Tuesday, August 17, 2004

I AM EASILY AMUSED

This past week I was on the computer (like always) and there was a knock at the door. An unfamiliar guy was standing on the other side as I cautiously opened the door and said, "Yes...?" and he pointed towards our tree in the front yard, "We're in the neighborhood, from Frankfort, just finished a job in town here and noticed that there tree is dead...About to tear down that wire! We'll take it down for you. We give estimates."

We walked out to under the tree and gazed up at it. "It is pretty dead. My husband has been talking about taking it down. How much"

"Oh, about $250. Shouldn't take us an hour, hour and a half. Do you want us to haul off the wood?"

"I have to wait until my husband comes home and see what he wants to do?'

"When will he be home"

"Any minute now."

"Why don't you just surprise him!"

Three of this brothers climbed out of the parked truck on the road to look at the tree, realizing they had a good possibility on their hands, and were sizing up the situation. We yammered on for awhile and the leader, who sat in the truck the entire time, half in and half out of the window banged on the side and ordered them back in.

"That's our old man".

"He couldn't possibly be your Dad!"

"Nah...He's our cousin."

They left me a card and drove off.

I liked them. I can not tell you why. They were young, proably in their 20's except for the cousin, who was early 40's late 30's maybe. Hard to tell because they were country people, lived hard lives on farms and looked weathered and leathered...At least old Dad did. The brothers were all nice looking in a rough way. Good Lord, the way I like them. Nice on the outside with a hint of danger just under the surface. Reminds me of all my highschool boyfriends.

When Joe arrived home, he thought the price was terrific and that the tree needed to come down and the sooner the better. I called them, and they arrived on the scene in less than 15 minutes.

Joseph slapped on his spikes and safety harness, a belt with the gas powered saw hanging down his side by a rope. He threw the rope around the tree, attached it to his belt/harness and began his journey up the tree. Hence, The Monkey!

The tree began to come down immediately. I stationed myself on the porch and watched the spectacle......As I've said, I'm easily amused. They worked fast, efficient and together. That tree came down quickly limb by limb. He then scrambled down, and began to cut the base of the tree.....TIMBER! Joe was inside and would not look, he just made one comment, "I hope they know what they are doing!"

To my eye it looked like the trunk was going to take down the cable lines....To the house next door. Great drama!!!! I was wrong, the tree fell in slow motion, in a beautiful fluid graceful swoon and landed perfectly on the ground escaping the wires easily.

The four of them descended on the tree and large branches and began to saw them into easy managable pieces.....Most of them, some of the trunk was enormous and remained so.

Philip (frontman/salesman) came to me while I was sitting on the porch. My entire assignment in the whole drama was to bring out bottles of water and minute maid juice blends. I did not want any of them to pass out in the heat with all that exeretion! He sat next to me and asked, or what I thought I head was this, "You got any weed?"   My mouth dropped open in astonishment! "That's a bold request!" I responded wondering if I still sported the look of the counter culture!

"Don't your husband have a weed eater? They usually have gas if they do."

"Oh...weed eater!"

I laughed at my mistake and Philip replied when he caught wind of what I had thought,"Now we don't drink much none  but we do toke up a little."

Joe rounded up some gas for the electric buzz saws and the tree was cut up and stacked in the front yard in readiness for transportation to my parents and their fireplace.

As I said, I'm easily amused and the Monkey Brothers were great entertainment on a hot summer evening.



27 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a great entry.  I can't help liking guys like that myself.  Around here, I do get a steady diet of them, and they can get old, but every now and then, they're just wonderful.

Anonymous said...

I guess I am easily amused also...I would have loved to have been sitting right next to you, "supervising" the whole thing!  JAE

Anonymous said...

Mary, Did you think Philip was "ONE TOKE OVER THE LINE......SWEET JESUS?" I am hoping you remember that song.  I use to love men who flirted with danger. In fact, I dated one from your high school. His name was Dan Taylor. (lots of brothers and sisters) He flirted with danger too much.....died in a car wreck in 1969. Maybe you know some of his brothers and sisters.  Anne

Anonymous said...

I love trees.  I hate to see them have to come down, but if they do watching a group of on the edge of  'dangerous' men do it is the best way to go.  Fun!!  Pennie

Anonymous said...

