If it aint one thang it's another!!!

[George]

I have an older ( 68) man that has never had a full time job in his life - - was given the family farm and squandered it away. He came to me several years ago ( my wife was preg with my daughter at the time - - my daughter turned 16 last month) and asked if he could live in the house trailer I use for an office at the gravel pit for a coulpe of weeks till he found a place - - - he is still here.

I was building fence on the farm I just bought south of me and decided I needed the dozer. He is quite willing to help and jumped in the pick-up to go get it. When he came driving it back I could not figure how he came from the direction he came from but let it go. About a week later I was going around another pasture fence prior to turning cattle in and found he had driven the dozer thru two fences. When I ask him about it he stated I should have gates there any way. I pointed out that the gates are in the corners so that it is easier to move cattle. His answer was to train the cattle to go thru gates in the middle of fences - - - he never did admit he was wrong but he did help me rebuild the fences.

 

[pknoeber]

Whenever you're really feeling frustrated with him, just post on here and ask everbody that's ever lost a parent that they work with if they'd take them & all their mishaps back. That's what I do. My Dad's 71, I'm 26 & I've had to really bite my tongue sometimes. Luckily I've learned from reading on a lot of these boards that the 15 seconds of venting will stay with you forever. Of course, he's also starting to understand his limitations too. His limitations consisting of doing anything that isn't air conditioned & enjoyable.
Phil

 

[Soapweed]

My Grandpa has been recentally retired from running the combine.
Actually he was flat out told to stay the heck out of it! Ever see anyone try to shell corn on an angle against the rows? Oddly enough, it can be done. :roll:

He even got to where he was missing the gravity boxes. One of us had to be on the tractor to put the box under the spout instead of him putting the spout over the box.

Still has his sense of humor though.

Is the line "still has his sense of humor though" a more northern version of "bless his heart". I've heard tell the southern people can get by with saying just about anything, as long as they add, "bless his heart." :wink:

 

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

I agree pknoeber, Ive lost a parent, and I miss everthang about mom, the good n the gooder as she would have said.
but it dont hurt to vent, does a body good, love my dear ole dad n law to death, and omg I'm not gonna be the one that eventually says, "gimme the keys"......oh no, not me, I'd rather take a beatin. lol

(I'm hopin there will come a time when he's wise enuff to say, "Here's the keys, I dont need em anymore)

 

[Shelly]

From what I've seen around here, it won't happen. But like Haymaker said, don't take everything away from him. He'll end up like my father-in-law, sitting in the easy chair sleeping his life away. Leave him a few little easy jobs to do. These old guys who worked hard all their lives don't know how to do anything else, so doing nothing is very hard on them. Sad to say, but my father-in-law is just waiting to die. And he's just waiting for that time to come by sleeping every day away. So sad to see. But I guess it's our fault because we took the jobs away from him because he was a disaster waiting to happen.

 

[nr]

From what I've seen around here, it won't happen. But like Haymaker said, don't take everything away from him. He'll end up like my father-in-law, sitting in the easy chair sleeping his life away. Leave him a few little easy jobs to do. These old guys who worked hard all their lives don't know how to do anything else, so doing nothing is very hard on them. Sad to say, but my father-in-law is just waiting to die. And he's just waiting for that time to come by sleeping every day away. So sad to see. But I guess it's our fault because we took the jobs away from him because he was a disaster waiting to happen.

I'm with you Shelly: don't take everything away. Except for the car/truck keys. Our dads were both driving the highways into their 90's. When we objected to one about his poor reaction time and immobility and said we were afraid he'd hit a child, he said he only drove when children were eating dinner!
:roll: Giving up that form of independence was really tough but necessary for public good.

 

[feeder]

I know we have all felt the guilt pains when we no longer allow our aging parents to do things. But we all must remember the elderly revert back to the age of a child at some point. We made sure our children were safe when they were young and now we do it for our parents.