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    Ask Grandpaw
    Ask Grandpaw
    Ask Grandpaw
    Ebook103 pages1 hour

    Ask Grandpaw

    By Hank Visser

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    In about the middle of the 1800’s a man called Henry the Flyer, because he walked so fast, went for a little walk through the village of Bolsward located in Friesland located in the Netherlands. He was a cattle buyer and partners with the local butcher. Henry carried a cane as he walked and he used it to measure the cattle to determine their weight and value.
    As he walked through the village he met two young men who looked to him as if they might be up to no good, He said “Good evening” to them and they didn’t even respond, so Henry pointed his cane at them and said “ It is rude to say nothing when spoken to by a senior”. One of the guys grabbed the cane.
    Just what he shouldn’t have done! Now Henry was holding a nice shiny sword and the guy was holding a nice harmless scabbard until he dropped it and took off with his buddy like a scared rabbit. They likely had to try to figure out how to tell mom how they had messed their pants.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLifeRich Publishing
    Release dateJul 14, 2020
    ISBN9781489729781
    Ask Grandpaw
    Author

    Hank Visser

    Growing up in a Michigan family of nine kids was always interesting. In his memoir Grandpaw Hank talks about his family history, growing up years, miracles, accidents and near accidents.

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      Book preview

      Ask Grandpaw - Hank Visser

      Copyright © 2020 Hank Visser.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by

      any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying,

      recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system

      without the written permission of the author except in the case of

      brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

      LifeRich Publishing is a registered trademark of

      The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc.

      LifeRich Publishing

      1663 Liberty Drive

      Bloomington, IN 47403

      www.liferichpublishing.com

      1 (888) 238-8637

      Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or

      links contained in this book may have changed since publication and

      may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those

      of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher,

      and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

      Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are

      models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

      Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

      ISBN: 978-1-4897-2977-4 (sc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4897-2976-7 (hc)

      ISBN: 978-1-4897-2978-1 (e)

      Library of Congress Control Number: 2020912857

      LifeRich Publishing rev. date:   07/10/2020

      CONTENTS

      Chapter 1 Ask Grandpaw

      Chapter 2 First 7 Years

      Chapter 3 Moved to the Country

      Chapter 4 Church

      Chapter 5 Miracles

      Chapter 6 My School Years

      Chapter 7 Dad Gets A Boat

      Chapter 8 My Cars and My Driving

      Chapter 9 G.R. Ford Airport

      Chapter 10 I Get A Job

      Chapter 11 Drafted

      Chapter 12 The Rest of the Story

      Older folks may all look the same to the younger set, but if you look closely some have gnarled hands and very wrinkled brows while some have smooth soft hands and hardly a wrinkle. Why is that? Some are bald and some have gray or white hair. Some are thin and some are not, but they all have a past and it might just be interesting to find out what some of these ordinary folks have to tell you if you only ask.

      I have had a conversation with a stranger who looked just like any other common man and found he was a very educated electronics specialist who worked with the space industry. He was ‘just one of the guys’ at the fitness club. Without asking, there is no way to have any idea how much education that man had gone through to get to his station in life.

      In my construction work I have met folks spending their last dollar for rent, as well as the multi-millionaire building his dream home. They all have a story to tell and rich or poor or in between, people are just living day to day just like you and I.

      I thought it might be fun to dig into the life of an average person of age and show what makes him tick and who do I know better than myself. Not to be selfish but I have known me for 80 years now and the first few are a little dim of course, but I think you can forgive an old man for forgetting some stuff. This is a true story to the best of my memory and the only exception is that my grandson Gavin is not actually asking the questions. His name is used with his mother’s permission to make the story more readable, so I hope you enjoy the ride or is it the read?

      CHAPTER 1

      ASK GRANDPAW

      The doe acted kind of wary as she came to get a lick off the big salt block. She spooked and almost ran off when a mourning dove took off for some reason with that whistling sound they always make in flight, then she decided it was a false alarm and she was safe here in our back yard. I had been reading a book and having a cold drink, relaxing on our deck facing our back wood lot and the bird and animal feeding and watering station I had set up. Being bird friendly, I didn’t have to worry about the mosquitoes and no-see-ums ’cause the birds like to eat them along with the seeds in the feeders. The humming birds like the sugar water and flower nectar, but I was pleased to find that they also eat the little buggers.

      The critters can get their water from a large stock tank I keep filled to the rim, but I put a piece of stone in it so they can climb out if the water is too deep, and it makes a nice place for the robins to go for their daily bath. I am not quite sure how many animals get their water from that tank and the dropped seeds from under the feeders, but it is really funny to watch some of them.

      One day a set of triplet skunks half grown were busy picking up dropped seeds and I cleared my throat for some reason. That startled them and they each ran a different direction. One ran right straight toward me and ducked under the deck for safety. I kind of like the skunks around because they catch the ground moles by digging them up after they hear them under the ground. It is unfortunate skunks are slow moving and can’t get out of the way if they want to cross the road…. What a stink that leaves!

      Well the doe finished her time at the salt block with a time of licking her own face with an astonishingly long tongue and ambled off, and I finished my drink and just as I was listening to a pileated woodpecker knocking like a jackhammer on a dead tree, a car drove in our circle drive in front of our house. Our Tennessee family was here. Great! our daughter Kimberlyn, son in law Joel and grandson Gavin had driven the 700 miles to our home instead of flying, partly because of Kim’s need of packing lots of stuff for a week visit. The plane may be overloaded, well maybe I’m stretching it some…but it’s a lot anyway.

      Gavin was only a little more than four years old at the time but full of energy and questions. I like to take him out for a walk in our wood so he can stretch his legs and learn about the wild things out there. His back yard at home is quite small, though he has seen deer come close to the house there too, here there are ten acres to explore with all sorts of things to see. Last year he was here when a rare silver fox came into our back yard and Gavin was lucky to see it. I guess Mr. Fox helped himself to a few chipmunks before somebody trapped him as I don’t count as many as before he showed up.

      While his mom and dad unpacked the car Gavin and I went to the back deck and took some sunflower seeds and lured a couple chipmunks with the treats. Gavin had them in his lap taking seeds out of his little hands and giggling all along. The little rascals would fill their cheek pouches and take off to empty out in a hiding spot. Sometimes it would be a little hole they would dig and in a few days a whole bunch of sunflower plants would spring up where the chipmunk forgot his stash. We were getting hungry and Grandmaw was getting lunch ready, so as soon as the car was un packed we put on the feed bag. Right after eating, Gavin raring to go asked me to take him for a walk, so we went out to the woods through one of the trails I have cleared.

      Ssssh! look a big deer is hiding his head in the brush only a little way from us. He is pretending to hide. The big buck knows we are here but trusts he is safe here in our back yard. When he was a really young fawn, he and his twin sister lost their mother when she was hit and killed by a car while crossing the road near here. I had this feeder in the back yard which I kept stocked up with shelled corn during the winter, and a salt block set up on a pine stump for those critters needing salt. During the warmer weather I also keep a large water tank as I said before, so when the weather was cold and food was hard to find, the deer would come over here to get some corn.

      It was great to watch with the grand kids, Kayla and Bobby, your cousins as they would stand at the window and holler C’mon deer eat. Whenever six or eight deer were at the feeder the bigger ones would stand on their hind legs and try to make the little ones go away, so I would open a door or window and tell them to stop that, and they would run off a little way, but the little ones took advantage and ate their fill not worried about me so they learned my

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