Step one. Bought the van.
Hello Everybody, First post. I camp a lot in tents but after spending three days straight in a tent in the rain at Dolly Sods I swore I'd make a change. Here it is. Bought it Wednesday. Dro...
Forum Discussion
Thanks for your kind thoughts. I do appreciate it.
Here's a couple of pictures from yesterdays "Memorial Presentation" at the local funeral home. When I made the funeral arrangements I was told that's what you call it when there is a urn and no casket.
That's the urn I made sitting in his easy chair.
There's a flag since Dad was in the Army Air Corp during WWII (Pacific Theater).
So around 3:00pm yesterday the room is full up with people talking and laughing since this seems to be the only time you get see old friends and relatives any more. I was talking to a second cousin and standing few feet from Dad's easy chair, which is the recliner - rocker kind, when there was a brief power outage and the lights in the room when off. I quickly moved closer to the chair and reached my leg way out and pushed down on the edge of the chair with my foot then moved back to where I'd been standing. The lights where only off around 4 seconds but when they came back on there was Dad's chair with his urn on the seat rocking gently back and forth with no one near it. Suddenly the room was totally silent as everyone stared at the chair in amazement. I didn't want to freak anyone out too badly so I quickly fess'ed up. Everyone started laughing in relief and saying how for a moment they were sure Dad had come back and was joining in with the group. No one took offense since we're not a solemn kind of family. There's always much more laughter at these kinds of gatherings than tears.
I'll mention one more thing about urns before I go get back to work on the van. The urn I made for my Dad isn't my first. I did something similar for my brother who died last year. Since he was a computer geek like me, and proud of it, I did something bit different for him. Here's his.
To show you how geeky he was "Beam me up Scotty. I'm done here." was truly one of the last things he said before he died. As kids we watched the original show in it's first run and loved it.
After I created the urn and put Alan in it I posted about it at a site for fellow computer geeks and thought no more of it. I was his executor and had a lot other things to deal with. A few days later a friend contacted me to let me know that the urn story had gone viral. I was amazed to see the story had ended up in a couple newspapers, bunch of websites and blogs and the front page of the Huffington Post. I guess it was a slow news cycle.
Even today if you google "computer urn" the top response will be the flickr page I set up for the original photo. Last I checked it had been viewed over a 1/4 million times. I guess it's my most famous photograph.
Back to work on the van. I've not been able to touch it since Dad first fell ill a week and half ago. Today I'll be re-positioning the charcoal canister. The main problem will be to get one of the cats to work the wrench and tighten the nuts inside the van while I hold the canister in position underneath the van.
Here's a couple of pictures from yesterdays "Memorial Presentation" at the local funeral home. When I made the funeral arrangements I was told that's what you call it when there is a urn and no casket.
That's the urn I made sitting in his easy chair.
There's a flag since Dad was in the Army Air Corp during WWII (Pacific Theater).
So around 3:00pm yesterday the room is full up with people talking and laughing since this seems to be the only time you get see old friends and relatives any more. I was talking to a second cousin and standing few feet from Dad's easy chair, which is the recliner - rocker kind, when there was a brief power outage and the lights in the room when off. I quickly moved closer to the chair and reached my leg way out and pushed down on the edge of the chair with my foot then moved back to where I'd been standing. The lights where only off around 4 seconds but when they came back on there was Dad's chair with his urn on the seat rocking gently back and forth with no one near it. Suddenly the room was totally silent as everyone stared at the chair in amazement. I didn't want to freak anyone out too badly so I quickly fess'ed up. Everyone started laughing in relief and saying how for a moment they were sure Dad had come back and was joining in with the group. No one took offense since we're not a solemn kind of family. There's always much more laughter at these kinds of gatherings than tears.
I'll mention one more thing about urns before I go get back to work on the van. The urn I made for my Dad isn't my first. I did something similar for my brother who died last year. Since he was a computer geek like me, and proud of it, I did something bit different for him. Here's his.
To show you how geeky he was "Beam me up Scotty. I'm done here." was truly one of the last things he said before he died. As kids we watched the original show in it's first run and loved it.
After I created the urn and put Alan in it I posted about it at a site for fellow computer geeks and thought no more of it. I was his executor and had a lot other things to deal with. A few days later a friend contacted me to let me know that the urn story had gone viral. I was amazed to see the story had ended up in a couple newspapers, bunch of websites and blogs and the front page of the Huffington Post. I guess it was a slow news cycle.
Even today if you google "computer urn" the top response will be the flickr page I set up for the original photo. Last I checked it had been viewed over a 1/4 million times. I guess it's my most famous photograph.
Back to work on the van. I've not been able to touch it since Dad first fell ill a week and half ago. Today I'll be re-positioning the charcoal canister. The main problem will be to get one of the cats to work the wrench and tighten the nuts inside the van while I hold the canister in position underneath the van.
