Birthplace of DuraframeDipnet...

It all started with Clair and Dave.  Our nets are now on their second trip to the Congo for the New York Museum of Natural History.  And, doing heavy work for salmon research in the Pacific northwest...among most states in the country and many native American tribes.  We have a long history together...buying the pond farm and giving Clair and Ida a lifelong lease to the 100 acre farm with this beautiful spring pond.  They were already neighbors to our 80.  Clair became a second father to me...I had found my 80 acres just days after my dads funeral and Dave became my older brother.  Duraframe Dave in an earlier post.  Those were hard years but good years because of our 'family'.  Clair attended the death of our infant son and we supported him when Ida passed.  Its how things are done in the driftless.  Clair and I shared a love for trout that was our first bond.  I taught flyfishing classes on the pond for the first flyshop in the driftless.   And, Clair was always a highlight of the class.

One day with 10 flyfishing students Clair came out of his house and leaned an old 12 gauge on the tree.  When he left I went over and unloaded it...and sure enough, the mink he had seen from his porch came swimming out looking for an easy trout..  It had been doing damage enough...along with the blue herons, it was sometimes hard to balance feed with income.  He was more than a little surprised to find the gun empty but managed to load one shot and stop the mink from doing more damage.  Photographers, anglers, and others like myself supplemented his income along with the sale of trout.  One of my most memorable days was with the kids of Iraq vets on the pond and the photos we sent.  Cancer patients, handicapped, science classes, and some serious anglers took advantage of Clairs generosity.  He loved it.  All but the most jaded flyfisher could find a smile at catching one of the large brood fish or watching a young hopeful flyfisher getting a first lesson on them.  It was the best of times and the worst of times but we would never haved survived but together.

Duraframe carrys on in our new shop with only the old bending machine made by Clair from an old wagon wheel, left.  But, We believe Clair and Dave would be proud of my wife for saving the business and me for just plain living this long...