We each had our own living room and bedroom, with minimum overlap and respected each others privacy. The dogs latched on to whoever came home first.
He had been instrumental in the workings of Solufeed and a valuable member of the team.
Towards the end of 1991 he announced he would be visiting with his Mother in the U.S. for six weeks, so that was fine. He left me a card with very nice wording on it
A day or so before I expected him back, I thought I should just check his room was O.K. but when I opened the door I was astounded to see the room had been completely cleared out. He must have had someone help him move all his bedroom furniture, while I was out, which was of course his prerogative.
I felt kind of stupid I had not been aware of this, passing the door everyday for several weeks.
I managed to hook up with him for lunch a short time later, but this unusual arrangement did not come up for discussion. I have no doubt he will have moved on to great things, being a smart guy and excellent worker.
So as we moved forward into the 90s we where a much smaller group, but with very loyal and solid employees. Gary,s brother Hardy was consistent and reliable and Andy had proved himself capable of handling responsibility. He became the "Detail man", taking care of things Gary and I did not care to bother with, such as banking, dealing with licenses and insurance etc.
Secretarial demands did not justify a full time secretary, so we lost Marie which was not easy to take. But coming in just mornings, worked for Linda Stewart, who developed into an essential part of our scaled down operation.
Anne continued to visit when she could and knock the books into shape. On one visit she was accompanied by husband Peter. This was his first time to Canada, so we enjoyed having him. The T.Bird was made available for Anne to show him the sights. Fortunately she remembered to drive on the right, so no scrapes this time
Key West is a great little tropical town, always warm and sunny, very much tourist orientated.
One evening I was walking up Duval St. (The main drag) when this young man walks alongside and asks "Do you want a friend" I asked how much would that cost me? He shrugged his shoulders.
As we walked across an intersection he said " Oh I owe that guy down the street, could you lend me $5.00." So I dipped into my pocket and obliged.
That was it. He was gone. My question was answered. A couple of hours later, I come across a group of people hanging on a street corner and here is the same guy.
After a brief discussion, we pick up where we left off. As we walk across this same intersection, he asks me again "Can you lend me $5.00" I don,t think so was my quick response. I later realized that was the pusher area and he was jonesing for a hit.
After taking a nap at the hotel, when I awoke David was gone. A short time later he returned and headed straight for the bathroom ( for a long time). Meantime I had noticed $200.00 was missing from my wallet, which I had placed in a drawer. Logic would dictate that at this point, I would toss him out of the room, but I have never been very strong on logic.
Over the next several days we had a wonderful time, such as I had not experienced in decades. We rented two bikes and rode all over the Keys. He would get mad, because he could not ride away from me and complain I was riding too close behind him.
We played miniature golf, did some hiking, checked out the tourist spots, restaurants and bars, although he didn't drink. He knew the town very well, but the downside was, the town knew him equally.
We would be walking down the street and a colored guy would come up to him and ask "What do you need Man?" If it wasn't the pusher it would be the cops, giving him a hard time or a pat down. He was arrested for stealing the bike, when he went out on his own, until I was called and explained.
When it was time for me to leave, he told me it was his 21 birthday in six weeks, could I come down to celebrate with him. But I had to decline. Back In Toronto, Gary had held the fort, with fortunately no bad weather. In recent years, he had been busy working on a family, with one baby boy Grant joining the family and another not too far away.
Six weeks later I get a call from David, can I go down and bail him out of jail. He got busted on a misdemeanour. I really didn't think he should spend his 21st. in jail, so talked it over with Gary, who was very understanding and it was agreed I would go down for a couple of days.
I called the bail bondsman, who agreed to meet me at the Key West airport and we drove straight to the jail. David was very happy to see me and I took him out for a nice steak dinner for his birthday.
The stroll is an area or street, where the working gals or guys hang out. Every good size city has/had a male and separate female stroll. (Larger cities many) Computers have minimized this phenomenon, but not eradicated them.
In this picture, I am relaxing with my dogs Merchant and King as Paul struts his stuff.
During the 90s I became more aware of this side of Toronto's capricious proclivity and became embroiled, but in a rather unusual role.
Reading this section and seeing the pictures, one could easily come to a conclusion the 90s where my party decade.
Not so, I continued to work my butt off and enjoy doing so as I always have. I would always be the first one in the office every day and the one that watched the Winter Weather 24/7, working from 60 to 80 hours a week.
In over 40 years of running the landscape and snow service, only once did I screw up, allowing other incursions to interfere with the start of operations. But I have already written in considerable detail covering work details, so now I am covering other interests that caught my attention, during this period. While the subject matter may dominate this section of the blog, it did not dominate my time.
