After dad died, my brother and his family, my sister and her

After dad died, my brother and his family, my sister and her family and the four of us spent time with mom adjusting the Wildwood house to match her new normal.

We discovered about 20 frozen squirrel carcases in the freezer. When we asked mom what she wanted to do with them, ‘Trash ‘em. I have fricasseed my last squirrel.’ A lifelong labor of love came to a halt.

Another interesting aspect of dad’s belief in weapons and self defense became apparent the week after he died. Dad kept loaded weapons at the ready when he and mom were home alone, When any of us (Janice, Terry or me) were going to visit with our kids, he collected the weapons and put them into his gun storage area.

His death came about after a sudden pain attack that resulted in his being life flighted to the hospital in Beaumont. He did not have time to ‘unload’ the house. So as his three kids and five grandkids were helping mom get the place squared away, guns kept turning up. One of my nephews would yell, “Uncle Donny, I found another one!’ He was ready to protect his honey and property from any kind of intruder.