Tag Archives: Great Companies Who Deserve Your Business

We are Lucky 10-14-2024

This was the part of our driveway closest to the house Friday. Even after we had a previous guy work on getting the trees on either side of it under better control for the winter (when they tend to fall INTO the driveway from both sides during ice and snow or severe weather) I was still dreading the season to come.

Because a crew from the power company was here to clear the vegetation encroaching on the power lines, I went out and asked if anyone did work on the side or knew someone who did. I got the name and number of Richard Billett, called and left a message. He called me back very soon and came out that afternoon after work to see what we needed.

Happily, this weekend was free, so he started work early Saturday morning. He worked all day long until almost dinner time. He came again yesterday morning, starting even earlier, and finished up mid to late afternoon.

He cut things way back, but left the woody, natural feel we like.

My photos don’t do it justice, but he climbed tree after tree, carefully trimming or taking out some of the tops, opening things up so the sun can now get to the driveway more, enabling faster melting. He took out almost all the dead stuff – anything that looked like it might THINK of falling into the driveway, opening the whole driveway up. There is no way to show you how much he did, but I now feel safer about the driveway than I have in YEARS.

When he was showing me some of what he’d done Saturday and what was left to do Sunday, we walked quite a way down the driveway. It’s steep and skiddy with the gravel, so he offered his arm on the way back up. This old lady was very grateful for a strong arm to anchor me and keep me from falling on my head as I huffed and puffed my way back up.

Not only did he do the driveway, but he cut down a BUNCH of the weed trees that were impeding our view out of the back yard. (We feel if we can SEE it, we OWN it, so it makes us grin from ear to ear when we can actually see down the hill into the valley a bit.) He didn’t even charge us for that because he said it should have been done to clear the area around the power line.

So, in one weekend we are breathing a huge sigh of relief. Our miracle worker’s name is Richard Billett. His side business is called Ba_Boom Tree & Construction. Phone number is 918-315-4286. Email is Baboomtreeco@gmail.com. He does “Tree trimming and removal, Drop & Go, All phases of Construction, Framing, and Remodeling, Custom Decks, Metal Roof/Siding and Repairs.”

To say I highly recommend him is an understatement. He is honest and hard-working. He does what he says he’ll do, with care for the continued growth or function of what is there. (He left some trees in the ground to hold our soil, and took care when topping things so the trees would have continued growth.) He communicates well and wants his customers to be happy with the job he has done. He goes the extra mile. You can trust him.

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Delightful Surprise

I told you that we recently had trouble with our public power going off and our generator failing to come on automatically as it is supposed to do. We have replaced the starter solenoid and the battery and the generator’s red lights are still on. It started manually when we worked on it, but the problems remain.

I called our electric company, since they are the ones who installed the special electrical hookups to make the generator ‘automatic,’ but they said to call an electrician. Yeah. Thanks.

Today my husband found a number to call for generator repair. It turns out we have a generator repair person in Greenwood! His name is David Freeman, Apex Generator & Electric LLC, 4321 Fawn Trail, Greenwood AR 72936, 479-208-8616. We called, and the guy got my husband’s email address. He’ll contact him about when he can come out and look at things. HOORAAAY! Hopefully, he can help us.

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Integrity

Jason Hill – Shelter Insurance – Greenwood AR – 479-996-2171

We have had our insurance coverage with Shelter Insurance for many years, absolutely loving its agent, Phil Hicks. Phil retired – I guess about a year ago now – and we were really upset.

We got invoices for our policies and paid them. I saw the picture of the new agent, Jason Hill, and signed up for an ‘account’ on the website, since it looked as if it would be an easier way to handle things. We hadn’t bothered to go to meet Jason.

My husband bought another gun and we needed to add the information to our gun policy. Jason was very nice, but was unable to read the CD my husband had made with the gun info on it. (We are definitely older than dirt :0) ) We emailed him the information, he processed it, sent me an email saying the invoice for the extra amount we owed was on the website, and I paid it.

My husband was still uneasy about how coverage was determined for our house, how they figured contents coverage, what the procedure was for handling a loss should we have one.

We called about going to see him yesterday, but he was on his way out the door to meet with another client. I talked to my husband today and he had decided we didn’t really need to talk to Jason.

