RIP Oscar Jylha (OZ) Part 1 of 2

Well I never had a chance to get on and update my blog before the trip to Merritt. We were supposed to leave Thursday night to go to the mainland so I could meet my father in-law. I was really looking forward to this as I had heard so much about him and not one bad thing. On Wednesday afternoon I found out the Patty's father had passed away earlier that morning. He was back in the hospital getting checked over and was told when he received his breakfast that he would be able to leave later that day. When they went to get the dishes they found him and notified the family. I called to talk to Mamasita to see if any one had told Patty and was told that they hadn't so then I had to hang up the phone because I heard Patty and Ben come in and I had to go break the news to her. I love Patty so much and it hurt to have to tell her this because this is not the news a person wants to hear from any one. I tried to comfort her and Ben as best I could but seeing how hurt she was made it hard for me to be upset because her pain is my pain.

We made a few phone calls then started packing to leave on the first ferry the next morning. The trip was a bit more somber than it was going to be but we all new that Oz was not suffering any more. Oz was a big man like my dad was and I'm sure they were both the same in hiding some of the pain and discomfort they were having from their families. Oz wasn't supposed to leave us this early and we thought we'd have enough time to see him but the cancer was far more advanced than first thought.



The trip to Merritt was pretty uneventful. The sky was blue the sun was shining and the hwy was dry and bare. We passed through the area where they had had an avalanche and you could see some areas where snow had slid down the mountains but there was no problems due to weather on our trip. We reached Merritt before lunch and met patty's friend Anita at the A&W. We then went over to her place to drop off our things and then went over to Natalie and Peters place. Shortly after we got there Marty who is Oz' cousin and best friend showed up. We sat around chatting and Marty had a ton of stories to tell and we were all very eager to listen. Marty and Oz were camping, fishing and hunting buddies.

Patty, her sister Natalie and Marty headed over to Oz's place to clear out some hunting rifles that were at his place. Patty and Natalie also wanted to clear out anything else that might be valuable because they didn't want any one breaking into their dad's place knowing he was a hunter and finding stuff to steal. Oz was a very giving person and when he had money always treated his friends some of who might not have been of the honest type. They might have tried taking advantage while they could so just to be safe they checked it out. Ben and I went back to Anita's to rest from the long trip.

That evening we just stayed at Anita's and her daughter dropped off her 6month old daughter for grandma to babysit. I didn't play too much with the baby because I had gotten a bad cold just before we left. Patty got home and held the baby dreaming of when our grandchild will be born and we can look after him/her. Then Christie and her husband came in and we all chatted and had a nice evening before turning in. We had hoped to spend more time with them but were just too busy.

The next morning Patty and Natalie were going to go to their dads place to do some cleaning and sorting and they asked to be left alone for a while so I took the car and headed to Kamloops about an hour away to go see the wolves at the wildlife park. This was the first week they were open durring the week and I was the first person there that morning and had the place to my self for a good hour and a half. It was a pretty lazy day for the animals and I walked around the whole place twice but spent most of my time with the wolves. I took a few pictures as usual before getting in the car and heading back. I decided I would stop at Mamasita's since I was so close but found out they left for Merritt close to the time I had gotten to the wildlife park.



























When I got back to Merritt Peter (Natalies other half)was thinking about going golfing but I was pretty tired and just wanted to relax for a while. Ben and I ended up going for a drive around Merritt and stopped by his grandpas place so he could have a quick look. We didn't stay long and then walked around town for a bit and then went back to Anita's. We ended up meeting Patty back at Natalies and hanging out for a while till we were tired then went back to Anita's. I fell to sleep pretty darn quick. Natalie and Patty accomplished quite a bit that day not just cleaning up their dads place but also setting up for Saturday at the Adelphi.

to be continued...