An early Happy St. Patrick's Day!

[Nate Grace]

I know some of you are leaving soon for the Westlake Decoy Show out in Ohio, so I just wanted to wish all of my fellow Irish brothers and sisters a very safe and happy St. Patrick's Day! May your day be blessed and filled with happiness, and may the good Lord shine his face upon you and cover you with his grace.

Best wishes especially to anyone reading from Kilkenny, Ireland.


May love and laughter light your days,
and warm your heart and home.
May good and faithful friends be yours,
wherever you may roam.
May peace and plenty bless your world
with joy that long endures.
May all life's passing seasons
bring the best to you and yours!

Erin go braugh! (Forever Ireland!)

Best,
Nathan Grace

 

[Dave Parks]

Hi Nathan,

You've heard me talk about my old buddy Rick Ketcham over the years. Well, Ricks son Jason who is now 23 has had plans with his buddy since they were in high school to save up engough money to travel Europe. They both have girlfriends and they want to go see Europe nrfore they settle down.

Rick put them on a non-stop flight to London last sunday nite and they have scheduled there travels to be in Dublin tonight so they will be there to celebrate St Paddy's Day in an Irish pub tommorow.

They will leave Ireland for Norway, Sweden and the Netherlands on sunday (always best to travel with a hangover). In the next 6 weeks they will travel to the above countries and then down to Germany, France, Spain, Switzerland, Italy and Greece. They bought those $1,000 un-limited use European railway tickets for the majority of their travels.

What an adventure for a 23 years old. Jason has woreked two jobs for the past years and a half so he could save up and pay for the trip himself. His dad did hand him a $1,000 cash as he dropped him off at the airport and told him to call if he needed more.

Jason is the one who cooked up all the ducks, geese and upland birds every night on our two week Montana hunt last fall. He's the nicest kid and hardest hunter I've seen. He never runs out of energy on the hunts and always shows respect to his elders, plus he's one hell of a self-taught wild game cook.

I get back from a days upland bird hunt and I'm bushed, Jason get's back and he's cleaning all the birds and has them all prepared right on time for dinner. An amazing kid, which stems from a good dad who brouth him up to value the hunt as well as the game.

Jason willl get back from Europe, work for 5 months and then he and his dad will leave for their annual Montana upland hunt. This year they will be hunting for a full month!

Happty St. Paddy's Nate!

Dave

 

[Nate Grace]

Thanks Dave, and same to you my friend. I'm about to sit down and pop a Guinness. Hope you and Judy are doing well. My mom and dad are thinking of renting a house over in Kilkenny or maybe Wales next year for a family renunion. The Grace's came from Kilkenny and my greatgrandfather's people came over from a town called Merthyr Tydfil which is in southern Wales. They were all coal miners or steel workers. It would be good to get back there and see the family!

My dad gave me some old sporting catalogs a while back, as I've been collecting them for a while now. He found two catalogs recently, one is titled "Peters - Cavalcade of American Hunters," which gives a brief history on everyone from Davey Crocket down to Teddy Roosevelt. I have another from "Trail and Stream Sportsman Equipment, Inc." and that one lists a variety of fishing and hunting gear. On the inside cover it lists Van Campen Heilner and Raymond Camp as members of the Trail and Stream pro-staff. Some cool stuff and it's fun to look through these old catalogs.

Take care Dave.

Best,
Nate