Happy Birthday!

Today would be my Grandpa Ben's 104th birthday. He was born in Stayton, Oregon, the grandson of an Oregon Trail pioneer on his father's side and on his mother's, a Mayflower descendent. His parents divorced when he was young, and his mother raised him and his older brothers by working as a cook at logging camps. He met my grandma while working at a fruit cannery, early in the Depression, and then he began a long career as a lineman for Pacific Power & Light. I was the first of four grandchildren and the only one he knew well. He loved to take me up in the Ferris wheel at carnivals, and he taught me how to play checkers. He was also very fond of the chickens and pigeons he raised at the back of their extensive garden and orchard, and of playing cards with his friends at the Elks lodge, and of his Siamese cats. Happy Birthday, Grandpa.

And Happy Birthday to the_nins, who's at one of those milestone years today.

And a very Happy Birth Day to the brand-new son of need4cognition and aliveatolaf!!!