Chapter 19 A New Beginning Together Work was a stable as it could be the economy steady and even on the upswing. My personal enjoyment was golfing in the summer and bowling in the winter. Met many friends participating in these sports, even being the League secretary of the Friday Morning Golf League. A better than average bowler and a weed cutter on most golf courses. Always got to see the whole course and enjoyed the scenery. Ponds, swamps, neighboring farm fields and the Sahara Desert. But hey, I have stories I could tell that border on the “Believe it or Not” file. This might surprise you since I down play my ability to play this game but I have one bragging fact. I was on the green on a par five in two just missing the hole by inches which could have been a double eagle. It was witnessed by players in the preceding group. I always had the mentality of a John Daley, “Grip it and Rip it,” In bowling I was a bit more consistent with my highlight, the first nine strikes in a row. A two seventy-six game with my high series a six seventy-six. Sports were a big part of my life and my dad want so much to see me excel in one of the major sports but sadly to say, the best I did was talk about it. It was our real connection in life. I can’t say that living in my old home was difficult for us, but neighbors had ways of measuring things. I don’t want to really generalize but I was aware of it. During this period of time, the newest thing was to let the boys grow their hair long. I couldn’t win. If I let him grow it out I was too lenient and I if I wanted him to wear it short I was too demanding. I felt I was under a microscope. I was analyzed, hashed over, evaluated, charted, and finally given the thumbs up or thumbs down. Whoa! Wait a minute, this is my life and nobody is going to run the show but me. How best I could do this was to move and start over. Not as Tom Bettis and his second wife but, as Tom Bettis and his wife Bernie. A new priority emerged and now the focus had some excitement in it. We were making our first real life decision and doing it together. We found much of what we felt was important to have and it led us to 3900 Theodore St. Hey, here I am writing this book and getting excited all over again. Nothing more rewarding than making plans about the drapes, carpet, where the garden is going to be, and where my workshop would be. It was going to be inside the garage which isn’t built yet. Sometimes one gets ahead of oneself. The other thing that we needed to attend to was adding central air. It an immediate need. With the addition of that we were now cool dudes. The previous owners had said we didn’t need air. I felt they probably thought the inside of the oven was cool too. As I alluded to earlier I would get back to the daycare business later in the book. Well, it is now, later. Bernie started out with only a couple of children. As word got around we began watching more kids and her income began to rival my income at Caterpillar. Life was good but I also mentioned the need of a new vehicle and new it was. Brand new, my one and only in my entire lifetime and we decided we were going to purchase a black cherry, Dodge Caravan and it was Bernie’s income that allowed us to do so. Even making double payments. We didn’t even need an air fresher with a new car scent. That came with the new van. Funny how one thing leads to another but you can’t have a new vehicle unless you have a garage to put it in. Late fall was upon us and it was almost considered too late to start. My best friend Randy had the knowledge, and I was knowledgeable enough to know what side of the hammer to hit the nail with. Sometimes cold fingers got in the way and I praised the Lord several times before we had the frame up. Later I told God I make it up to Him. We also were thinking of a patio, but how was that going to fit in? Let’s go back to the genius of blue prints. They weren’t on paper but Randy kept them stored in his head or we’d improvise, and he was also good at that too. We put it all in a brown paper bag and this is how it shook out. The brain trust was now at work. The concrete base had to have the ground leveled first within reason, trenched around the exterior to give stability and anchored in the corners. Depth of concrete had to be figured to know how many cubic feet were needed. I knew it was somewhere between two inches and two feet and if you want actual figures you had to get inside Randy’s head. To prevent cracking and separation we used heavy duty fencing 2x4 inch hog wire I call it and rebar. After pouring and finishing with a bull float we allowed it to set a bit and the added angled bolts (thread side up by the way) in the concrete for the purpose of attaching our frame. These were spaced at pre-determined intervals and holes drilled into the base of the frame to match the bolts. Two and a half car garage plus a twelve foot patio on the side the depth of the garage. Roofed over the entire structure to make it a shaded and a protected patio. Yes, and even an old fashioned porch swing was added after all else was finished. Roofed, tar papered, and shingled were accomplished but it was late in November so the rest would have to wait until spring. My description; glorified carport! Hanging the two single doors, siding put up and eventual painting the garage the colors of the house were put off so we could start to get into the Joyous Christmas season! Our first Christmas in our new house. Such a great time in my life. All my hopes and dreams still intact. Back in the Lord’s good grace, happily married, a new home and my two kids living with us. Hey, I bet I have a nice Christmas present coming too! It was good and so was I!
Posted on: Fri, 16 Aug 2013 03:17:26 +0000