Take Two: Father's Day approaches

Talk About a Father's Day!

Marco Island Realtor and Collier County Sheriff's Deputy Geoff Fahringer will have a lot on his mind this Father's Day.

His three sons are making Geoff and his wife, Kathie, proud in several ways right now.

Submitted photo

Florida National Guard Lt. Jason Fahringer and his wife Kara, in front of a medevac helicopter at a National Guard base in Florida.

Son Jason, a Lieutenant in the Florida National Guard, was deployed last week on a 16-month assignment that will put him in Iraq for a year or so.

Lt. Fahringer is a Blackhawk helicopter pilot and will be flying forward medevac missions. In civilian life, Jason is a deputy sheriff in Orange County.

Geoff and Kathie's son Erich served two tours in Afghanistan and Iraq as an Army 82d Airborne trooper, including being attached to Special Forces units and the 10th Mountain Division. Erich was wounded while on a rescue mission in Baghdad. An ammunition dump exploded and he took shrapnel in the foot.

Now, Erich is a student at Edison Community College, studying to be an engineer.

The Fahringers' third son Adrian also served the country in the U.S. Air Force. He now operates a computer consulting and service company based in Naples.

Daddy Geoff, reflecting on his sons as Father's Day approaches: "I'm a lucky guy. The boys got their mom's brains and from me? Maybe my derring-do." (See this space next week for more on "derring-do," "daring-do" etc.) He has had years of derring-do with the sheriff's department, including undercover, dive team and Swat-team assignments.

"With my background, I can hardly tell my boys to calm down in their careers," Geoff notes.

Geoff and Kathie should know that they're not the only ones proud and grateful to Jason, Erich and Adrian for their service to America.

Speaking of Father's Day

Did you know that dads get a lot more collect calls on Father's Day than moms do on Mother's Day?

My column, "The Farmer File", in the Local & State section of the Naples Daily News tomorrow (Friday) has more on that, including some theories on why children feel more comfortable calling their fathers collect than their mothers.

Tell Us Your Most Embarrassing Moment. Please

A longtime islander tells me that her most embarrassing moment came several years ago at the Naples Philharmonic. The Phil was premiering the Nutcracker Suite to a black-tie la-di-da audience.

It was a fancy, lovely evening and the performance matched the expectations.

During the intermission, my friend negotiated her way through the crowd in the lobby to the ladies room, her long, full dress swirling as she went.

The crowd of theatergoers lingered in the lobby as my friend emerged from the restroom and moved slowly with the flow of people returning to their seats.

Not until she went to sit down, and reached down to gather her dress around her, did she realize that while in the ladies room, the hem of her dress had gotten lodged in the back waistband of her panty hose. So, as she left the ladies room and walked through the crowd, her backside was totally exposed for all the drama, dance and music lovers to see.

So that year, the Nutcracker Suite was truly a memorable one at the Phil.

Now it's your turn. Share with us your most embarrassing experience. My e-mail: don@donfarmer.com.

This Just In: Dogs Make Us Healthier

Yet another survey is out there about our health. The shocking result is that not owning a dog can be unhealthy.

That's because people with dogs tend to walk their pets and, thus, get more exercise than dog-free Americans. And dogs tend to love their owners — who doesn't feel better when being loved?

The only good thing about this "Duh Report" is that U.S. taxpayers didn't pay for it. The Canadians did, specifically the University of Victoria in British Columbia.

I hear their next study is to determine whether Canadians who end most sentences with "Eh?" are, in fact, uttering a desperate inner cry for help.