This weekend I made the nine hour round-trip drive from Bellingham to Port Angeles for a surprise birthday party for my uncle. It was good to see family again since I haven't been able to make this trip since our son was born. Of course they all wanted to see him, but that's just too long of a trip for an 11 month old kid to make. Heck, it's almost too long for me to make!

My uncle is actually looking pretty good, especially considering that he's still recovering from a knee replacement over the winter. Now both knees are artificial, but he's getting around really well. In fact he wants to do some commercial fishing on one of the weekends this summer. These days he just fishes for enough to put into jars and to smoke.

I'm in a bit of disbelief that he still has the drive to do that kind of work. I first when commercial fishing with him when I was 12 years old, back in 1982. It was when sockeye was more plentiful through the Strait of Juan de Fuca and we would be up all night working the net, keeping an eye on freighters and all of the dirty, hard work that goes into working a small (about 30') gillnetter.

These days I don't want to go near a fishing net. But for my uncle, I think it's in his blood. It has to be. At 70 he's still looking at boats to buy and fish.

I would like to see him around for another 70 years, so hopefully those body part replacements keep up!

Happy Birthday!