Tidy Husband

Eligible for the seniors discount and the Happy Meal deal at the same time.

  1. Father's Day with a Shovel and a Dream

    A reminder to hug your Dad. He’s also the landscaper.

    So. Here’s the scene:

    Photo by Hennie Stander on Unsplash

    Wife and child are away for the weekend. We’ve already celebrated father’s day so the day is mine. What to do?

    Brunch? Nope. It’s boring eating alone

    Golf? Too expensive and besides, it’s for wannabe rich guys.

    Nap? Not feeling it.

    Dig the backyard up in 80 degree heat at high noon?

    Hell. Ya!

    I’ve been meaning to do this for a long time. Over the years, there were some patio stones at the bottom of the stairs. I think. They were nowhere to be found. I knew they were in there - I just had to find them. It was like search for buried treasure without a map.

    So I got out my trusty lawn edger and dug around until I found them. Turns out there was 9 of them buried there.

    I also had about 8 extra flagstone pieces from somewhere. These were being leaned up against a fence to keep the dog in when she was a puppy. I figured I could put them to good use, and just start over feeding the dog so she doesn’t fit under the fence.

    Lastly, in the shed I had a bag of sandbox sand leftover from God knows what.

    And most importantly I had uninterrupted time. This is the gift that keeps on giving.

    This allowed me to do things my way, at my pace and it could take as long as I would like.

    There’s really not much more to this story other than I learned that I am not a professional landscaper and it shows - but, it’s better than having 9 buried patio stones in the lawn and now we have steps to the pool area which is something we didn’t have when I started this morning.

    Like all DIY, if you look too closely you will see mistakes but this cost no money other than some sweat and an afternoon. I did not leave the house to get supplies and spent no money on this job.

    It was either this or a nap.

    I have no idea what I am doing.

    By theory, this might work.

    eh. good enough.

    This job is far from perfect but when the sod I replaced grows back in it should look a bit better. It’s for little toes to bounce from the house to the pool and back for the remainder of the summer and hopefully, this will keep more dirt outside than in but there’s no guarantee with that.

    With that in mind, it’s good enough.

    Now, about that nap..

    Until Next Time,

    TH and Co.

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  2. This Making Money on Substack is Still Not Going Well

    This should come as no surprise. May 2025 Income Update

    It’s been about two months since I moved my little newsletter from Ghost to Substack, and both have their pros and cons but in one way they’re still the same:

    I’m still failing at making ~~much~~ any money with this writing thing.

    If you look at the numbers things are about the same:

    BUT, BUT, BUT.

    I’ve found some new reads and even made a few new connections. Yes, that’s right - my writing about hugging your landscaper and making money online is being read. Can you imagine?

    This got me thinking: What does success mean when it comes to writing? We all can’t be (insert your favorite writer here) and some of us are just alone with our thoughts and our keyboard in the early mornings - or in my case: ~~after~~ if the child goes to bed.

    I’m here for the writing. And the challenge.

    The writing isn’t that hard. I can always find some drivel to write about and if somebody reads it - that’s great.

    It’s the Dream I’m after.

    The folks at Substack seem to make it seem so easy: just get 1000 true (paying) fans and you’ll have a full time income online.

    And I guess for the the ~~skilled~~ lucky few, that’s true.

    So, let’s look at the numbers:

    In May I actually lost money writing.

    Yes, it cost me money to write.

    I still have my 3 paid subscribers. And yes, they’re all related.

    As far as subscriber count, I seem to have stalled at 66 subscribers. It’s been there at that number for a while. I keep showing up every day though so I’ll keep at it.

    Readership is down a bit.

    In June to date I have not made one commission sale by sprinkling in a link or two to ~~crap from china~~ quality stuff on Amazon here and there. It’s surprising as I’m getting some traffic, but no sales so far this month

    My paid subscribers got the early bird deal at two bucks a month, so I am at the same with six bucks for May. The fact that anybody wants to pay for this is amazing. Thank you!

    The six-year-old could do the math for May:

    6 dollars -7 dollars = negative 1 dollar.

    I owe the internet a buck for May 2025. I wonder if it offers a payment plan.

    Until Next Time,

    TH and Co.

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  3. The Day Before the Day Before Father's Day

    We couldn’t wait until Sunday for Fathers’ Day Number 7 (seven!!)

    As usual, my day started about 6am.

    Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

    But things were different this morning.

    I could hear whispering instead of the usual “ Dad, get up.”

    I heard BW tell her to go get the present

    Then I heard the pitter-patter of little feet and then..

    HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

    But why fathers day today instead of Sunday? Hang on, I’ll get to that.

    She was excited and that explains the early start, but then she gave me this:

    Let me translate:

    1. My Dad is 100 years old. (this number is not too far off)
    2. My Dad’s Job is Uber Driver. (it’s not a job. it’s a lifestyle)
    3. My Dad’s favorite color is tan. (um…no.)
    4. My Dad’s favorite food is chocolate (that, she got right)
    5. My Dad cooks the best banana bread (I made it once, like 4 years ago)
    6. My Dad always says Go to Bed (this she got right too)
    7. My Dad likes to relax by dancing (um, no)
    8. My Dad always laughs when I sleep (it’s more of a celebration)
    9. My Dad and I always like to go to Fun City (we have never been. Nice try, kid.)
    10. If I could tell my Dad one thing it would be Go to Bed. (I wish)
    11. I love my Dad because he is a good Dad.

