Dale, our next door neighbor, was a Boy Scout troop leader for many years. He really believed in equipping young men with a variety of skills. He had a full scale workshop next to his house, and he could build anything from a doll’s cradle to a go-cart.

But the greatest gift Dale gave our family was his willingness to teach Charlie, my husband, how to do numerous things in and around the house. Charlie was an expert gardener, but he had not been a Boy Scout, and his father had not been interested in doing his own repairs. Dale had only one requirement of Charlie. Down the road, he wanted Charlie to teach someone else what Dale taught him. Dale never did anything for Charlie; instead he worked alongside him, showing him how to do things.

By the time we moved to Connecticut, Charlie had many skills from plumbing repairs, through drainage ditches, to carpentry thanks to Dale’s tutelage. We didn’t really know how we would manage without Dale next door to help us with any new household problems. We couldn’t imagine that we could ever be so fortunate as to find a Dale clone.

But then we moved next door to Bob….