FOR SPANKY WITH LOVE ♥♥♥

dad and me 

just some random thoughts
 

 when I was young ....dad used to read to me 

the story titled chicken little 

and I was told that he read it to me so many times

that if he skipped a verse, I would let him know so.  

dad was big on magic tricks 

and always pulled a quarter out of our ears 

and my siblings and I were fascinated 

not only with that skill 
but also that he could talk like 

Donald Duck.

  in my toddler years 

dad and I always had to check out 

the yellow concrete step behind the laundry matt

just because it was there 

and we liked to fly kites out along River Road in Tiffin.

  Dad always told us to mind OUR manners 
at the kitchen table  

yet.... when HE ate shredded wheat 

he’d work the square until hunks of the wheat 

were sticking out of his mouth. 

He liked to gross us out like that

just like he insisted on having orange juice with pulp, 

a beverage we found gross too

  Some of dad’s likes were bulldogs, 

goats, the color red, snacks, cookies, pot bellied pigs, 

coney island hot dogs, the big boy sandwich 
and chocolate shakes.
Dad enjoyed gingerbread; well, any type of
bread actually; and uncooked flour tortillas 
as well as pickle burgers

  He enjoyed reading, could be quite the poet, 
he liked fishing, bowling and golf.

  I learned a lot from dad out on the golf course 
when I tagged along 

there was a WHOLE NEW LANGUAGE 

I never learned in school 

 and I learned that if you put strong emphasis
  ON these words, 

they became even ....more meaningful.


Dad saw Jesus Christ on the golf course
.... a lot ......
especially after taking a swing
and even tho I used to be dad's caddy
I personally never saw Jesus 

we played putt putt on many occassions
and sometimes we went to the driving range
long lives the memory of the time he took a swing
the ball flew up and back and landed 
on the tin roof above our heads

the doods on either side of us
tried their best not to laugh out loud
and to make him feel better I said
boy ya shot that one outta the park !

Dad enjoyed the history channel, 

Notre Dame football and was a fan of Tiger Woods. 

He was also a fan of CCR,  Flat and Scruggs, 
and 3 Dog Night
as well as a couple of tunes by Oz

dad was a big fan of  the song "Centerfield" by John Fogerty

  he liked to smoke a pipe 
he enjoyed yuengling beer

and dad was sad to see his favorite candy 

be "put out to pasture" , 
however just this past fall 
{ 2018 }

it made a come back; 
the candy is called Licorice Snaps. 
and is made by American Licorice Company

I was glad he got to enjoy the bag 
I gave him at Christmas { 2018}

  my dad accomplished something 

I don’t think many others EVER have; 

he could sleep AND drive.... at the same time

  Dad hated day light saving time, 
and he despised fruits and vegetables.

had he been able to afford it, 
dad would have lived in the city 
by the bay 

he was short on temper and short on patience 

but he was long on wise cracks and long on humor

his sense of humor was just one of his traits I inherited

  there’s been many a time when we discovered 

that what was funny to dad and I

didn’t always go over so well with others, 

particularly family members. 

there was the time we pulled a cat turd out of the litter box

 dried it, & dressed it like Mr Hanky of South Park fame 

and gave it to mom for her birthday

and then there was the time the Butcher, our bulldog, 

ran down the basement steps at dinner time 

grabbed a muzzle full of meatballs in sauce 

ran back up the stairs 

and hacked the food onto my grandmother’s lap.

 I learned from dad there are basically three types of gas 

the type used for fueling an engine 

the type used to heat homes 

and the type of gas that attacks ones own anus. 

Dad could clear a stadium 

by attempting to expel the anus attacking type of gas 

and I marveled that he never passed out 

from the smell of his own fumes.

  Dad taught me how to play chess 
and I learned that sometimes parents LET you win.... 
just because. 
He enjoyed Sudoku and online PC games as well.

Like anyone who’s ever lived

 he had his “duh” moments too

one of the most memorable was the time 
he looked out the patio door & said 
hey.... there’s a cat that looks 

just like boomer on the deck...

turns out, it WAS .....boomer on the deck

yet we never knew how boomer got there
 

We were comfortable enough around each other 

that we didn’t always have to have a conversation 

and I knew when he just needed a few minutes to himself

like the time we went to the War Memorial Museum in Auburn

to see the Saulsbury FDNY 911 rescue truck 
that was on display
 

We went to that museum several times 

and dad was always like a kid in a candy store,

looking at the WW2 tankers and equipment they had inside

I took dad to the world police and fire games
one year when I still lived in Indianapolis
and IFD had a full gear display
set up

they challenged everyone to see how fast they
could suit up for a fire

I got one leg in a boot and was trying
to adjust my pants when dad said
forget it kid, the damn house has 
already burnt to the ground
.... took you too long !!



