TheBanyanTree: Tim

[NancyIee at aol.com]

Not only did we buy the horse before the cart, we bought the horses before 
the farm. It was a good thing the seller, probably well used to the antics of 
city folk moving to the country, said she'd keep them with her until we had the 
barn and fences built/repaired. She recommended a man she said built good 
fences. Thus, we met Tim.

"Yes, ma'am," he said when we outlined what we wanted, and in a couple of 
days, he measured and cut lumber and carefully put it tightly together, a sturdy 
fence of wood and wire that would hold the wiliest horse.

I liked the way he worked and the final look of his neat, straight fences. I 
showed him the inside of the barn and asked him if he could build some sturdy 
stalls for our new horses.

"Yes, ma'am," he said, and went to work.

In a couple of days, we had five well-built stalls with gates that operated 
smoothly and boards cut and fitted tightly. I was impressed.

We then decided we better have a lean-to added to the barn, and additional 
stalls outside, for the goats, you see. I called Tim.

"Yes, ma'am," he said.

In a couple of days he had built the addition, with enough overhang to the 
eaves so that I would stay dry when I walked along there in the rain. That was 
his own idea.

It seems the norm here in the South to hire someone who may or may not show 
up on the appointed day, who may or may not get the job done within the 
expected time and budget frame, who may or may not do a good enough job to stand for 
a full year.

 Tim is a gem. He's a plain little country man with a slow drawl and rough 
hands.  He arrived each morning at dawn and worked through the daylight. One day 
he brought his young wife and sturdy baby son to say hello. 

"That's a nice boy you've got," I said to him.

"Yes, ma'am, he's a keeper."

When he had finished the last job for us, I paid and complimented him. I knew 
that the next time we needed something built right, he'd be the one we would 
call.

"You do good work, Tim. Thank you."

"Yes, ma'am," he said.

NancyLee