When I went back in our office, the phone was ringing. It was Jason! He had made a note that we might be coming in today to talk with him and wanted to be sure he would be there when we came. We ended up talking on the phone, instead, about my husband’s concerns. Jason patiently answered all of my questions, acting as if he had all the time in the world. I now feel I am in control, and I know what to expect if we ever have to file a huge claim. I felt valued as a customer.

I relayed the information Jason gave me to my husband, so my husband’s concerns have been settled now, too. Our contents records are updated now, and we will take the records to the bank and put them into our safe deposit box, ready if we ever need them.

It’s wonderful to know that we have once again lucked out and have a man who takes his responsibilities seriously, values us as clients, and who will handle our needs with care.

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Something Went Right!

U.S. EPA

Several years ago we had a geothermal heat and air system installed. We save money now, because the ‘system’ only has to either heat or cool the DIFFERENCE between an underground temperature of 58 degrees F. and whatever the air temperature is. This makes the system not have to work nearly as hard, resulting in less work, less money to pay for it (ignoring the cost of the system or its installation) :0)

Last spring our local caretakers of the system, Air Pro Heat & Air out of Ft. Smith, moved its offices. In the move, our spring check up got lost in the shuffle. They are SO good about calling and arranging times for the checkups that I don’t keep track. I did notice, though, in August that we hadn’t had a check. Our guy came out, made sure we were okay, and we agreed that that would be our ‘winter’ checkup. Since I pay ahead of time for the year, we were one checkup short last year.

I called the office. The nice lady made a note of it.

She called this morning, telling us our guy was in Greenwood, asking if it were okay if he did our spring service check this morning. He is here now.

I reminded him of the payment issue. He remembered, called the office, and confirmed that today’s check is no additional charge, and that we would now receive our yearly bill in the winter.

If you are in the Ft. Smith area, this company is a great one. The guy who does the check greets our dog as if she’s a member of the family. He is easy to get along with, answers and questions we have, fixes any problems. He is very good at working with the system, knows exactly what to look for and make sure all is good.

So – out of the myriad of issues we’ve been dealing with lately, this is ONE THING THAT WENT RIGHT!!!!

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Good ‘Eats’ Result in Less Lardage

“Caught Red-Pawed” – Audrius P. – Bored Panda

My husband and I really tried with the prepared meals weight loss folks – Nutrisystem, South Beach, and BistroMD – and we lost some weight, but it was grim. They either discontinued the food we really liked, we weren’t happy with the meals, or the food tasted so bad we just couldn’t hack it.

My husband was almost to his goal weight, so I was trying hard to make the keto diet work for us. We really like the recipes by Suzanne Ryan in her cookbook Simply Keto. The biggest problem with that was that we tended to eat more of whatever it was than a ‘portion.’ It was totally a self-discipline problem.

We lucked out when two new companies came to Greenwood AR recently – The Real Food Company, and Stu’s Clean Cookin’ – both offering frozen meals that are individual portions, heat up in the microwave, are good for you and TASTE GOOD!

We are happy as clams now, continuing to lose weight by declaring the frozen meals, individual portions, our main meal of the day, having tuna salad or the equivalent for lunch, and no breakfast. We are trying to limit our snacks, as well, eating healthy things – though my husband uses it as an excuse to splurge. Since HE is at his goal weight and his blood sugar numbers are now better than mine, I should look to HIM for advice…

I am continuing to drink as much water as I can without my eyeballs floating too badly, and I am trying to get in both my elliptical trainer and yoga stretches daily. My weight loss is slow and steady.

We are looking forward to our meals now, instead of gritting our teeth and making do while resenting the fact the food costs so much. Tonight, for example we are looking forward to trying “Teriyaki Chicken Lo Mein” from The Real Food Company.

Bon Appetit!

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My Faith is Restored

In the last part of 2005 into 2006 we had all of the windows in our house replaced. Things had changed a lot since we built our home in 1987, and we decided that new windows would help us save on our energy bills.

We also found that there was a huge difference in SOUND, as well. We can have pretty hard storms now and never realize it. It’s wonderful.

