After yesterdays posting, I got to thinking more about what I remembered. And I started to write it down in the form of stories that I had heard. These are going to be disjointed, but somehow I find that I am having fun doing it. I hope you all enjoy. Here is what I have written in the last 36 hours.
Who was this man, Thomas Eugene Miller?
To some of us, he was our father. To others, he was grandpa, or uncle, or just a good friend. To some he was brother. He was born on January 26, 1909 in Gaslyn Wisconsin to George and Melissa Miller. He was the third son of that union.
He grew up as a son of a farmer in a farm community in northwestern Wisconsin in the first quarter of the twentieth century. He was a lean, whipcord man with a ready whit and faded blue eyes. He never weighed more than 160 pounds in his entire life and he was proud to tell you that he was 5 feet 10 inches in height. Now, what I am going to tell you are the memories of one man who was his son. I am only attempting to recite those things that I heard from and about him during the years that he and I were alive together. And there are other things that I have been fortunate enough to learn from others in the years since his passing. I loved the man so there may be a tendancy to elaborate and embellish but only because he deserves it.
There is the story of Dutch. Dutch was a german shepard dog that was obtained by the family while Tom was a young man at home. The pup was less than a year in age when he came to live with the Millers, but he was unruly to say the least. They had gotten him on the premise that they had to break him or kill him. That sounds rough. But that was the way of things in the rural communities. The animal was to be a watch dog for the home and there was a need to have a strong willed protector. Anyway, as the story was told to me, Tom was out working on the farm setting fence posts. This being a thing that needed to be done to maintain the safety of the livestock. Dutch was not the least bit happy about being tied out and not allowed to roam and have fun like any good young male dog is wont to do. Tom went over to where he was to attempt to quiet the dog. As he went, he carried a length of timber that he was using to tamp the dirt around the fence posts that were being set. When he got to where Dutch was tied, he discovered that he had made a slight miscalculation. Somehow he had gotten between the dog and the tree to which he was chained. Now remember, Dutch was somewhat ill-tempered at being tied. So he did what any animal of this temperement would do. He attacked. He went for Tom with blood in his eye and his eye on Tom's throat. Tom did the only thing he could do, he defended himself and his life. He swung the tamping stick like a baseball bat, catching Dutch in the ribs. Now Tom had played a lot of baseball in his life and knew how to swing a bat. Anyway,
Dutch went down in a heap, rolling back to his feet and immediately back to the attack. As he lept at Tom again, the procedure was repeated and it was another ground ball as the dog rolled away. Dutch was not done yet. He again went for Tom and Tom swung again with the same result. This time things changed. Dutch crawled to Tom's feet and licked his shoes. He was beat and he had found his master. He acknowledged that then and there. From that day until the day that he died, there was never a time when he did not act as protector for the Miller home and family. There are many more stories of Dutch that Tom told over the years. And I will try to record them all as I tell the story of Tom.
Why not another one now as I think of it.
Tom had a nephew, George, the son of his oldest brother George who was called Bob. Because of a divorce, young George was being raised by his paternal grandmother as his father had obtained custody, another story for a different time and place. Anyway, Tom was acting more the role of father to young George and would for a long time. At the time of the story, George was a very young lad and Dutch was acting in the role of babysitter while George was outside playing. The family heard Dutch whining and idly wondered what was happening until it went on
long enough that Tom went out to see what was happening. When he went out the screen door of the farm house he saw George leading the complaining Dutch around the yard. The reason Dutch was complaining was that George had grabbed him by the tongue and used it as a leash. It seems that Dutch was panting as dogs are known to do and it fascinated the young lad. So, he grabbed the tongue and walked off. Dutch could have made the boy let go by closing his mouth on the hand, but he did not. Instead, he suffered the indignity of being led by the tongue rather than hurt the child. Good dog.
And another comes to mind.
Tom was working on a road crew as he lived at home. His father, George or as he was known, Fritz, was a county commissioner so his family was involved in the work as well. Tom had a friend whose name has been lost in the passage of time who stopped by every morning to give Tom a ride to the site where the days work was to be done. He had been doing this for 6 months according to the story I was told. He would have a cup of coffee and play with Dutch every day. They had become good friends. As the story goes he made a comment to Tom that he and Dutch were the best of buddies. Tom told him that it did not matter for if he were to give the command, the dog would obey. In the usual form of male bravado and machissmo, the friend laughed and said it would never happen. They were outside heading for the car to go to work. Tom decided to prove his point and quietly said "Get him Dutch" and found he had to react very quickly to call the big dog off as Dutch took off to do as he was told. Loyal dog and obedient to his master.
