The New Apprentice

Yesterday, an electrician came out to the ranch to hook up a generator we just bought for those times when the electricity supplied by REA goes out. Thankfully, that is not often, but my cautious wife likes the refrigerator and freezer to keep running. The biggest problem in such times is that we run out of water because our water comes from a well which needs an electric pump. Consequently, we rely on electricity even more than folks in town who at least still have water when their power goes out. And another thing, our TV doe not work without electricity. So, for different reasons, we got a big generator as an emergency back-up system in anticipation of the arrival of winter.

Like most mobile tradesmen, this electrician, named John, has a well-organized truck in which he keeps his tools and electrical parts and supplies. It is well-organized so that he can find whatever he needs immediately.

Beau is a Yellow Labrador RETRIEVER. He can also be called a Re-Thiever. Theft is his speciality.

Beau was very interested in John’s work as an electrician. As far as I know, Beau has little education as an electrician, but is apparently self-taught. In his opinion, John did not correctly organize his tools. So, Beau took it upon himself to assist.

Beau has similarly helped other tradesmen. Beau has a lot of experience with plumbing and carpentry. I have written in other posts about those experiences. He has also assisted a FedEx driver and a UPS driver by delivering items from those trucks with his mouth. If only he could read better, he would have seen that the packages he removed were addressed to others. When I was three years old, I could not read either.

After John worked on the generator installation, he came to the house to go back to the fusebox. His route required him to come in through the kitchen. The door from the kitchen to the outside opens onto a deck. I accompanied John. On the deck, I noticed a very nice set of pliers with rubber handles. I assume that Beau anticipated that John might need them in the house rather than inconveniently leaving them in the truck parked 100 feet away. I asked John whether those were his pliers. (I did not recognize them and do not usually keep my own tools outside on the deck.) By golly, those were indeed John’s pliers.

Given the help provided by Beau, I am thinking about paying less than the entire bill because John did not do all the work. We deserve credit for supplying an apprentice to help him.

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