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God i love South Park in the fall. just got back to the uncivilized world after a week of off gridding at the cabin. 5 years until retirement seems like a long ways out.
I should have stayed. Got home, my 85 yr old mom told me a younger cousin passed away after a long battle with Cancer, and a classmate from grade school through college was killed in a tractor collision with a Union Pacific train.
I get to go see my doc for yearly tomorrow, and anticipate my 60 year colonoscopy. Oh Goodie.

spent very little time prospecting, a little scrounging at Granite and a little on the Ark for a couple hours one day. did find a few specks. Most of the time was enjoying fall color, time with wife and dog and no communication.

So sorry to hear of your family's loss ! My deepest condolences !

Russ,

Thank you Russ,

the Family has been praying for my cousin for 10 years with his battle w/Colon Cancer.
I am glad his struggle is over. His Dad (my mom's brother) is taking it very hard. I think that is harder for me to see.
I am afraid the next few years is going to be a lot more loss, My mom and dad are in their mid 80s, Kim's mom is late 70s, she is having serious memory issues.
Luckily my mom and dad are still sharp. I am making the 150 mile drive once or twice a month to check up on them. my parents are closing on a point when they shouldn't be driving, not yet but soon.
I think when that occurs my dad might give up, Mom and dad are going to do a get together this next week with my dad's remaining siblings in Denver. My dad's older brother (90) is out there.
We'll see how that trip goes for them Mom think's it will be the last sibling get together before one of them is a funeral.
Damn it sucks to think about that crap.

I am going to the funeral in south central Nebraska, and travel deviation back through our little prospecting area in southeast NE. It's been a while since going there too for me. I need to check out the river. Been too busy for my own good and need to take some time to sit on the river for an hour and cogitate on a gold pan.

Kind of slaps ya in the face when someone younger dies. Wife reminded me to take the time.

Sorry to hear about all the problems. I'm the oldest of this branch of the Leeper line so we've been through all of the deaths on both sides of the family.
Leonard

yep , I've been through it with our family's over the years. It don't get any easier............

Sorry to hear all that Rex, but saying goodbye is never easy and at one time of another we all have to do it. Seems like the older I get, the harder it gets to say goodbye to someone younger than me. It also happens more often than I care to admit. We do what we have to do.

Take care and remember the memories will always remain.

Dickb

I didn't want to remember my cousin as he looked in the casket. Hell, a 52 yr old man shouldn't look 90 even in a casket.

That said, it is was it is .

The service was definitely north Central kansas/south central nebraska Hillybiily funeral.

Recorded C&W music in the service, and the last thing read was Paul Harvey's timeless classic "And God Made a Farmer.."

Still shaking my head.

Told wife, I will haunt her and the kids asses if they did a service like that for me. Burn my ass and spread it in the aspen.

Sorry to hear of your loss_john

July 31 of 2023 is the official Getting the Heck out of here!!

There is a time honored activity in the military (I'm very familiar with the USAF) where a "Short-Timer's Calendar" is made, where a calendar of some sort is modified to show the days left until "The Big Event" like leaving 'here' and traveling to another duty station 'there' or even your discharge or retirement.

Often it's started a full calendar year before "The Happy Event" and each day closer is noted with increasing excitement each and every morning. ""Today"" is never counted and the last day, the day you leave, is never counted directly but is just referred to as "A Bag Drag" or "A Wake Up".

So, to simplify an example, if today is exactly one 365 day year until you leave you would think of today as "363 and a wake-up" or "363 and a bag drag".

Friends and co-workers would periodically ask "How Many Days?" and you would dutifully answer with today's number -- something like "261 and a bag drag" or maybe "261 and a wake up." Slowly the days would wind down and the anticipation would grow.

Just a simple way to look forward to a coming event and remind your friends that you would be leaving soon.

Local "customs" would make every location just a little bit different.

"Hey Joe, how many days?" "15 and a bag drag." "Jeez, you're short!" "Yeah, I'm so short I couldn't see out the window this morning."

Often a well known weekly rotational aircraft ("The Freedom Bird") would pick up departing personnel and when you were scheduled to be on the very next flight, you might answer "The Question" with one word that said it all ---

""NEXT!"

Remember that, LEONARD?