WILDCLIFF SEPTEMBER 2007.

WILDCLIFF SEPTEMBER 2007.

22 September 2007.
Heritage Day Long Weekend



Monday the 24th would be a holiday so we decided to take a long weekend trip to Wildcliff. We asked Nicci, Cathy and Michael to join us but Mike was not able. Cath & Saul would be there on Saturday afternoon. Stefan had a Wedding assignment on the Saturday night and so could only be there on Sunday morning. They had another assignment in Oudtshoorn the following Saturday and would stay the week in between with us in PE.

Driving to Wildcliff.
We left PE just after 05.00am on Saturday morning. Our first stop was Storms River where we bought something to eat for Ally & Jessica. When we arrived at Sedgefield we found a Farmers Market in progress. We had planned to stop at Sedgefield where we had found some good sandwiches the last time we did this trip. The Market is a really worthwhile place to stop. There were all kinds of goods on sale including artwork, sweet Chili Sauce, Fresh Vegetables and meats and breakfast. Unfortunately we did not know about this Market and had already stocked up for the weekend. Also we had did not have any cash with us. Otherwise we would have used this place to buy our provisions. The meat and vegetables looked really appetising. Barbara & I bought a small snack and we pressed on for Heidelberg.

At Heidelberg we stopped for petrol, a brief hello to Anneke at Pam Golding Estates and the Spar Supermarket. We bought some last minute provisions including some bean and carrot seed that I wanted to try out, and headed up to Wildcliff. The trip had taken us about 7 hours.

Wildcliff on Saturday.
After unpacking, the first thing that we did was to walk down to the newly built dam (pond) just below the house. Throughout the farm there are pipes carrying water for irrigation. One of the pipes that had led down to the Oak Meadow had been torn apart by the Bulldozer when they built the pond. The pond was now complete but had no water. I unravelled the pipes that had become kinked and was able to start the flow of water into the dam. We met Kate who was there to research baboons.

World Cup Rugby.
By now it was time to go and watch the Springbok Ruby team at the world cup in France who were playing Tonga in their third Qualifier. They had already played Samoa and England and had done well. We phoned Bob and arranged to watch at his house. Here Jessica and Ally took some drawing materials and made little bookmarks for all of us. We met Wilma and their son Toerien and his girlfriend Michelle. The game was not a particularly good one. The Springbok team was not the best possible team and only in the second half did Jake White send in the Top Six players who assisted our team to a narrow victory of 30-25.

Wilma
Wilma allowed Jessica and Ally to feed her lambs with bottled milk. Some of the Ewes reject the lamb and these have to be hand reared. Bob & Wilma had at one stage been trying to sell their farm but had changed their mind once they looked at prices of equivalent homes in Cape Town. They were now at Heidelberg to stay. After the game we went back to Wildcliff to wait for Cathy and Saul. Wilma had given us a tub of cream. I did not know about this and unfortunately spilt a little of this on one of the new beds. Hopefully we cleaned it so that it will not smell.

The Garden Hose.
I wanted to have a garden hose that could be used anywhere in the garden and so looked for some spare hose pipe. I found what I though would be suitable leading from one of the hoses above Talari. It had a sprinkler and removing it had no effect as there was no water flowing through it. I then took it to the garden hose and spiced it onto the hose to make a nice long hose that would be able to be used virtually anywhere in the garden.

Pressure or a bad fitting had caused water to seep onto the lawn leading to the garage area. The lawn was now a Quagmire of mud and water. Barbara & I tried to lay some loose logs to make walkway and recover the lawn to make it look acceptable. That evening we had a cottage pie for supper. It was not long before we all passed out. Cathy & Saul took the North East Bedroom while Barbara, Jessie, Ally & I shared the North West bedroom.

Filling the dam.
When I looked out in the morning at the dam I was glad to see that the water was beginning to cover the bottom of the dam. The problem was that we now did not have enough pressure for hot water and so I had to turn off the tap of the pipe leading to the dam. I realised that I would only be able to fill the dam at night.

