Sub-zero temperatures, school cancellation, travel advisories, and just another day here at the Tirman home!  Yes, I was out for a few short trips in my truck, but it was well before I was informed of any travel restrictions.  Ignorance of the law I understand is no excuse, but we are taking care of some friends’ pets, and the very cold weather makes that even more important.

But despite the stressful weather, inside the house it has been pretty fun.  Viper and Ben are all about Scott, and as you can see from tonight’s picture, Viper trails him wherever he goes, so much so in fact that as Scotty stopped on the stairs to talk to Amanda and me, Viper just sat down (poorly) next to him. He cracks me up.  Scotty has said that he sleeps right on top of him…..too funny.

As I write this it is -13 outside.  It is pretty hard to imagine it much worse.  Steph thankfully drove back to school on Saturday and made it there before all the bad weather hit.  She too is stranded at her house, but she is warm and safe.  I just pray this night for those who are not….it is brutal out there.

But for now I will just call it a day.  There is nothing too bizarre or spectacular to report.

But on a day like today I have to confess I like it that way.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless.

Tommy+

Although this blogpost is for January 5th, I waited to post it until the morning of the 6th (The Epiphany for those of you who follow the Church Calendar) since it was what everyone considered a “major storm.”  And here, in parts south of Indiana, those words should be heeded as we just do not have the equipment down here to handle such storms….PLUS the temperatures will be BELOW ZERO.   And with the amount of snow we have, it just won’t look like enough, thus a picture from The Epiphany (or January 6th for those of you who follow the secular calendar).

But I am also pleased to announce that in my running around in the snow a bit today (when people from where I am from say the words “running around in the snow” they mean out and about in their truck) I actually witnessed a MIRACLE……the resurrection of what we call PLOWS.  Yes, I saw them with my own eyes, and I also saw them spreading ice melt.  (We used to say “salt,” which it indeed still may be, but it is now a very distinguishable BLUE….more like icky cake sprinkles than salt).  And all and all, they did a pretty good job with the Tom Tirman Award for BEST Snow Plowing, once again going to my town, Edgewood, Indiana.  (A Dynasty of snowplow domination in the making!)

But my assumption is that these next few days, although quite cold, will be nostalgic.  A foot or so inches of snow on the ground will look like what we called “WINTER” up in my hometown of Mishawaka, Indiana.  The roads, while still covered, will be pretty clear I imagine, and everything else will look very clean and pure, covered in a blanket of white.

Call me crazy, but I enjoy it!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Sarah, our mom, and Steph

Today is my sister Stephanie’s birthday, and had she not passed away November of 2001 she would be getting a phone call from me harassing her for being 51.  My search for a picture of her, as I have MANY, proved unsuccessful and did nothing but irritate me.  My sister and I drove each other nuts, but we also had a great deal of respect for her.  And she and my sister Sarah (who died in 2004) were two of the most amazing women I know…..okay they were really not women, they were sisters. (brothers will understand).

Steph

But I think about them both often, particularly on their birthdays.  I tend to look at pictures on those days and yes, it generally depresses me a great deal because quite simply I love them both and miss them terribly.  They were total pros as sisters, devoting their young lives to constant covert attacks upon me, and quite often, more than not in fact, I deserved it.

Deep down however, behind all the sibling nonsense of our youth, we knew we cared about each other and could count on each other.  And we did.

Steph

Both of them had children too.  Steph’s daughter Amelia lives in Southern Indiana and Sarah’s two kids Griffin and Katie live in Virginia.  And believe me, it breaks my heart that they all did not have more time with them.  I would have liked more time myself.

BSU – Steph is the short one

So tonight I went back and downloaded pictures I have posted on this date for the last few years.  There is even one with both of them with our mom who passed from Alzheimer’s in 2011.

Stephanie and her namesake my daughter

Sure I admit, it does depress me because I miss them.  But few people have the blessings I had in growing up with them all.  Happy Birthday (you old goat!)  I love you and miss you!

Steph and her namesake Stephanie my daughter

Steph at Ball State BSU Gymnastics

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Sometimes I just don’t ask.  This picture was taken last night in Ben’s room where I came into find Scotty dressed in some sort of full-bodied Halloween costume standing on a chair working on the ceiling fan.  Of course he wanted to explain (get ready, it is extensive)………

Apparently he and Ben were doing some sort of adventure game together and he, meaning Scotty, shot an arrow (from a bow and arrow, not a real one as a Ben and Scott safe one) across Ben’s room.  The fan has two chains hanging down, one for the light and the other for the fan.  The arrow hit the fan chain (he wasn’t aiming for it as no one can make that shot) and the chain snapped off.  So intending to continue the adventure (in the light) Scotty did not take the time to de-costume, but instead just got a chair and started to work on the light.  And THAT was the scenario I walked into.

