Does anyone know a Grandpa Walton (from the "Walton's")? Somebody that really knows all that nature stuff. How to read the weather signs, what to forage for, how to take care of animals, domestic and wild, full of wisdom and determination, and can spin a yarn a mile long. Somebody that knows all about trees and the ground, someone who could live in the forest with nothing but a few simple tools like a fishing pole, a knife, a skillet, and an old metal cup, and be content. Someone with an understanding and love for the ways God made the earth and the laws of nature. Really live off the land and give as much back as he takes.

I think you could do some of that young, but the wisdom and learning would be a life long process. My grandpa was a little bit that way, but that was back then and he's gone now.

When I think of mountain men I think of a rougher exterior, but I guess they're basically the same, what do you think?

-- Cindy (SE In) (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), February 09, 2001

Answers

You may begin this quest of Walton knowledge here. Enjoy.

http://waltonfeed.com/old/index.html

-- JR (jr3star@earthlink.net), February 09, 2001.

That is one cool site, you must not want me to get anything done today, thanks for posting.

-- Cindy (SE In) (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), February 09, 2001.

My Grandfather is 93 and very much like that. I could listen to him for hours and he knows so much about so many things. i hope i not only live that long, but learn as much from life as he did. Can you imagine the changes you experience in life from 1900-2000. Amazing!

-- Shau Marie (shau@centurytel.net), February 09, 2001.

When I was a kid there was a man like that who lived a mile or so from us. He lived way back in on a stream in a small cabin and loved us all. Every kid for miles around knew him. We would sit around with him and eat sunflower seeds and listen to his yarns. He had the most beautiful gardens and more birds than you could ever imagine.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), February 09, 2001.

My Grandpa was alot like that. He was born in 1898 and died in 1980. He grew up on a very large farm in KY. and they lived very self sufficiently even through the depression. When I weas born he had just retired and was home during the day. We lived upstairs from my grandparents and my parents and my grandmother all worked during the day. We spent alot of time together and boy did he have the stories and so much know how. I wish I had been a little older or had appreciated it more at the time. My grandmother is 20 yrs. his junior and if I want to know how to do something she can tell me how they used to do it. As is typical of the elderly though she can tell me down to the last detail what happened and how to do something she did 50 yrs. ago ,but she has trouble with what happened last week. I'm afraid our time with her is limited so I pick her brain about every chance I get. She even offered to be the executioner when we were processing our turkeys for the first time.

-- Denise (jphammock@msn.com), February 09, 2001.

I have very fond memories of my mountain men uncles. I rely on their lessons daily and I will never want for lack of knowledge on how to get by in the wilderness. I don't need a big heavy backpack to go out for a few days, just a few lightweight very important items. How to tell when there is a change in the weather coming, where to find dry firewood in the rain or the snow, where to find breakfast, packing up a mule or pack horse, tracking, stalking and leaving no trace. These guys would disappear into the mountains for a few years at a time. As they became more elderly, they would show up about January and winter in Cody or Missoula, sometimes we would get postcards from them in Mexico in the winter. When they showed up, they smelled worse than old billy goats. One even showed up with a pet bear one year.

My Dad is more of a modern type mountain man. He was a Nebraska farmboy but he learned all the mountain skills of his uncles then made a career of being an avalanche specialist. I learned all I could from him about winter weather, snow conditions and threats, solutions and snow and avalanche survival strategies.

My Uncle Vern was a teller of Tall Tales that kept us kids glued to our seats listening to tales of wrestling grizzly bears, the view from the continental divide, various cliff hangers and other hair raising stories. When I grew up, I learned that he did drive an 18 horse team pulling cargo wagons over the Rockies, but the scars he used to prove wrestling grizzly bears were from a hay mower or rake. I miss those guys so very much!

I think I better go outside and pass some of these traditions on to my kids now, before they are lost forever.

-- Laura (gsend@hotmail.com), February 09, 2001.

Those of you still blessed with living grandparents and other elderly relatives, friends and neighbors, beg or borrow a tape recorder or better yet a video camera and get these gems and their stories permanently recorded! Do it today because tomorrow could be too late.

One of my aunts tape recorded my grandfather's stories years ago but she wasn't what you could call generous and never made copies for other family members. I don't remember the details but the tapes were lost about 2 years after Papa died. I am old enough to remember his gestures, facial expressions, and the cadence and inflections of his voice when he told a story. These are all things you can't pass on easily and give so much interest and character to the stories.

As much as I've treasured my talks with older relatives and friends, I have often thought what a gift it would be to hear those stories again and others now that I have a mature understanding of life. Don't wait. Get that done!

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), February 10, 2001.

Do I know anyone like that? Most definitely! My dad! There isn't anything he doesn't know how to do. He's the best resource I've got!

-- Tracy (trimmer@westzone.com), February 11, 2001.

My dad, to some extent, and his father (my Grandpa Joe) even more so. Neither of them was much of a yarn spinner, but otherwise, they mostly knew how to do just about everything.

Grandpa Joe made his living as a trapper in winter and a fishing guide in the summer, and he had a bait store in our tiny little town, so he caught the minnows for that too. He LOVED being in the woods, nothing was better. He taught my brother to trap and to tap maple trees and make it into syrup. He was a good "rough" cook, frying up freshly caught fish in his cast iron fry pan. Killed a deer every fall for the winter meat. He and Grandma kept pigs and chickens in their younger years as well.

Grandpa knew where all the wild berry bushes were and would take Julie and me out berrying once or twice a summer. When he was out on his own, he'd cut birchbark and fashion it into a small basket and bring it to us filled with berries. He wasn't a "great" artist, but he would collect shelf fungi and carve pictures on them with his jackknife. In his later years, he got into carving figures out of huge logs. Many of them were placed around my parents' resort, and he sold many of the smaller ones, and some of the larger too. Want to see a picture of one? Go to: http://cgi.ebay.com/aw- cgi/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=556337883 Some guy bought this from the person who bought it from Grandpa. I can't believe how much he wants for it! (I also forgot how UGLY it is -- LOL!).

Not going to tell ALL about Grandpa, so Julie still can make comments too. She was Grandpa's favorite grandchild, I think. He always thought of her first (I say this completely without rancor -- I was the favorite of other relatives, and got my "special" attention from them).

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), February 12, 2001.