One can easily rush to judgment when discussing street people. Many of them are addicted to drugs, which become the motive for their actions. Not that this should excuse them, but sometimes it behoves us to look a little deeper. Some come from abused background, where their normality is a lot different than ours. Others may have become exacerbated by lack of employment opportunities or just plain boredom. Many crave a change of lifestyle, but can not find their way.
Similar understanding could perhaps be afforded to their patrons also, only in as much as not restricting ones imagination to the narrowest thought process. While not constituting a majority there are some, that would perhaps, on occasion, care to spend time with these people for non salacious pursuits, or even for salutary sequels. Allow me to relate an example.
For many years we serviced Ontario Hydro Head Office in Markham for landscape and snow clearing. I received a call from the Property Manager requesting we go down to London Ont to carry out an upgrade. They had a building there that had been off stream for a few years and became overgrown. They wished to start using it again so needed to have the landscape knocked into shape. We only had a $2,000. budget, so needed to make it a one day event.
At 3.00 a.m. one morning I pulled my truck up in the stroll and was converged upon by three eager young men. "How would you like to do some real work?" I asked. Their curiosity was aroused, at this unusual query.
I related my plan. We would drive the two hours plus, down to London. They would work for the day landscaping, and then drive back. For this they would receive three good meals and $100.00 cash when we got back.
All three jumped at the offer, but I only had room in my cab for two. After they had decided who would be left behind, we hit the highway. We pulled into a truck stop before London for a good breakfast, then located the property.
The long grass was cut down and raked up, then recut. I trimmed the overgrown shrubbery into nicely shaped bushes and the guys loaded everything into a 16 cu. yd. bin I had arranged with the property manager, to be ready on site. We went to a restaurant for a hearty lunch, then back to chop the weeds off the beds and cultivate them, edging for a finishing touch. Then back to Toronto with supper enroute.
The boys where delighted and gave me their phone numbers, if I could use then again. The Property Manager was impressed, "What a difference a day makes" and we did O.K. $200 labour $120 meals $100 gas out of the $2,000. budget, and a great time had by all.
The next Winter I was back to Florida to visit David. We had some serious talks about his crack cocaine problem, during which he made it very clear, he wanted to quit but it was all around him. Every time he tried he would slip back.
I wondered if locating to a new town would help, where perhaps he could make a fresh start. We took a Greyhound Coach to Naples, which is a conservative town, on the Gulf Coast. After shopping I came out of the store and David was talking to a biker. When we got back to the hotel he disappears to the bathroom for an extended period.
So we pushed further North to Tampa. He thought this was an O.K. town so passing off as his Uncle, I set up an apartment for a couple of months and a bike so he could tour around the town and hopefully get a job. Then I flew back to Toronto.
A few weeks later I get a call from his Landlord, things are not working out, he is causing problems, should he give David the money I had left with him, for him to return to Key West ? Oh well, we tried.
You see, here is the problem. There are all kinds of drug help programs available to help people to quit, but if they do not have a job, or something to occupy their time, what are they going to be thinking of all the time.
During this period, I was in the position to be able to address this issue, with several of the people I came into contact with, experiencing this affliction. To our mutual benefit.
Enter Sheldon, Sebastion, Jay, Harvey, Joe Catalina, Son Thang Lee, Chris Crosswell and of course Paul Gonzales, plus a few more that have slipped into obscurity, with the passing of time. All of the above where strictly a working relationship, with the exception of Paul and Son. Not all where ready to relinquish the lifestyle.
To make the work endurable, he started him on crack cocaine. That was 20 years ago and it is the only life he has ever known.
I first met him in "Sneakers Bar" on Yonge St. (A hustlers bar)
We connected periodically, the first few years. The longest I could ever keep him off the crack was 5 days and most of that time he was sleeping. I would wake him up to eat, but when he was recuperated, off he would go again. Paul however was doing well. I put him to work and he became very useful. He hooked up with a girl friend and we got them into an apartment. Like me, he would drive anything.
During the Winters we leased a 3 yd.loader to supplement our 1 yd. for snow clearing. During the Summers the 3 yd. worked in a gravel pit, so it was a good arrangement. You had to climb up a steel ladder to get to the driver's seat. I taught him how to work it and he became very effective.
Sheldon and Sebastion, who I also met at Sneakers, started working part time, and worked themselves into permanent full time and set up an apartment together. Chris Crosswell was an older guy, but had been through the legal system. He seemed ready for the straight and narrow, and didn't disappoint me. He held a D License which meant he could drive our dump trucks. Only problem, our older one was gasoline driven and he filled it with diesel one day. That was an expensive mistake.