And there is one last one that comes to memory.
It seems that during these times, it was not uncommon for gypsies to come visiting the rural homes looking for anything that was not tied down to steal. The method, as I heard it, was for more than one gypsy to get out of the car. One would go the house to ask for directions and engage in small talk while the other would quickly look through the outbuildings for something of value that could be taken and used or sold. Well, one day this happened at the Miller homestead. Our grandmother Melissa was at home in the kitchen with only Dutch for company. When someone knocked at the door, she went to see who was there. Dutch went with her and as was his way when alone, he positioned himself between her and the door. He was not a small dog. According to the description I heard, he was table top high at the shoulders. But this day, Dutch did something unusual. He went out the screen door and disappeared around the corner. Grandmother shortly thereafter heard a shout coming from one of the sheds. She went out and found a man standing with one foot off the ground. That foot was in Dutch's mouth. And he was
growling. Grandmother ordered Dutch to let him go and then ordered them off of the place or she would set the dog on them. They left quickly. Smart dog.
What does this prove about Tom? I don't know if it proves anything other than he had a dog who acknowledged him totally as his master. And a dog that I feel he loved as well. I think that says something about a man that he had inspired that kind of love and loyalty.
Well dear sibs, that is the beginning and there will be more.
Monday, February 11, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Memories
As I sit here at this keyboard this day, it comes to me that it is time to share memories as they need to be shared before there is no time to share them anymore. Not that I am being maudlin, but I just want to put them down as I have been hoarding them and I feel the need to let them out.
I wrote a lot in TT comments on the aniversary of dad's birthday. That is what has opened the log jam. Things like the statement that he used to use about having to sight on a fence post to see if something or someone was actually moving. It is an old farmers way of talking about things that were moving slowly. He talked of a team of horses pulling a stone sled. I dont remember why they had them but they did use them to train horses to pull a load. It was a wooden sled with a lot of rocks in it. I remember it around the Anderson place when I was young.
I remember the cooking things better than most I guess because cooking and baking were a special memory for me. It is something I got from mom. For some reason, she spent time teaching me kitchen things. And I love it to this day. She taught me to make cocoa from scratch. I baked cakes with her. That is why I know that a cup was a coffee cup and a teaspoon was the one we had on the table. The table spoon measure was the one that was used for soup and serving. Egg shells made for good coffee. And the coffee did not get good until the pot was half full of grounds. And never wash the coffee pot because it would spoil the flavor for at least a month.
I remember talks with dad after mom died. I was only 13 at the time and did not really understand much about what was being said at the time. But looking back from the years I have reached, I start to see some of what he was trying to say. He missed her terribly. He had taken off work to be with her at the end. He knew the end was near as the doctor had told him that she had a week or two and that the pain was going to be bad for her but she would be as sedated as possible. The doctor told him that he had only just begun to get to the early stages of morphine injections just before she died. Dad told me how he had been sleeping in the chair in the room with her and he heard her breathing change. How she had been fighting for air. She succumbed to pnuemonia at the end, what he said was called the sick persons friend. He talked about the love between a man and a woman to me a teenage boy and I did not then understand. I do now. But it took me almost another 5o years to do so. God, do I miss them both.
He told us after the funeral about the fact that twice before in his life he had seen families broken up when the mother had died and HE would not let that happen to his children. I never forgot that lesson. When the accident happened to my family and Laurie was killed and the rest of the family in the hospital, he asked me why I had not opted to have my children taken care of by others but insisted that I take them home and I told him that it was the lesson I had learned from him. He cried.
He always told me that anything that he and I could do together, he called it pulling in a double harness, would alway be something that would get finished. I never forgot that. I passed it on as the lesson that you do what ever you need to do to get the job done. And the job has always been family. That is the only job we have. The rest is details.
Dear sibs, there is one more lesson I learned. I don't know if you know this so I am going to pass it on. Dad told me that at the end of her life, mom did one of the hardest and bravest things possible. She knew she was dying. She could very easily have given into grief and sense of loss. That is the normal thing. She could have pulled us close and hung on to us in her final days. But she did not. She and he discussed it and she decided that we need to be turned to dad. He would be who was there with us after she had gone. So she did that. She turned us away, gently, to our father. It made the grieving easier and our subsequent lives easier. But not her end. For that I love her.
From our parents, I learned lessons that I have tried to formulate in my own way as 3 laws of family. Borrowing heavily on the great author Isaac Asimov, they go like this.
