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One summer my grandfather (maternal) taught me and my brother how to make a box trap. It isn’t really complicated and we already had the general idea from the coyote and road runner cartoons. We stayed several summers with the grandparents when were little kids, and then we ended up moving into the house next to them at some point. So I had the idea that I was going to catch a rabbit during one of the summers, I’m not sure when the brother became a part of the plan but that happened along the way. One of those you need to include your brother things that adults say so they don’t have to watch kids in more than one place. It wasn’t that I was actively trying to exclude my brother, it just never occurred to me to include him in the plan either. The first plan was not a very good one and I could shift it to the brother for having the bad idea but it was my bad idea and I’m willing to own it. I thought if I was quick enough I could catch the rabbit with my bare hands…indeed, alcohol did not always play into my delusions of cat like reflexes. My brother had similar faith in his rabbit catching abilities and even felt he would out do me in the number of rabbits he could catch. The key was to be really quiet and ready to run at any moment. Silly as this plan sounds it nearly worked, if you count nearly working as chasing a rabbit in a yard like a mad person for 20 seconds before it disappeared into brush. The rabbit was nowhere near being caught at any moment but it seemed like that plan was almost perfected and we kept at it. The running rabbit maneuver happened several times, for more than a single day too. I think the rabbits were having lots of fun and were making it a game on their side as well. Get the human to chase you, the one who stays out the longest gets first dibs on the new carrots. Our grandmother didn’t care that we were chasing rabbits and didn’t concern herself that our confidence in our abilities would land a rabbit or more at any time. She was certain that chasing rabbits would make us sleep well. Which was pretty true. Well after a few days of foot chasing rabbits, we netted a sum total of, no rabbits. Our grandfather decided it was time to teach us how to make a box trap. We even learned two triggers for the box trap; active and passive. The passive one is when the bait is fixed to the trigger and you leave and come back and check the box every now and then. If it is sprung there may be a rabbit under the box or not. Usually it was the wind that knocked over the box and there was no rabbit. The active trigger was a stick with a string tied to it and you laid in wait holding the length of string, poised to pull the trigger as the rabbit went under the box. The trick here was not falling asleep and or being able to pull the string fast enough so the box dropped quickly. The key here was putting the bait near the small angle end of the propped box, so even if you weren’t really quick you still were likely to catch whatever was eating the bait. The trap I’m sure would have worked but the rabbits decided that since the odds were now in our favor and not the other way around, as with the foot method, they quit playing. I laid for hours watching that box hoping for a rabbit to wander in, but it never happened. Still probably some of the best fun that I had as a kid and maybe the least dangerous but those are tales for another time. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards

Father's Day

With Father’s Day approaching soon-ish… I find myself as I have for the last decade fatherless, yet I am a father. So it is a happy and a sad time for me. I love my children but also mourn the loss of my father. My being a father is a much different “father” than one path on my life would have led me to as an ordained priest in the Catholic Church. For those of you who don’t know… once upon a time, I was in the seminary but left long before the priesthood became a reality. I did, however become a father of children, who share half of my genetic material, and I wear a lot of black clothing. I can say that my daughter and my son, are without a doubt or any equivocation, the best contribution I have made to world. My children are simply the ultimate joy in my life. I am proud of them beyond any word can express. They are unique in the world and the first and last people I think about every single day since they have been born. While those words may seem trite or over used, I mean them sincerely, I have no disillusions about who they are as people. They have each made mistakes, along with many successes. As to the mistakes I wish they had not made them but who has not made mistakes. I have certainly made my share of them. To me they are better people because they have taken missteps and learned from them and moved on. My daughter and son are courageous and beautiful, intelligent and whimsical, daring and reserved and so much more. They are simply the people I love the most in the world. There is a Hebrew saying, “The child remembers what the parent wishes to forget.” I have made missteps as a father, just as my father had his own missteps…not one of us can look back on the action of all of our days and not find fault, we can only hope that those days a few and that we can be forgiven for any mistakes we have made. I am no different than anyone and know that I am not perfect, I tried my best to be best father I knew how to be, and there were times when I fell far short of that mark and wish with all my heart to have the opportunity to do things differently and not make the mistakes I made. However, hoping and wishing cannot change what has already happened, we can only learn from our mistakes and try not to make them again. I know now, as a father, that my father certainly felt the same. We did not always see, eye to eye and there were many a harsh word pass between us. I would give anything the change that truth but it is not possible The last words I spoke with my father were words of love after a period of turmoil between us. I am happy that he did not leave the world with a burden that I am glad I do not have to bear. If I thought my father had left this world thinking that I did not love him, would have been a terrible thing to live with and I am sad to say was almost a reality. However, we had made our peace but all too soon after he was gone. My children are adults now and on their own journey, I tell them as often as I can, without being too annoying, that I love them with all my heart. They have given me the best thing any child can give a person and that is the opportunity to be a parent, without my daughter and my son I would just be this guy who did a bunch of stuff that didn’t really matter but because of them I am a Dad and to me there isn’t anything better that I can be. Well, that’s all for now, other stuff to follow most likely Happy Birthday if it’s your birthday and a very merry un birthday if it isn’t your birthday Thank you for reading, please subscribe, Have a great day and play nice in the neighborhood. Ciao, Invisible Don PS 3 / PS4 Gamer Tag: invisible don Invisible Don PO Box 4425 Roanoke VA 24015 Send me Post Cards … I love Post Cards