jake's Guestbook

"Son, nobody is mad at her," he told Jake. "Everybody is just worried about her. It's just your Aunt has some problems that well, makes things hard for her to understand sometimes," he said not knowing how to really explain what was going inside Jennie' head. "But I'm glad you can talk to her about whatever is bothering you," he said with a smile. "And I'm glad that she makes things fun for you," he said with a smile on her face as he changed subjects, which made him go serious again.

"You and me both," he said with a half smile. "But I'm sure that with time and a little patience, things will work out," he added now smiling again. "Well, just between you and me," Andrew said as he was now talking about Michaela. "She's the love of my life and I know she loved you kids like you were her own," he said. "And I was gonna wait and tell guys this, but I'm planning a trip soon to go see Michaela and ask her to come home and be apart of this family," he said grinning from ear to ear now. 

Andrew thinks a minute about inviting Hoss. In fact, he had seen his little brother in 24 hours. Andrew made a face he thought about it for a minute and then began to speak to Jake on inviting Hoss. "Well, of course we can, though from him being missing the past 24 hours, he might have other plans," he told his son. "But I will give him a call and see if he's up to it," he said. "Will that work for you?" he asked. 

Andrew didn't say much at first. He pressed his lips hard as he tried to figure out what exactly to say. Then, after he let out a sigh while running his fingers through his hair, Andrew began to speak to Jake very serious. "You're Aunt Jennie has some problems that she needs prefessional help to work though," he said softly. "And it's not that I'm trying to stop any of you from having fun," he said. "I'm trying to keep you from doing things that could get you guys into trouble," he said hoping Jake understood.

 

"Besides, I don't know what kind of things she's filling your heads with," he said worried that his own children would start hating Lydna or even his own mother just because of the things Jennie says and does. "I just....I don't want you to lose the respect you have for Grandma Lynda or Grandma Elizabeth," he said trying to hid the sadness in his voice, but knowing his was failing at it big time as he continued his thought. "That's what scares me the most. Is you guys start judging people before you know anything about them," he said as he cleared his throat and changed the subject.

"As to why Grandpa and Grandma fight," he started. "Well, Grandma is sick and came up with a very unique and creative way to help Joe, Jennie and Jamie," he told his son honestly. ."And rather than sitting down with Grandma and talking her about it and what's making her so sick, Grandpa blew his top and now," Andrew told Jake and then paused for a few moments as if trying to decide whether or to finish the thought and then went ahead and did so. "And now Grandma is wondering if she really is wanted here or if it's best if she just leave," he said and then went silent for a long time.

It looked as if he was deep in thought about something but within 10 minutes he shook it off and went on to answer the rest of Jake's questions with a huge smile. "I'll take you to do that," he told him. "Heck I'll even take you to Uncle Hoss's secret spot that he only let me and one other person share, though technically, she knew it before I did, but anyway, it's the prettiest place you ever did see. It wouldn't surprise me if Uncle Hoss built his own house up there someday," Andrew said with a chuckle.

"And no, Grandpa didn't make me mad. I just figured that since you, Josh, Peggy and I are a family, we probably should have our own house. Besides, if I can talk Michaela into it, I would love for her to come back and be your guys mother," he told Jake. "I know she adores all three of you. What would you think if we did that?" he asked Jake with a curious tone and then quickly went on.

"And it's not like we are leaving the Ponderosa," he said and continued his thought. "It's more like we would be moving to another part of the Ponderosa so that we can start our own ranch," he said. "And I would never keep you boys from going and seeing the rest of the family," he said knowing how much the ranch house meant to them. Then for the first time in a long while a smile came acrossed Andrew's face. "You'll never forget the Ponderosa and the Ranch house," he said. "This house and the entire Ponderosa will always live within your heart," he said as he got up to go but stopped. 

Andrew turned and looked down at his son. "And son, you do get breaks from school. There's Christmas Break, Spring Break, Thanksgiving Break," Andrew said with a smile. "But there's no break for just going to stay at the hotel for a couple of weeks," he said laughing. "Now finish getting yourself ready, and since your sister thinks she's grown up, I'm not gonna make her go, so it's gonna be just you, me and Jake, and I thought we can make it a guys night. Pizza, stay up late, junk food, you know, stuff like that," he added still smiling.

"Because I don't like the way your Aunt Jennie is rubbing off on your sister," he said. He could see in his son's eyes that he really loved the Ponderosa, which was a good thing. But when Jake brought up Ben and Lynda, Andrew's face went somber as he began to speak to his son honestly. "Yea about that, I don't think Grandma and Grandpa will be up to doing much, except for fighting with each other," he said.  

"Trust me son, it won't be as bad as you are thinking," Andrew said now with a smile on his face. "The time will fly by and before you know it, it won't seem like we even left at all," he told Jake. "And yes you can bring your sketch book, but remember, you still have homework to do this weekend. School is one place you don't get a break from," He said chuckling.

Andrew then went silent and deep in thought as he thought about Jake's question. Andrew really didn't know how to answer it without sounding like he didn't care about what he wanted or how he felt, which simply wasn't true. Finally, after letting out a few heavy and sad sighs, Anddrew began to answer Jake's question. "We will go back to the Ponderosa," Andrew began. "But I don't know how much longer we will be staying at the Ranch house with Grandma and Grandpa," he said honestly. 

"No son, you didn't do anything wrong," Andy said with a smile on his face and then put hs arm around his son. Andy knew his boys loved it here and being with his grandpa and grandmas, so he knew his sons might take this hard, but Andy let out a sigh anyway as he began to tell Jake what he was on his mind. "And I want to keep it that way," Andy told him.

"So, without messing up your nice clean room, I want you to pack a bag of clothes, enough for two weeks," he began. "And yes you can bring a few toys with you so you can have something to do," he added. "The reason why I want you to do this, is because I'm taking you, your brother and sister to town with me and we are going to stay at the hotel for two weeks," he said. 

"Think of it as a mini vacation from the Ponderosa for a little while," he said trying to make this move fun for him. Andy knew that his son was going to asks alot of questions, starting with why they were leaving. "Once you get that done, then you can take out a piece of paper and right down all your questions and I will answer them once we are settled in our room," he told Jake and then Andy got up to leave and go to talk to Josh. "Oh and don't forget to pack your school books," he said with a smile.  

After having a frank and rather straight foward conversation with Peggy, Andy knew it was time for them to move and get away from the family for little while. Andy had been thinking about this for a while now and today only just reenforced how bad it's needed. So, after tell Peggy to back some clothes and her school books, he decided to go tell the boys to do the same. The first stop was Jake's room and knocked on his door. 

"Hey son, finishing cleaning your room?" Andy asked with a smile on his face as he walked in and sat on Jake's bed. "It looks really good," he added and then cleared his throat. "Son, could you come here a minute, I need to talk to you," he added smiling and knowing that his son wouldn't understand why he was having them pack for a couple of weeks.