"Outdoor Gear"
My dad was an outdoors person. As a little kid, I wanted to be one too. Our family camped. Dad also fished and hunted. His main fishing interest was salmon and trout. His bird hunting included: ducks, grouse quail pheasants. Bigame targets were Mule deer and elk.
Outdoor activities require specialized equipment. Even a casual walk in the woods is better with proper clothing, boots, etc. Our interests required lots of gear. It was stored in the attic. The cache included: a tent, tarps, ropes, a packboard, white gasoline lanterns and cookstove, sleeping bags, spinning rods, fly rods, deep sea rods, a creel, rifles, shotguns, hiking boots, cork boots, hip boots, a 7 1/2 hp outboard motor and a foot locker. I was strictly forbidden from touching any of it. Yeah you got it in one. That stuff drue me like a magnet with supernatural power.
The foot locker was about 36" x 18" x 12". Its color was an eerie, semi-gloss, olive and seemed to glow a little. I spent hours studying the contents. The items I recall are listed below:
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an auto rewind fly reel.
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a bronze colored, metal, waterproof, match box.
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a compass & leather belt pouch.
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a deep sea (salmon-fishing) reel.
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a fly line from Cortland, NY. 75 years later I discover a branch of Mother's family connected to the Cortland area.
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a hunting Knife made by some of dad's distant relatives. The factory was about 40 miles west of here and 2040 miles east of there.
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maps - high Cascades, elk hunting spots.
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a metal stemmed smoking pipe.
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a single bitted hand axe (hatchet).
Looking back, dad must have known what I was doing. No doubt there were small fingerprints, in the dust, on the locker. But nothing was ever said.
