Monday, February 28, 2005

Oh, No! I'm Out Of Month And Still Have Work Left!

I can't believe what I did. I really can't believe what I did. I am the first to admit that I'm definitely not the most organized person around, but I pretty much have my work schedule down to an art. I am contracted to do a certain amount of work per week, and so as to ensure that I meet that requirement, I know what I must get done each day so that I'm not behind at the end of two weeks when it's time to turn in an invoice. Well, to sum it up, somehow I completely forgot that February only has 28 days. How does one forget that? Anyway, guess what I spent a lot of time doing today?! I had three days' worth of work to do! I did get it done, though. Whew! I'm feeling much better now.

Well, we didn't get as much as snow as we were supposed to. We did, however, get another day off from school! I wonder what will happen tomorrow? I would like to see just one more day off, now that my work is caught up, my headache is gone, and all's right with the world!

Sunday, February 27, 2005


Rock on, guys!

It's Not A Real Garage Band Unless The Neighbors Complain

Tom and his friends have finally reached the pinnacle of Garage Band playing. The neighbor complained.

We went to Lowe's to get the rest of the stuff for the bathroom. While we were there we looked at shower stalls, because eventually we want to put a small one in the downstairs bathroom. We think that a bathroom with 2 full baths might sell better than one with 1.5 baths, especially since there is a bedroom and it's finished down there. After Lowe's we went to Wal-Mart because Andy needed some new school pants. At the beginning of the school year I bought him three pairs which he is still wearing, but they are getting a bit thin in the knees! Not bad for five months of wear! I got him two pairs of pants today, but these are the kind that the bottoms can zip off, so that when spring comes he can use them as shorts, too. I also got some unmentionables for myself and Andy (yes, I know - I mentioned them). Then it was Burger King - just what my thighs needed - and home again.

I am waiting to see what the weather will do. I'm really excited that they are calling for a lot of snow, but that has happened before and all we got were about two flurries. We shall wait and see what happens, but I wouldn't mind more snow days at all. Here's hoping!

Choices, choices........

Solomons Island as seen crossing the bridge going north.

Taken from the top of the Solomons bridge.

This was taken from the Solomons bridge. The tide must be low - look how far out that sandbar extends.

Saturday, February 26, 2005

All Right, Who Invited Bob Vila?

For the last two days Jerry has been working on our bathroom. To put it mildly, it was a mess! The paint on the walls had gotten moisture under it and bubbled, and the ceiling was constantly damp, so mildew loved it there! We took a good look at our whole house, looking at it like a prospective buyer might, and it was frightening! There are so many things that I guess we just got used to, that it took looking at our house from someone else's perspective to realize how well, comfortable, we had gotten with things around here! Jerry decided the bathroom would be first. He sanded down the walls and used sealer and mildew-proof paint for those, and a really heavy-duty mildew-proof paint on the ceiling. The fumes had everyone hallucinating for a few hours! He stayed up all night last night taking up the old flooring, taking the commode up, and in the process discovering that the water valve had been bad and leaking minute amounts for who knows how long, which of course meant that the plywood around it now needed fixing and sealing. Tom made the comment that we are going to get our house fixed up so nicely, that we won't want to move! I doubt that, because while we can physically fix up things around here, there's not a thing we can do about the people around us and the crowding, which is the biggest reason we want to leave. Today Jerry has put the commode back where it belongs (thank goodness), and is putting the new bathroom door on. I'm very thankful to be married to someone who knows how to do these things! I do get a chuckle out of it, though, when someone says to me, "Oh, you are so lucky to be married to someone in this business. Your house must be beautiful!". If they only knew! You see, by the time he finishes making other people's houses beautiful, he doesn't want to come home and work on his own! Something like why the shoemaker's children go barefoot! Well, getting a good selling price is always good motivation, right?! And if, by some divine intervention we decide not to move, we will enjoy our improved surroundings!

No, we are not relocating the commode! Jerry put the new floor down and painted. What a difference!

This picture is a little dark, but at least the commode is where it is supposed to be! Note the plywood floor!

Friday, February 25, 2005

Snow Battle!

It's a good thing that snow melts - otherwise we'd still be removing it from our ears, eyes and mouths! We had quite a snowball fight yesterday. Tom's drum-playing friend was here, so that made five of us in a snow melee. We weren't on teams - it was every man for himself! Things got downright vicious at times, when someone would sneak off and wouldn't be noticed missing until someone else got a direct hit! It was dark which made it much more challenging. At one point I looked up and saw Tom barreling towards me like a linebacker and before I could gather my wits, he had flattened me in the snow with a flying tackle. That was a little disturbing. Tom definitely needs to learn the finer points of a snowball battle! Jerry, being the strong and silent type, chose to lurk around the yard and bombard anyone he thought wasn't paying attention. Things got a little harsh at some points, like when Tom's friend began launching snow from a shovel at everyone (at least he didn't throw the shovel!), and Tom pulled snow out of my birdbath which had water mixed in with it and threw that at us. Those were slushballs, not snowballs. Yuck! We had a great time, though. This snow day was most definitely not wasted!

