You can choose your Family.
The world lost an amazing man today.
Wayne was the best parental (grandfather, father, awesome uncle, etc) figure I could have ever dreamed up. He was honest, onery, kind and gentle. He loved us like we were his kids (he may have said more than his own on a few occasions) and talked with us like old friends.
He taught me so much. So. Much. From how to deal with his wife on her particularly bad days to how to weld when I'd never even seen a welding rod in my life. He saved my sanity (and my job) more than once while still driving me a little crazy on occasion. What good parent doesn't?
He showed me that a job well done, didn't mean it had to be perfect.
Functional mattered and perfection was in the eye of the beholder, but when you just need a place to feed the sheep from, an altered futon frame was perfect, functional and the sheep don't care what it used to be or what it looks like.
(For the record, if you don't know what it was, it just looks like a typical free standing hay rack.)
He should've written a book about 101 things to do with a skidsteer. Sure, you can move the hay and scoop some dirt. But you can also use just the bucket for backdragging areas to clean out years of sheepshit, make gates square again (flatten them!), plow the driveway, or use it to straighten up a tipping shed.
It may be more work to fix the lawnmower yourself, but once ya fix it once, you know how to fix it again. and again. and again. Repeat for the cement cutter, weed whackers, leaf blower and anything else with an engine. But when it's dead, it's dead and no need to fuss about getting a new one, you know you made it last as long as you could.
We had 1 fight. Once. We were mad at each other for less than a day and both felt horrible until we talked and decided that that was too horrible to do again.. so we didn't.
He always liked his truck clean and his four wheelers quiet. It's fine to make improvements, even if it's unorthodox.
He insulated and carpeted the polaris to make it a little quieter and a lot more comfortable, installed dog crates in the closets and put wire over the screens in his pickup topper so he could have the windows open for his dog, Luke.
He was gentle and deeply cared about the welfare of animals. He hated calf roping and wouldn't support rodeoing because of it. He raised sheep and cattle and would send them to auction, but never to the slaughter house because he couldn't stand the thought of eating an animal he knew. He always threatened to put Luke in the kennel, but when push came to shove, Luke was always by his side.
He did his best to help everyone around him become better people in subtle ways. He was a guide. He knew how to appreciate people and you always knew he did, even if he didn't say it.
Gentle and honest, but onery and stubborn. Just great.
Rest in peace, Wayne. 11/15/35-5/11/14
