Damnit dad.

My dad. He really tries to help, but all his handy skills have completely evaporated over the years. I have a small kids picnic table that he helped build many years ago. He then stained it with interior stain and no urethane coating etc. so. I stripped it and coated it with outdoor solid color stain. It lasted like that for 5 years and was just starting to need a quick sand and another coat. So. He shows up and despite me telling him not to "help" me at all he goes out and buys stain and starts to restain the table. Problem is he used indoor stain with a mixed in poly straight on top of the old deck stain. The table is now a gooey mess as the one stain is starting to dissolve the other and he can't figure out what went wrong. Now instead of a quick job of restraining, I gotta chemical strip the bench and do it from the beginning.

These old guys get a pass with this kinda BS. Just shrug you shoulders, tell him you don't know what happened and let him tinker around with it for a few more hours. After he leaves fix it the way you like and be thankful you got to spend some time with him.

unfortunately that is why I do not ask my father to help with anything. Not that he can't do stuff, he has always gotten frustrated easily and rather than walking away, works HARDER to get it done. Yes, most everything he does turns into a mess

My father cleaned off my old track Mustang with a snow shovel despite me pointedly asking if it was parked out of his way and if we could just let the snow melt off since I didn't need it for anything.

It earned several dozen nicks and scratches during the "favor" he did me.

Probably payback for all the stuff I ruined as a kid.

Yes. I specifically don't ask Him for anything when he comes over anymore unless it's to help me with something or other.

He's a damned good grandpa. Just stick to that. It's an important job.

My father backed into a parked car last week. He said it was low and he couldn't see it.

It was a Maserati.

Before my dad died he was awesome. At 68 he was totally sharp and one of the most capable men I've ever met.

I miss him.....kind of a lot. Wish he was here still.

That Cat Stephens song is dead nuts accurate.

When I was 17 I was fixing the lawn tractor with the snowblower. It was something like 17 degrees and I was working in the barn on 200 years of decaying straw and dirt. My dad came to "help". He knocked over the bowl of nuts I had on the fender causing me to have to spend half an hour searching through the straw for them. We set boundaries that day.

Woody wrote: My father backed into a parked car last week. He said it was low and he couldn't see it. It was a Maserati.

He's not wrong.

I find myself doing the stupid things, and my dad fixing it. Everything that man touches, turns out perfect. Kinda enjoy having him as my neighbor.

Enyar wrote: Just shrug you shoulders... and be thankful you got to spend some time with him.

This. Just... this.

In reply to mazdeuce:

magnetic tray? no? your fault. it could have just as easily been you knocking them over.

i used to live about a mile from my folks. dinner, help with the car or house, or just to hang, it was a 2 minute drive or a 12 minute walk. i'm now 1300 miles away, and it sucks.

enjoy the time you have. and be grateful you can live near him. my Dads is in great health, for now, but being 8 states away is rough.

-J0N

Free pass

Used to piss me off but I conceded over 25 years ago. I call it geriatric immunity. That's the way it's gonna be, just enjoy the time together.

Oh, the stories I could tell. He just turned 94.

Oh the stories I could tell. But I probably shouldn't.

My father died in 1972. I wish he could come over and berkeley something up. I am only mad at him for drinking himself to death.

My father has the mad cow, he puts window washer fluid in the mower gas tank.

He was looking for the box that you put empty beer bottles in, always under the picnic table in the garage; he was looking in the dishwasher.

Smile and nod....

Somebody previously said "old guys get a pass with this kind of BS." From my experience, other than disease, people generally don't get dumb as they age. On the other hand, you can't fix a lifetime of incompetence and stupidity as a person ages.

Wall-e wrote:

Woody wrote: My father backed into a parked car last week. He said it was low and he couldn't see it. It was a Maserati.

He's not wrong.

Depends if it was the suv or one of the cars.

lnlogauge wrote: I find myself doing the stupid things, and my dad fixing it. Everything that man touches, turns out perfect. Kinda enjoy having him as my neighbor.

I can completely sympathize. Neither of us are perfect though. My dad has decades more experience than me and is extremely skilled (HVAC tech, not automotive but has good mechanical ability.) There are times though where he can be a bit reckless, assuming if he breaks a fastener or a component it can just be replaced with something off of a shelf somewhere, where I tend to be more of a perfectionist.

That being said, he's saved me from a lot of dead ends and frustrating situations. Definitely worth it, and nothing beats time with the old man. I owe a lot to him.

jmthunderbirdturbo wrote: In reply to mazdeuce: magnetic tray? no? your fault. it could have just as easily been you knocking them over. i used to live about a mile from my folks. dinner, help with the car or house, or just to hang, it was a 2 minute drive or a 12 minute walk. i'm now 1300 miles away, and it sucks. enjoy the time you have. and be grateful you can live near him. my Dads is in great health, for now, but being 8 states away is rough. -J0N

He said he was 17.. so with some idea of how old mazdeuce is, that was quite a few years before magnetic trays became commonplace.

Otherwise, I can commensurate. My father has the mechanical aptitude of a turnip and basically spent his Air Force career getting shuffled from base to base until they found one where he could do the least amount of damage until his enlistment was done.

I remember years ago when he stood stunned as I fixed the power steering in my truck by replacing the idler pulley bearing.

I feel like I've lost all my handy-man and mechanical abilities, and my kid is always disappointed with me...But he's five years old.

My dad was the strongest man I knew and taught me mechanics and all the trades; plumbing, carpentry, electric, painting, yard work, gardening and much more. He would let me tighten a bolt on a car part when I was a kid and then he would step in and really tighten it down - I was amazed at his strength and knowledge.

When I was 47 years the strongest man told me he couldn't follow his self propelled Toro lawn mower around since he was getting weak so I started cutting his grass. Then he couldn't walk due to some balance issues and at one point we took his car away. His last two years on earth he was alert and fun to spend time with but the strongest man couldn't even wash himself and take a shower and spent his days in a wheelchair and then one day he was gone.

I miss the guy but I appreciate who he was in my life - he will always be the strongest man I know.

In reply to Datsun310Guy: I remember when I was 11 or so just after the divorce my mom had dropped us off at an uncles house to wait for our dad to pick us up. My uncle, a 6' 200 lb tree worker was struggling with a set of tin snips. My dad arrived (5'7" and 140 lbs) and just took over and cut out the piece without any apparent difficulty. I remember thinking that my dad was the coolest and strongest man around.

Watching, because I like Dad stories. My Dad is 94.

I hope my kids tell good stories about me.

My dad is 70 years old. He comes to help me do things like build a deck, or plant trees, or install a fence. We'll go out to work and I'll drink 2 quarts of water in the few hours we're out there. He won't touch a drop.

His dad just passed last year, at 99. He was still fixing shoes up until the stroke took his speech and put him in a wheelchair (at 97).