Belated Father's Day Tribute

Sunday was Father's Day, and my dad is the original Mr. Fix-it. He's always been there to answer my questions -- no matter how off-the-wall (see below) -- and offer advice.

At the risk of sounding crazy, here are just a few things that, over the years, I have called on my Dad to fix.

• "Dad, I had a little car accident." His response: "Little? Can you pound it out yourself?" For the record, it was nowhere that little.


• The general: "Why is my dishwasher/washing machine/car/etc...making that funny noise? I always think Dad enjoys these calls more for my description of the noise than anything else.


• "Help! There's some kind of animal running around in my attic!" At this point I actually held the phone to the ceiling so he could hear what turned out to be two squirrels running the Indy 500 on the top of the kitchen wall.


• "How do you build a retaining wall? I've started to tear the old one out already." OK, maybe that wasn't the best planning, but the project turned out great!

Add to that a plethora of questions about my car, my 401K, insurance, electrical mysteries, and a wide variety of house renovation projects, and you get the picture. Dad is my go-to guy when it comes to questions of all kinds.

When Dad comes to visit, he always acts as handyman, and over the years I learned that if I didn't give him a project, he'd find one himself. That's how he wound up cutting a hole in the roof of my house. "Your washing machine needs to be vented," he said. "It's gurgling." Well, of course the solution to that problem is to climb onto the roof and cut a hole, as opposed to my method of just ignoring the noise.

Whether he's answering questions, giving advice or getting his hands dirty on a house project for me, I always appreciate everything my dad does for me--and the fact that even when he has to laugh at my question, he is always willing to help.

Thanks, Dad!