"Carl's Lounge" (Off-Topic Discussion, Traditional Knife "Tales & Vignettes")

Parke1 said:
:D

Just checking in a bit. Tomorrow Katie and I have to attend the funeral for Katie's great uncle Andy. He passed away peacefully in his sleep Wednesday night, at the age of 92. He was a great man. He served our country in WWII, where he fought and was captured at the Battle of the Bulge. He survived 4 months in a prison camp, and then went on to live a full life here in Ohio, working in one of Akron's booming tire companies. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Fran, one son, Mike, and one grandson, Chris. He will be sorely missed. Even as he was slowing down in his later years, he never missed a beat and could still perfectly remember any details of the war and his early life. He would joke around endlessly, and passed his days watching basketball and fishing shows on TV. :)

Every year at Christmas Katie and I would spend the day at Andy's son's house. Andy's daughter-in-law, Deb, would cook a HUGE meal and we'd all eat together and without fail, at the end of the meal Andy would push his chair back, sigh, and say, "Well, that was pretty good. Beats what we ate in the war, anyway," and chuckle.

Here's a photo we took last month of Andy and his wife when they met my daughter, Julia, for the first time.
20140322_151535_zpsafb1783a.jpg


Rest easy, Andy. You were a great family man, a tough soldier, and a fine American. You will be missed.

-Dan
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I havent popped in for awhile myself and did a little back reading. Was deeply touched by this story Dan:thumbup:

Uncle Andy sounds like a truly amazing man and part of the greatest generation. Deepest condolences and prayers sent for your family.
 
Congrats, Leghog! That's killer!! :thumbup:

Carl, hope you're having/had a blast. I love Assateague! You going to the State Park side or the National Park side?
 
puukkoman said:
Congrats, Leghog! That's killer!! :thumbup:

Carl, hope you're having/had a blast. I love Assateague! You going to the State Park side or the National Park side?
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Always, a;ways the National Park side. And always the walk in tent camping sites. Way less people, and no idiots in a Winnabago with the generator running late and night to power the TV and other things, while they sit in a smaller version of their living room watching their favorite TV show. I like when Karen and I go camping, the only light is the campfire and maybe a small flashlight if looking for something in the tent. Nice and quiet, like nature intended camping to be.
 
My wife asked me to take her fishin' on our honeymoon. I kid you not.

We spent the first part of our honeymoon fishin'. I took two of the hooks and superglued them into a heart which she saved and still has 30 years later.

Fishin%2527%2520Wife.jpg
 
Just returned from an overnight camp out and cow roundup on a ranch in Eastern Washington.

I took three Boy Scouts and my family.

Last year was our first time going, and we had a lot of fun. There were a lot of cows that needed cutting (too big for the bander). I had to cut about 15 my self, and there were 3 or 4 of us doing the cutting, and some did more than I did. I think the calf count was 370 or so last year.

We did the event earlier this year, and none of the calves had to be cut. (though I was ready if it came to that).

This year there were about 210 calves or so.

I snapped a few pics (last year there was some one with a camera taking great pics, and she never delivered, so I did not get any good pics of me doing the cutting).

This year, my friend (his parents own the cows), told me they got a bigger bander to avoid as much work cutting. They offered to have me cut 5 or so for pics, since last years pictures are still missing (they had picked out 5 of the biggest males). I told them that I was not going to cut any, unless it was necessary, especially just for pictures.

Here are a few pictures from this years roundup (I made sure to take a bunch my self to be certain we had some pictures).


This is my family/camping/scout hauling van in the "parking lot" where we camped.



Our first class accommodations. (taken about 5:45 in the morning).




My two boys 8 and 4 watching the sorting (the 4 year old was not pleased with the noise or the brightness of the sun. He eventually went back into the tent, and played Godzilla with his stuffed animals.



Here are some of the knives I had handy, just in case we had to cut.



A Northfield Elephant Toe (by GEC), a #10 Opinel in Carbon, and a #8 in Stainless.







The calves are pretty sure they don't like me.





The calves are sorted at this point, and we are getting ready for work.
This is me, my lovely wife, and older son. Getting ready for tagging (he helped with tagging a few, which I had to help with, because his hands were not quite big enough and strong enough to get the tag through the ear, and holding two down while they were tagged, branded, injected and banded).



Here they are, off exploring (after the work was done).

 


My 8 year old, getting a few pointers:











my lovely wife tagging.





Some well earned sleep on the way home.

 
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Thanks for sharing. An experience not many get to see. It's a tough and messy job at times, branding, cutting, de-horning, etc
 
Thanks from me, too. And I'm glad to see there are outfits that still rope the calves and drag them to the fire.
 
:thumbup:

I've been knocked down , ground into the dirt , thrown into the air , kicked , stood on and just about everything else you can think of by Cattle , butttttttttttttt

A Calf nearly busted my knee in half one day up against the rail .
Man did that hurt . I still walk a little funny and that was years ago :)
Since then I never take the little guys for granted and am always a little twitchy around them , as my father used to say " once bitten , twice shy ".
What a great thing to do with your kids , they will always remember it .


Ken
 
Oh yes, a very dangerous job. One spring we were prevented from gathering and doing the round-up due to weeks of bad weather so ended up being a couple months later than ideal. The calves had gotten BIG and wow were they a handful and very strong by then, 400+ pounds some of them. I'm not a roper so I was on the ground crew. Mud, sweat, blood and exhaustion was the rule. An animal that big can put some serious hurt on you.


harronek said:
:thumbup:

I've been knocked down , ground into the dirt , thrown into the air , kicked , stood on and just about everything else you can think of by Cattle , butttttttttttttt

A Calf nearly busted my knee in half one day up against the rail .
Man did that hurt . I still walk a little funny and that was years ago :)
Since then I never take the little guys for granted and am always a little twitchy around them , as my father used to say " once bitten , twice shy ".
What a great thing to do with your kids , they will always remember it .


Ken
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