Traveling with Tire Man has a lot of interesting detours. This morning, I headed out on my morning walk and ended up taking a ride with a man I just met to see a back yard just a few blocks from my own. Little did I know that our hero had other plans for me. Wasn’t even supposed to see Tire Man today. He was to do some of the more skilled aspects of a project for the Ogden Nature Center and I was granted a day of rest. Keeping up with Tire Man is a story unto itself.
In a light drizzle and on a few extra hours sleep, I la-la-la into a morning walk. One of those thinking walks germane to the writer that listens to the Muses. The Muses tend to speak better when my mouth is shut. Go figure. The past few days were remembered. Today was embraced. Tomorrow was just far enough away to kiss without intrusion. All was right with the world.
Was surprised to see Tire Man in his yard. Suspected he would already be at the work site. It was almost Ten O’clock and that was mid day for our interpreted King of Tubular Creations. He was holding court in front of his house with his head inside the driver’s side window of a pristine old Chevy pickup. Greeted him and waved to his visitor at the wheel of the pick-up.
“Good morning. Don’t let me interrupt your talk. Just out for my walk. You enjoy your conversation.”
The walk waited. Tire Man introduced me to his visitor. Quinn. We chatted and kibitzed. Soon, Quinn shared his story. At least, his retaining wall story.
Years earlier, ten to be exact, Mother Nature took Quinn’s back yard and moved it into his neighbor’s back yard. All was not right with the world. Tire Man arrived and showed how to turn a tire inside out and build a retaining wall.
Quinn listened and learned. Quinn also did. Back then and this morning. Quinn had me hop in his truck and took me to his back yard. My morning exploration took a new turn.
A summer project. One man. Tons of dirt. Lots of tires. Quinn turned his back yard into a multi-tiered garden. He salvaged a really cool old shed his son built when he was fifteen, relocated his errant dirt by the bucketful, planted grapes and more, and built a back yard worthy of a walking tour. All by himself. Paid for with his labor and willingness to do. He entered the world of using old tires to make things new. He didn’t do it to recycle. He recycled though. He did it because it was less expensive, longer lasting, and something he could do by himself. He had to do it.
He didn’t brag. He just stated the facts and let his back yard brag for him. I walked in the garden of his labor this morning and learned more about people who just do the things that have to be done. By themselves. Using the advice and example of others. Just doing things that need to be done when nature delivers what could have been a set back. Just a project now a decade older. Just like the man that did it. Did I mention the man that did it is in his seventies now? Maybe that is why I just met him this morning and already think of him as the Mighty Quinn.
(If you are a doer, do. Get to Tirecrafting.com, get Tire's Man book and DVD, and see how easy it is to clean up the world beginning in your own back yard.)
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