Pop was on into his 60’s when I was born, so he always seemed old to me. He was retired from a career in the railroad, so the only work I ever knew him to do was around the house. Pop mowed around the house with a push mower while Granny mowed the wider expanses with their riding mower. They also had a garden that they both worked throughout the spring and summer months.

I remember another time when Pop, Dad, and Uncle Hob cut down a giant red oak in the woods near Pop’s house. Now, a red oak is the easiest tree to cut and to split into firewood, but this tree was massive, the biggest that I had ever seen taken to the ground. Chain saws, axes, mauls, and wedges we...

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