There are a few things worth noting here.  The first is that Ben and Scotty still act like twins.  They always have and they always will I suppose.  And sometimes they act like doofuses in costumes and at others they do cool adult-type things.  We are all just used to it.

The second is that Scotty’s fiancee Kenzie, although not in costume, was a witness to this all and it is significant that she both sees it and stays!  That is what makes her so great.  As you can see from the picture (in which he is still in that ridiculous outfit) she clearly wants to keep a safe and sane distance from being identified with these two goofballs, but since I was there I guarantee you that this is really her!!

The third thing is speculation on my part, and it is that perhaps they were thinking that this costume might be a better choice than his Dress Blues or a tuxedo.  I don’t know, but I am just throwing it out there.

Anyway, it’s always interesting here and it is our life.  And to us there is no better way to kick in 2014 than space suits, toy weapons, and electrical contracting.  It makes excited about the months ahead.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

I drove about 70 miles today on 2 state highways, through three fairly large municipalities, and about a mile in and out of the small town in which we live.  With Scotty home and commandeering my truck, I was force to journey out in “Marine Mom One,” which is also known as my wife’s CRV but it does have the Marine Mom plate on the front, barely visible as it is RED.

But it snowed last night, and it was still snowing in the early morning when I left.  In fact, it snowed ALL DAY and for “here” we got a fairly decent amount of accumulation.  Our town, Edgewood is just 512 acres of land, and has a population of just under 1900 total….BUT the streets here at 6:30 am were cleared as they had been plowed.

Plowing is actually something we do all the time in the north where I am from.  It is basically just pushing, or “plowing” the snow off the road so it is clear to drive on.  We do this up north in what we like to call “Winter,” which are months that it tends to snow, onto the ground and onto the roads.

Now Edgewood is about 40 miles NE of the center of Indianapolis, so to me I am living in the DEEP SOUTH, and here in the deep south it appears that it is only in my little town that ANY plowing gets done.  Oh I did see one (1) IDOT plow at about 6pm when I was returning, but it was just a couple of miles outside of Edgewood heading toward the much larger town of Lapel that sports just about 100 more people than here.  But other than THAT, I saw ZERO other plows all day, and still the only place good to drive was at home.

Granted, plowing costs money, but there’s got to be a reason.  Perhaps Indiana and all the major burgs overspent at Christmas, I don’t know.  But the lawn guys with plows were all over the place, they just don’t do things cars drive on…..like roads!  Go figure.

I suppose however I might be expecting too much.  So I will stop my complaining and try and show some compassion.  Today I hold up the memory of the now apparently extinct snow plow.  I missed you today buddy, in fact all day.  And since I couldn’t get a picture of you maybe my readers can enjoy the quick picture I took of the front of my house upon my arrival back home tonight.

The snow in my yard is about 4-5 inches deep……..but a heck of a lot more drivable than those roads you didn’t get plowed today.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Yes, it is a bit bizarre to post a picture that is a few months old to go along with a post about looking ahead, but you will just have to deal with it as this was all I had and I have already posted it…….but at least Ben and Amanda are looking (this was taken at Mounds State Park and they are looking down at the White River).

But a new year is here and with it comes a lot of expectation.  In our family this year, Steph will graduate from college, Scotty will get married, Ben will save countless lives as a 6 year old superhero, I will begin work on another degree, and Amanda will no doubt suffer through it all.  But we do not feel too badly for her as the rest of us were born into this family, she just made a poor decision she has to live with….but I digress.

As we all look ahead at 2014 we feel a great sense of anticipation.  Our lives will change in many ways, yet our need for one and other and our support for one another remain as strong as ever.  No, we do not expect 2014 to be all “bunnies and flowers,” but we do expect it will be a year of great strengthening of our family as we branch out into this new era.  At least that is my hope and prayer.

And my hope and prayer for you is that you too find God’s Blessings in your own life this coming year. Happy New Year to you and yours!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

As I look back on 2013, I confess that is has been one of the most difficult years of my life, yet as I say that I must also confess that it has been one of the most formative as well.  Not that I am disappointed to see it go, as I am not, but the lessons learned and the experience gained on this leg of my life’s journey have been significant.  And if I had the chance to do it all over again I would clearly confess “Heck no!” (lest you think I had hired a ghost writer)

Of course I am painfully aware that I am typing this at a little after 8pm EST, and in order for this to really have any full meaning, I must live another 4 hours.  I no longer take any of life as a given, (a lesson learned this past year) so I will hope and pray for the best, but I do anticipate writing tomorrow as well.

