Ole Pappy
WANTED: Jack of all trades. Duties include:
1. Get up at all hours of the night after heavy snow falls, put on your warmest clothes, go out in the cold weather and sit in a huge plow for several hours. Plow around cars parked on the streets and not moved during the snow fall. Repeat this over and over again until all the snow is off the streets. Spend the rest of the day scooping the piled up snow off the streets and dumping it into trucks so it can be taken to the city ball field and stored until it melts.
2. Try and find the cause of the water leak in the city’s antiquated water pipes. Tear up the streets, try and find the cause of the leak and fix it. (You’ll have to fix the street again).
3. Keep the city’s streets clean, put parking lines on the streets, etc.
4. Fix anything and everything that breaks, breaks down or simply doesn’t work.
5. Drive whatever equipment is available, whether it’s in good shape or not.
6. Fix the potholes in streets. 7. Take care of the city swimming pools cracks and breaks, whether you have the knowledge or not. 8. Be able to take all the jokes about city workers who sit around and do nothing.
9. Get in one of those bucket things and cut limbs off the trees.
10. Put up the Christmas decorations, whether your in the Christmas spirit or not. Okay, so that’s a little tongue-in-cheek on the job of a city maintenance supervisor. Fact is, one of our reliable men is retiring. Jeff Yeo has turned in his retirement papers after getting up at all hours, removing and fixing about everything in sight and generally doing an excellent job of taking care of the City of Minneota for 19 years. Jeff also takes care of the apartments and mows all the grass at a couple of apartment complexes. I asked him about retirement and he said, “I’ll find plenty of other things to do.” But chances are these “other things” won’t include getting up in the middle of the night to sit in a cold machine for several hours.
The truthful matter is, Jeff Yeo, and the other maintenance men in Minneota have done an ASTOUNDING job keeping our community in good shape. Personally, I’ve come to respect Jeff for all he does and how well he does it. In addition to his body — he’s put his heart and soul into keeping Minneota in great shape. Most of all, the way he and the other crew members rid our streets and roads from snow, time after time, regardless of the hour and situation, is truly astounding. The word, “Hard Worker” barely scratches the surface when you’re talking about Jeff Yeo.
So, THANK YOU JEFF!! YOU ARE APPRECIATED!
LAUGH A LITTLE: Now that’s stupid! One man asked his friend, “How do you spell orange?” His friend looked at him with a question on his face and said, “You mean the fruit ... or the color!” (Note: Or in Forrest Gump language: “Stupid is as stupid says”).
THOUGHT FOR THE WEEK: As my Ole Pappy used to say, “Never let fear decide your future.” This came up when I told Ole Pappy I was afraid to go back to school because of a bully. He told me, “face up to year fears.” I did, I lost, but I earned respect from my peers. Thanks Ole Pappy!