Happy Father's Day!!

And I mean it this time! :D

Thank you dad for being the best dad there is!

For doing many different things for me, taking me places, dealing with me, teaching me, etc. :D For taking me to the zoo, museums, stores, Ballgames (Astros or Rice games), or out to eat on special days. Thank you for taking me/us to goat shows, other farms, farm stores, and gun shows, etc.

Thank you for teaching me many different things, each and everything important though they differ with the time, the place, and my age.

Thank you for teaching me about history, so that I would know what it is that has shaped our country, our family, and our lives. For making it so that I enjoy it and it's not just something I do to learn from other's mistakes. Rather it's something I do because I want to learn about it all, something that you have instilled in me.

Thanks for taking the time over the past decade to teach me about baseball, how it's played, how to keep score, how to enjoy it and love it for its fun and not its money. For the love of the game and time with you. Thank you for sitting through many an Astros’ lose, for spending hours before and after games to get autographs, for buying more tickets, cards, books, and other baseball stuff then any one person might need. Thank you for holding me and doing you best to make me feel better when Pujols hits a home run and I cry for two days over a GAME! Thank you for giving me the love of the sport, the enjoyment of keeping score, and the pleasure of collecting cards.

Thanks for teaching me about gun safety, how to shoot a shotgun and blow up pumpkins, how to shot a handgun without harming myself or anyone else for that matter, how to clean a gun and load one.

Thank you for teaching me about computers and other electronics. Or was that just so you wouldn't have to deal with them?

Thanks for working hard to give me the joy of reading, even though I gave you and mom fits about it for years.

Thanks for being there when I need you. When I am about to blow it with a sibling (even if I don't show that I am listening, I do appreciate it then even if I don’t say it then), when as a child I lost a toy or hurt myself or more recently when I wanted more books, money, or candy.

Thank you for being there to comfort me when I need it. Being it a time when I get in a fight with a sibling, get hurt, when the Astros lose in the play-offs, or I am crumpy from lack of sleep or caffeine

Thanks for the things you have taught me and given us in the country. From getting goats, running a dairy, to shooting fireworks and animal care (be it the fun of loving and playing with them or the sadness of putting them down). Thank you for taking a step that was not want you thought you would ever do and giving us this new life of country living and enjoyment!

Thanks for being the dad that I can go to when I have problems to solve, when I want to buy yet another book, something pleasurable to share, or to enjoy a few minutes of baseball on a Monday night.

I LOVE YOU AND THANK YOU!!! :D