The title of this post reminds me of the old TV show, My Three Sons. And it isn’t even correct, it’s My Seven Guys. Actually, they are only my necessary guys, not guy, guys. I don’t think I’ll ever need any other guys except these seven guys. Got that?

Explanation of my guys. Since becoming a widow of a husband who could do everything and anything, I have found that I now have to hire “guys” to do all those things. And these guys specialize and only do one thing.

My water softener guy puts salt in my softener when I decide it needs to be filled. Our water softener in Ohio was to look inside the tank and fill it up with salt whenever it got low. My new softener is outside my house in its own little house inside my fenced-in backyard.

So when I think it needs to have salt, I call them, then they text me when they are coming and we go from there. My water softener guy is coming Friday between 12 and 5 and will text and call me when he is near. That’s the way it works in the big city.

I have a pest control guy, whom I pay quarterly. He sprays inside and out for spiders, mosquitos, any kind of flying, creepy crawly things following the same protocol as the water softener guy. Texting, calling, etc. They are all the same, so I’ll dispense with that info from now on.

My fence guy is coming sometime this week to see if I need new gates. I know I need new gates so he will just tell me how much and when he can do them.

My mower guy is supposed to come every two weeks, but we have had a lot of rain, so he is now backed up and my grass is really tall. I went away for the weekend and my neighbor texted me and said she was mowing her front yard and did I want her to do mine. Obviously, it was looking bad, so I said, of course, sorry about my guy.

My tree trimmer guy was here in early March and got some of my back yard trees done, but here in Texas certain trees can’t be trimmed from February until June, so he will be coming back in June, following the same procedure.

My furnace guy was here last week to do the annual AC yearly maintenance but will be back for furnace and electrical and plumbing maintenance on a rotating schedule. I pay a small fee monthly, but it’s cheaper than hiring each one separately.

Lastly there is my car guy, which I seem to have a bit of control over. I can choose when I need my oil changed and my tires rotated, but they keep sending me reminders and coupons, assuming I might forget. I’m still not quite over the last episode at the oil change place. It was like a SWAT operation.

I have all these guys doing their jobs, texting and scheduling but I miss my old guy, who could do it all and never texted me.

Reach Kaye Brown at [email protected].