Well, although we have accomplished plenty over the last few weeks here at the house, waterproofing is not yet one of them.  You CAN SEE the floor that the dog is sacked out on, which is what was UNDER all the carpet upstairs that Steph, Amanda, and I ripped out.  Before Steph leaves we will sand and finish it, but even before that I need to make sure the other projects (especially waterproofing) are done.  I am beyond tired.

But truthfully, I am beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel.  A short time ago I used to believe it was a train, now however I believe it is my RETIREMENT.  I am watching my mother-in-law play with grand kids and many of my high school and college classmates doing the same as well.  And I have decided, without any regret, that I personally would be ideally suited for such work.

Ideally of course, it would be the best to be Viper.  He sleeps all day, and when he is not he is eating or having someone scratch his back.  He DOES work as a stud dog, which also seems to be a job he does not seem to mind.  But my point is that his life is pretty sweet.

But for now I will take his advice and call it a day and relax….I deserve it.  Of course in the morning right after being let out and getting a “cookie” he will look at me and call it a day for himself then.  Yes, I both admire and respect him.  He is pretty comfortable with himself!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

I had time to mow my lawn tonight, but more than that, I had the distinct pleasure of mowing my lawn with the Lone Ranger at the wheel.  Of course everyone in our neighborhood recognized him and in my dreams I was praying for them to all say something like “And hi Tonto” to me, yet all I heard was “Good driving Curly Joe.”  So this is to say I must have looked out of character…….and whenever someone mistakes me for Curly, I take that as a compliment as I am a big fan of him….he is a comedic genius!!

But the cool part of my time was mowing with the real Lone Ranger.  And although I have not seen the movie, nor as a purist will I, I am betting that the Lone Ranger who was mowing with me was probably Clayton Moore approved, and quite honestly I can more than live with that.

And the yard looks great, even though it took twice the time to mow.  And hopefully, someday in the not so distant future it will be the Lone Ranger’s job alone (as soon as he can reach the pedals) but for now I will share these duties or do it alone.

Tonight however has been one of the days it has been great to be a dad.  I will not tell you why as to protect someones secret identity.  But I will say the extra time was well worth it.  Our Silver was orange and mowing far less exciting than fighting evildoers…….but it was fulfilling all the same.

I love being a dad, and I am sure if I live long enough I will love being a grandparent too.  The latter I am sure is what I was made for as I have spent a lifetime of living with my delusional children, and believe I was designed by God Himself to be the one to hang out and spoil the children He gives to torture them!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Well, well, well……no, not in a wishing well kind of thing, as I already have thrown away enough money in my life to understand that tossing it into a hole with water that I do not believe in has never gotten anyone anywhere, but I do mean well in terms of with my soul.  And that might surprise you as Everdry is still not finished with my house and is now digging up multiple well sized holes around my foundation.  (Fortunately I had already thrown that money away).

But I have a great sense of peace in that this too will pass.  I will have my basement finished (hopefully before I die) and we are trying to file charges (criminal – fraud) against this company as well as we will be suing them for damages to our home.  I however can get worked up about all that and be miserable, or just take a deep breath and hook my washer and dryer back up for the umpteenth (but final) time and pour me a nightcap.  And I will choose the latter.

And then on anther front, since I was stuck here yet again today, I spent 2 hours on the phone with Linksys about my “wireless bridge.”  No, this is not like Mackinaw, it is an electronic thing that connects EVERYTHING together in my office.  And after two hours what we discovered is that it was BAD!!!!  Go figure.  So this is to say that in the middle of all the dang nonsense with my house, my frustrations with restoring my computer and office after the mechanical failure of my hard drive were all being undermined by a bad bridge!

But I have a great sense of peace in that this too will pass.  I will have my office and computer restored (hopefully before I die) and we are trying to find a psychiatrist to make a diagnosis (stupidity on my part) for me as well as we will be mocking me for impersonating someone competent about computers.  I however can get worked up about all that and be miserable, or just take a deep breath and restart my blog posting for the umpteenth (but final, I promise) time and pour me a nightcap.  And I will choose the latter.

All I can say is that my life is interesting to say the very least.  Some people complain about the boredom and monotony, I however have nothing but pure and unfiltered drama.  And I suppose like Job (he is in the Bible, I swear) I could dress in sackcloth and ashes and lament my life, or I could pour me a nightcap and admire all the cool new wells they are digging in my yard…….

I will choose the latter.  Please enjoy this unrelated picture of Ben Tirman eating a sandwich tonight in our hallway.  He is our wishing well and we have tossed more into him that you could ever know!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Yeah, at 52 I do not look like Vin Diesel, but I did ask my wife (who cuts my hair) to just shave it all off to at least SE

E what it looks like, and she did.  And you can enjoy the pictures of it as I waited for Ben to get up before posting them (he will be a welcome distraction I am sure).