Law 1. Family comes first. Take care of your family in all things before all other things.
Law 2. Take care of the individual members of your family as long as it does not cause harm to the entire family.
Law 3. Take care of yourself as long as it does not interfere with the first 2 laws.
This to me means that as long as you do this, you should never have to worry about yourself as the others in the family will have done it for you. So on this basis I give you all, siblings and children, my love and my promise to live this way.
I wrote a lot in TT comments on the aniversary of dad's birthday. That is what has opened the log jam. Things like the statement that he used to use about having to sight on a fence post to see if something or someone was actually moving. It is an old farmers way of talking about things that were moving slowly. He talked of a team of horses pulling a stone sled. I dont remember why they had them but they did use them to train horses to pull a load. It was a wooden sled with a lot of rocks in it. I remember it around the Anderson place when I was young.
I remember the cooking things better than most I guess because cooking and baking were a special memory for me. It is something I got from mom. For some reason, she spent time teaching me kitchen things. And I love it to this day. She taught me to make cocoa from scratch. I baked cakes with her. That is why I know that a cup was a coffee cup and a teaspoon was the one we had on the table. The table spoon measure was the one that was used for soup and serving. Egg shells made for good coffee. And the coffee did not get good until the pot was half full of grounds. And never wash the coffee pot because it would spoil the flavor for at least a month.
I remember talks with dad after mom died. I was only 13 at the time and did not really understand much about what was being said at the time. But looking back from the years I have reached, I start to see some of what he was trying to say. He missed her terribly. He had taken off work to be with her at the end. He knew the end was near as the doctor had told him that she had a week or two and that the pain was going to be bad for her but she would be as sedated as possible. The doctor told him that he had only just begun to get to the early stages of morphine injections just before she died. Dad told me how he had been sleeping in the chair in the room with her and he heard her breathing change. How she had been fighting for air. She succumbed to pnuemonia at the end, what he said was called the sick persons friend. He talked about the love between a man and a woman to me a teenage boy and I did not then understand. I do now. But it took me almost another 5o years to do so. God, do I miss them both.
He told us after the funeral about the fact that twice before in his life he had seen families broken up when the mother had died and HE would not let that happen to his children. I never forgot that lesson. When the accident happened to my family and Laurie was killed and the rest of the family in the hospital, he asked me why I had not opted to have my children taken care of by others but insisted that I take them home and I told him that it was the lesson I had learned from him. He cried.
He always told me that anything that he and I could do together, he called it pulling in a double harness, would alway be something that would get finished. I never forgot that. I passed it on as the lesson that you do what ever you need to do to get the job done. And the job has always been family. That is the only job we have. The rest is details.
Dear sibs, there is one more lesson I learned. I don't know if you know this so I am going to pass it on. Dad told me that at the end of her life, mom did one of the hardest and bravest things possible. She knew she was dying. She could very easily have given into grief and sense of loss. That is the normal thing. She could have pulled us close and hung on to us in her final days. But she did not. She and he discussed it and she decided that we need to be turned to dad. He would be who was there with us after she had gone. So she did that. She turned us away, gently, to our father. It made the grieving easier and our subsequent lives easier. But not her end. For that I love her.
From our parents, I learned lessons that I have tried to formulate in my own way as 3 laws of family. Borrowing heavily on the great author Isaac Asimov, they go like this.
Law 1. Family comes first. Take care of your family in all things before all other things.
Law 2. Take care of the individual members of your family as long as it does not cause harm to the entire family.
Law 3. Take care of yourself as long as it does not interfere with the first 2 laws.
This to me means that as long as you do this, you should never have to worry about yourself as the others in the family will have done it for you. So on this basis I give you all, siblings and children, my love and my promise to live this way.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Happy New Year
It is the evening of January 1, 2008. I had to work this afternoon and so did Darilyn. After work, we went to her daughter Barbara's for a southern traditional dinner of greens and black-eyed peas. It is supposed to bring prosperity for the new year. I have no idea if it really works but it doesn't matter. It is just fun.
I went over to our new house this morning with a few things in the back of my little pickup and dropped them off. I returned to Navarre and got ready for work. Not a big day, but it was a good and fun day and I enjoyed being alive.
I hope it was all good for all of those who read this blog. May the good lord look down on you and smile on you all.
I went over to our new house this morning with a few things in the back of my little pickup and dropped them off. I returned to Navarre and got ready for work. Not a big day, but it was a good and fun day and I enjoyed being alive.
I hope it was all good for all of those who read this blog. May the good lord look down on you and smile on you all.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
A Star in the east.
