Carry on the name!

This past week as everyone was celebrating Christmas and the life of Christ, my family was also celebrating the life of my Grandfather, Charles Merlin Preece. He passed away on December 16th from complications of surgery.

Though we all knew this day would come, it felt like it just came too soon. There was always something else we wanted to do, something else we wanted to say. However, if you procrastinate long enough, you are bound to miss out on something.

Not my Grandfather though, nope. He would never let something go till the next day, he would get up at the crack of dawn and not sleep till it was all done. Then up and at it again the next day.

We always talked about spending more time out there with him, and visiting him during the summer months. But, there was always something that would come up and we would postpone the trip to see him.

Right before he passed away, I got to spend the night in the hospital with him. Of course he wasn't alert most of the time, but you could tell he was listening. As everyone gathered around him we all said a couple things we were grateful for and the life that he lived.

One thing my Grandmother mentioned was his desire to "get that elk". He always dreamed about shooting a trophy size elk and being able to brag it up to the town of Vernal. Well this past summer, he drew out a permit to hunt in the Book Cliffs, just outside of Vernal, Utah. Needless to say, he got his trophy elk and was able to brag up a storm to the entire town, and then some.

Here he is pictured carrying the antlers of this elk, which measured a 397 on the Boone and Crockett scale.
I will miss you Grandpa, I will miss the stories, chili, sourdough pancakes, early morning wake ups, your uncontrollable laughing where you shake so hard you about fall over, but most of all I will miss the chance to talk and bond with you and have you share in the lives of my family, wife and children.

Don't worry I will make sure they know who their dad was named after and the great man that their Great Grandfather was and the legend that he left.

I love you and will miss you.

Joshua Charles Preece

Playoffs!

Well, since this whole thing with the blog started, I haven't had a chance to really talk about any success with my team.......yes the Vikings. Minnesota Vikings to be exact.

I have been a Viking fan for about 9 years now, and e very year they give me hope for the playoffs, and then they crush my hopes and dreams.

2 years ago, they started 6-0 and then finished the season 8-8 missing the playoffs. Last year, all they had to do is win one of their final 2 games......what happened? Well they lost both and watched the Redskins take the final "wild card" spot and then lose in the first round.

So this year, before the season even started they (the Vikings) went out and got more talent. They acquired Jared Allen from Kansas City as well as Bernard Berrian from Chicago, in hopes to make their season something to look forward to.

All the sports writers started to call it: Vikings win the NFC North Division and possibly a trip to the Super Bowl, with a possible record of 13-3. When they started 1-3, I started to see my season ending hopes not turn out the way they were supposed to. They benched the then "Franchise Quarterback" Tarvaris Jackson, and brought in Gus Frerotte the OLD TIMER, hoping that he would make a difference.

It all looked to be a pretty good move until he got hurt in week 15 against Arizona, at which time the team turned back to Jackson, and prayed that he could again win one of the next 2 games to take the team to the playoffs.

Sound familiar? It should, he was put in the same situation last year.

So you can understand if I don't get my hopes up when they are facing Atlanta, one of the hotest teams in the NFL with a rookie quarterback, and NY Giants, the defending Super Bowl champions. The only thing they had going for them, is both games are to be played in the Metrodome.

For those that don't follow the game, that is the home field of the Minnesota Vikings.

To my dismay, Jackson, somehow found a way to lose to the Falcons in week 16, which left the hopes of clinching the division simply floating away. As now they would need to face the Giants. A team that somehow always finds a way to win. Last year they had to win their last 7 road games to make the playoffs and then miraculously found a way to defeat the "unbeaten Patriots". And this year, with the retirement of Michael Strahan, and loss of Osi to injury and Burress to stupidity, they somehow found a way to clinch their division, one which has been ranked as one of the hardest divisions in the NFL.

This was not a situation that I was hoping to leave in the hands of Jackson.

Yet somehow, they found a way to drive down the field on one of the toughest defensive units and hit the game winning field goal, securing them a place in their first playoff appearance since 2001.

So in short.......MY VIKINGS ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS!

It is party time.