But right now all I can say is that I am not too fond of it.  Yes my regular haircut is just about a quarter inch longer than this, but honestly I already feel like it is going to take forever to get there.  I do however have pictures, and I have done it…….so now I will know.

Ben thinks it is pretty cool and my mother-in-law and daughter seem to kind of like it.  Of course Steph is a 21 year old college student and probably prone to drinking and my mother-in-law likes me as a son-in-law which probably indicates poor judgment, but in all honesty I will take it.

So I will now look to get a bit of sun so as to make my head blend in a little better than it currently does.  I now at least know what it looks like, and if my scale were just working I would probably be excited to see the three or so ounces I lost in the cut.  Oh the life!!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Well with all the happenings, or non-happenings at our house if we are talking about Everdry of Northern Indiana, Steph and I decided to cut down a “mostly dead” tree today and burn it.  It was a far more extensive project than we had planned, but in all honesty, one that I am thankful to be done with.  And tonight’s picture is of Steph attending to
part of the fire (with a Blue Moon beer and her homework).  Yes, she is also taking a class online this summer, so in between all the “projects” she fits in 4-5 hours of homework a day as well.  She is a pretty hard worker.

But it is also fun for me to get to do stuff with her here at home.  Yes, I have an office here at home, and yes, I am working as much as I possibly can, but if I were not trapped here with supervising the waterproofing work, I woud not see Steph near as much.  So although I am frantically trying to catch up, I am at least getting some family/dad benefit from it.  It is the silver lining of a great big bowl of spoiled fruit I have to say…..but at least I get something from it.

So my picture is pretty sweet.  Behind Steph is my wife’s garden, so Amanda is pretty pleased, Steph has taken a shower and is out there now not lifting or hauling anything, and she is pretty pleased as well.  And I, at 52, am done with the cutting, hauling, and burning myself.  I too have showered off the smoke smell and took this from the balcony off my office that I can now stand on without falling through!  So I am, I suppose, as pleased as I can be.

I just have this burning desire to see it all done.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!


Tommy+

Well I need to confess that Ben at 6 (his birthday was June 30th) is no less weird than he was at 5, but I suppose if he were I would be disappointed.  And tonight’s picture is a cropped one of him at his birthday party with his friends at “Monsters University.”  His expression says it all.

No, I am no Star Wars geek, and I say that meaning no guile as all my friends who love Star Wars consider themselves geeks.  But I truly am standing by, and wanted to make sure I just checked in.  I have been dealing with quite a few personal crisises, all of which connect to the company Everdry of Northern Indiana, who is now ripping my house apart for yet a third time, causing lots of damage, and insisting they will not pay for any of it at all.  All the new carpet has been ripped up and all the new concrete where they replaced my system that “was not even connected and installed WRONG” is now being ripped up again and guess what??????  They have discovered that even the second time, I was being hosed.  So needless to say, I am watching this all very closely and in between reporting the guy who owns this company and is unbelievably dishonest, to every agency and place I can, including those who investigate crime.  I just want our house back, at this point I am not too sure what he wants.

But regardless, it has been difficult for me not to post as I not only feel bad about it, but I also have missed it.  I suppose I could have done something about it at anytime, but I justified my lack of posting by convincing myself that I was too angry to write.  And yes, I was and AM still very angry, but I remembered the great and wise teachings of “Skipper” the leader of the Penguins of Madagascar who always tells Rico, Kowolski, and Private to “wait for it, wait for it.”  And so I will.  Getting mad or blowing up, though I feel like it, doesn’t accomplish much.  Slow, steady, and methodical however will lead to making sure this guy doesn’t do this stuff to people in the future.  Yes, I want our basement fixed and restored……but more than that I want to do the right thing.

On the upside, I am enjoying having Steph and Ben around all the time, and Steph is doing work for us as she is home for the summer.  She is pretty strong and that has been helpful as she helped tear out all the upstairs carpet today and carry it down to the rented dumpster sitting in our drive.  Tomorrow in the afternoon she will help me take down two dead trees.  And she does all this without complaining or having to wear a superhero suit.

But I am back on the horse as they say, and when I say that I mean the people who apparently have horses and fall off them.  I am a tough old dog, and I do not tire or give up easily.  And yes, I am doing fine and moving ahead, so please do not worry.

I am just laying the foundation for the rest of my year and I am intending and expecting for it to be spectacular.  And as a gesture of good faith in all of it I present you with this fine picture of my two indentured servants, I mean kids, who are working with me this summer, and enjoying an ice cream together.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+