Checking out the water supply at the Amphitheatre Dam.
That morning Stefan & Nicci arrived. Alex Dowding is the resident manager of the farm as well as being a researcher. He told me that he has studied fairly extensively in the south of England and in Wales. Saul, Stefan, Alex & I walked up to the Amphitheatre dam by way of the stream. We followed the pipe line above Talari and up to the stream. Then by continuing up the stream we came to the spring where the pipe had been laid to supply the house with fresh water. This seemed all in place.

We then continued up the stream to the amphitheatre dam where I was surprised to see that there was no water flowing from the black pipe leading from the north side. The Bulldozer had pushed a road from the main Ena’s Falls road to the Amphitheatre. We tried straightening the pipe but only a trickle of water flowed through the pipe. So we decided to follow the pipe up the hill as Ian & I had done a month ago. This is not an easy stroll but we pressed on and up the hill until we reached the west side of the protea field.

The Convolution of Pipes.
Here we saw how it was that there was an apparent spring leading to the Amphitheatre dam. Water was flowing in the sloot along side the pipe. There was a loose join that we tried to repair but were not able to do much more than shove the pipes together in a makeshift manner. It was only when we got to the “convolution of the pipes” that we saw what the real problem was. The convolution of pipes is where the main pipe that leads off from Ena’s Falls is split into four smaller pipes. These pipes had been either disconnected or shut off.

We realised that Bob Brown must have done this as this is right next to the road leading up to Ena’s Falls. Some of the fencing had been removed and the road had had a bulldozer up it as well as the compacter to improve this road. At this stage we had “completed our mission” which was to establish the state of the water supply. I was now able to see that the large pipes that would have led to the lower fields and irrigation pipes were closed or disconnected. The only supply of water would now be the pipe leading from the spring to Talari.

Walking up to Ena’s Falls.
We decided that neither Alex not Saul had been up to Ena’s Falls nor the top of the Langeberg so we pressed on up the road and along the way repaired some of the larger holes in the road by filling them with rocks and sticks. Finally we were able to point out the Falls and where the source of all the water to the houses would come from. Here we shared a few apples and had a drink of water before walking on to the top where we could overlook the Klein Karoo. The wind had picked up and the rain started to fall so we turned back home.

We had seen a number of plant species that Alex was able to identify. It is really fun to be with someone who knows all of these species and can discuss them.

As we descended we found a number of the Strawberry Daisies that had been uprooted and damaged by the bulldozer. I tried to repair some of them but Alex was doubtful that they would survive as the tap roots are very sensitive.

We saw a furry looking parasite on the protea plants. Alex was going to try to look this up. Alex picked up a Scarab Beetle. A stunning looking little creature that is quite happy to walk on your hand. He is completely black with a hard exterior skeleton for protection and barbed legs. We saw evidence of where the Baboons had eaten the pine cones and the protea flowers.

Cleaning the Kitchen.
When we got home that afternoon we were surprised to see how Barbara, Nicci and Ally had scrubbed and cleaned the Kitchen. The doors had been yellow and were now white. They had set up the trestle table, scrubbed and cleaned the dishes, tables and floors. The spider webs were gone and the wood stove had been given a Twice over. Fortunately I had gathered some flowers and was able to add colour to the kitchen.

Inspecting the Heron
Barbara, Nicci, the children & I walked down to the Heron to inspect the work there. We found that there had been a reasonable amount of progress. The house had been completely plastered outside. Two Perspex sections had been put in to the roof that made the east rooms quite bright. The steel frame windows had been replaced with wooden windows. The electrical points had been fitted. Some of the ceilings were complete. Other renovations still to be completed were: the tiling of the floors, the painting of the walls, the small south east room was half done and there was no plumbing nor shelf or cupboard fittings. It had started raining so we made our way back up to Talari.

