Have you ever seen a real ostrich?
Let me tell you-they do NOT look like they do in cartoons.
My Great Grandfather farmed his entire life. He was one of the fortunate ones to have been successful at it before so many lost their farms.
He was a simple farmer, with the usual barns and silos. it was very surprising to the family when he put an "electric wire" fence around the pigs..Of course, that made us, as children, leary of free reign running.
He never took medicine. He believed you did your jobs, then slept it off. Not even Tylenol or Bayer found it's way to relieving him.
One day he took us to the barn, and inside were 3 of the biggest birds I have ever seen. They were so tall, and so HUGE, they had to duck through the high set doorway to get to the barnyard. Grandpa told us they were stupid birds. One had run for daylight in the barnyard, didn't duck, and broke it's neck.
Wow.
My Grandpa applied for his deer hunting license when he was one hundred years old. Only to have it returned to him with the age circled, and a question mark added. Boy, was he ticked! He sent it back with a copy of his birth certificate.
He got his license.
Grandpa outlived 4 of his 9 children. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer at 104. While hospitalized, he repeatedly got out of bed to put his pin-striped Oshkosh overalls on instead of his gown. It drove the nurses crazy. My Grandmother had to talk to the doctor, who told the nurses, "Just let him do it."
He was gonna anyway.
He was tough, yet took every kiss planted on his cheek with a gleeful laugh. He lived to 105. I can only wish I can be as tough as he was.
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read more blogs!
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Blondino
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Dec 3 @ 1:22PM
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Hey Thumbelina ......I have got news for you
.................... you are 
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iam7545
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Dec 3 @ 1:40PM
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Loreli - how lovely! Reminds me of my Grandpa. He too was a farmer and I was raised on his farm.
Pop drove a car until the day he died at 96. He remarried at 85. The first time he was in the hospital he was 87 to have his gull bladder removed. When he awoke in the recovery room he asked the nurse where the bathroom was - they handed him the pan and he became angry, took out the IV and drain and went to the ......... bathroom.
I think about him everyday.
kudos.
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kattsmeow
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Dec 3 @ 1:45PM
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Lol, Grandpa's of any age are great!
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tentfire
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Dec 3 @ 4:14PM
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What a BEAUTIFUL story! Thank you so very much for sharing. I truly admire people like your grandfather. Sounds like he was a model person. We should all pay much more attention to the examples people like him showed us just by the way they lived, and follow it as much as possible.
Excellent blog! 
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twotall911
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Dec 3 @ 4:14PM
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you are 
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daisy315
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Dec 3 @ 4:57PM
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I only remember my grandpa on my dads side of the family... always had in his Bibbies.. Grew tobacco for a living.. when he wasn't working for the railroad.
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Jankia
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Dec 3 @ 6:01PM
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Wow! Talk about old farmers. Thats good that you got to know your grampa,I never did.When my pa was 10 his father owned our homestead farm in Naperville,Ill and another ranch in South Dakota.When hoof and mouth disease hit his dairy herd the govt came out,dug a trench,ran his entire herd in it and then shot them all.I have a picture of it happening.
Depression hit him hard so they tried the cold water technique to try and cure him.He got pneumonia and died.
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luvshorses644
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Dec 3 @ 10:33PM
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Grandpa's are truly gifts.. I had the fortune to know both of mine. My dad's dad was the farmer and though I was 10 when he died, I doubt he would have if they had not claimed his farm ..
This was a beautiful blog of memories.
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Palomino
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Dec 5 @ 10:50PM
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Excellent blog, Loreli.  
~*~
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sciurusniger
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Dec 6 @ 7:33PM
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~*~
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sensuouswoman
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Dec 8 @ 4:33PM
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The only thing I remember about my great grandfather was sitting on his knee in front of a woodfire..........I was only 3 years old! He passed away shortly at the age of 104.
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