MERRY CHRISTMAS.
It is the day that we celebrate the birth of our lord. And we have had a good day here in the panhandle of Florida. Darilyn had to work. I did not so I did the best that I could at putting together Christmas dinner. We exchanged gifts with the Florida family and each other and enjoyed it all immensely.
On another note, I find that I do not have many memories of the Christmas celebrations of my youth. I know that they occurred but there was not any that were memorable to me. So, I am enjoying them now. I have attempted to become the Clark Griswald of the neighborhood. My wife informs me that I have a ways to go to attain that status, but so what. It is enjoyable and fun.
May all who read this blog have a wondrous holiday.
P'Eister
It is the day that we celebrate the birth of our lord. And we have had a good day here in the panhandle of Florida. Darilyn had to work. I did not so I did the best that I could at putting together Christmas dinner. We exchanged gifts with the Florida family and each other and enjoyed it all immensely.
On another note, I find that I do not have many memories of the Christmas celebrations of my youth. I know that they occurred but there was not any that were memorable to me. So, I am enjoying them now. I have attempted to become the Clark Griswald of the neighborhood. My wife informs me that I have a ways to go to attain that status, but so what. It is enjoyable and fun.
May all who read this blog have a wondrous holiday.
P'Eister
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Sunday before Christmas 2007
I thank you all for the comments posted. It is good to keep in touch and to have a place to enter my thoughts and musings. I have played with the idea of maybe posting philosophical musings and thoughts that come to me at times. Such things as what might be the cause of some form of behavior or my feelings about some happening or forms of conduct. Maybe just a satirical essay, if I am capable of such works. I don't know, but it could be fun.
Some of the thoughts that I have had are my remembrances of the father of us. I have my memorys and you all have yours and maybe someplace in the middle of it all is the actual truth of it. If there is any real truth.
All I know right now is that I have computed the length of time that TE was on this earth and it has come to my attention that I have lived longer than he did. And I am in no way ready to check out any time soon. Life has become very precious to me. I hurt like hell some days from getting older but so what!!!! I enjoy being around people and trying to stir up the pot and make them think and feel about life. The gift that we have all been given by the good lord. The chance to experience the joys and sorrows of our fellow man, our children, and the beauty of the world around us. I love my life. I love my wife. I love my children. I love each and everyone of my siblings and their offspring. I could not say that 10 years ago, but it is so much the truth now. I have a new home in Pensacola that we will be moving into in the near future. We spent today getting new appliances for the kitchen, a new dining room table... made of marble believe it or not.. and other diverse Christmas presents.
I have also spent the day trying to train a new golden retriever puppy who is nothing but love and mischief. But not a thing would I trade for the time and experience. I expect each and everyone of my sibs to come and visit SOON!!!!! Send me an email and I will post the new address to you all.
Tommorrow I have to return to the work a day world of retail, but I think that I will be looking forward to it with anticipation. There are grinches out there, but who cares. I will deal with them as they happen. So it is getting to the time that I must take this older shell for the young spirit that I feel I have found again and get some rest. So each and every one of you take care and the best of holiday wishes to you all.
Some of the thoughts that I have had are my remembrances of the father of us. I have my memorys and you all have yours and maybe someplace in the middle of it all is the actual truth of it. If there is any real truth.
All I know right now is that I have computed the length of time that TE was on this earth and it has come to my attention that I have lived longer than he did. And I am in no way ready to check out any time soon. Life has become very precious to me. I hurt like hell some days from getting older but so what!!!! I enjoy being around people and trying to stir up the pot and make them think and feel about life. The gift that we have all been given by the good lord. The chance to experience the joys and sorrows of our fellow man, our children, and the beauty of the world around us. I love my life. I love my wife. I love my children. I love each and everyone of my siblings and their offspring. I could not say that 10 years ago, but it is so much the truth now. I have a new home in Pensacola that we will be moving into in the near future. We spent today getting new appliances for the kitchen, a new dining room table... made of marble believe it or not.. and other diverse Christmas presents.
I have also spent the day trying to train a new golden retriever puppy who is nothing but love and mischief. But not a thing would I trade for the time and experience. I expect each and everyone of my sibs to come and visit SOON!!!!! Send me an email and I will post the new address to you all.
Tommorrow I have to return to the work a day world of retail, but I think that I will be looking forward to it with anticipation. There are grinches out there, but who cares. I will deal with them as they happen. So it is getting to the time that I must take this older shell for the young spirit that I feel I have found again and get some rest. So each and every one of you take care and the best of holiday wishes to you all.