One of the things I like the best is that I can clean both sides of the windows from the inside, not having to dodge wasps, get up on ladders, etc. I WISH this meant my windows were always sparkling, but that’s a case of my being lazy. :0)

We had a problem with two of the windows recently. There was condensation between the layers of the windows after a rain. Due to stupidity on my part, I hadn’t kept up with the paperwork as I should have. I didn’t have the contract or the serial numbers of the windows. I only had a lifetime warranty and some other stuff. The local people were unable to find our paperwork and so had no record we had done business.

We made an appointment to go see them, taking what we had. We had a record of a check written to them, and one written by them to us. Before we went, I went through the folder one more time and a small note fell out of one of the brochures. It had one serial number on it!

Today she called and said they were able to find our records because of that one serial number! That means we ARE covered by the warranty despite my stupidity! A sales rep is coming Monday so that we can all be sure we know which windows have failed, match them up with serial numbers and whatever else is needed for replacement.

My faith is restored! Even though I failed in my responsibility to keep the proper paperwork, we chose a company who does a great job and stands behind their work. If you have a chance to do business with Window World, they deserve your business.

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A Reason to Love Mondays

“Caught Red-Pawed” – Audrius P. – Bored Panda

 

Real Food Co.

 

Last week we had a glorious week of EATING. We discovered REAL FOOD in Greenwood and pre-ordered things for the week. We enjoyed ALL of it, AND both of us managed to lose a bit over a pound!

They post choices for the coming week on Wednesday afternoons. You can pre-order from the website, as we do, or you can simply go into the store and choose from all the goodies in the freezer.  If you pre-order, you can pick up your food the following Monday.

They are open Monday through Thursday, 10:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.  479-414-6337.  964 East Center Street, Greenwood, AR 72936.

Now you see the reason that Monday has become a happy day for us. It’s pick up day for the Lewises!  (We also hope to get a loaf of bread…)

 

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Thoughts on A Friday 2-28-2020

Tasmanian Devil, commonly referred to as Taz, is an animated cartoon character featured in the Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of cartoons. Wikipedia CreatorRobert McKimson

We just put Taz up on our mailbox this morning on the way to Lunch Bunch. The Tazmanian Devil is one of our favorites.  It’s funny the way our designs have differed over the years. This one seems small and light, particularly compared to the Snow-Goon we just took down and stored in the shop. This one is only about 2 feet tall, where the Snow-Goon is almost 4.

Jerri St. John of Jewels from Jerri’s VIPS  (https://www.facebook.com/groups/jewelsfromjerriVIPs/?fref=nf )

bought a couple of pairs of earrings I was listing on my Etsy site. They were delivered yesterday. I was so happy she liked them. Then she did THIS –

on Facebook. I’m STILL grinning and dancing. What a NICE, generous thing for her to do!  She is a representative of Paparazzi Jewelry – FUN pieces that I can’t resist. I buy things from her all the time. She couldn’t do a better job of responding, filling your order, shipping, etc.

We had our normal wonderful time at Lunch Bunch. We look forward to catching up, good food, good conversation, laughs, and good hugs.

One of our errands was at Walmart. On the way out to our truck, there was a crowd. A person was down in the parking lot. We stopped, asking if there were anything we could do, but they told us an ambulance was on its way. My heart goes out to the person in distress, but I was happy that so many people stopped what they were doing to try to help.

It is a bit after 2 pm here. The sun is shining and it’s 55 degrees F. here!  What a lovely day – and it’s still February!! I’m going to go out and visit my veggie plants and walk around the yard. What a treat!

Have a happy day!

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Filed under Friendship, Gardening, Great Companies Who Deserve Your Business, kindness, Lewis Art, Lewis Mailbox Decorations, metal art, Square Foot Gardening - Raised Beds, Thoughts on a ________

Our Baby is Back!

GTCarLot.com

In November of last year, my husband inadvertently backed our 2003 ‘Vette into a truck in the post office parking lot. The truck didn’t have a scratch and the owner looked it over carefully and told us to go on. Our Vette, however, was a different story. There was a huge squashed place on the right rear to the right of the tail light, and part of the adjoining part was dented.

We took it to our wonderful insurance man, Phil Hicks of Shelter, Insurance, and he told us to take the Vette to Greenwood Collision for an estimate. They sent us (and Phil) an estimate. Vettes are not cheap to fix and the back end of the car, plus the adjoining piece, would have to be replaced. The estimate was $3374.65. Thank GOODNESS we were only responsible for the $500 deductible. The insurance company sent us a check for the balance after the deductible was taken out and we were good to go.

