#139: Puttering Around the House

Now that the weather has gotten better and Memorial Day approaches, Summer will very soon be in full swing. That means pick up baseball games, ice cream trucks, playing with the lawn sprinkler, sun burns, and jeans covered in grass stains. For Dad it means it is project time. Time to get around to all those things he couldn't do in the winter. And these aren't huge tasks like building a patio or fixing the house foundation. It is real minor stuff that makes him look busy so mom won't make him go shopping or something. Dad puttering around the house is his way of passing the time until he can fire up the grill or make his tee time.

Dad knows that if he has nothing to fix, mom will make him do boring stuff like go to a flower expo, or go "shopping" where Dad's opinion doesn't matter while stuck in the purgatory that is the Macy's sitting area aka Dad Detention. Therefore he keeps busy with odd jobs that would normally take a minute, but he stretches out into an hour job (or three beers, which ever comes last). Things like fixing the door jam, sweeping the garage, cleaning the grill or his golf clubs, changing lightbulbs, the list goes on and on. In fact it never really ends, Dad just keeps making stuff up until he is risk-free from being forced to go to the farmers market. If he has run out of ideas he will always relegate to watering the lawn. It makes him look busy, but really he just stands there drinking a beer with a hose in his hand. It's not rocket science but he won't tell you that.

So when you get home from the local pool, take a look around the house to see what "improvements" Dad has done in your absence. The fire alarms all have fresh batteries (which were changed last month), the lawn is aerated, the TV cables are all bundled neatly. Sure they may be things that didn't have to happen right now but Dad takes pride in his work. Just don't ask Dad what he did or else you're gonna be stuck in an hour long conversation from the planet Boring.