    AWW…

    Isn’t that cute?

    There was some coffee gifted to me as well and that’s nice but I think the most memorable part of the morning was when the bag became a toy:

    she’s the gift that keeps on giving.

    Now, about this Fathers’ day on a Friday thing:

    This morning after the gifting and breakfast, I helped pack up both ladies and waved them off to an entirely different state where they will spend the weekend with BW’s family. I didn’t go because well…the dog. It’s hundreds of dollars to board the dog and if I stay home I can ~~nap~~ work and so we’ll be both saving and earning.

    Of course, the moment they left I did what any man would do when he’s alone in the house:

    I cleaned it - from top to bottom.

    I am the Tidy Husband, after all.

    Until next time,

    TH and Co.

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  4. No, you can't have a pony

    We already have a dog. That’s more than enough.

    It’s always good to try new things.

    Because we’re days away from the end of kindergarten. And because I am sure the teachers can only stand so much with a room filled with six-year-olds that somebody in a meeting suggested they bus all the kids to a farm.

    What could go wrong?

    Nothing went wrong, and in fact she made a new friend today. The Pony’s name is Sparky. No, really - it’s sparky.

    It never dawned on me that they would have a pony that she could ride. It’s been some time since I was on a school trip to a farm so I thought it would be a simple affair: see some chickens and cows and eat a box lunch and that would be it.

    NOBODY SAID ANYTHING ABOUT A PONY!

    She loved the day. I’m not sure she was dressed for pony riding but whatever. At dinner I asked about the farm but she was not interested in sharing but because I am interested and stubborn I tried again and this time I got a little more info about the farm trip that I have to share:

    1. The Pony’s name was Sparky. There was another pony, but she forgets the name.
    2. There was a stool so she could get up on the pony. That helped. Stools are good.
    3. Her teacher took the photo above and sent it to me. Yay Teachers!
    4. The hardest type of corn is “animal corn”. Now I know.
    5. She was a little scared at first and didn’t want to go but after some friends tried, she was brave and lo and behold she was sitting high on her horse.
    6. The bus ride was a little too long. She got tired.

    And that dear readers is a day at the farm.

    Hi-Ho Sparky!

    Until next time,

    TH and Co.

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  5. Too Many Activities

    Except at our house. Here, we wing it.

    Photo by Nelson Ndongala on Unsplash

    On the weekends in our neighborhood there’s not a kid to be found outside.

    Not One. Well, except ours

    I can see in the wintertime when everybody is inside - but now that it’s nice out you would think that there would be kids everywhere.

    Nope. Not one.

    This begs the question? Where are they?

    Activities, I would guess. Softball, Swimming, and Soccer would be the main attractions for this time of year, but there’s dance and ballet and who knows what else - is bowling still a thing?

    Meanwhile here at home in our incredibly quiet neighborhood, we hear crickets. Not one kid can be seen or heard of all weekend.

    Maybe because she has more time than most kids, as we have her in one activity and that’s learning to swim Sunday mornings. That’s it. I don’t think that watching YouTube kids is considered an activity, but she only gets one thing to do each weekend.. We’re not going to be the parents to schlep her around all weekend from soccer to ballet, etc.

    There’s a downside to this approach.

    This means that we must entertain her. But do we? We have a park across the street for her to play in and lately if you wander around our front yard, you’ll find a frog, or we have a dog that loves to run in the back yard. And did I mention we have a new swimming pool and if that’s not working for you then there’s the sprinkler?

    Lastly, we have crayons. LOTS of crayons.

    There’s lots to do if you look, I tell her.

    She’s still got a few days left of no bike and no scooter after her fall so that would entertain her too if she were allowed to ride them. Next week she can get back in the saddle so to speak.

    There’s a limit to how much tablet time you can have and frogs you can find, and with no friends around she comes back inside and wants to be entertained.

    Every parent knows (and hates) this phrase: “I’m bored”

    What to do? I don’t think we have to entertain her every minute of the day and be her playmates. Some weekends, the most excitement around here is the laundry. Not every weekend, but some weekends are quiet here for all of us.

    We can’t go get ice cream every weekend or cough up the dough to go to the bouncy house place she loves.

    It’s my thought that she needs to learn to be bored.

    I read a NY Times article about summer camps this year and a lot of parents are opting out of costly activity filled summers. They’ve named it kid rotting. and I think that’s an awesome name for it.

    Is It OK for Your Kids to ‘Rot’ all Summer? - The New York Times

    I think it’s okay for her to rot some weekends too. Sometimes, especially this time of year, there’s just too much to do here at the house. Every day can’t be a day at Disney World.

    She might whine for a bit, but eventually she’ll find something to entertain herself with and make up stories in her head to pass the time. Last weekend we found her in front of the house with an inflatable ring as a “boat” in a very big puddle in front of our house from our sprinkler. I forget the plot, but she had a blast making up the story in her head.

    Making up the boat game in a humungous puddle was the activity. It teaches her to be creative and think for herself.

    It’s too bad her friends missed “ the boat ”.

    If only they didn’t have so many activities.

    Maybe next weekend.

    Until next time,

    TH and Co.

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