Photo by Bill Stokes
By Bill Stokes
Kickass, the doorstop dog, reports the keeper and Phyllis participating as observers in one of those family gatherings called to fix something that needs fixing where the potential contractor cost would approach the price of a good used car.
It is always best to stage these “fix” events when the keeper’s son Rick is around since he can fix anything, and once built the keeper a beautiful Mazomanie house with a 40-foot pine tree in the atrium.
So, it was at Jessie—Rick’s daughter, and James’s Reedsburg house that needed some special shoring up to save expensive storm doors. Rick, teamed with get-it-done Beau, ambitious newcomer Mike, James, Becky, and all the rest of the branch clan to spend a warm sunny Sunday afternoon putting things right, down to replanting the hostess that had to be temporarily removed to do the siding installation and brick replacement.
Functioning largely as a wise-guy commentator, the keeper sat and watched it all with admiration and appreciation for being a member of a “tribe” where if the teepee needed to be patched up you put out the word and lay in a supply of drinks and food.
This clan/tribe family fixing is a common circumstance across rural America, and big-city dwellers are to be pitied for their dependence on the contractors.
(Impotent reminder: Even those “seniors” who simply sit and watch are not excluded when the tacos and drinks are set out.)
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