Some very enterprising small businessmen!  Maybe I should take to hawking my pastries door-to-door...  Lisa  :-]

Anonymous said...

M husband and I decided to take atree down i nour back yard LOL I said oh tie the rope to mee and the tree limb (A HUGE ONE ) tothe other end. Then when you cut it I ll pull it my way. Well LOL LOL  LOL HA HA HA this is so funnny . It jerked me right up and flopped over on the neighbors cable line taking it down> I called the cable company and they had it fixed before the neighbors were home. SUPID ME LOL Lori

Anonymous said...

I love it! If they were here, my hubby would probably be asking them about about the wildwood flower:)

Anonymous said...

My first thought was that they were a group of those gypsies that go around and end up taking advantage of people.  You are definitely more trusting than I am.  

Anonymous said...

What a funny entry, and I usually am not amused often.  How wonderful to employ people when you feel some kind of approving sense.  It was a family who brought out my daughter’s birthday jolly jumper, and something about them made me like and appreciate them a lot.  There was three teenage sons, a six year old daughter (with hand me down shoes too big) a mother, and a father, they all hopped out of their truck and started to work and was done in no time.  It was great.

Great entry!  Thanks for the amusement.

Anonymous said...

oh, how funny! Love your writing! Great Journal-Keith

Anonymous said...

oh, this entry delighted me!!! I'd have been right on the porch with you. So glad to be home....... love, judi

Anonymous said...

Loved the story .... could see it like a movie..... Loved the price too. Here, the cheapest estimate I got was 650 dollars. The tree stays. : )

Angela

Anonymous said...

What an adorable story!!  Yeah, gotta love them country boys with their broad warm smiles and their tanned faces. Even the dirt under their fingernails is charming somehow.  They remind me of my Grandpa when he was young - hard working, a little wild, a little rough when ruffled about the feathers, but always full of big laughs and gentleness for those they love.  Great entry!  I really loved reading this one.  :D

Anonymous said...

Well, that was very amusing...hot young men...rough farm boys..working and all and sweating. WEED conversations? What more amusment could there possibly be? Send them over here please

Anonymous said...

ROFL!

give me a minute...

Okay (::wiping tears of mirth from my eyes::) ... I wonder if the Monkey Brothers will ever come up my way?

Anonymous said...

Oh, I'd have been on that porch with you!  Can you send them my way?  I have a tree in need.  

Monica

Anonymous said...

ohhh no, bad girl. the use of the phrase "just like my highschool boyfriends" makes me think you weren't just watching the lumberjackin'...LOL..gimme a quarter and I'll tell you the story about the incredibly cute telephone man up the pole in my front yard and the rainstorm...  <bad, bad>

Anonymous said...

"I am just a monkeyman, I'm glad you are a monkey woman too, baby"--Stones

Anonymous said...

I just had to come back and read it again. :):)

Anonymous said...

Rofl....too funny!

E

Anonymous said...

The monkey brothers. Great name. Very entertaining story. I'm easily amused, too. I would have done the same as you did.

The day I had wood look laminate flooring installed in half of my house, all I did was sit there and watch, completely fascinated.  It was an 8 hour job.  It was almost as fun as watching some of those home makeover shows.

Anonymous said...

ROFLMAO!!!!!



Monkey Brothers tree service.



LOLOLOLOLOL



Anonymous said...

just wanted to say i like reading ur journal and i am a single white male in lexington just looking for miss Right and came across ur journal keep up the writeing.
Mrbiglxky@aol.com

Anonymous said...

Read your journal alot, don't comment often.  But gotta seriously LOL at this entry.  Loved it....   : )

Anonymous said...

Sounds to me like Joe came home just in time; nice looking country boys with time on their hands and a whiff of past memory and smoke ~ now that's entertainment...  ;)

Anonymous said...

"I did not want any of them to pass out in the heat with all that exeretion!" I just noticed this. It looks like you started to type "exertion", but then your sub-conscious directed you toward another word entirely. Mary, Mary Mary.

Anonymous said...

I've been a city slicker too long. I was expecting a horror story of how you were scammed. Great tale! :-) ---Robbie