Tornado? No Problem …

 

 

When I first met Jason many years ago,  I asked if he would take care of the yard at The Cabin – pick up fallen limbs, cut the grass, do some edging, blow off the driveway.  His answer was quick and short: No problem.

He didn’t know what he was getting into.  Since then, regardless of the situation, he has never flinched.

When the water heater busted and flooded the basement: No problem.  When The Cabin needed wiring for another light in the loft: No problem.  When a deer died and decayed on the lakeside, attracting a flock of buzzards: No problem.  When the green metal roof needed a bath: No problem. When the wash pump froze, the heating system went out, the huge trees needed to be removed: No problem, no problem, no problem.  There’s nothing Jason cannot do.

So, a year ago, a wicked tornado waited until I departed The Cabin before swooping down into the cove.

My ride back to Woodstock was two hours old, which meant I was only a couple of miles from home when my cell phone chirped.  Lake neighbor Bill said the tornado had ripped off some boat house shingles, splintered some tall pines and damaged some nearby homes. Trees, limbs and debris everywhere so “you might want to come back and take a look.”

Bill does not tend to exaggerate nor get excited about much.  The only time I’ve seen him slightly pumped up is when he’s explaining the next project for his lake house.  He’s a great neighbor who has not put down his hammer since moving in two years ago.  And, when Bill puts down his hammer for his cell phone, it’s something important.

I had already tried to call Jason before I made a sharp u-turn. It would take two hours to rerun the roads back to The Cabin.  Radio reports were not encouraging.  When Atlanta radio mentions middle Georgia and Milledgeville, it can’t be good.

It was unusual not to be able to reach Jason by phone.  His house is about five miles from The Cabin, and I was worried that it might have been hit by the tornado.

I worried about Jason and his boys until I pulled up to The Cabin.  There they were.  In the two hours it took for my return, they had already completely cleared all trees and limbs, returned chairs and benches to docks, raked up all debris, nailed down a heavy tarp over the damaged boat house roof, and carried off a ton of blown shingles. Evan, six years old at the time, was toting a heavy load of damaged shingles (pictured above) when I arrived.  A healthy 12-year-old would have trouble lifting that many shingles.

Evan (7), Bradley (11), and Bret (15) form quite a work crew with their Dad.  They will be glad when their other brother, two-year-old Ethan (aka “Red”), gets a little older so he can start shouldering his share of the work load.  Folks in rural middle Georgia seem to possess a tough, get-it-done work ethic not experienced by city-slickers. They also have instincts to care about their neighbors and friends.  Like on tornado day.

“We were worried about the cabin so we all hopped in the truck and headed this way,” Jason said.  “Looks like the cabin is okay, but we couldn’t see the ground when we got here. It was covered up.”

For years, Jason’s lone sidekick was Bret.  Then Bradley came along.  Then Evan and it won’t be long before Ethan fills out the work team. When you join this team, your first responsibility is to pick up sticks, limbs and anything else and put them in the fire ring.  Then, assuming you do a good job, you are promoted to the rake or blower and then to the edger.  Once you achieve those levels, you might graduate to the mower.  Only Bret has made it that far, but Bradley is close behind.

Watching these boys grow up has been a rewarding experience. Evan is strong and a hard worker.  Mischief has found him on the job a couple of times.  He likes to dig for worms – an understandable distraction back at age four – and he likes to fish, which he has learned is a fun thing to do but not when your job is picking up sticks and limbs. Bradley sometimes misses trips to The Cabin during baseball season; he likes to strut the bases after knocking the cover off the ball, which happens often.  And Bret, the big brother everybody wants, quietly sets the good example for his brothers.

Jason is stern with all of his boys, but the education they are getting is invaluable and not taught in most of today’s classrooms and homes.  Hard work.  Listening.  Discipline.  Respect for elders.  Yes, sir; no, sir.  Yes, m’am; no, m’am.

And, helping neighbors and friends comes naturally for these guys.

Like on tornado day, when The Cabin and grounds actually looked better than normal.

No problem.