Water supply to Casita and Heron?
Alex had told me that one of the 50 000L water tanks had been blown down the hill and we went to have a look to see what would be involved in getting it back up. It was well and truly wedged in the wattles below. It would take a chain saw and tractor to retrieve it. As we walked back up to the Casita I had a think about the water supply. Did this house have flowing water? And if so where did it come from? Alex & I had a look a the pipes and saw there was no water in them. We then had a look at the green tank under the Casita and found it to be almost empty.

We followed the pipe up the hill before abandoning our search as the only thing could be that it was one of the pipes running from the “convolution of pipes” that we had seen earlier that day and we now knew that there was no water flowing down any of them. Realising that the Casita would soon be out of water we found some loose pipe near to the top of the pond and sliced this onto some pipe that was running from the garden of Talari, Dug a hole under to road and ran the pipe to the Casita’s small water tank. Problem solved! But what about the Heron? There would be no water there. Time was running out and it was dark so decided to leave that till the morning.

That evening we had ourselves a braai and chatted in the lounge before making an early evening as we were all pretty exhausted.

Monday morning – Heritage day.
Monday morning we had a number of things to do today before we left for home. Our first priority was to find the Plattekloof River and walk upstream. But first Stefan & I fitted the new filter for the Talari Water supply. And we took the tumble dryer from the back of the garage where the floor was wet.

Plattekloof River.
The last time that Ian & I had been along the Plattekloof river we had walked downstream to see where the river emerged to the neighbour’s farm pastures and farmlands. Today it would be Stefan, Saul and I. We walked up the hill to the first turn to the right and into the wattles. As soon as there was a bit of a clearing we headed off in an Easterly direction down the hill. We had to cross a bit of a Sloot and here I almost hurt myself as my right leg fell down into a deep hole while my left knee stayed up near my face. I was shocked that I could do this without tearing a muscle or a ligament!

Once I had extricated myself we continued down to the wattle forest at the bottom. This time we headed straight for the river. Once in the river bed we headed upstream in a northerly direction. We had hoped to emerge around the northeast boundary point but did not reach it. What we did was: after walking for about an hour or less we stopped for an apple and coffee from Stefan’s flask. Not knowing the time and being a bit concerned that Cathy would be waiting for Saul, we headed uphill.

This is a particularly nice field to walk as it was not too tough. We saw a lot of evidence of baboons foraging and some stunning fynbos flowers. It turned out that we had now done a circle as we emerged at the road where we had gone into the wattle trees. We continued uphill to see how far we still should have walked up the Plattekloof River. Over the North East side of the ridge we walked down and saw where the falls are at the top of the Plattekloof River.

The next time we walk this section we decided that we would rather start on the top and walk down to where the falls start. On the East Ridge there is a clearing in the trees that is mainly Kikuyu and grasses. It was now time to get back to the house. Cathy was busy packing their car and Nicci and Barbara had packed and cleaned the house for Ann and Ena who would be returning soon.

The confusion of the water supply
I had decided to wait for them as I needed to talk about the water situation. But then I walked around the back of the house and found that there was a ditch of water at the back of the house. I knew that I must have caused this somehow but had no idea what we had done to cause this seepage. I also wanted to plant some of the Bean and Carrot Seed.

We looked at the pipes and the Filter that Stefan & I had replaced earlier that morning but could find no real leak. It was only after I had walked around a bit that I realised that the grass was slushy above the house and that the water was running out to the pipe where I had removed the garden hose the previous day. Nicci & Stefan were eager to get going as Zara would sleep if they left then.

Barbara and I then were able to Kink the small section of hose and wire it up to stop this unwanted flow of water. My problem was that I did not understand how the water was flowing now but had not been flowing when I had removed the hose. Then I realised that if the tap for the Pond hose was in the off position then the water would back up the pipe behind Talari and would overflow causing a trench of water next to the garage.