The problem was, no one had the body parts we needed. One of them came in a reasonable amount of time, but the other was on backorder. We waited and waited, with Patty, the kind lady who handles the office, calling us with updates, or lack of them. She called us last Monday, telling us the final part had arrived and that we could bring the Vette in for repair.

Today she called, telling us the Vette was ready!  My husband was very happy with the job they did. Patty had our bill ready, made us a copy of the check I wrote, and we were on our way.

I told her that I wrote a daily blog, that I had written about Greenwood Collision before, and would do so again. They couldn’t have done a better job for us. No one can help parts not being available. On everything they had control over – the estimate, the ordering parts, the communication, the repair of the vehicle, and handling the payment and paperwork, they could not have done a better job.

I highly recommend both of these companies –

Phil Hicks, Shelter Insurance Company, 1740 W Center St, Greenwood, AR 72936, (479) 996-2171 

Greenwood Collision, 2615 W Center St, Greenwood, AR 72936, (479) 996-9922

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Another Great Company That Deserves Your Business

Energy Informative

This is not our home, but it gives you an idea about the procedure we did several years ago to retrofit our home with geothermal heat and air.

After the installation, we signed up for Air Pro Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. to come out in the spring and the fall to make sure our system was acting properly and was ready for the season ahead. It’s some of the best money we have ever spent.

We pay for the service once a year. The company calls when it’s time and we arrange an appointment. Our wonderful service man, Joshua, is mostly early or on time. If he’s going to be late, he calls.

When  we needed better thermostats, Joshua came up with a suggestion of two or three that were designed to work with geothermal systems. We chose one of them, and he ordered them for us. When they arrived, he came and installed the two we needed – one for upstairs and one for downstairs.

He checks everything very thoroughly, inside and out, AND is a super nice person, as well!

If you want a great company to take good care of your heating and air conditioning needs, call Air Pro Heating & Air Conditioning, Inc. in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Their number is  479-646-9699, and they advertise that they are there 24 hours a day.

 

 

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Karns Tree Service

My husband was getting a maniacal look in his eyes when we were looking at the large tree whose branches were encroaching on the house and our well house recently. As we talked about what needed to be done we agreed that it was too large a job for us.

I contacted HomeAdvisor.com and found Karns Tree Service. Randy called this morning and asked if he would be okay if he came by first thing to give me an estimate. He came with a partner, a big truck, a big mulcher, and tools, ready to work. He gave me an estimate, then lowered it a bit if I would let him go ahead and do our small job while he was here, rather than asking him to come back later.

He and his partner worked for an hour or so. He worked carefully with me on which branches needed to be cut. I saw he really knew what he was doing, and so told him to use his expertise on other branches he thought needed to go. The main thing was avoiding any damage to our house or our well house, which has an a ham radio antenna on the top.

Not only did they remove the branches, they put all the debris through the mulcher so my husband and I wouldn’t have to kill ourselves dragging the branches elsewhere, plus raked to get the smaller stuff.

As we talked afterwards, Randy told me he was also set up to smooth our driveway when needed (ours is 650 feet and steep, and so is another job that needs someone who knows what they’re doing.) He also said he could trim the branches that are sticking out in our driveway if we wanted, and gave me prices for both jobs.

We also agreed that it would be fine if we could agree on projects and then he could do them when he was already in the area or could work them in, rather than having to come from his home.

I’m very pleased with the professionalism, great customer service, and attitude of Randy and his partner and look forward to hiring them again soon.

Click on the link above to see his Facebook page. His phone number is 479-965-6148. He is fully insured and gives free estimates. He has a 65 foot bucket truck, and does fence-row clearing, Stump removal, and brush removal, and will response 24/7 for any tree or storm emergency.

Randy Karns.  Karns Tree Service.

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Win-Win

I just received these two blouses from a wonderful website. It’s called The Animal Rescue Site 

It’s affiliated with a kind of umbrella company called, The Greater Good, which has several websites that offer nice things. When you purchase something, you feed shelter animals.  I fed 71 shelter animals with the bottom blouse and 35 with the blouse at the top. It’s a win/win situation and I love that.

Please consider doing some shopping with these good folks.

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