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Tom Silva stopped by the house today...

Swamp_Yankee

By Swamp_Yankee
in Do It Yourself

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Swamp_Yankee

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For those of you who don't know, Tom Silva is the general contractor on the show "This Old House":

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The guy in the photo I posted is actually my dad, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Tom-so much so that he gets stopped in restaurants, airports, and pretty much any time he walks into a Lowes or Home Depot.  When I was redoing all of the trim in our first house he came with me to Fox Lumber in Clinton and the whole time we were loading my truck two of the yard guys were staring at us-then when I went up to pay the guy at the register was like "are you the guy who came in with Tom Silva?"  The first time I had my daughters (they were 3 and 6 at the time) sit and watch the show with me they were convinced that "Pop-Pop" was on TV and wanted to know why people were calling him "Tom."   Its been a family joke for a long time since he's also a big fan of the show (as am I), so when my mom found out you can buy the real "Silva Brothers Construction" t-shirts from the TOH website, she bought him a couple.  He happened to be wearing it when they came up for dinner last night so I told him to pose for a picture to see how many people I could fool :tooth:  

The funniest instance was when him and my mom went to Hawaii for their anniversary.  When they were on their way back two old British ladies who were going to be on the same flight back east with them approached.  Apparently the show is big in England and these ladies could not be convinced that my dad was NOT Tom Silva.  After my dad went through the whole thing, "yes, I hear that a lot, etc..." they assumed it was an act and that he was trying to travel "incognito" so as not to get mobbed by fans (not that I really think there are any TOH "groupies" but who knows...)-the one woman kept saying to my mom, "Mrs. Silva, you must have a LOVELY home..." :rofl:   This was also in spite of the fact that Silva is from Massachusetts and has a thick Boston accent-my dad is from South Jersey so he couldn't sound more different.  He gave it one last shot to try to prove he wasn't the real guy and pulled out his NJ driver's license and his employee ID, but they still wouldn't buy it, saying "Oh don't worry, we completely understand Mr. Silva..."  So now we are fairly certain that there is a rumor going around the United Kingdom that Tom Silva of This Old House travels under an assumed identity as a UPS Driver from New Jersey named Larry... :up:

As far as the show goes I like Tom, but my favorite guy is Norm Abram, who is their master carpenter.  Norm had his own show called the New Yankee Workshop where he did woodworking projects like furniture, etc...rather than home renovation and construction.  One of these days I want to get a sign made for my toolshed in the same style that says "The Swamp Yankee Workshop..."  

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Edited by Swamp_Yankee

I live back in the woods you see

My woman and the kids and the dogs and me

I got a shotgun a rifle and a four wheel drive and a country boy can survive

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