I walked up the hill to the Eucalyptus trees. What I saw there would be a revelation later on. The pipe that led from the house connected to a wider pipe in a T Junction fitting. The other thing I discovered was how to cut the trees. If we are going to cut trees we will have to lay branches etc in a horizontal manner that helps to stop the soil erosion that will be caused by the lack of roots. Hammering stakes into the ground and laying branches across will create a kind of barrier to flooding water.

Ena & Ann arrived shortly thereafter and I quickly showed them how the water situation would now work. There was a network of pipes and taps that had to be manipulated to cause a flow to any one point. It seemed complicated at first but I think that Ann and the builder Patrick soon got the idea of what had to be done. I still had to visit Bob Brown and then drive home so was eager to leave.

Mom gave me a couple of bottles of Marmalade that she had been making while at Wildcliff. Barbara & I had found some mint and Parsley in the garden that we had potted and took some home. I had also found some young Aloe and dug out two of these to grow at home. We packed the last of these and drove down to Bob.

Bob Brown.
We discussed the following with Bob:
1. We would be paying him R3 000 for the work that he has overseen and undertaken at Wildcliff thus far.
2. The Water situation needed to be sorted out. The convolution of pipes had to be reconnected to allow water to flow back to the Casita and Heron. Bob was not aware of how the water had followed the pipe line to the Amphitheatre dam. His reason for disconnecting the pipe was to dry up the Amphitheatre dam to allow the excavation machine to repair the dam. He would now have to rethink his strategy.
3. The Brown water tank that had rolled down to the wattles in the valley would have to be retrieved.
4. The road at the top was not really finished and still needed to be graded. Bob said that he knew someone who had a scraper that he could drag with a tractor and make the road a bit more even. He was confident that any 4X4 would be able to make it to the top.
5. Then there was the situation regarding the renovations of Talari. We discussed the option that he be an overseer of a contractor. Bob agreed to perform this function. He would discuss the job with a local man who he knows and says is competent. I explained the need for internet and email for communications. He suggested that this man could use Pam Golding Estates if he does not have email himself. We did not discuss any remuneration for this job.
6. One of the first jobs Bob pointed out would be to manually dig a trench at the back of Talari and fill this with stone to create a drain in the event of heavy rains. He pointed out that after a heavy rain in the past; the rain had run right through the house from the back door to the stoep on the west side of the house. I realised that this might also be a potential threat at Heron where the house is built on a slope and a heavy rain may work its way through the house.
7. Bob did ask that the house would need to be vacated during renovations and that it would not be necessary for Ena and Ann to be there. The men would make their own meals and sort out their own accommodation. He suggested that labourers could stay in the White house if necessary.
8. Another thing Bob pointed out was the Kikuyu in the front of Talari. If it was removed, it would cause donga’s as the root system of the Kikuyu was what was holding the soil together.

The drive home.
That completed we headed off home. We left at about 15.30. Stopped at a filling station, just after George, for sandwiches. The restaurant adjoined to the filling station was Maxi’s. I ordered 4 toasted cheese and tomato, one cheese burger and two hot chocolates. I was surprised to see that the restaurant was empty despite there being a lot of traffic. Today was Heritage day and people would be going home after a long weekend. We bought some cold drinks in the shop. The wait for the food was not too long but then the waitress said that she had not heard me asking for the hot drinks.

That upset me as she had clearly indicated to me that she had heard me. I took the sandwiches to the car and as we were all quite hungry immediately started on one. They were disgusting. Half filled with miserable cheese and a tiny slice of tomato. I took one to show the person who had been hanging around and looking like the owner. He was reading his paper and told me he was not the owned but the manager. I showed him these excuses for a cheese sandwich. He had nothing to say. I just told him I would never return.

