Vaya Con Dios My Friend

This post is in memory of Ray Butler, family friend and my dad's long-time fishing buddy. Ray worked for a traveling carnival before we knew him and had some pretty interesting stories to tell about that. He enjoyed the outdoors and helped us buck hay for the horses and spent many hours with my dad cutting firewood. He was really good at tying knots. Most of the time Ray looked like in the picture above (he's in the brown shirt, my dad's the other guy), kinda crusty and smelling of fir trees and fish. He would come to Thanksgiving dinner all dressed up in a lemon yellow button up sweater, so neat and clean, we'd hardly recognize him! He was the Rancid Crabtree of my life. We will miss you Ray.