On September 11th, my father celebrated his 85th birthday.

A few days before that he pulled a groin muscle (he thinks) and was in some bit of pain. Over the last month and a half that pain got worse, not better. This past Thursday, he was taken to the hospital because he couldn't walk. They discovered that he had broken his hip--the ball had come off his femur. On Friday afternoon he had surgery to replace the ball with an artificial one.

On Saturday he was up and walking--much to the amazement of the doctors.

It's obvious that he's in pain at times, and he's certainly not going to be running any marathons anytime soon, but he's getting around the house under his own power, using a walker. For your average 85-year-old, a broken hip would mean moving to a nursing home. Or a rapid decline in health and death.

My dad? He sent his rifle off with a friend of his to get sited in so that he can go deer hunting next month. 85 years old, has been walking on a broken hip for anywhere from a day to 10 weeks, and he's planning on going deer hunting next month.

The only thing I can say is.... I hope he gets one for me, too. I'm out of tenderloins.

Yep. That's my dad.