Happy birthday to Cliff's boys

After years of staying at home, in July of 2000 I went to work at the new Kohl's Distribution Center.  Cliff was thrilled.  We finally had some extra money to do things we wanted to do.  However, since he worked the evening shift and I worked days, he was on his own until time to leave for work.  He said he hated the empty feeling he got when he walked into the house.  So he spent as much time as possible outside or in the shop until he left for work at 2:30.

And then God sent Cliff some little buddies, and that empty feeling faded away.  The twins were home-schooled.  Once they wandered over to the shop and got acquainted with my husband, they stayed.  After they showed up, not only did Cliff quit missing me, but he was quite happy with my being gone.  If I got off work early, or had a day off, I was a bit of a wet blanket on their activities.

    If Cliff needed somebody to run the tractor for him, he'd say, "I'll get one of my boys to help."

Those boys were so cute in their little coveralls.  Cliff taught them to weld, and he let them use his tools and his shop for all sorts of do-it-yourself projects of their own. 

Need somebody to help haul hay?  No problem.  Cliff's boys were right there to help with a job that NOBODY wants to do.  Ryan, the twins' cousin, is also one of Cliff's boys.

When we picked up free corn for our hogs, the boys helped out.

Sometimes the twins would bring their lunch over so they could eat with Cliff.  Once in awhile he took them to Subway or Pizza Hut.

When I wanted a cabin in the woods, guess who helped Cliff fix up the old storage shed for me?  Yep, the twins and Ryan.  Cliff's boys.

There's Travis, all grown up.

That's Tyler.  Poor guy, every time his hair grows back, it's time for more chemo and he loses it again.  He's doing OK, all things considered.
To this day, if Cliff needs a hand with something, he'll say, "I guess I'll call one of my boys."  They are night owls, so he usually has to wake them up.  But one of them will usually crawl out of the sack and come to his aid.

Even Grandson Arick calls on them from time to time.  He recently called on Tyler to help him get his Jeep out of a hole.  


Today Cliff's boys turn twenty-one.  They're still kinda cute, even all grown up.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TYLER AND TRAVIS.  MAY YOU BOTH LIVE TO BE A HUNDRED!