Sunday, June 16, 2013

Summer Work


The weather has finally broken, allowing us to lean towards summer, 
leaving behind the chilly temperatures that plagued us 
through most of the spring.
No surer sign of spring exists than to see various
home improvement projects being started on the neighborhood
homes. At morning, trailers hitched behind pick-up trucks
can be seen leaving apartment complexes all around town. 
Traveling crews come into the area, performing work 
contracted earlier by various contractors.


I remember going to Des Moines one summer 
with Carl, who was having new roofs 
put on a couple of his properties.
The crew that came in was largely Hispanic, 
with a tall, lean man who seemed 
to be their foreman. They parked their trailer 
under a shade tree and went to work, neatly
and efficiently removing the old roof, 
that was tossed into the trailer.
Just as tidily the new roof was installed,
the men and women cleaned up after themselves,
then went on to the next contract, the next town
on their itinerary. Imagine my surprise when,
the following summer, I saw the same tall,
lean man supervising a crew as they 
installed a new roof on a nearby 
apartment building.

1 comment:

dive said...

The word DOW all over the wall reminds me of Homer Simpson trying to repair his roof.