Meet Carlos Santos

I met him at the supermarket this week when I spotted the huge bandage on his left hand and asked him what happened.

He told me he was working on his car with the hood open and the engine running. He had installed some new radiator hoses and was checking to see if they leaked.

Pow, he caught his left hand in the fan blade with a careless move. In a flash the whirring blade caught him on the palm and wrist and ripped it apart. Luckily, he lives in Des Moines and was rushed to Highline Medical Center Emergency.

Carlos is a landscaper-gardener, and when I asked how long he would be out of work he grinned and said his Doctor Vincent Mooneye told him it would be about six weeks before he could use it.

Meanwhile he waved his right hand and said, "See, I still have one hand. I can do lots of work with one hand. Do you have any tree trimming or yard work for a strong one handed person?"

I was impressed by his chutzpah and said I would put his phone number in this story. Maybe some reader could use some help.

It is 206-241-8736

Meet Tita Esqueda

Tita is employed by Kids Country Day Care Center, one of 11 locations.

Burien is the corporate headquarters and was the company's first center. It was started in 1988 and is owned by the Langston family of Snohomish. Burien's Learning Center is on Ambaum across the street from Huckleberry Square.

Her charges are from four weeks to 12 years old, and they have nine different classrooms. Combined numbers for all centers range around 1,200 youngsters.

Her job description really impressed me. Besides those duties mentioned, she also delivers all meals and snacks to all classrooms, sweeps and mops floors daily, picks up and washes all dirty dishes from classrooms, provides shopping list for food, defrosts freezers when needed, labels and dates all leftovers to be frozen, attends all staff meetings.

I wonder what she says when her husband asks, "What's for dinner, Honey?"

Meet DeDe Barnes

This engaging and crusty personality has kept patrons chuckling for 13 years at the popular Des Moines Yardarm Inn. Many of her customers are teachers at Highline Community College, whose pictures she has hanging on the wall.

"I love our college and I love the athletes who come down here because we serve the best hamburger in the world," she said. She regularly wears a sweatshirt to prove it.

She also loves old cars and owns a '55 Studebaker.