I was raised with the Pioneer spirit to always be a survivor

 The motto was always: "Prepare for the worst and hope for the best" which is how our forebears survived here in the U.S. (those that actually did survive everything from the 1600s to now).

We are a "CAN DO" kind of people who think on our feet and for ourselves and don't need others to tell us what to think. We have been this since the 1600s since many people came here for religious freedom especially at first from Europe.

My great Grandfather was a Captain in the Civil war for the Northern Army out of Kansas and my grandfather was a baseball player first in Kansas with the nick name "pinkie" because he had red hair and was a pitcher there.

Then later he became an Electrician and then an Electrical Contractor who worked at jobs in Texas, California, Arizona, Oregon and Washington State. He traveled around in a Dodge Car with my father and 4 other brothers and sisters from place to place doing long Electrical Contracts. My father was born in 1916 in Morenci, Arizona and by age 2 he was bitten by (either a fox or coyote) that his older brother kept as a kit as a pet and almost died. The doctor said that 1/100 of an inch further into his side and he would have died from the bite. His brother who was 6 years old kicked the wild pet away from his brother and saved his life.

The family finally bought a home in Lake Forest Park Seattle with about 2 1/2 acres of apple and black cherry trees and boysenberries and raspberries. I lived there in an apartment my father built for us under the garage on a hill there and I could walk out the back down at age 2 or 3 and pick raspberries myself.

I can still remember the Prickles you had to watch out for while picking raspberries like this.

Later on, at age 4 we moved to San Diego and we stayed in California in San Diego or Los Angeles County and finally my Dad and Mom moved to between Yucca Valley and Landers when Dad retired in 1980. However, he passed away in 1985 but my mother lived until 2008 to 90 years of age like her mother and two sisters. They all lived to 90.