.I believe this was in 1986. 

 My life took some serious changes that year for the good and we always stayed close to each other.  Neither of us held back on our beliefs but we always ended things peacefully. 

We didn't agree on everything such as politics and religion but we always stayed close friends. We agreed to disagree..

We just decided that we would be close regardless.   

We often talked on the phone,  it was always "hello bro" and ended with "I love you bro".

David was a deeply religious person and was totally engrossed in politics.   He studied and taught constitutional law. 

He worked as a systems engineer in the automotive industry.  He was working right up until he contracted COVID a few weeks ago. It turned into pneumonia. 

I will miss you bro ....

P.S.  David was very private and hated the internet but I wanted him to be remembered properly. 

The black and white picture was in 1967 just before my brother Dale was struck by a car and killed.  Dale is holding  the cat.  He loved all animals.   The car missed David by inches.  David is in the back row next to my dad. My brother Gilbert is in front, I am in the next beside my sister Leah and just in front of my mom. My brother Dana is next to me.

 

You Can't Wear Out an Indian Scout

 My old 1927 Indian Scout. This was a very cool motorcycle that I should not have sold.

I rode it a fair bit and it was fun, but you had better plan your stops.  

I was riding it one day and it stopped running.  I pulled over and noticed that part of the carburetor had vibrated loose and fallen off.  I walked back down the road and the missing part was laying in the street. I screwed it back on and the little Scout started right up and I rode home.

"You can't wear out an Indian Scout"

Hillclimber for Tiff

 Sometimes you just know where something belongs...

I Rang the Bell Today...

I wrote this on March 10,2022

Since that time we have all lost many loved ones to cancer...it is an evil disease 

 I rang the bell today..I rang it because its been 5 years and I am now cancer free, I rang it for all my friends who are fighting cancer today, I rang it for all of our loved ones that cancer took.  I rang the bell today..

I wrote this on March 10,2022. Since then I have lost many more friends to cancer.  It is an evil disease!

First I would like to thank my God who was with me through the whole time.

I would like thank my dear wife Laurie who cared for me as I went through treatment and drove me to all of my appointments and waited patiently as I went through everything.   Thank you so much.

I would like to thank my granddaughter Grace who came in and checked on me when the chemo was almost too much.  It kept me going just to see you every day. Thank you 

I would like to thank all of the staff at Compassionate Cancer Care especially my dear  friend and nurse Maritta who was always there.  Thank you.  

I am thankful for my good doctor Raowas who was always honest and listened. 

I thank my good friend Caesar who jumped on a plane and came to check on me when things were real bad.  You were like an angel when you walked into the ICU unit that day.

Thank you David, Rodney, Aaron and all of my dear friends and brothers who were always there.

Thank you Leah and  Jerry for driving out to see me.  I wasn't a very good host but thank you.

I would like to thank my  nurse at Riverside Community Hospital who always just showed up.  You were there was when they did the bone marrow biopsy, you were there when they put my chemo port in and you were there when they drained all the fluid from my lungs so I could breathe.   I was too sick to remember your name but you were an angel.  You weren't even my official nurse but you just showed up...

Thank you Tom Truax for calling me every month...I hope that you are doing well. 

Thank you all my friends for your prayers and get well cards.

Thank you to all the children in the Vallejo church who made me cards that day.  I read them all.

I rang the bell today....