Use to be a guy come to the lake with Sharyl or maybe just by himself.  He was pretty laid back; even when things didn’t go well and stuff broke as it sometimes does he just took it in stride and enjoyed his time here.

The guy that has been here the past couple years isn’t like that.  He gets all bent out of shape when things break or don’t go well; for that matter he hasn’t really had a lot of fun even on a sun shiny 85 degree day when nothing broke.  He would use any excuse to go home.

Out of the clear blue and certainly unexpected that first guy showed up this weekend.

He left home Saturday morning after a night of rough weather.  He left a yard full of tree limbs; he just figured they would still be there when he got home.  I bet the FOHA (Flaming Oaks Homeowners Association) wishes he would come clean that mess up.  He left all that up in Hughes County and doesn’t care what the FOHA thinks, at least until he gets back up to Hughes County.

He had two things on the agenda.  A deck that had been neglected for about 3 or 4 years, and some grass that is growing out of control.

He built the deck in ‘08; he used treated lumber instead of the maintenance free composite stuff Sharyl tried to get him to use.  His plan was to seal it yearly, life kind of got in the way and that didn’t happen since ’09.

He brought everything to do the job, yeah right, that never happens.  He read the coverage info on the cleaner and quickly did the math in his head in the aisle at Lowe’s and even bought a little extra (insert another of those yeah rights).

If you need some more stuff at home it is about 4 miles to Lowe’s, if you need some more stuff here you can go north 40 miles or you can go south 40 miles.  He didn’t bother to read the safety info; it is about fifteen miles to a store that sells those protective gloves like the ones sitting on the workbench at home.

He didn’t even get upset just made the 80-mile round trip for gloves and more cleaner.  He just kind of chuckled when he ran out of cleaner again before he ran out of deck.  There is a bright side, the deck is looking better than he thought it ever would again and he has an excuse to come back soon and I’ll just bet he brings enough cleaner next trip.

The grass and weeds were out of control but following a six-inch rain you gotta be real selective where you go with a lawn mower. By Sunday afternoon some of it was dry enough to mow.  He mowed for probably fifteen minutes before that belt broke, no not the one that turns the blades, if that one breaks you can still drive the thing back to the barn or at least to a dry level place.  Did you ever see anyone pull an unmanned lawn mower out of a ditch and across the road with a golf cart?

The guy that has been here the past couple years would have jumped in the truck stopped along the way for a Red Bull and some peanuts and came home.  This guy just figured he could go 40 north or 40 south to a Hustler dealer and be back in business in three or four hours.  He spent a little time online (imagine that) and found a place about fifteen miles east that might have the belt.

The place took you back a few years and yes I know this is Southeastern Oklahoma.  He just reached up among the dozens of belts hanging on nails and said I think this is the one you need; he was going to verify but he couldn’t find his book.  The price was right just even dollars, no receipt or extra for tax.  The guy paid him cash; I don’t think a debit card would have worked.

The belt went on reasonably easy and the guy had the thing running and everything that was dry enough mowed by noon.  The place still looks bad but there is no homeowners association and now he has another reason to come back soon.

In addition to all that, he had time to spend some quality time with friends and neighbors and ate the biggest chicken fried steak he has seen in a long time.  It is a few miles south of I 40 so the cream gravy was good.

I don’t know if this guy will stay around, I know he has to go 130 miles or so west tomorrow and pick up some limbs.  If he doesn’t stay I hope he comes back again real soon because he enjoys life a lot more than that other guy.

Please say a prayer for me.

Good Night and God Bless.

Dave