People at Work #13 : : Pedro's Dad

I just love Pedro and his crew. Pedro was recommended, as have all the good people in our life, by our realtor, friend and neighbor, Cindy. Initially they came to mow our large steep front lawn, but they basically do all the jobs that we cannot do.in the garden. The demolished our "pool" which they thought would take one morning and would up taking three days because it had concrete and rebar in it. They have built stairs, mowed the field and made rock walls. They are always laughing and work incredibly hard.

Today they delivered three yards of gravel by driving their truck through the field and parking it at our back gate. OilMan said there were five of them their initially, but by the time I went up there, there were only three. Pedro was putting an extra row of rocks on the wall bordering the top terrace,. Pedro's father was shoveling gravel into the wheelbarrow and dumping it in neat piles, equally spaced, and Julio was distributing it with a rake around the entire top terrace, covering the layer of fine dust which was all that was left of the decomposed granite which was once there, but washed down the hill over the course of four winters. We're hoping that the gravel will stay put and not wind up in our house.

 Pedro is the artisan. He builds beautiful drystone walls, but knew exactly how to heighten the border of the terrace to contain the gravel and secure it with concrete so that we could step on it without demolishing it. He always knows how much mulch/rock/gravel/dirt to order, where to get it and the best way to deliver it on our hill.

Pedro's Dad always has the hardest job.,I used to think it was disrespectful of Pedro to make him do the hardest labor, but now I realize it is just the opposite. As I've gotten to know them better, I realize Pedro's Dad clearly sees himself as shoveler-in-chief, and is proud of his wiry strength and stamina.. And when all the gravel was shoveled, he came down and deadheaded all the calla lilies which had been bugging me for days. He doesn't speak a word of English but none is needed. 

 Pedro's son will be attending my alma mater, the University of California at Berkeley in the fall. Donald Trump should go back to bankrupting businesses and let Pedro build the walls….