Beyond The Eagle's Nest

<P>Standard Print Edition </P> <P>Southwest Nebraska: 1922–40 Grandfather referred to me as "That boy". Friends, teachers, and neighbors seldom used my given name. Newcomers pondered my surname. "Without a father to guide him," they whispered, "that kid'll never amount to a tinker's dam. More than once, he'll wish they'd left him for the coyotes, especially if his eyes go bad like others in that family." </P> <P>Washington State—Big trees, big men, big problems: 1940–59 "Man on! Going up!" For fifteen years, these words sent me to the top of a 140-foot logging spar, hallmark and pinnacle of Pacific Northwest logging. </P> <P>The Bygone Era—The VA Blind Rehab—Retirement: 1959–2004</P>