Re: [gardeners]Sunday in the garden
penny x stamm (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Tue, 23 May 2000 13:55:01 -0400
Margaret, there's an interesting aside to this hiring problem ---
I latched on to a fireman who does carpentry as a sideline about
6 years ago, when my house suffered incredible damage from
an ice storm -- he happened to be the brother-in-law of the fiance
of my son-in-law's brother (gulp!) and he opened new horizons
for us . . . I then hired his fireman friend and neighbor to replace
my roofing, and he continues to come to clean the gutters since
Jimmie's so wobbly with the 30 ft ladder. After that came the
fireman with a mini-back hoe, who did septic tanks. Then we
got the fireman who specialized in shower leaks..... My original
fireman brought his cousin, the Canine Corps local policeman,
to lay fresh insulation in my 100 ft long attic, after that ice
storm. And then they did the 130 ft driveway sealing for me,
and added extra electrical wiring for outdoor lights.
They're ALL superfragilistic-something-calidocious guys
who are polite, extraordinarily neat, prompt, and my heart's
delight. If I ever moved to a new community, I would knock
on the firehouse door and ask for some help, for sure.
The problem I have with planting the shrubs is Jimmie's
die-hard effort to consider himself still capable of climbing
Mt.Ranier. Neighbors and even strangers stop to beg him
to hire someone to shovel the snow -- and gosh, even the
garbage men mother him -- last week, after one week away
in St.Louis, we had 14 barrels of lawn clippings to send to
the county compost. The men returned three times in one
day, to remove the stuff...! (Usually, when there's a backlog,
Jim lifts 3 barrels into the trunk of the car, and brings it up
to the dump by himself, making as many trips as necessary.)
One of these days I am going to find him slumped in a heap
in the driveway, I know it. But he will not be stopped. He says
to me, "I'm not 78, I'm 50. And that's that."
However, Margaret, it is v-e-r-y tempting to call the escort
service . . . . . .
Penny, NY
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