 My dad liked to make up his own...quotes...

and he liked using the word.. ass... in his quotes. 

your mouth runs like a ducks ass, 
kiss my big wide cellulitic ass, 
don’t let the door hit you on the ass on your way out, 
and your ass siphons canal water
were just a few of his favorites. 

I never really did figure out the canal water one. 

he liked to call my cat dude... greeez ass 

and even though he'd never admit it 

he loved dude, daisy, boomer

tuna, sauce and mackerull and perky too

I learned from dad that "holes"
came in varying degrees
"holes" dug for planting
"holes" on the golf course
donut "holes"
and going back to his favorite word in the dictionary 
"ass"
there were ass "holes" too

and not to give "hole" all the props
ass it's fair share as well

our family of five 
were; smart ass, dumb ass, lazy ass, stupid ass 
and fat ass and the nice thing about this was 
the family could "switch" what
type of ass they wanted to be on any given day

dad had another saying about a goat rodeo

....I'll just leave it at that....
with the exception of this update
on 4.10.2019
and dad.....I know...you know.....of what I speak 

dad could make a wisecrack at the table
and he and I would be "bite your lip" type of laughing
which pissed my mom off to no end ~

one of dad's favorite authors was Herbert Asbury
he liked to talk back to the tv 
cuss every driver

and the first thing he did when coming into the
side door at our house in Tiffin, was nab
a cookie out of the cookie jar, even if he was wearing 
a winter glove

  we worked together pretty well as a team 

though we weren’t always the sharpest tacks in the pack 

we put together two build it yourself book shelves 

only to discover after it was all said and done 

that the back was attached incorrectly 

and we were looking at the side that should go against the wall

and then there was the time we miscalculated 

how much cubic feet of rock was needed 

to landscape the perimeter of my house 

we used the old grass fire truck that day to haul the rock 

and if we made a trip to the hardward store 15 times

we made it 25 more

  my family liked to take Sunday drives when we lived in tiffin 

going no where in  particular 

yet still having a really great afternoon 

and we’d stop at baskin robbins before going home 

so everyone could get a cone of their choice

  Dad reminded us on one such Sunday

as we drove to the outskirts of Bucyrus 

just how fortunate we were

..... that was palm Sunday weekend when tornadoes 
had devastated much of the Midwest 
and we saw first hand the power of mother nature
 

dad liked his tools and built from scratch a cradle, 
he helped my grandfather Bum build 

what we called the barn, 
he rebuilt Bum's park bench, 
made us an outdoor flower pot bench,  
he put together countless air plane models 
and built the SS dude, 

a schooner replica that I still have today. 

Dad could read a blueprint 
but couldn’t read a recipe
to cook a meal 
to save his soul

  if the game Monopoly was..... real life..... 

dad would put real estate tycoons to shame, 

yet he lost his own credit card... countless times.

 Dad was an engineer at his day job 

working in the States, Mexico, & Germany...

in Germany he road the Audubon at 100 plus, 

and he also worked in Singapore. 

he told me in Singapore they use pythons instead of guard dogs 

but I don't know if this is true 

or he said this to freak us out 

this brought me to the random thought 

of the time I found a garter snake under the recycle bin

when I was bringing it into the garage 

I freaked and swept it into the sewer drain 

across the street from my house

dad told me I shouldn't have done that 

because the snake was going to wind it's way

back up the drain and was going to nab me when

I sat down on the toilet

I honest to cod was paranoid for several days

after he said that

during his stint in Tiffin while at GE
at Christmas time, both GE and National
Machinery would decorate their buildings and 
we would drive out to see them

we always teased dad in a way,  as the
the company he worked for; GE
only had lights on display,
but National Machinery 
had lights AND music ♫

  dad was a volunteer fire fighter 

for close to 55 years, serving on three different stations, 
Clinton Township, Wayne Township
and Aboite Township 
he was an instructor, an arson investigator

and he could tell you the make and model of a fire engine 

from two miles away

He along with two “brothers” 

started the fire station located in Aboite township

 and he was the recipient of one of the highest honors 

a firefighter can receive, 

ladder truck 187 was dedicated in his honor

dad loved his family at home 

dad loved his family within the entire fire service 

and dad loved his bulldog Clyde
 
  We’ve seen each other through thick and thin

we’ve been through the worst of times and the best.

  Godspeed Spanky I am going to miss you 

more than you know

 I am proud to call you both my dad

and my friend
 
  Tell everyone I said hi.

  The last thing dad said to me was 

I love you ♥
and the last thing I said to dad was, 

I love you ...even more❤️❤️

 May 1, 1935 ~~~ March 15, 2019