Everyone knew that you didn't mess with my Dad...he could knock anyone on his ass if he thought that they needed it...I guess he learned that in his training for the 10th Mountain Div...My dad did a lot of neat things. He hunted pheasants,rabbits,deer and kept Ranger,Joker,and Rebel,three Germain Shorthairs as bird dogs.He gave me a single shot 4-10 when I was 8 to hunt with him with. He liked to fish too,year round.Even in the winter,when when the ice got thick enough,he would drive the car out on the ice to Cressent Beach to fish for Blue Gills.When we kids got big enough he bought a larger boat that we could ski behind and I remember that occasionally he and Mom would take a turn.About this time the Scotts built a golf course across M-89 up behind our house and he and Mom played there for decades.I played there not occasionally.Dad and Mom used to bowl up in Richland in several leagues and that helped provide something to do during winter.After the 67 Blizzard though Dad got into snowmobiling and he and Mom rode for several years with the Gull Lake Snowmobile Club.Dad worked very hard to provide for us,many years at "Mac's Garage" in Yorkville and was also the assistant firechief for the Ross Township Volunteer Fire Department-this ment that Christmas would come to our house. I remember when the big fire in the Bay burned down Todd's Marina,The Bay Store,and Roots Apartment building.From the upstairs window of our home you could see the flames burst high into the air as the saftey valve for the gas tanks let off pressure-I prayed really hard that night. I used to go with him to his ball games in Bailey Park in Battle Creek and watch him play.He used to throw his knuckle-curve to me,which was dangerous to catch even though he would tell me which way it was going to break...OH yeah! The ice boat ! How many of us have gone 80 mph across a frozen lake in an open cockpit 3 bladed sail eguipped,wind only propelled 2 dimensional flying machine? Gail and I have...This was what life offered before computers and the internet[which have pluses too]. I loved my Dad....Jack Reed