We left the restaurant in a bit of a bad mood and while the chips were okay the sandwiches were of such poor quality that, despite us being hungry, they were leftover when we got home. Of course we told Nicci and Stefan who were already there. They could not believe it when we showed them these horrible attempts of a sandwich. I had slept for the last hour of the drive as Barbara took over. We got home by about 21.00. It was about a 5 & ½ hour drive home. That was because we had hardly stopped along the way. The traffic going towards Cape Town was quite heavy but we had a relatively easy drive.

More news on the water supply.
As we were driving home it hit me why we had all that trouble over the water supply. When Ann and Ena arrived they told me that they had had none of this trouble. What I had done is to open the water down to the Pond. This had changed the whole dynamic of the water supply. Then I had removed the hose above Talari.

These two things had resulted in a major upsets: The pipe above Talari led to another thick pipe that would have started at the convolution of pipes. This pipe also led to the Casita and then to the Heron. When the pipe to the pond was closed the pressure backed up so that water flowed upwards from Talari and reached the thick pipe and would then run down to the Casita and Heron. By opening the Pond Pipe there was no longer the pressure that would be required to push water up to the large pipe. This was why there was no longer a supply to the other two houses.

I was able to phone Ann from the car and explain all of this to her. I phoned her again the following morning and I think that she understood what I was talking about. The only time we could open the tap to fill the Pond would be at night after everyone had showered and hot water was not needed. A priority would be to fill the 50 000L tanks and to have these supplying the various houses.

Tuesday morning 25.09.2007.
There was quite a strong Easterly blowing. I was too stiff and tired to run this morning. We all went to the beach where the children were given Goodyear Blimps. They rode around on scooter bikes with the blimps behind them. The wind put us off and after a McDonald’s ice-cream we went home again.

NUKUKAMMA CANOE TRAIL SEPTEMBER 2007

Nukukamma river canoe trail……23rd and 24th august 2003.
Sundays River
Port Elizabeth

Peter, Barbara & Alli
Cathy and Jody
Gerald and Pat
Dawn And Richard
Tracy, Asher and Kayle

The hike had been postponed since the last time we when we were to do the hike the weather had appeared miserable. So that weekend we had gone to the Tsitsikamma forest at Storms River Mouth and camped for the weekend.


BIRDS SPOTTED
There were many but some of the significant and memorable sightings are these:
African spoonbill…a group of four and other individuals.
Fish Eagle…a pair sighted far in the distance sitting on electric pylons
Masked weaver…Bob puts out bird feed and these birds feed right in front of you on the deck at Hudson.
Blackshouldered Kite…This bird did a hunting display in front of us as it dived into the reeds to try to find a mouse.
Whitefronted Bee-eater…we saw a pair of them in action as they were feeding on butterfly around us.
Pied Kingfisher…we saw a number but, one in particular, did the hover and dive into the water act for Barbara and Peter but came up empty beaked.
Malachite King fisher (Gerald & Pat)
Common Sandpiper….running along the banks of the river.
Rod Knobbed Coot One doing the “Lame Duck” act for us to protect its young. We saw this fascinating display just as we approached the Hudson. This is the type of scene that one expects from a National geographic documentary. It was the first time that we had seen anything like it in action before our eyes.
Black Crake…these little Black birds feed on the weed and river grass. A few of us went for an evening paddle and saw these birds from really close range.
Two Black Eagle far in the distance hovering over a Krans
Yellow Billed Duck
Egyptian Goose
Sacred Ibis
Grey Heron
Black Headed Heron
Goliath Heron…Leave large footprints in the mud banks as pointed out by Bob before we left.
Little Egret
Reed Cormorant
Whitebreasted Cormorant
Dabchick
Pigeons
Red Bishop….But not red as they were not in breeding season.
Wagtail

