by John Fuller

A day in the life of 89 year old John Fuller who lives at the end of the road overlooking Dale Hollow Lake.

(My) day starts at five a.m. I give thanks to God and coffee time, watch the night fade into daylight. I have many windows, each one has a story to tell.

First window, three deer grazing in the field below garden, oh yes, I still have a garden, a lot smaller now. I split three ways, one for me, one for weather and one for wildlife.

Next there comes a flock of turkeys out of the woods, must be 25 or 30 of them. I next look at the bird feeder. I count seven cardinals, two blue jays and many more kinds, then here comes a pest, climbs up to the feeder filler and I chase him away.

Back in the house, more coffee.

I look from the table. Here comes Kathy down the hall looking as pretty and neat as she looked 70 plus years past. You see, we have been married 70 years this year. “Teenagers.” they said, “would not last.” We knew better and went to work, no food stamps then or other freebies.

Yes, we have visited many places. The one that stands out most is Hawaii, Pearl Harbor, looking down, seeing the sunken deck of USS Arizona, reading names of over 1,200 sailors who died that day. It bothered me, I was once a sailor.

Let’s look out another window. There is Dale Hollow Lake, full of water just waiting for summer again and the many visitors. We fell for the lake in the sixties. Always had a boat and always going to the lakes all over Indiana.

Heard about this lake, so vacation time in 1961, let’s hook up the boat and go see it. The lake was something like we’d never seen. We loved it, spent many weekends plus vacations on it.

We retired in the 80s and here we came to live. We go back to Indiana to visit. We joined the church and became active in it. We love the church family and the many good things they do.

Now, let’s look out another window to the orchard. I see many yard cut-outs I make. I see Bears, Beer Moose, Indian, Panther, even Big Foot standing guard. The list goes on and on.

More windows, walk to the garage. Open the door, I see two Studebakers looking like they were when they first came off the assembly line in 1951 and 1962. I grew up around Studebaker, seems like they were everywhere then. I have studied their rise and fall for lots of reasons. I have drove my truck in the Foothills Parade almost every year since 1989, plus many shows.

I have met so many people and their great remarks, loved them all.

I have left out Kathy pretty much. She has lots of talents. This is just a brief story about me, so much more about our life together.

John Fuller