Meet Ray Telford, he’s an experienced local carpenter and handyman, one of a dying breed of individuals who work for themselves and will take on just about any task, no matter how gritty or unpleasant (except for electrical work, he stays away from that).
He even does plumbing.
People like Ray are invaluable, it’s like acquiring a new member of the family. In the country, you will always need help, and usually, quickly, and I always like to introduce new members of our family to people on the blog.
Ray is awfully nice, the people who work with him adore him and can’t say enough good things about them, and we are finding out why He is thought, careful and conscientious. We hear he is also inexpensive, we’ll find out soon enough.
Like most handymen, he tries to explain things to me rather than Maria, although he is figuring out I know nothing and she is the one to talk to. Workmen up here are not used to conferring with women about repair work, it takes some time for them to get used to it.
We are also fortunate to know Jay Bridge, a retired engineer who loves to do engineer tasks. He is awfully busy, but he came to patch up the porch roof, which was rotting through. Jay promises to return before winter to put some wooden gutter over the back door, too much water pours down on it.
On a farm, there are always a million tasks, you get to them one at a time, when you can afford them, otherwise the farm will go to pieces around you.
You can never get them all done, unless you are rich or a what they call a Gentleman Farmer, a noxious term.
We need some help.
Our donkeys have been eating the wood plants in the barn, especially when they get bored in the winter and can’t graze. There are three or four widening holes in the wall, and soon, there won’t be a wall. We tried various applications of chicken wire, but they pried the wire off and have been chowing down on the old wood.
On the other side of the barn wall is newly-arrived hay stacked up just a few inches away, and they are judiciously eating through the chicken wire and the wooden planks. Some of the holes are getting big enough for the sheep to walk through, and if that happens, we are all in big trouble.
So we called Ray, who is out there in the hot sun with his jug of gatorade and a handsaw and SUV and cart. He brought some rough-hewn pine boards and heavy chicken wire to staple over it. He really does good work, and we hope to have him in our lives for a long time.
It takes a village to keep a farm going.
And it is a relief to think that the donkeys will not eat through our barn wall and wreck our old barn, especially as winter approaches. Ray said even as he was beginning to work, the donkeys snuck up behind him to nibble on the boards.
Donkeys are crafty devils, they will try something else if this fails.
We are happy to have Ray in our lives. Next up is a new barn window on the side.