Been out of pocket for a few. I took a sudden drive to South Dakota after hearing my dad had been in a bad collision with a semi. The front end of his '98 Chevy pickup was pushed to the dash. Fortunately the airbags and seat belt did their jobs. After all was said and done he cracked C1 and C6 in his neck, had some internal bleeding they were able to stop, and received a few stitches in his eyebrow line where his glasses cut. His truck was totaled, so a neck brace, a few stitches and a bruised pride are all he's taking away from the accident. God was merciful and let him walk away from it alive at 68 years old, and we're all very thankful.
Being the man's man that he is, my dad said he dreamed about being at his workbench at home the first couple of nights, waking up with his hands reaching for an invisible project pistol he'd been working on. He got tired of sitting in the bed by the third day, so he got up and walked around with a physical therapist and a walker. I told him I cleaned out his truck, and the first thing he asked was if I had found his pipe. LOL I had not, so I took a second trip to the truck and discovered it safely stowed under his dash carpet cover. It's an old Brewster half bent with peeled lacquer, a couple pits, a cracked shank he repaired with a brass rifle shell casing, and a stem full of oxidation reminiscent of @Fr_Tom's pipes. When I asked if he wanted me to clean it up, he paused for a moment, and then he conceded since he would be stuck in the hospital for at least a few more days.
...waitin' to hear how this works