We started going to Sneakers together for awhile as he would be the designated driver, so I could imbibe. I really liked the place, great music, friendly crowd. Played some pool. As soon as we go in someone would come over and say "Hey Chris, buy me a beer" I liked to party periodically, but with caution, it can be a slippery slope.
But down South things where not going so well for David. Wrong place,wrong time. He was with a colored guy that committed a serious felony. In Florida you are guilty by association, when with someone, plus he dug him self in deeper by not being honest with the police. Sentenced to Life Imprisonment, without parole. I went down to visit him a couple of times, but was very depressing. Security clearance to get into the penitentiary is very stringent.
Went to a gay Country and Western Dance. Big argument over who is going to lead. But he is a great dancer and also swimmer.
Gary & Rihana where blessed with a second son Joddy and moved into the three bedroom home in Aurora.
They enjoyed a nice big back garden, where I would later build a tree house for the boys. It had a room for each of them and a balcony, with stairs.
Mum, who had been living in a nursing home for a few years, sadly passed away. I went over for the funeral, staying with Anne, as the family home had been sold.
The house I was renting in Markham was owned by a church group, who planned to build a new church on the site, so I was given six months to vacate. I should have used my share of the equity from Mum's house to put down on buying a place, but as always it was absorbed by the business.
Consequently I used two of the offices in our industrial unit to convert into an apartment. Not long after I moved in with my dogs, I lost the oldest one Merchant.
When Anne was over a short time later we went to a dog pound, taking King with us to see if we could find him a compatible room mate as he had always had his Mother with him. We found Becky and as they seemed to get along fine, she joined us.
Andy was presented with an opportunity for a position with the Ministry of Transport as a truck inspector. With a much better salary, benefits and future prospects, we had to bid him farewell. He brought his twin baby boys to visit us a couple of years later.
Before I knew what was happening. I was laid out on a snow bank, with two guys pinning my arms back and one sitting on my chest, beating my face with knuckle dusters.
They took what cash they could find and tossed my billfold into the snow bank.
When I could manage to get my good eye open enough, I drove to the hospital, where they cleaned me up and did some stitching.
Feeling very upset, I wanted to find Son, so drove around until I saw him and he came back and sat with me until morning.
The next week I had to go in for X Rays and cat scan and appointment with a leading cosmetic surgeon. He told me I had three fractures in the face, but skilfully managed to re arrange things. My left eye was closed for three weeks (I am blind in that eye, so was thankful it was not the other one) I couldn't open my mouth, so Gary brought me a blender and I had to limit my diet, losing 20 lbs.
As the millennium drew to a close, Steelecase, our largest account of over 25 years, went out for bids for a major landscape upgrade of their facility. Coming in at over a quarter of a million bucks, it was the largest project we had ever bid on.
We where awarded the contract and geared up for the challenge.
If I learned anything on this contract, it was that you do not deprecate the architect, unless you have a death wish. At our first site meeting, I expressed concern over the specifications for the main patio area, which called for some areas to be floating and other to be secured below frost line. With the severe frosts in those parts, uneven settlement in the Spring would be inevitable, spoiling the level.
It was agreed this was a valid concern, but I had unleashed the wrath of this young inexperienced architect, who happened to be the nephew of one of the owners of the Company. The specifications where changed and we had to submit further quotes, causing delays.
From this point on, he sought every opportunity to sabotage our efforts. As an example, one Saturday I brought in a tractor trailer load of sod and 12 guys to install it. He lands on the site and starts throwing the sods around, screaming the preparation is not up to standard. I have to instruct the bulldozer driver, to rerun the area, until he is satisfied.
We did not lay a sod that week end, but of course all the guys have to be paid. When we eventually laid the sod, many rolls where spoiled and others we laid, turned after laying. This was just one of several instances.
Add to this the wettest Summer on record and we started falling behind schedule, incurring substantial penalties. The General Contractor was far from honorable and capitalized on the situation to his benefit.
In the final analysis we did not receive the remaining $90,000 due to us. This was calamitous and took us over the edge. We lost the latest trucks we where leasing, plus other ramifications.
We could have litigated, but may have taken years and be very expensive.
Following this debacle, Gary informed me he wanted to end our 30 year working relationship. He told me his wife felt he could do better on his own. I can,t say I blame them, our roller coaster journey had become exasperating.
So we divided up our contracts, half going to Rutledge Landscape and half to East Diversified Landscaping.