COEUR d'ALENE - Bradford Bakie answered the front door of his trailer home Tuesday with his right pant-leg scrunched above his knee, showing off his prosthetic leg.

He bought $5 worth of fabric - featuring a prominent bald eagle - from Walmart, and plastered it to the new device's socket.

"I went through two months of therapy down at LaCrosse" Health and Rehabilitation Center in Coeur d'Alene, Bakie said.

He does a lot of stretching his leg and lifting the device, which weighs less than five pounds.

"Feels like a ton when you try to lift it up in the air," he said.

While walking, it's keeping his foot straight that has been the greatest challenge, he said.

Back in June, The Press reported that Bakie just had his foot and part of his lower leg amputated as a result of decades of smoking.

He asked The Press to share his story so others would know smoking can be as risky as swimming with great white sharks.

Bakie, who turns 72 next month, started smoking when he was in his early 20s. He had his last cigarette the day of the amputation.

For 50 years, Bakie tended bar and cooked at places like the old Fireside Lodge in Spirit Lake. He smoked as much as three packs per day, often to drown out the crazy of some bar patrons.

He has now been walking with his new leg for a month, usually aided by a cane.

He returned to his home, at a trailer park just off West Park Avenue, after his stay at LaCrosse ended.

On Christmas day, he will be hosting some other residents of the trailer park with some turkey, ham and all the fixings.

Most days, Bakie has someone who comes by his place to help him with food preparation. Neighbors give him rides to the store.

"The neighbors take me anywhere I need to go," he said.

He takes daily walks to the mailbox, and does dishes or some cooking himself at home.

"I have a walker," he said. "If I go to the store or Walmart, I always push it. Then I can sit down whenever I get tired."