Other animals
Vervet Monkeys
A lone Reebuck

THE TRIP
We left PE at about 09.30am. Drove to the Sundays River in two cars with Gerald and Pat just behind us. The Drive is less than an hour…only about 30 to 40 kays from PE. We met Bob and Dee, collected our life jackets and drove down to the launch site next to the N2 bridge. Here we set up our gear that we would be taking on the canoes and the rest we set aside for Bob to take in his LDV. Dawn, Richard Tracy, Asher and Kayle arrived a short while later and we soon were on our way.
The weather was ideal for a paddle, not too hot, slight west wind and we looked forward to an easy day on the water.. Jody and Cathy had about a half hour head start and we did not see them until we got to the hut.
The rest of the gang had a leisurely paddle for about two hours before stopping for a picnic. The little children seemed to have a lot of fun despite being confined to the canoes. After our “lunch” we pressed on and passed the 8kays to go marker. This depressed us a little as the westerly had picked up a bit (not too bad) and we had imagined that we were further along the trail.
We kept a steady pace and it was not more than about an hour and a half later when we passed the Hendersons Rest. We later learned that Cathy and Jody had mistaken this for the hut. They had carried their kit up only to realise to their dismay that this was not it. And that they still had a bit of a way to go.
The three kay to go mark seems to have been washed away but it was encouraging to think that it was not far to the Hudson from there anyway. At this stage the trail passes under a series of three (or is it four?) power and telephone lines. Once you are under the third you know that you have only the last kay to go. Also the river narrows slightly and we encountered reeds and river grass.

The sight of the Hudson Jetty was quite welcome. We had paddled for about 4 and a half hours including our lunch stop. And were happy to be able to off load our stuff from the canoes. The rest of our gear was waiting for us as Bob had dropped it off at the hut. We sorted our sleeping quarters out and then had tea, coffee, beers and juice….according to age and preference.

A little while later I went for a swim. Invigorating to say the least. The Gerald, Pat and I went for an evening paddle while some of the others attempted to fool the fish into biting the hook. Well the fish seemed to be quite smart in this area as they did not fall for this old “hook line and sinker” trick.

In the early evening we had the braai going and we all had our various goodies making the place smelling like a “Steers restaurant”. A few more beverages, plenty of chit chat and one by one the tired paddlers fell into their beds only to start up a “wood sawing business” or so it sounded like.

The next morning saw the paddlers rising at a reasonable hour. Much later than us runners are used to. The fire was relit and coffee mugs sprung up from every where. They were briefly rinsed from the previous evenings juice and soon there was the sound of voices as if we had never left off from the evening chatting.

Bob arrived at about 08.00am and we had a photo shoot with the various digital camera’s that were being tried out.
Again Cathy and Jody left first to try to catch the outgoing tide. The rest of us left at about 08.30am and set a steady pace. The main interruption was the pointing out of the monkeys and the various birds that we spotted. It was on the home trip that we saw the Fish eagles, the Kite and the Pied Kingfishers. By now Alli had also begun to be able to name some of the more common birds such as the Cormorant and weavers.

It was a bright morning and as we had not really had much of a breakfast we looked forward to our planned lunch stop which was almost exactly opposite where we had stopped the previous morning. We had plenty of left-overs and other goodies to fill those hungry bellies. The fishermen again hauled out their gear. Again they were unable to fool the astute fish. A problem with stopping on the North bank turned out to be the mess that had been left by people who picnic and fish off the banks. The river banks and this picnic area needs a major clean up.

After our lunch break we pressed on as we could feel the westerly starting to pick up. And we were right…..By the time we got to the Mackay bridge the wind was quite vicious and creating waves. It was into our face. Barbara and I had to work hard to stay going forward. Any break in the paddling action resulted in us going backwards. We were trying to catch Gerald and Pat but they took up the challenge and beat us to the finish. Later on Gerald told me that Pat was not feeling her best. That did not stop him from making her paddle hard to beat Barb and I nor did it stop him, at the end, making Pat put him on her shoulders and carry him off the canoe so as to avoid messing up the valuable “New Balance’s” that he was wearing.