Saturday, December 22, 2007
I'M BACK
I have returned. It has been many months since the last posting. No apologies, just a fact. A lot has been happening since last I entered here. A number of locations have been attempting to entice me to come out of retirement and return to the work-a-day world of contract programming. I succumbed to the temptation in late November and accepted an offer to go to work in Sacramento only to call them the next day and withdraw.
It seems that my dear lady has some conditions that the doctor has deemed need to be investigated. So far we have found that she has serious disintegration of discs in her back. Probably associated with arthritis. She has had an echo cardiogram which was good. She has yet to take a nuclear stress test to discover if there are any other cardio problems. She also has problems with pulmonary functions. I have noticed myself a tendency to quit breathing at times while sleeping and we have taken steps to alleviate that. It has gotten better of late so that eases my concerns. We need to get these things resolved and we will. Until then I will continue to work at Wal-Mart.
We took a short trip in early December to Las Vegas to visit with mother-in-law and brother-in-law. It was a fun trip and well worth the effort. Upon returning, we have gotten back to our normal way of life. It has been in our minds to find another place to live that is closer to Pensacola as it seems all aspects of our lives revolve around people and things there. Then we found a nice 3 bedroom house on the west side of the city that was up as a lease option and fell in love with it. So, we decided to go for it and see if we can make it all come out with our owning the place. There seemed a better than even chance to overcome the odds and have a home of our own again. So, today we signed all of the papers to lease the house for 2 years with the option to buy it. And if all works as it should, we will be there for a good long time. I may have to return to the every day business of computers on occasion to put money back into the savings but it will be worth it to do short term contracts at high rates of pay when they become available.
That is about it from this end. Maybe I will be able to keep it up this time.
Peister ;o)
It seems that my dear lady has some conditions that the doctor has deemed need to be investigated. So far we have found that she has serious disintegration of discs in her back. Probably associated with arthritis. She has had an echo cardiogram which was good. She has yet to take a nuclear stress test to discover if there are any other cardio problems. She also has problems with pulmonary functions. I have noticed myself a tendency to quit breathing at times while sleeping and we have taken steps to alleviate that. It has gotten better of late so that eases my concerns. We need to get these things resolved and we will. Until then I will continue to work at Wal-Mart.
We took a short trip in early December to Las Vegas to visit with mother-in-law and brother-in-law. It was a fun trip and well worth the effort. Upon returning, we have gotten back to our normal way of life. It has been in our minds to find another place to live that is closer to Pensacola as it seems all aspects of our lives revolve around people and things there. Then we found a nice 3 bedroom house on the west side of the city that was up as a lease option and fell in love with it. So, we decided to go for it and see if we can make it all come out with our owning the place. There seemed a better than even chance to overcome the odds and have a home of our own again. So, today we signed all of the papers to lease the house for 2 years with the option to buy it. And if all works as it should, we will be there for a good long time. I may have to return to the every day business of computers on occasion to put money back into the savings but it will be worth it to do short term contracts at high rates of pay when they become available.
That is about it from this end. Maybe I will be able to keep it up this time.
Peister ;o)
Monday, September 3, 2007
Labor Day Musings'
I am trying to to better at these postings. But it is a habit that takes some getting used to indulging. I am still working at the usual place and dealing with the bain of retail - people. Such is life.
It has been quite warm here in the panhandle of Florida. Daily temps are in the 90's with the evenings in the mid to high 70's and HUMID. But living near the water has its good points. It gets cooler in the evening due to a wind off the water. Usually. I will try to add some pics of the beach to show what I mean.
I have another item that I would like to share with my sibs. After discussions at the "gathering", I decided to see if I could find a copy of "Heart Trobs". I went to Amazon and was actually able to find an number of copies. As I wished to have a copy in good condition, I ordered a reasonably priced first edition for $25. I have received it and it is fantastic. I have been re-reading all the old favorites and finding others as well that I had forgotten. Little Breeches for example. I will have to bring it to the next gathering.
And dear sibs, I want to present, for your consideration, a recommendation based upon old Celtic law and tradition. As we are a large part of that heritage, other than the Viking, I feel it is quite appropriate that we should choose a clan leader. And as such, I wish to propose the one who has been our leader ever since childhood. Whom do you think I suggest? Of course, it is our dear Santini. Celtic tribal law and tradition allowed for the rights of women to be leaders when it was truly obvious that they were the best choice. So, think about it and maybe we should plan an installation ceremony at the next gathering. As acting shaman, I would be more than willing to devise some appropriate and truly meaningless procedures.
Tommy
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