Uncle Les is the youngest of three - and loves to tinker with stuff. Ever since childbirth, he has always wanted to take stuff apart and put it back together to learn how stuff works. He's a retired engineer, but continues to take stuff apart and put it back together. And, naturally, he is busier now than he was when he was working.
He loves motorcycles, and has 4 awaiting some TLC. He fabricates parts in his machine shop, which he added a room to, and is like a kid in a candy store. We could watch and listen to him all day as he describes how things work and the problems he thrives in solving. You can see the joy and excitement in his face.
He sliced the tip of his finger off a few months ago on a tire mounting machine. "Uncle engineer" decided to photograph the sliced tip, AND measure and weigh it. He even did a photo shoot with it next to a quarter and dime to show the size of the tip... as if it was needed to show on Ebay. We laughed and laughed and said "Eeew" a few times. Our knees wiggled from the story... Then Uncle Les brought us out to the machine that did the detaching and showed us the PVC pipe he rigged to protect against the slicing again.
He is a joy to be around - and you can't help but smile when you see him. And Aunt Elaine is his perfect match. She is calm and sweet. She even baked cookies - and those were some awesome cookies!
We had hoped to get a day of hiking in, but the weather had been finicky since our arrival. A tornado had blown through Huntsville our second day in. Eeek! Still, we ran outside like little kids and watched the slowly rotating funnel cloud zip over the mountain. It didn't touch the mountain and moved over us within 10-minutes, but it wasn't so nice to the other side of the mountain. Uncle Les reported on squashed cars and uprooted trees.
We left the next day for Grandad and Doris' house. Grandad is turning 90 this July, and Doris will be 81. They are dancing love birds - always on the go traveling the world in cruise ships. Did I mention yet that they LOVE to dance? I remember the DJ at our wedding commenting on how beautiful it was to watch Grandad and Doris float across the floor. They beam with love and affection for each other. It is a beautiful thing.
Grandad & Doris at our weddingJune 2002
Grandad is very soft-spoken with a classic English accent. He wears a cardigan and though he is a gentleman, he can tell some funny naughty jokes. I remember the first time he shared one with us... I adore him even more for it. The joke:
3 nuns died in a car accident and were on their way to meet St. Peter at the Pearly Gates.
St. Peter welcomed the nuns and stated that each nun must correctly answer a question before being allowed into heaven, so he said to the first nun "Complete this sentence... Adam and ________." The nun answered "Eve," and St. Peter let her through the Pearly Gates.
He asked the next nun to fill in the blank... "Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of ___________." And the nun said "Eden." "Very good." said St. Peter, and let her through the Pearly Gates.
He then asked the third nun "What's the first thing Eve said to Adam?" And the nun replied "Oh, that's a hard one." St. Peter looked down for a second and said "You're right! Welcome to heaven."
Heehee. I've never looked at him the same since!
Grandad & DorisGrandad's 85th Birthday, July 2005
When you ask Grandad his secret to longevity, he replies "Good love, good food, and good dancing - and not necessarily in that order." While we agree with his response, we also think it has to do with his active brain. The man has a Rubik's Cube with the day of the week, month, and year, which he changes every morning. He also works Sudoku puzzles, crosswords, reads and reads and reads, and has a great sense of humor.
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