Wally taught me how to prune trees when I was 14 years old and paid me for it too and again the task was something I got more pleasure in. The trees I worked in were mostly Winesaps and as you old timers would remember they were high growing. I usually used a 12 foot ladder or the Kangaroo to prune them.
Speed forward to my age of 38. I was living in Edmonton Alberta and was working as a door to door milkman for Palm Dairies. On one of my milk routes I saw people pruning trees and decided I could do as good of a job if not better.
I formed a company called Royal Tree Pruning and I advertised the pruning of fruit trees, but I would prune any other tree too. I used the skills that Wally had taught me and developed some new ones of my own.
Learning how to work was something Wally could not teach me. I learned how to do the most boring, mundane, repetitive tasks happily and without complaint. It was self employment that taught me this, for if I didn’t complete all the tasks, I didn’t get paid, simple as that.
Yes, I even cut grass without complaint, although still today it is something I don’t enjoy.
My tree pruning company demanded my full attention so I got out of the milk business and concentrated my efforts on my seasonal business.
This all happened around 1986, four years after Wally’s death, but I know he would have been proud of my accomplishments as a business owner. I’m thankful that pruning is a skill I can take with me wherever I go.