We live outside of town a bit with a couple acres of dirt. We have all the required pets, well, one that is as big as Kuma isn't required but we have dogs and cats and such. Next door our neighbor raises a few head of cattle each year. Down the road a short walk away they have sheep and train dogs to herd. The kids love to go and watch. We keep a garden and have an area that is still pretty much the same as it has been for a long time with wild huckleberries, blackberries, salmon berries and even thimble berries growing in it during spring and summer. Pear trees, apple trees, cherry trees and plum trees. Some grapes out there also along with raspberries and blue berries. Lots of birds, squirrels, rabbits, the occasional deer and a coyote from time to time. These are the reasons with some others that our grand kids bug the heck out of their parents to let them come stay at our house. There is cool stuff to do. Even in the winter we are always outside working on something. They have learned that the difference between winter and summer is you wear a rain coat in winter and there aren't any berries to pick but there are still stuff to do, critters out there and the birds that come to the feeders. Keighlee, our granddaughter loves to tie flies and go fishing with her grandpa. She will spend hours with grandma gathering fruit and working in the garden. She is almost 5. Ryder who is 2 is starting to show more and more interest in grandpa's stuff. Both love the outdoors and learning about all the different animals.

I took my son the former Marine and Iraq war veteran fishing a number of times this past year. He never had much interest in fishing and hunting when he was younger although he has always enjoyed the outdoors. He wanted to start with a bait caster and bought one. I taught how where to go and how to catch salmon with spinners. Now, he wants to learn to fly fish. He is interested in hunting and has enrolled in a hunting course at his college. These were things he grew up with but never really had the desire to do. Now, older his interest has grown and we are doing more together today than we did when he was young. Sometimes it happens in its own time.

I know what you mean but I think the first step is to provide the opportunity. I have no doubts that our grand children will receive the full benefit of my wife and mine's experiences if we have a say in it. And our kids, well, they already know but sometimes they need to gain their own experiences to appreciate ours. I know my older son did. We are closer now than ever before; he is 27 with a new willingness to learn from me and I have a yearning to learn from him.