November 20th, 2010
Pete, My Handyman
Early in the morning I see the same people walking their dogs around the circle. Actually, some of them are just walking by themselves. Good Morning and Another great Day!! are the comments as they walk or run by.
The majority of the dogs are pretty friendly but a few give Addy dirty looks.
Today was one of those pretty early mornings. After the walk I came home and I looked at the clock and I knew I had to be in Fenwick Island. It takes about 25 minutes to be there.
I had a hair appt. with Colleen. O.k. don’t be so bored already; I am just trying to set up the story.
I was relaxing when my husband called me that Pete was waiting for me at home. Well, I did not know he was going to be there to see if he could get my fireplace going. He would have to come back. Just tell him one o’clock.
Pete is the type of person that could make you insane. Oh no, he does not just come to fix something. He will tell you many stories about his past. Oh yes, he had high clearance with the government, can pull his own teeth. Hmm, that’s a good one.
Today he came in prepared to “teach” me how to fix the fireplace. I immediately told him that I did not have any interest and was not planning on learning that task. We are not very handy in our household; that’s why we have him. It does not matter, he will still explain the whole process.
He told me I needed to read him the directions because they were in Spanish. He wanted me to translate them. I said that on the other side, they were in English. I proceeded to read them to him.
He was lying on the floor and his physique is a little pudgy so the view from the top was not very good.
He got all excited and told me that it was all a conspiracy for all of us to spend more money. The way the directions are written is to create confusion; then you call the company and they charge us for the service call, a lot of money, to fix something so insignificant.
Addy was barking at him the whole time and he was barking at her. I gave him one of Addy’s treats so he could give it to her; she was hiding behind the table and he told her she was hiding like Obama. He said Obama was going to go into hiding just like Richard Nixon did because Nixon was involved in the Kennedy assassination; it cannot be proven, though.
He still had the fireplace all taken apart. Why is it that my husband is never here when Pete shows up?
He said he was taking a break. Where are you going? I asked. Well, he was going to smoke a cigarette. He told me he was smoking 2 packs per day and now he is down to 10 cigarettes.
Remember the handyman/painter in Murphy Brown? He is a lot like Eldin.
It did not take him long to get back in the house. Finally he put the fireplace together. He said to me “if she don’t work” then it is probably the “little thingy”. I just agreed with everything he said.
I made the mistake to ask him what he thought about the weather. That was the wrong thing to ask. He told me I would have to talk to New Mexico. We better get prepared for this coming year. Today was like a typical day back in the 60’s when it was gorgeous and then wham!, the east coast was hit with storms from January until May.
He said he predicted this year’s storms. He also had predicted a tsunami a month ago and had gotten some “essentials”. Needless to say, it did not happen. Calgon, please take me away, right now.
You know what? The truth of the matter is that Pete is a really nice guy even though he exhausts you with all this information. You need him and he is always available.
At least this was not like the last time when he was installing my kitchen sink faucet and he kept on talking from under the sink and I was his assistant. The view from that advantage point was never to be forgotten.
Here is a picture of Pete. Yeap, you guessed it. The cigarette break.
After he left, I decided to call Nicola Pizza and reward myself with my 3rd pizza of the week. I deserved it. That will be my next post.
Have a good evening….talk to you later….
Tags: Delaware Beaches, Handyman, Services
