Jerry was a fine man!!

 This a landmark of my hometown.  For those that do not know, it is a fire tower.  During times when the forest fire danger is present, these towers are manned to keep a look out for smoke.  Through triangulation with other towers they pin point where they spot smoke.  They then know where to dispatch personnel.  I do not know about now, but they used to have a guest book there.  I was and probably still am the youngest visitor on record.  I was to the top of the tower, which is just short of 100ft tall, when I was about 1 year old.  My uncle Jerry who passed away this last Saturday was responsible for the first time my name appeared in that book.  We say goodbye to him today.  He was a great person.  I will not go into the many stories, some humorous, but I will tell you this.  Everything from the pet monkey our family had to the Raven he had trained to fly in, land on him and eat from his hand, to the carrier pigeons he used, the pet skunk and many more unusal critters he had around...which is all really cool...but it is something he said many years ago that profoundly changed my life to the better.  I feel lucky that we have that together and I was able to convey that to him.  Thanks to Uncle Jerry!!

RIP Uncle Jerry.