My Friend Todd

It's funny how someone comes along in your life and helps out. I met Todd at a horse facility where my granddaughter was taking a lesson.

"Who's that?" I asked the owner/teacher, when I saw a guy working very hard at her place. "That's Todd, he helps out around here. Todd! Come meet Paula."

Todd said he would call me the next morning to see what I needed him to do.

He called, and now I am having my entire yard re-landscaped. Not all of it by Todd, but his work ethic is incredible and it has spurred me to bite the financial bullet and hire a landscaper - to the tune of $8000! The landscaper is expensive, Todd is not. "How much to tear out this garden?" I asked Todd on his first visit. "Oh, that's not too bad, $50, I guess." That sounded more than reasonable, but I really didn't know how long it would take. It took 4 hours. He worked steadily, while I furnished lots of cold water. At the end of that time I asked if he would set an hourly rate, so he could make what he expected and I would know how to budget my money. He thought for a few seconds and said, "Oh, I guess $13/hour would be fine." Okay, now I knew I had stepped into the horseshit at that farm.

Now let me tell you about Todd. He is apparently schizophrenic, at least according to the woman at the riding stable. I haven't asked Todd about that, I don't care. Todd is extremely bright and although his thinking process goes places I can't follow, I listen closely. He has a lot to say.

He comes to help me when he can. He works for a contractor and seems to have work. He also has a company, it's called Mooshkie Tilling Company. I made some cards for him on my computer. They include the phrase "We'll get to Mars someday."

Todd has shared some of his life with me and I don't think it's an easy one. He has passionate opinions about things and I think he has difficulty getting others to listen. It isn't easy. Sometimes I have to stop him to clarify, but listening to him is often a waiting game, to see where he is going. His eyes are very expressive and he looks all around when he is speaking. He went to the town meeting to support his neighbor across the street. The neighbor never thanked him. This puzzled Todd.

One evening we were on the phone talking about the garden that he ripped out for me, soon to be replaced with medium sized rocks. "When the rocks umbercate...." said Todd. "Umbricate? What does that mean, Todd?" He explained that when water runs over rocks, the water turns the rocks so it can run most efficiently over them.

Today as we were digging my french drain (it is now 35' long), I got an education on geology and the rock structures that make up New Hampshire. It turns out that Todd was a geology major at Syracuse.

Todd gets used by people. Women especially, I think. He bought a car for his "girlfriend's" former daughter in-law. And he made "a few" payments on a house for a former girlfriend, even though he was sure she was on cocaine. I haven't found out what happened to that relationship, since I don't ask. He has offered to have his current girlfriend live with him to save money, but has so far been unsuccessful in convincing her. She has her son and grandson living with her now, in an apartment.

Todd got an inheiritence and used it to buy the house he has been in for a year. But part of his money was "stolen" by a bad financial counselor.

So Todd comes back tomorrow and I will order the stone so we can finish the drain that we have worked on for over a couple of weeks. It involved taking out some big rocks and breaking up a couple that we are unable to remove.

I discovered that Todd loves grilled cheese sandwiches. In addition to tons of icy cold water, I now make them every time he comes and add some rice pudding, which is a favorite. He never eats breakfast, so our day starts with my making him coffee, then an hour or so later, making sandwiches. Today we talked for that hour. So when I asked if he was hungry, he said, "well I haven't done any work." I told him I would feed him whether he worked or not. That made him smile. And the ditch is almost complete.