The Men in My Life

Please forgive me for the length of this post.  A journalist friend in Nebraska has cautioned me that blogs should be about five hundred words long.  Well, this one has to be longer because the people I’m talking about would be short changed if I tried to tell their stories in five hundred words.  So, once again, please bear with me.

The other day when I had almost nothing to do, during this pandemic, I took stock of the people I know.  Wonderful women and men.  I thought about the men I know – and how many of them have the same first name.  Not all of them, of course.  But, many.  If I consider them in alphabetical order – I like alphabetical order (my spices are in alphabetical order) – this is what I find.

Bill lives across the street on the corner.  He has the sweetest dog Chloe.  She is tiny and spunky.  He always offers to help.  I know that he helps a friend – another widow (I really don’t like that word) who lives across my side fence.

Bob, husband of my daughter and father of my two grand children.  Clearly, he loves his family and wants the best for them.

Elijah is responsible for assuring that my house has a new roof and new gutters.  He ethically worked with the house insurance company in a way that left me with nothing to pay.  And, he did the same for the house owned by my daughters.  His work is greatly appreciated.

Cousin Eric (actually, Nephew Eric) lives with his mom (my sister) outside of Austin, Texas.  Wisely, he and his mom decided, why pay twice for living expenses?  They joined forces and are living comfortably in her house.  She quilts; he computes.  I like it that she has someone really, really close by.  Two more Erics are in my life.  Eric and Vince (I know, Vince is out of alphabetical order, but they go together) take care of clearing my trash – every week.  And, I mean, every week!  They work for the company that hauls my weekly trash to be disposed of.  They are here rain, snow, or high-temperature heat days.  They don’t miss.  Then, the newest Eric sometimes works with my friend and handyman Keith to take care of things that need doing for the house.

Jim, two.  Jim who works at the ACE hardware where Larry spent the last years of his working days.  He’s my go-to guy when I need anything hardware.  And, Jim C., the painter; he completely painted all that needed to be painted on both of those houses. (The picture is of my house.)

Karl – two.  Karl A. is the husband of one of my best friends and helps when needed.  He cooks a great grilled chicken breast!  Karl F. is partially responsible for this blog.  Well, maybe, more than partially.  He’s the person who started me thinking that I might be able to write a blog.  Treat it as “your newspaper,” he said.  I took him at his word.

Then, there are the Keiths.  Keith D. lives directly across the street.  A good neighbor who, when I started to use my new snow blower for the first time (a snow blower that he put together), took it away from me, told me to go into the house, and did the job for me.  Keith F. has been taking care of the work that my house needs; work that Larry could not get finished before he passed, and work that has been needed since that time.  His work shows up in two bathrooms, the kitchen, the lighting for the basement and my studio, faucets on the front of my house, as well as providing some very important tools for my art work.  Keith K., the exterminator, is new to this group.  Little did I know that I would ever need an exterminator, but the rats in the wood pile changed that!  (And, that’s definitely another story.)

All of the Larrys.  My Larry.  Granted he’s not “in my life” any more, but he is still very much a part of it.  When I lived on the Eastern Plains and worked in the school district, we had Larrys and more Larrys.  My Larry B.; Larry P.; another Larry P., and Larry P. Jr., his son; Larry F.; another Larry B. (who always introduced himself as “Hello, I’m Larry.  I used to play for the Seattle Sea Hawks”); Larry R.; and Larry, our district’s insurance man.  Then, when I moved back home, in addition to my Larry, there was Larry F., a police officer, who lived in the corner house across the street.

Martin is also new to this group of men.  He saw a problem and corrected it.  My lawn mowing machine became accidently unusable when a piece of rebar bent the cutting blade.  After looking everywhere, calling the manufacturer only to learn that the mower is, after three years, discontinued with no replacement blades existing in their warehouse, and believing that I would need to buy a new mower, Martin took that blade, straightened it, and put the mower back in use.

Four Mikes.  Mike H. lives next door and with his two older sons, Sam and Ben, has removed the snow every snowstorm for the last three winters.  I gave away that new snow blower that Keith put together, since it appeared that I was not going to be allowed to use it.  Mike T. is one of those fellows who decided to be an all-important, stay-at-home dad and is Kyle’s dad.  Senior Miguel works in a library helping to make sure that library patrons are able to check out what they need during these troubled times.  Mike D. is my new dentist.  He has a real team of specialists who work with him.

And, where would I be without Roger, my computer guru.  I can ask him a question or seek his help, day or night.  When it comes to my computer, he spoils me!

Steve runs the local Perkins Restaurant; usually, a favorite haunt.  These days, I’m only allowed to go there to pick up the brownies that I buy and allow myself one-half of one each day with a glass of milk.

The last three men in my life are the youngest, and their names are not in alphabetical order with the others.  Bryan is eighteen years old and has been working with me for about six years.  He will vote for the first time in this 2020 election.  I met him at the library where he was a twelve-year-old volunteer working with my daughter HKB.  His volunteer work made her work with children in the after-school program much easier.  He knew exactly what to do to help  Today, he has taken over the work in the gardens that my Larry created.  He also has helped put my large library in order.  In fact, he will do what is asked, when asked, and is an incredibly great worker.  He speaks three languages and wants to work in real estate.

Jake and Kyle are early grade elementary students.  I have an old cottonwood tree that is seventy-eight feet tall.  She often gives me presents of sticks, throwing them to the ground, at will.  Sticks interfere with lawn mowing; when Rita comes to mow, Jake and Kyle come the day before to pick up those sticks.  Both are all boy and very helpful

To me, these men, whatever their age, are heroes – all of them!

And, then, there are the women in my life beginning with the two Ritas – but, that’s another story – I’ll tell you about them, later.

 

Be safe and be well.

 

The Cranky Crone

 

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