Freebird

Last summer a neighbor asked me who cut my yard. I gave him a phone number and moved on with my life.

When we bought our first house many years ago, I bought a mower and used it exactly one time. While I was out mowing the yard work the first time, Mike the yard guy showed up and offered to write me up a bid on the yard work. His price was too good to be true and the bid included cutting, edging, blowing the clipping, trimming the bushes, and even the occasional gutter cleaning. I accepted his offer and rolled my mower back into the garage where it sat unused for a couple of years before I finally sold it to a friend.

Mike though reliable with cutting the yard is impossible to get a hold of on the telephone. His modus operandi is to cut the yard and occasionally leave a bill on the front door. Sometimes he goes months without leaving a bill.

After a while Mike became successful with his business and started running multiple crews. This presented a problem. We could always tell after the yard had been cut whether he had done it himself or one of his helpers. I complained and so now he usually does it himself.

Mike is a very friendly guy and quite a talker, just like the other Mike. When I catch him here mowing he talks my ear off. This has always seemed odd to me that he would spend much time talking because he is a hard worker, and time is money. Mike and his crew waste no time getting the work done. At times Mike will show up alone, other times he may have 4 other guys with him. My next door neighbor once told me that he timed Mike doing my lawn work. He said it was exactly 12 minutes from the time he rolled up till his truck pulled away. The times I have been here, it hasn't taken much longer than that. This is why Mike can charge such low rates.

The other neighbor who asked for Mikes number was startled by the way Mike does business. Last summer he called Mike and left a message asking for an estimate. Mike came and cut his yard, but forgot to leave and estimate. When he finally got the estimate, he agreed on the spot. Mike hits his yard right after he does mine. Several other of my neighbors have used Mike in the past also. In my last neighborhood, I think Mike was cutting close to 25% of the yards when we moved. That might be an exaggeration. Maybe not. I do recall seeing the mower run the length of four yards before turning around to make another pass.

Wednesday neighbor #1 calls wanting to know the best way to get a hold of Mike. Apparently his phone had been disconnected and he was worried. He wanted to get Mike to do an estimate on the front entrance for our neighborhood.

I believe Mike has been cutting our yard for over 10 years. He has always been difficult to contact and it seems he disappears every winter. But he always shows back up when it is time to cut the yard. And he just does it. I don't think we actually have a contract with him officially, though I remember we did one year, many years ago. When the yard needs to be cut, Mike will be there.

This is driving my neighbor crazy. I suspect he will get use to it, or return to cutting his yard himself. In the mean time, I am laughing my head off as he gets all wound up.

As usual I am stealing, er, borrowing other folks topics. Thanks Carol. Freebird, Freebird!