What we pass along as Fathers and Grand Fathers!!!

I have giving a lot of thought as to what I would like my kids and Grand Kids to remember me by. ( Be sides being a grumpy old fart!! LOL) I think the greatest thing we can pass along is knowledge/skills. Money or material things are soon forgotten. They will not remember twenty dollars given to them on their birthday 30 years from now.

I am teaching one of my Grand daughters Black Smithing or more specifically shoeing horses. She is a horse nut but one with some common sense. Meaning she understands earning a living while involved with horses is hard to do. So she is going to take accounting PLUS learn to be a farrier.

So now I have another generation to work with. I was presented an opportunity yesterday to do this again. I bought a portable welder, Hobart GR-303, a few years ago. I will admit to not getting time to fool with it any since I brought it home. I unloaded it and it has set. So the last few days I have been piddling with it. Cleaning up the old gas and such. Amazingly the battery still had charge. I KNOW it has set there for over two years in a unheated shed and still cranked without me putting charger on the battery. The older of my younger grandsons was over playing around in the shop. Once I got the welder running I was testing it out. The 115 volt side was working great. So to check the welder side I just grabbed a hand full of random old welding rods and started striking arcs. I was not even running beads just checking and adjusting the welder while loading it. My grandson came over and was watching. He asked to try to strike and arc. So that started me teaching him about welding. We spent the next 3-4 hours running welds. I must say the Hobart welder is one of the smoothest running welders I have ever welded with. Your beads just run like melted butter. I told my Grandson not to expect many welders to run this way. LOL By the end of the day he was running pretty good beads. Now I know these are all just flat welds and such but that is not a bad start for him.

I forgot to get a picture of the two pieces he welded together he took them home to show his Dad,but I did still have one of the later flat plate welds we did. Only one of the beads in the pictures was welded by me. The second from the bottom is mine. All the others are his welds. The top bead is his last on this plate.

Now the rest of the story!!! LOL The young MAN in question will not turn nine until the 25 of this month. That is right he is just shy of nine years old and can run a pretty good bead for his first day welding.

P.S. I wonder if he will remember years from now his old Grandpa teaching him to weld right before his ninth birthday?????

I always remember my father by the gift he gave me that "keeps on giving". Yup, you guessed it; genetic health defects. Can't wait to see what more the future holds (if I have much of one).

Good job JD, I enjoy your stories. Ron Mn

i dont think he planned to give u them........lifes to short , forgive and luv thy father............dewy,,,,,,,,,,awesome jd that grandson will definitly remember you

Most importantly you have given them a good role model. My great grandfather was killed by a horse when my grandfather was eleven. Set the family back for a couple of generations.
Ron

That's so sad. I'm the sixth generation of my family here. Somehow we avoided the animal tragedy thing. My father never shared much, but I do remember him telling about his childhood friend, who lived on a neighboring farm, walking to my family's place, crying, to fetch my grandfather, as the boys father had been kicked in the head. That farm has changed hands at least six times since.

I can relate: my great-grandfather, a Civil War veteran, was killed by a load of buckshot in the back when my grandfather was two. My generation is the first that has somewhat climbed out of the ditch that put the family in.

You're a good man JD. I read a lot of your posts and I agree with most of what you right. I too give my grand kids the gift of knowledge for their birthdays. I help them build something in the shop. Even if its just making a bird house pounding a few nails and painting. As they get older I make them measure, then use a saw and into power tools when the time is right. I guess its because my Grandpa spent a lot of time with me doing the same. I still have a lot of the things we built 50+ years ago.

That's a good story and legacy that he will remember his whole life. I really don't know what I've handed down to my sons. My oldest shares my interest in making things work. My youngest has no interest in anything mechanical or animal. Both of them were sent to college and have good jobs. Sometimes I think that might have been a mistake. I hope I've passed on a work ethic and it looks like I have because both of my sons are hard workers. My oldest shares my belief that you can live a happy life without burdening yourself with the latest gadget. He is pretty resourceful. My youngest knows how to make money. That's good I guess because he will need plenty to pay people to do the things that he can't. Neither son has an interest in actively farming the place that's been in the family over 110 years. I can understand that because sometimes it's difficult to make ends meet but it's a good life for a simple man.

Great fathers get promoted to being a Grandpa.
Let him keep practicing. He will not only remember,
he will develop a valuable skill to earn his living.

Work ethic is the thing I am most proud to have passed on. I did that by them watching me work hard every day, rain or shine, sick or healthy.

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GUIDO.

Love it Guido!

At a parent/teacher conference when our daughter was a junior in high school, a sociology teacher said she'd asked the class members to name one important lesson they learned from their fathers.

Our daughter's response: "To pick myself back up when I've been knocked down".

I have not been a perfect father, just medium most of the time. Wifes family were always big sports nuts, told me I should play ball with the boys more. My response was you teach them how to play ball, I'll teach them how to work. My three sons are all hardworking, well educated, successful guys, and I couldn't be prouder of them. And I never missed watching them play basketball either, but I think the hard work education was more important.