Barbara was (rightly) worried about Tracy and the two little children in the canoe on her own a and so lifted her skirt and hitched a ride with a man in a power boat. He kindly went up river and put a line out to Tracy and towed her the last (and very tough) bit back to the landing area. The return trip had also taken us a little over 4 hours which included the lunch stop.

Well that was about it. We had a last photo session, packed our stuff, said our farewells and headed home.

Many thanks to Bob and our East London family for making this a memorable weekend. As Gerald said to me “Children don’t remember the extra room that you built on to the house. They remember the time they went out hiking and paddling with their parents!”


Peter Giddy
24th August 2003.

WORK OR FAMILY -- A BALANCED LIFE SEPTEMBER 2007.

Be careful how you spend your life.
Record what you do.
Especially the special moments.

When your children have left home and you look back---What is it that you remember most?

For me I had Four children when I was trying to establish a career. I am sure that we did a huge amount of stuff together- Hiking, family days and fun evenings. But now they are gone and we now have a 10 year old child.
I feel that I missed out in their lives. I was never good at supporting their school activities. I was so caught up in my own life that I missed a whole section of their interests.

10 years ago our daughter Ally entered our lives. I determined that I would be part of her life.
When she walked on to the field one Saturday morning to join Mini Hockey, I walked on with her and from there on became a Hockey coach. When there were parent days at School, I attended as much as I could. When Ally decided to join Nippers, I became a Nippers coach. This year Ally decided to play Soccer. I became part of the coaching team.

I know that there is still a huge amount of her life that I don't or won't be part of, but I try to be there as much as I can.

Here is advice given by Harry Chapmin in his song: "The Cat's in the Cradle". It is a song and tune we all know well. But read the words. I was in tears the first time that I actually listened to the words being sung.


Cat's In The Cradle
by Harry Chapin



Verse:
E G
My child arrived just the other day,
A E
He came to the world in the usual way
E G
But there were planes to catch and bills to pay,
A E
He learned to walk while I was away
D A/C# Bm A
And he was talking 'for I knew it, and as he grew
G Bm E G Bm E
He said "I'm gonna be like you, dad, you know I'm gonna be like you"


Chorus:
E D
And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon,
G A
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
E D
"When you commin' home dad?" "I don't know when,
G Bm E G Bm E
But we'll get together then, You know we'll have a good time then"

Verse 2
My son turned ten just the other day
He said "Thanks for the ball dad, come on let's play
Can you teach me to throw"
I said "Not today I got a lot to do" He said "Thats OK"
He walked away but his smile never dimmed,
It said I'm gonna be like him, yeah,
You know I'm gonna be like him

Verse 3
Well he came from college just the other day
So much like a man I just had to say
"Son I'm proud of you can you sit for a while?"
He shook his head and he said with a smile,
"What I'd really like dad is to borrow the car keys,
See you later can I have them please?"

Verse 4
I've long since retired, my son's moved away
I called him up just the other day
I said "I'd like to see you if you don't mind"
He said "I'd love to dad if I could find the time,
You see the my new job's a hassle and the kids have the flu
But it's sure nice talkin' to you dad
It's sure nice talkin' to you"

And as I hung up the phone it occurred to me,
He'd grown up just like me
My boy was just like me


Last Chorus
And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon
Little boy blue and the man in the moon
"When you commin' home son?" "I don't know when,
But we'll get together then, Dad,
We're gonna have a good time then"


What kind of Dad are you? We are all like the dad in the song. But where is the balance in your life? There is a saying that goes something like this: I have never heard a person saying : "I wish I had spent more time at the office".

I have recently had to make a decision to stay with the company that has employed me for the past 23 years and increase the time away from home OR to seek out new employment where there are all kinds of uncertainties but I will be home every night.

I will have to make a Balanced Decision. The new job will mean some weekend work and no time away during the week. What do I do to avoid being like the dad in Harry Chapin's song?

Peter Giddy
September 2007.
.
.
.It later turned out that I remained with the JDG group until January 2015 at my forced retirement at age 64