Dusty

We lived in Clear Lake area of Houston when Dusty was born. Darryl, Stephi & Dusty lived with us. Stephi & Dusty went sailing with us occasionally. When Dusty was 10 months old, he was sitting on my lap. Al was sailing the boat and just as Stephi went to take a picture, Dusty tapped Al on the hand. Al moved his hand and Dusty took the tiller just moments before Stephi took the picture. We let him sail the boat for about 3 or 4 minutes.

Dusty sailing the boat Oct 1988,

He loved sailing and if we went to the boat to secure it before a storm came in, he would have a fit because we did not go sailing. Dusty could walk on the boat about 2 months before he could walk on land. Guess the movement was in sink with his off balance.

Dusty first steps on land Nov 1988

When we were taking the boys home, we turned the radio off just as Dusty said, "fly cookie fly." I turned around and commented that "Cookies don’t fly." Dusty said, "Sure they do Grandma – watch this." At which point he stuck a cookie through the one-inch gap the window was open to. The cookie went out the window and flew into the driver’s window of the car in the lane just to the right behind us. He picked up the cookie, ate it and gave Dusty the OK sign. I asked Dusty how long he had been feeding the man cookies and he said, "A long time Grandma – he likes them." 1990

Our next door neighbor was a sweet, good-looking nurse. Dusty called her "my Tammy." One day I was talking on the phone and Dust asked, "Are you talking to my Tammy?" I told him yes and gave him the phone. He said, "I was just outside playing and I threw a ball and it went through grandma’s window and she’s going to kill me." Then he hung up. Tammy came flying through the door to save him. I was laughing too hard to talk and Dusty was laughing too. Tammy realized Dusty had figured out how to get her over there; picked Dusty up; called him a "little Dickens" and hugged and kissed him.

Dusty on phone with "My Tammy" 1991

Dusty & Tammy kissing his 1^st girlfriend (Tammy built the horse in shop when she was a teen) 1991

When my grandchildren acted out, I would grab a little tuft of hair just above their nose to stop them from whatever they were doing and lead them to the sofa for a chat. One particular day Dusty was constantly in trouble. I finally said, "Dusty do you want me to pull all your hair out (I have never pulled out anyone’s hair)?" He went into the living room and stood looking at Al (his bald grandfather) for a while. Al asked, "what do you want Dusty?" Dusty answered, "Grandpa were you really bad when you were growing up?" 1991

Dusty has a thing with trees. He loves to climb then and just sit and watch the world go by. Believe me - I found him in a lot of trees when I had no camera.

Dusty Up a Cottonwood tree 1992

Oh Lord, another tree 1996

Dusty prime seat to watch the Wichita River Festival 1998. He got there early so no one would get "his" tree limb.

Dusty It’s another tree 2003