My father-in-law, Jack Elliott, had to have emergency surgery last week, which left him in rough shape, and two days later something went wrong and they had to do it again.  Right now, he's being kept unconscious and watched closely, but his condition is not good;  they're worried about irregular heart rythms and lung congestion......Jack is 73 years old.

He is a fine man who's had a hard life, growing up in the backwoods in Ontario in the 1940's.  Whatever they had, they made themselves, from cutting blocks of ice in winter for summer refrigeration in the icebox, to cutting wood for heat, hunting, growing food--his first car was a Ford model-A, which he put together himself from several wrecked ones.  He learned self-reliance and the reality of hard work early in life, and never lost those qualities.  He became a liscensed class-a mechanic, pipefitter, plumber and welder.....the man could build or fix just about anything.  The best thing about him, though, is that he is a warm human being--hard-nosed and sometimes intolerant, sure, but he kind of earned the right to have strong opinions.  Jack was a wild one when he was young, by all accounts, but left it behind when he got married and raised a family, as is proper.

I can think of a few of his qualities and talents that I wish I possessed...........the man should have had a son to pass some of his knowledge on to, but it was not to be (his two daughters weren't really interested in pipefitting!).

Jack enjoys his retirement, he's off to the track once a week to wager a few dollars on the ponies, and see his old pals.  And it really is a few dollars, as Jack is a well-known tightwad.  He just spends enough to have a little fun........

His favourite hobby is fishing up at the lake they have a trailer at, and it's a sign that his health was deteriorating when he only got the boat on the water a couple of times this year........

 

Jack, I hope to see you out on the lake yet, bringing in a big pike or bass.  And, Jack, we still have some bullshittin' to do, out on your back porch looking over the fields........and Jack, you still have grandchildren who'd miss you, and a couple great-grandchildren who'd benefit greatly from knowing "Great-Poppa-Jack".  There's still some more juice to squeeze out of this thing called life.......

 

Get well, Jack Elliott.