Uncle Tommy

Heading west from Idaho, we stopped in Oakanogan, WA to visit my Grand Uncle Tommy. He turns 85 this year, and stands only as tall as me. As we pulled up to the house he was opening the gate for us, and looked exactly as he did 15 years ago when last I saw him. Work boots, thick denim jeans, a long sleave flannel plaid shirt, a woven straw hat, and suspenders of course. He lives on a hill overlooking cattle ranches, apple, pear, and cherry orchards, and has many acres of land that extend up the hill behind the house. (Earlier this year my parents encountered a bear while hiking up there. Luckily Tommy had provided a small hand gun to protect against cougars, but they didn’t use it. The bear just wandered off.)
I must explain when I say hill, that’s in comparison to the mountains around it. His “hill” is five or six times larger than any ski spot in Michigan.
We spent our time listening to stories of how my ancestors settled this land. He told us about how the importing of apple juice has devistated the Washington Apple industry. We saw his walnut trees and sampled some of his dried walnuts, which is really a teadious task. We saw the 18 rodeo horses that Tommy was boarding. They eat down the dry grass in his fields so he doesn’t have to mow them. The white bucking horse which seemed to lead the heard kept staring at Adolfo like a Clint Eastwood wild, wild, west stare down.. While giving us a tour of the house I found a postcard from my grandmother to my great grandmother, written 57 years ago a day before my grandmother’s and my birthday.
All in all it was really nice to be back to a place I haven’t visited since I was a child. Also very cool to show Adolfo some of the pioneer history in my family.

Pictures coming shortly…