"Hustle out there"

Sunday is Father's Day. This will be my first Father's Day without Dad. Men are hard to buy gifts for, and Dad didn't need or want for much.

Fortunately, he enjoyed reading, so we often bought him a new book. Later in his life, I didnt buy him anything, but gave him fresh walleye and blueberries. Sometimes, I just took him for a ride to the Dairy Queen.

In this photo, he is modeling an antique catcher's mask that I bought him at a junk shop. Dad was a catcher, and loved baseball.

Growing up playing ball, I learned about "Hustle" from Dad. It is a baseball term for running on and off the field between innings. It had a lot of carry over value to life.

"Fashionably late" was not acceptable in my family. We never walked into church as they played the first hymn, or showed up at a game as they were playing the star spangled banner.

We "hustled" just to be a little early.