Well today was my day to spend with Ruth
I remembered our last conversation when I left and it was about me pruning the big lemon tree in the backyard next time , so I loaded my step ladder into my trailer, and headed to Ruth’s house looking forward to seeing her ,
When I got there I took my stepladder and my electric pruning chainsaw to the backyard along with Ruth’s green waste bin , I thought that I would just go ahead and do that job before letting her know that I was there .
The tree had one side sticking out miles so I cut through the thick branch complete with big green fruit and all , and then I cut the branch into pieces with my saw above the bin .
I walked around the back side of the bush and to my horror saw that there were two citrus plants growing close together and I had just removed most of one , Oops ,
I hoped Ruth wouldn’t notice my blunder.
Well I went ahead and shaped the rest of the trees and pulled a few weeds out when suddenly Ruth appeared , dressed in a nice blue dress ,with a steaming cuppa in her hand .
We said good morning and she said she was not long out of bed , she asked me to do a few jobs and we chatted while I did.
I asked her if she remembered our planned trip to the nursery,
She said yes she was really looking forward to that ,and she would have to get dressed,
Funny thing was that I thought that she was already,
I said maybe we should go soon ,that way we won’t run out of time so Ruth disappeared I thought to get ready so I continued to water in the potting mix that I had added to the garden bed ,
When Ruth returned she hadn’t got changed at all but told me her head was a bit dittery so she didn’t want to go to the nursery today , I said that’s fine , the next funny thing that Ruth said to me was that I needed to prune the lemon tree, she was actually standing next to it and it was a lot smaller than an hour early , so I explained that I have already done it , that pleased her greatly.
Now I’m not exactly sure what Ruth’s issues are but sometimes when she is trying to tell me something only bits and pieces of the sentences come out .
So Ruth was trying to tell me something for a few minutes
I got ,
inside , carpet , door after a little while , so then I suggested that she show me ,
and just for the story there is a Robert like Arties older brother sitting at dining the table reading the paper ,
I’m not sure of his exact position in the picture and I haven’t asked either of them as it’s unimportant
So Ruth led me to a long passage and there was a brand new hall runner carpet from one end to the other end of the hall.
She showed me that she couldn’t open the linen press because the carpet was too tall and the bottom of the door would jamb on it .
I rolled the carpet back and opened the door and checked out the hinges ,
I said that I can plane the bottom of it for her now , today but I will need to go home and get the necessary tools to do it,
So I went home and grabbed a level,
a plane a power saw and a roll of masking tape , and cordless screwdriver,
Well it had to be the biggest heavy door ever , I think it was eight ft high , I marked the bottom with tape and then I unscrewed the hinges and I pulled it off and then I took it outside where I set up three outdoor chairs as a workbench , I put a line of tape across the top mark the cut , then with a power saw with a fine tooth blade in it cut off the bottom , a few passes of the plane and time for a refit ,
Now remembering the size and weight of the door now with a gap in the bottom I struggled to hold it up and start a screw with the other hand ,
I ended up putting a screwdriver under the door as a sort of leaver which allowed me to get a screw started ,
Ruth was so pleased about the cupboard door she couldn’t thank me enough , so she wanted to show me some rare Tasmanian white timber but she couldn’t remember the name of it so she led me to the front porch and showed me a round four seater table with the top in that timber ,
I told her later down the track when the garden is good I could sand and refinish the table for her ,
She said doesn’t it smell too much ?
I said no there are low oder clear coats available,
Then we were talking about a few more jobs for next time and I suggested that maybe she can write a list for me and we can work through it as long as she doesn’t make the list too long
She said If I do have any spare time as she is keen to get her garden done so I said can you give me your number ?
I was impressed as she confidently rattled that number strait off her head as I punched it into my phone
I said to her if I ring this your phone should ring and she say yes
The number rang but it wasn’t her number , lol
This happened three times in a row , and I suggested then that she gets her phone and I call my phone on hers ,
This time It worked a treat but I struggled to add my name on her phone
But then I had to leave as I was running a bit late for my next job
I left with a smile in my heart as I figured that Ruth would certainly struggle to simply bend over and move the mat to open the door at her age, and now it’s a sinch
So maybe I have opened the door a bit wider for us today
It was good day
Cheers