Sure said Tony, and he and a couple of the girls who are also from china went down the hallway to view the Senior picture of Me. Now I have never been very fond of my senior picture, but have never really cared because who is going to look at it now 30 years after the damage was done by my idea of "looking good" back in 1976. Well the sad part of this tale is when these teenage girls from China saw my senior picture one of them said, "What happened to him? He used to be handsome."
Well, I am pretty sure that was not a compliment. Its not like I am still living in some fantasy where teen age girls would see me as looking good, but I am not sure I want their pity or maybe just a tinge of disgust either.
Micah and Matthew put shingles on a couple of houses we bought this year. Tony even helped them shingle a couple of days.
Boys shingling. Thanks to Russ for the equipment
The first day he helped to shingle was right after school was out last May. I think he had heard a lot of roofing stories from the boys and thought he was missing out on a grand part of life. I always say it is not what happens that matters but how you tell the story. Anyway when Matthew and Tony came home after a day up on the roof in the sun I asked Tony, "so what did you think of shingling?" He looked at me and said, " that is not as much fun as you would think it would be". Ah, isn't that how much of life is. He did go back in August and help the boys again for another day. A little time must have dulled the pain.
I also had the opportunity to shingle a roof this year. I did it almost all by myself. Do I sound like a 3 year old there? Old age sets in and you do regress you know. Micah was helping me work on a house and there was a storm rolling toward Oskaloosa. We were hurrying to get everything under cover and cleaned up before the rain. We had just picked everything up and made it undercover in the garage when the rain came down in buckets. Just as the deluge was begining to let up one of the tenants stuck his head out the door and said "Hey, there is water coming through the living room ceiling and plaster is falling." Those are not some of the words I like to hear. I like to hear things like "wow this house is in perfect shape", or "we had a leak under the sink so we just fixed it ourselves because we didn't want to bother you". ( I can dream of a utopia can't I?) Anyway Micah and I went in and looked at the water dripping from the ceiling and pieces of plaster slowly drooping down and then going splat on the carpet. Oh Yea!!
Room where the ceiling fell
We went up on the roof to look for where the water was getting through. Now I do want to explain that before we bought the house I had climbed up and did a quick look at the shingles. I am not saying here that I actually got onto the roof and walked around but I had at least looked at the shingles. OK, did you get that? I had at least looked at the roof. Well, when we climbed up on the roof after the leak Micah walks over to a valley in the roof and points at some tar the previous owner had put there. Micah then looks at me and asks " Did you even look at this roof before you bought the house?" I said "yes I did". He points down and says "there is tar in the valley and you didn't think that was going to be a problem?" Snarky youth if there ever was one. I answered " OK, I said I looked at the roof I never said I actually got on it." Jeepers what does he want from me perfection?
I was at the bank the other day depositing some cash and feeling rather small about it. All I had to deposit was a down payment of a rent payment in the amount of $60.00. It was one of those days when there were no other customers in the bank. Why do they call them customers? They take our money and we walk out with out any merchandise. Oh sorry I digress. All three tellers on duty were watching me and listening as I deposited the whole $60.00 in our checking account. I was sort of feeling guilty for taking their time for a small deposit when a woman came into the bank and walked up to one of the other tellers. She carefully dug around in her pocket and laid a quarter on the counter top. "I want to deposit this quarter in our account." What did I hear that right she was putting a whole 25 cents in her account? Hey baby I got 60 bills here, do you see that Mrs. teller? 60 dollars in paper currency, you got a big depositor here, not just a coin but greenbacks baby. WOO HOO. Amazing how one's perspective can change. Mr. money bags me can strut with pride out of that bank after a huge deposit like that.
So just remember this year hang around the people with smaller houses than yours, older vehicles than yours, and smaller incomes than yours and you will always feel like a big shot.
If I start looking now I might find someone who doesn't fit those qualifications for me by next December. Happy hunting for you this year. If you are looking for someone poorer than you to compare yourself to you can always use me..
