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inyati13

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 17, 2011
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Kentucky, Outer Bluegrass
Those who saw my Dad passed away this week, know that I held up well until yesterday. I was in an old barn on my farm and saw the sled my dad built for me for a Christmas present 2011. I cried and that is not something I do. But when I saw that sled, it stirred emotions that were deep. I thought of his love and his pain. Mom has been whistling the Old Rugged Cross everytime I go into her room at the nursing home since Dad left her. Here is a tribute, although trival on my part, it is what came to me:

In a old barn on my farm,
Sets a new horse drawn sled,
The emblem of your love and pain,
I shall cherish that old rugged sled,
That my father gave over to me.

PS He built this with tools most people would throw away as junk.
Here it is:
e6x83a.jpg
 
So he would have been 87 or thereabouts when he built that sled for you? Looks like he certainly did a fine job.
What are you planning to haul on that sled, or for just whatever need might arise?
 
Ryder":4mtugi3y said:
So he would have been 87 or thereabouts when he built that sled for you? Looks like he certainly did a fine job.
What are you planning to haul on that sled, or for just whatever need might arise?
Click to expand...
Ryder, I converted it to be pulled by my Cub Cadet utility vehicle. I have hauled hay and rock on it. It is not just an ornament. It has quarter inch mild steel skids under the runners. Dad knew the term for every part of a sled or wagon. He built two horse drawn wagons and decorated them with flowers that he painted by hand. I always thought of him as rude and crude until I saw his paintings on the side of the box bed wagon he built as a tribute to mom. Those two wagons have been in several parades in this area. Little tidbit. Their are steel cross bars on this sled. Instead of using round mild steel stock, he got rebar and used his old taps to put threads on them. We all laughed at him and he seemed a little hurt. By the way, in his old horse barn there are all the pieces laid out for another sled just like the one he built for me that he never finished before he went into the nursing home. He cried to me one day that he was taken off his farm before he got his sled finished. I was planning on bringing the pieces over to my shop and bringing him out to finish it but he never got back in the shape to do that.
 
Very cool, thanks for sharing that! Sorry for your loss, and just remember, Death ends a life, not a relationship.
Jenna
 
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Thanks to everyone. BTW, Ryder, he was 88 when he built that sled. His vital signs were strong, it was a urinary tract infection that took him down. I believe he could have enjoyed another 3 or 4 years if it had not been for that infection.
 
Your mention of wagons brought back memories of when I was a little boy and riding in a wagon with my grandpa. Words cannot say what that man meant to me.
I can remember after heavy rains the roads were too muddy for a car to travel and on Sunday night we went to church in a wagon.
I better shut up now or I'll have both of us crying in our beer ( actually coffee for me).
 
That looks like a sturdy sled.

So sorry for your loss. It sounds like you know how lucky your were to have him.
 
Like that sled Inyati! Saw one similar to it yesterday at a Farm and Plow day. Good and sturdy, can haul lots of wood with it. I say get yourself a couple horses and hook 'em up. The Cadet isn' as much fun nor a calming as hauling with horses.

I understand how seeing it would make you cry, been there a few times myself since my dad died 2 yrs ago this month.

Your dad sounds similar to my grandpa.

Thanks for sharing.

Katherine
 
so sorry for your loss, but you seem to have some happy memories of your Dad and that is precious. I hope that sledge will be of use to you for many a year and keep his memory fresh for you, and tears over the loss of someone so dear are never trivial it shows you cared.
 

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