DIY Life

Don't forget the romance - Fathers deserve to be spoiled on their special day, and we've got seven ways to romance your man and let him know that you think dads are sexy.

Offbeat ideas - This year Dad might be expecting typical gifts like golf balls and car accessories. Why not surprise him this year with an unexpected present, like a family key keeper or his very own nightlight?

New traditions - Maybe Pop is feeling like handymen are a dying breed, but you can let him know that's not the case. This year, start a new tradition based on our DIY: With Dad series. No other gift in the world will make Dad happier than spending time with his kids, even if it's just pushing a rock across the backyard.

As the days grow longer and the weather starts to warm, kids across the nation go outside to play, and to get rid of their cabin fever from the long winter we all had.

Chances are that they will be dragging you outside with them! Instead of just pulling up a lawn chair and watching them run in circles, why not have a little fun with science and get them thinking as well as playing?

I am going to cover two different activities best done in the great outdoors that are sure to peak the kids' interest as well as show them a good time. These are easy to do, and it is easy to find the materials needed to get the jobs done! Now buckle up and let's get this science bus on the road!

There are many easy principles that we all take for granted that you can use to amaze and delight your kids. All you have to do is make the time to spend with them.

These tricks are relatively fast and very simple to execute. The pay-off in looks of wonderment and excitement in you kids' faces will be well worth the time it takes to pull them off.

So plan to turn off the X-Box, PS 2 or 3, Wii or TV, and spend a few minutes with your kids as you introduce them to the wonderful world of mad science experiments.

One of the most fun and educational things you can do with your child(ren) is to start your own garden.

You don't have to make it a veggie garden, although eating what they grow does tend to intrigue the little ones. You can do a flower garden, a butterfly garden, or a cactus garden, to name a few.

I am also going to teach you how to add another twist to it. You and the small ones can build a garden that moves!

Why make a mobile garden? A mobile garden means you can change locations so you can use different plants at different times of the year that have different sunlight requirements. It also means that you can bring the garden to you when you want to work on it. Details after the break!

Playground equipment is expensive! I have some easy to build backyard equipment designs made from a few 4x4 posts; the whole setup can be made for less than $100 and built in an afternoon. These designs are for use with preschool/kindergarten age kids and are stand-alone or complementary to a swing set combo.

To build the whole set you will need eight to ten 4x4 posts. This design includes a lava pit, monkey bar, balance beam, sand box, and a teeter-totter/seesaw; I've built only some of these in reality, the rest in virtual Google Sketchup. I uploaded the design to Google's Sketch 3D Warehouse database under the name "Playground Equipment, diylife.com" You can download the model in the program and rotate it in 3D with displayed dimensions, and even edit my design. If you don't want to do that, just check out the photo gallery.

The popularity of pirates right now cannot be overestimated. The Pirates of the Caribbean franchise has made being a pirate cooler than a slushie on a hot summer day. If your children are fortunate enough to have a wooden play system in the backyard, here is an easy DIY project to turn it into their own pirate ship or defensive fort.

Treasures to be "acquired" for the project:

1 piece of 1/2" PVC pipe; 1 piece 3/4" PVC pipe; 1 piece 1" PVC pipe; 1- 3/4" floor flange PVC; 1- 3/4" male adapter PVC; 2- 3/4" caps PVC; 1- 3/4" tee PVC; 1- 3/4"x1/2" coupling PVC; 1- 3/4"x1" coupling PVC; 1"x2" coupling PVC; primer for PVC glue; PVC glue; plastic spray paint (C'mon, who wants a white telescope?); 1- 1/4"x1" hex bolt galvanized or stainless steel; 3- 1/4" washers galvanized or stainless steel; 1- 1/4" nylon lock nut galvanized or stainless steel

In a world of specialization most people are rushing to become an expert in their area at the virtual neglect of other skills. Can you be a good nurse, graphic designer, actor, teacher, and still be a well rounded handyman? Maybe our interest just isn't there, or we see the ability to outsource household projects as a luxury our parents didn't have. Still, handymen are less and less common in typical homes today.

I was interested in this topic after reading I can't do one quarter of the things my father can by Scriblerus. He explores the nature of men today, challenging that they are less able to "take care of things" the way previous generations could. He ventures into some interesting reasoning behind the abandonment of handyman personalities.

Keep in mind that this is an opinion piece, and by his own account, the survey he cites was highly speculative. Still, it raises an interesting question. This may not apply directly to you as a keen DIY'er, but many men do not have the skills of confidence to take on household projects the way their Dad's did. DIY for many people means looking up a phone number and making the call. Many men, having grown up around handy fathers, still know the basics rules of thumb around fixing and building, but will they pass it on to the next generation? Likely not.

Do you think that the handyman is a dying breed? I don't think people in general are as handy as they have previously been. How do you account for this difference? What do you think of it?

Somewhere along the way, all our fathers became the same. Anyone who laughs at Chevy Case in National Lampoon Christmas Vacation, John Candy in The Great Outdoors, or Darren McGavin in A Christmas Story recognizes those iconic fathers as representations of our own. Each one of our fathers is determined to fix things himself, come hell or high water, and when I started Do-It-Yourself stuff around my own home, I had visions of my own "Old Man" tinkering with things around the house to "improve" them. However, when he came to visit a few weeks ago, I was reminded how I learned the value of home-improvement from my Dad. A lesson that is not easily forgotten.

My childhood was quite an unusual and interesting one (read: fun). Some might even say amazing. I spent much of it learning unconventional things from a true-to-life DIY'er, my dad. He has challenges like anyone else, but despite the looming roadblocks, he always finds creative and innovative ways around problems, to this day. If you're wondering, yes that is me in the photo, at around age ten I think.

One memory in particular that stands out in my mind was the time when we moved into a split-level home in a decent neighborhood amidst the temperamental spring-time weather. Oddly enough, the previous owner of our home had never taken care of the backyard very well, which contained an ornate Japanese-style garden complete with a large 12 foot square (approx.) pagoda we called "the shed."

Next to the shed was a rock about three feet in diameter if I remember right, which we affectionately dubbed "the meteorite." Even stranger, was an irregularly shaped concrete Japanese fish pond with severely chipped paint set down into the yard about two feet deep or so, right next to "the meteorite." Beyond the pond, there was yard of overgrown grass all the way to the other side of the yard, which featured a dying pear tree and grape vines that actually had seeded grapes in summertime.

The problem with this ill-kept former Japanese shrine of a backyard was that my father (being the handy DIY'er that he is) wanted a garage to further his evil plot of DIY world domination or something, as any self-respecting DIY'er in America would. The shed, the meteorite, and the pond were all squarely in the way of building a garage at the end of our driveway on the right side of the house.