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Q- Ball
Mountain climber
where the wind always blows
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Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 4, 2014 - 02:16pm PT
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I am trying to get my father to write down some stories. He doesn't often let them out without having to pry. Any suggestions or stories of your own? Below is a quote to a reporter of some magazine (not yet published).
I am happy to say this was his first email!!!!
"I've made two circumnavigations by sail. The first crewing on a square-rigger and then with my wife Lynn on a 40 foot sloop. Both were long before satellite navigation and GPS. We navigated with only sextant, time piece, and compass. Our depth finder was a lead line. Both times the idea was to see remote places & peoples that you couldn't get to unless you sailed yourself there. We sought out the really out of the way and hidden islands of the South Pacific and Indian Oceans. We also wanted to dive and photograph the underwater life at these remote locations and were very likely the first to do so."
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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I should get Bridwell on here....he's told me some amazing stories about his Dad.
Peace
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BigFeet
Trad climber
Texas
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Short quotes I fondly remember my Mom telling me when I was young:
"Wait until your Father gets home."
"You'll be grounded."
"You are never going to make it to adulthood taking risks the way you do." (40 now and I still don't think she sees me as an adult, but neither do I sometimes.)
Short quotes from my Father:
"I'll beat you to an inche of your life son."
"You see, women... " (elaborate all you want here)
"Live life by the golden rule which is to treat others as you would like them to treat you."
These have stuck with me for some reason. I have good stories too.
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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My great grandmother had some real gems. She once said about a small room, " this room is so small, you can't cuss a cat without getting fur in your teeth". Well....., she WAS a Dodger fan.
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StahlBro
Trad climber
San Diego, CA
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My step dad:
"It's only 11 more miles"
"It's gotta hurt, and you gotta like it"
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j-tree
Big Wall climber
Typewriters and Ledges
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Q-Ball you'll prolly have to take matters into your own hands. Not everybody likes to write. Or wants to write stuff down. I suggest you record the stories. Go for a visit and get him talking and when a story starts, turn on your cel phone & record it.
Second this. Even with her permission to ask and record, I couldn't get my grandmother to talk in a flowing way about her experiences in England during WW2 in a formal interview setting so I ended up just recording her on my iPhone without her knowing it after bringing up things "I learned" from researching WW2 experiences in England of which I knew she had experiential knowledge.
 - -
In other news, I remember my father once saying to me as we hiked over the peaks at Pinnacles National Monument and passed some climbers, "There goes one of the most selfish and destructive user groups in the park." - My father had obviously never seen the effects of my Boy Scout troop on the park.
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clode
Trad climber
portland, or
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My Dad, now 93, was in the Navy during WW II. He was on a troop transport ship (U.S.S. Carteret), at Iwo Jima. He made a landing there and brought back (i.e., smuggled) a Jap rifle with a bayonet. I used to play with it a lot when I was in grade school. In fact, I have it now, safely hidden in my home somewhere. He and my Mom worked out a series of codes he could send to her so she would know where he was out in the ocean. Somehow he managed to get away with it, since disclosing U.S. naval locations was, shall we say, somewhat un-American?!
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, or In What Time Zone Am I?
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When I was little and wanted to fish with my Dad and brothers he would say 'if you wanna fish with me and the boys you're gonna have to learn to bait your own hook". This innocent "grow up" statement has carried me through life!
Miss him. He died in June at 91.
Susan
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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"you know why they don't send donkeys to college?"
Silence
"cause nobody likes a smart ass!"
"Who lost the battle of Hastings?...... Ethelred the unready!"
Dad had a million of them...
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Q- Ball
Mountain climber
where the wind always blows
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 4, 2014 - 03:39pm PT
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Tami- thanks for the thoughts, and sorry for your loss.
He is still in good health but very quiet on telling stories.
To get him going you have to be specific, example...
In an airport and I bought a magazine. Flipping through it he stopped me and Dad said, "good grief" ". The page was a resort in the South Pacific, near New Guinea.
Dad said, "last time I was there I was harpooning dolphins", the now picture is bungalows over the water, "and at night we caught crocs for trader Bill."
If it wasn't for that random magazine picture I wouldn't know this.
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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From a note from my grandmother years ago...
"Your mother told me about your midnight descent and how much fun it was"
LOL!
The note contained a $50 check to go towards a new rope.
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, or In What Time Zone Am I?
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Not a parent quote but something funny.
Many years ago, back in the 1970s, I was in line at the grocery store checkout and saw an older woman, in a huff, return a magazine to it's rack. She then said, "I thought they really meant sex in your 70s." The headline was something like "Sex In The 70s", obviously meaning that decade!
At the time I probably thought "ewwwwww".
Susan
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Gal
Trad climber
going big air to fakie
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You can't just go slopping through life! -Mom
We are one step away from debtors prison! -Mom
These sentiments started being expressed at about age 4 - damn, no wonder I can feel unexplained worry sometimes...
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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More dadisms;
"I've never seen an abominable snowman, but maybe I'll see one Yeti!"
He also liked to quote Holden Caufield "I'm a gaddam prince!" I hadn't read Catcher in the rye yet, but he told us kids that's where it was from. Maybe so we wouldn't think he was crazy.
One time, he introduced me to a new to me phrase; I don't remember what smart Alec thing I had said at the dinner table, but when my mom went to get something in the kitchen he said, in a low voice so she couldn't hear, "You're so full of it your eyes are turning brown!"
My favorite though was at the awards ceremony for the Badger pass cross country ski race.he had been running, to be in shape for this but came down with the flu at the last minute but skies anyway. He came in dead last! By maybe an hour! Ned Gillette was the master of ceremonies. He announced my dad's name and asked him to the Lectern to receive a bottle of champagne, which my dad, looking green, mounted the platform and accepted. As he walked off he turned around and spoke into the mike in front of perhaps two hundred people "and I trained!"
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MH2
climber
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From my younger brother when he was about 4 years old:
"Peace and twamee."
Spelling uncertain. It might have been, "peas and tummy," for example.
No idea what he meant but it has proved to be broadly useful.
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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"You eat my food and drink my wine;..you will dance to my music"
" With responsibility, ....comes freedom"
"You need health insurance; not a porta-ledge"
" Get a haircut and get a job. "
" Get a college degree;..then you can be a bum. "
" Don't get yourself or anyone else killed, don't get a girl pregnant, don't end up in jail, and don't go to Mexico."
All quotes from my Dad;...Willard Gordon
A wise, supportive, and awesome father.
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Norton
Social climber
quitcherbellyachin
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"Peace and twamee."
please and thank you
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Leggs
Sport climber
Made in California
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"Don't put that in your mouth!
You don't know where it's been."
:)
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JustThatEasy
climber
South Lake Tahoe, CA
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"Do something, even if it's wrong".
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jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
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After returning from my first climbing trip out west in 1954:
Dad: Son, I'm glad you made it back. I took out a burial policy on you.
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