Because Dad did!

Army surplus 100% DEET in glass jars. Melt your reel handle in a second. Jax Surplus store in northern Ft Collins.

Sandplum and chokecherry jam aficionado.

Mepps spinners…..Red/white #2 for the win. Brass #2 a close second.

A phrase that tortured me as a teenager…”it’s mind over matter, if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter”. I tortured my too hot or too cold or too hungry teenagers with that one regularly.
 
I waited a few days to post because I had to let this ruminate a bit.....I had a complicated and very unfulfilling relationship with my dad. A good, hardworking, industrious man who was deeply flawed and NOT a good father in almost any respect. I did learn (just from watching, never actually being taught) that you can build/fix/make most things if you put the effort into it. The most important thing I learned, though, was I did NOT want to be like him. I chose steady work with benefits, often sacrificing autonomy and pleasure in what I did for security and the long term. I have been very conservative with my finances as opposed to his lifelong making $5 to spend $10. I have wanted to, and have, travel and learn. Most of all, once I got over the hump and decided to have kids I would put NOTHING above their wellbeing and I would not let them go to bed at night without KNOWING that I loved them. I tried my best to be there for everything I possibly could, support their interests (which ended up being pretty different from mine) and provide a life long safety net I didn't know. In a weird twisted way I guess I owe it to the old man, but it would have been nice to learn in a more pleasant way.
 
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I waited a few days to post because I had to let this ruminate a bit.....I had a complicated and very unfulfilling relationship with my dad. A good, hardworking, industrious man who was deeply flawed and NOT a good father in almost any respect. I did learn (just from watching, never actually being taught) that you can build/fix/make most things if you put the effort into it. The most important thing I learned, though, was I did NOT want to be like him. I chose steady work with benefits, often sacrificing autonomy and pleasure in what I did for security and the long term. I have been very conservative with my finances as opposed to his lifelong making $5 to spend $10. I have wanted to, and have, travel and learn. Most of all, once I got over the hump and decided to have kids I would put NOTHING above their wellbeing and I would not let them go to bed at night without KNOWING that I loved them. I tried my best to be there for everything I possibly could, support their interests (which ended up being pretty different from mine) and provide a life long safety net I didn't know. In a weird twisted way I guess I owe to the old man, but it would have been nice to learn in a more pleasant way.
I think there is plenty that we all do or don't do because our old man did or didn't. That's something I try to keep in mind with my kids.
 
I’m really struggling to think of literally ANYTHING. My dad and I have very different tastes, and different passions. He busted his hump to become an M.D. in the 80s, and has developed expensive taste in most things since. Often, he comes across snobbish to me. I prefer the cheap stuff that’s still reliable, the entry level “good enough for most jobs”.
 
Ollin Magnetic Digiscoping Systems

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