A Good Man is Hard to Find

Anyone who has a home needs someone to do the upkeep on the outside.  Usually it is the man of the house who does this.  However there are many reasons why one needs to find a younger, stronger man to do those outside chores.  Finding the right man is not an easy chore in itself.  After some months of inquiring about someone who was available I learned about Will.

The first time I talked to him he sounded like a very intelligent, well mannered young man and that impressed me right away.  So, since he had been recommended by a trusted plumber who had worked here off and on for years, I felt at ease with having him come over for a trial.  He came around at 10:30 and I explained to him what I wanted done, and he set to work. He had brought all of his own tools with him.  When he had finished I saw that he had exceeded my expectations.  He had cut out and pruned and raked and my yard had never looked so loved!

Since we are in the dead of winter and some days are not fit for working out in the cold, he ended up working on sunny days without biting winds.  Quite frankly, I had not had such careful attention to pruning and raking and fine tuning on this place before.  After coming for a couple of times he decided to give the golf cart a whirl to see why it was not working.   He made an assessment and then  after a visit or two he had the mean, green, working machine purring like a big ole kitten.  That made me very happy for this working golf cart with a big bed on back comes in very handy around this place.

I went up with him into the vineyard and showed him how to prune the grapes.  This was a new skill for him but he caught on pretty quick and I left him with it.  I was especially interested in the two vines that he was pruning.  They were planted by my old friend Bob and produced  big, beautiful, purple grapes in the fall.  They make lovely jelly and maybe even tasty wine.  I have only tried the jelly so the wine is yet to be tested.

I felt really good at the end of yesterday's work day.  The golf cart was put in working order, the trees up and down the hill had been divested of the English Ivy trying to take over, and my lovely grape vines had been made ready for their new growth.  Plus he is recycling the vines.  His mother is going to turn the cut vines into beautiful wreaths.  They will be around for many years as the vines are not likely to deteriorate hanging indoors and out of the weather.  A very good thing in my book.

So, the old adage " a good man is hard to find" applies to a yardman as they are truly hard to find.