But I am finishing the year with a
pretty good day……one of the rare ones in my life where ALL THREE kids are together.  Yes, Scotty was flying in this afternoon to surprise his fiancee’ Kenzie, and the surprise was on him….she was already at our house waiting on him.  But Ben, Steph, Amanda, and I were able to pick him up from the airport.  At home Steph hung around a little bit before heading to a get together out of town.  I will have a couple more days with all three before she leaves to return for her final semester of college.  It is a pretty great way to end and start a year (not with her leaving mind you, but with all three kids here!)

So here are two year-ending pictures including everyone but me.  But honestly it’s better that way.  As they say, I have a face for radio.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+ 

I just saw this picture tonight and it reminded me of a story from October when Amanda bought Ben this shirt.  Apparently she was buying him some gray sweatpants at the same time and the guy behind her in line said it was a pretty awesome costume.  She thought he was kind of being weird with her till he mentioned Freddy Kreuger from those “Nightmare on Elm Street” movies, or at least I think that’s it as I have not seen any of them. But the bottom line was that she didn’t quite feel like “Mom of the Year” after he said it, but this picture proves she clearly wasn’t upset enough about it to not buy the shirt.  But it’s safe as Ben doesn’t want to hurt anyone but bad guys, so even if he is in the worst of outfits, in his heart he is always wearing that white hat.

And today, of all days, he is now 6 and a half.  Yep, half way to being a teenager if he doesn’t figure out a way to get there sooner.  In all honesty I figure there is a high probability I will lose my mind by then anyway as a product of just raising him.  I swear we often exist in some sort of alternate reality. There are more superheroes running around our home than at the Justice League, but I have to confess that it is a heck of a lot of fun.  At 52 I can sword fight, or head on a covert mission with personal assistance from just about any room in my house.  And all I can ask is just how c
ool is that??

Yes, funny story, crappy shirt, but as I remember that night, pretty great Aroz Con Pollo.  And my hope is that shirt just fades away and Ben never knows who Freddy Kreuger is…..ever.  Yep you can live life without seeing things.  I have never seen any of those supposed “classics” and I turned out okay.

And if I ever want to see women frightened, scream, and run away I will not need a costume, I can do it the old fashioned way……….I’ll just tell Amanda we need to have a couple of more children.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

These actually look far better on him than on me, as these Santa shorts were a gift for me from the comedic legends (in their own minds) Amanda and Stephanie Tirman, who thought they were funny. And in all honesty, they are probably just justified payback for embarrassing gifts I have given and have forgotten about, as I a fully convinced that I am always nothing but thoughtful in my giving and the most serious guy I know.  So as I had no retaliatory gifts available I gave them to Ben, not just because he wanted them, but because he takes just about everything about 60 miles (conservatively speaking) past its intended target.  Yes I would indeed make this joke gift a part of the repertoire of that gift that keeps on giving, the constantly-moving Ben Tirman.

And I was not to be disappointed, for after we cinched these up with some suspenders from his “costume trunk,” he suddenly morphed into some type of semi-evil Santa who was running around telling everyone about the toys they should be making.  Was it what I was intending or expecting? Heavens no!  But was it worth it?  You betcha!!

You see, I know the drill.  He always sees me as his production manager or his cohort, whereas the rest of the world is his stage.  That’s why I can always count on him.  And that’s also why they are generally careful about the gifts they give me.

They almost invariably fall into those wrong little hands!

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+

Sometimes, and I mean only sometimes, another’s misery becomes your joy (as will be the case this year when my Cubs beat the Cleveland Indians in the World Series in October…..in 4 straight games I might add.)  But I have to confess that as a guy, and particularly as a husband, I was overjoyed that our dog Viper distracted all the negative attention that could possibly enter a home tonight by stealing the last few slices of Christmas ham from the plate my wife was preparing for herself for dinner.  Was he shamed and ashamed?  You bet.  But I am just guessing I thought it was worth it….he is a pretty smart boy.

And although there is really no guy equivalent of “you go girl,” I have to confess that I am impressed. This was no small feat, especially when you are 10 and just a few weeks out from major surgery.  His narcotics have been discontinued, so he was not “under the influence,” he was just a 10 in the effective department and 0 in the stealth department.  And, the Squirrel of Pain was not involved.

If she were just dieting or had high cholesterol he could be seen as helping, but neither was the case. Or if the dishes just needed to be cleared he would be declared a wonderdog!  That was also not the case. He was instead a thief, and not even one in the night but in broad daylight.  Plus, his breath smells like Christmas!  He was not seen mind you, but he was tried and convicted without a jury.  And I thought he might try and blame the cat, but ever since the last few times he has done the same thing, the cat puts on this little yarmulke to throw us off the trail.  She’s a liar and it could be her, but it was a lot of ham.

But the good news is that we are all well on our way to healing here.  Ham can be replaced but there is an important lesson to be learned here……..do not leave the kitchen with it on the counter.  He may be old but he loves ham.  And when it is involved he is faster than lightening.

Goodnight my friends and God Bless!

Tommy+