Jay  Bridge is our last resort, he is the godfather of our farmhouse, an engineer-become-handyman and friend. He says very little, he does a great deal.

It was Jay we called when the pipes burst in my study two winters ago, Jay we called when the frost-free pipes in the basement leading to the pasture froze mysteriously one day, Jay we called to build a storm window for the bedroom so our bottles of water wouldn’t freeze in the night, Jay who came to rebuild the front porch we discovered was rotting away, Jay we called when we couldn’t close the back door leading to the woodshed.

And it is Jay we called when we failed in our umpteenth effort to install gutters off of the roof in the back of the house to keep mountains of water and melting snow from pouring off of the roof and down into the foundations and the basement and covering the slate back porch floor with sheets of ice in he winter. It was just a matter of time….

The gutters were the first project I undertook when we moved to the farmhouse, I lost count of how many people I asked to install them. It seemed that none of the big men in trucks wanted anything to do with gutters, none of them knew how to put them up, none of the wanted to try.

Our friend Ben put some up on the north side of the porch, but he went on to be hot stuff and was no longer available to do gutters.

Even Maria succumbed to the gutter campaign and spent hours on ladders trying to put a gutter up, but the slope was wrong, the roof bent, I begged her to drop it and call Jay, and she finally succumbed. It was deep into the third year of my gutter campaign, and I have great faith in Jay, even last week, as it poured and torrents of water rained down on the porch again. This will never get done before the winter, I thought.

I texted Jay and he said he would come by and take a look.

When Jay comes, he looks at the project, and says little or nothing. He just goes to fix it. So far, there is nothing he has been confronted with that he didn’t fix.

Jay was trained as an engineer and worked for companies like GE and major consulting firms.

He is a big man with a big truck, but he is different. He is very quiet.  He doesn’t yak with the other big men in trucks, or gossip or tell jokes. He doesn’t say much of anything. He does whistle when he works. I cannot say how grateful we are to know him. I heard of him when his wife Judy came up to me in the food co-op in town and said, “you ought to know my husband Jay. He fixes things and you would like him.” He does fix things and I like him very much. He was one of the people whose portraits I took, in fact, for my portrait show.

Jay and I go to lunch once in awhile and he said one day “I don’t talk that much.” I nodded and said, that’s okay, I talk a lot. We get along very well and I enjoy our lunches.  He has a quick and easy sense of humor and a meticulous and thoughtful way about him.

Every after, he goes home to have lunch with his wife Judy and have some tea.

He does this even if our house is on fire and about to collapse.

He is skilled in every aspect of carpentry and plumbing. To take on our gutter, he measured the roof and went home and hand-carved and painted the right attachments and supports, he carefully measured the gutter angle with a string and a level so it would drain properly, he hums and whistles quietly while he works, I actually like hearing him whistle when I write. It is soothing. When Jay is here, you know it will be done.

I called Jay two years when a pipe burst and water was pouring into my study and threatening the wires that lead to my computer and the sockets built into the floor. He said he would be over as soon as he finished his tea. I managed to find a lever in the basement to stop the water.

In an hour,  he came and the pipe was removed and replaced, the water was running, the bill was strikingly reasonable. There is no drama and little discussion with Jay, he just gets it done well. He insulated the frost-free plumbing inside the house and in the barn, there has been no more trouble with it.

Jay is nearly done with our gutter work, the main gutter is installed, he just has to attach the drainpipe.

There will, I think, be no more water pouring onto the porch or into the foundation. Our longest-running project is nearly complete. Next week, he will return with the drainpipe part he needs and also the new storm window to keep us warm in the bedroom this and every winter.

Jay doesn’t really like gutter work, but he loves a challenge. I asked him if he would come bye in the Spring to put a gutter on the back of the house. Sure, he said. I can’t believe we actually have a gutter on the back of the house. Life is good.