Tom, plotting to hit me with a snowball until he realized I was holding HIS camera!

Snow clinging to the clothesline.

I asked the boys to pose for a picture but I told them this looked like a police lineup. They decided to be wiseacres....

...and pose like this for the next picture.

Thursday, February 24, 2005

Praise The Lord and Don The Snow Boots!

The snow that I have been praying for has arrived! During the last snow we had, Andy wanted me to go out and have another snowball battle with him, but with my priorities misplaced, I told him no, that we'd go out tomorrow and do that. Well, tomorrow came and the snow was melted. I realized later that day that I would have had much more fun playing in the snow than doing what I actually ended up doing. During my prayers that night I asked for one more snow for Andy. You can bet I won't waste today. Sometimes grownups get caught up in grownup things and forget how to just play, when that's what they need most of all!

Yesterday Jerry and I went grocery shopping - no, not because the snow was expected - because our cupboards were bare. I had a chuckle waiting in the checkout line. Our cart was piled high, and the lady behind me only had a few items. The cashier had already started ringing up our groceries, when I happened to turn around and notice how little this lady had in her cart. I told her that I was sorry, that I should have let her go ahead of us, but she answered "Oh, don't worry about it. I'm not in any hurry at all. I just heard the S-word and decided to go to the grocery store". Perhaps we're crass here in my household, but here when someone uses the phrase "the S-word", it usually means someone has heard foul language, and I admit that just for a moment I had to think about what this lady said. Then it came to me - Oh! SNOW! She meant SNOW! My goodness - if we ran to the grocery store every time we heard "the S-word", our cupboards would certainly never be bare again!

My winter flag blowing in the wind. I knew I was right to keep it flying!

I was looking up at the sky and took this picture of the snow falling. Not great for the camera, but a neat picture!

My azalea looks like a cotton plant!

The wind is blowing and painting the trees with snow.

My snow-covered cat patiently followed me around while I took pictures this morning.

Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Bungee - The Sport of .... Squirrels?

Never a dull moment at our house. Not only do we keep ourselves entertained, but now we are giving the squirrels something to do. Last week Jerry and I went to Lowe's, and while he was looking at manly things, I wandered over to the bird feeder aisle. Less danger of being asphyxiated by testosterone there. Anyway, I found a squirrel bungee. Yes. A squirrel bungee. It is a cord that has a block of corn attached to the bottom and a spring near the top, so when a squirrel tries to get it, they end up bouncing and twirling around on the corn block. It really is pretty amusing to watch. We are simple folk - doesn't take much to entertain us!

Ride 'em cowboy!

Monday, February 21, 2005

Happy Anniversary To Us!

Yesterday was our 23rd anniversary. I spent the early part of the day cleaning house, while Jerry worked on his truck in the garage. Finally toward evening we spent some time together - splitting firewood! I guess that's how it is when you've been married half your life! Instead of going out for dinner, we ordered in, so at least I didn't cook. We had our neighbor over and Tom had his friend over, so it took some doing to decide on something for everyone! Andy and I like Chinese food but we don't often get it because Jerry doesn't like it, but the neighbor wanted that too, so we got Chinese food for the three of us. Jerry, Tom and Tom's friend wanted subs, but when they called the sub place down the street, they said they were out of sub rolls! Have you ever?! Anyway, they settled for Dominos and got what they wanted from there. It was a very nice and relaxed evening and as a bonus, I still have some of my Chinese food left for today's lunch!

I forgot to put in what I wanted to about the title of yesterday's post. I had heard the expression 'West, By God, Virginia' before, but I wanted to know how it came about. I found out that it was used by people in West Virginia to differentiate themselves from Virginians before West Virginia was a state in it's own right.

Sunday, February 20, 2005


There are lots of new houses on the mountain. And they aren't small cabins, either. There's even a row of "cookie-cutter" mailboxes at the entrance to Lost Mountain - all look the same in a neat row, encased in a box with a roof. I wonder if that's a prerequisite - that your mailbox has to conform?!

Andy liked the tower. The red light doesn't blink and we didn't hear the hum that we used to. I wonder if it is still in use?

View from the gas line clearing (to the left of the airstrip, facing the tower).

View from the airstrip.

Jerry and his mom walking the airstrip.

We were surprised at the disrepair of what used to be our "pink house"! It didn't appear that anyone was living there. It looked like it had definitely seen better days.

The little cabin on the left has some, well, interesting paint colors! Pink and deeper pink (some might call it mauve!)

This house looks familiar! The picture didn't turn out so well because of a glare from inside the truck. I'll try to do better next time!

I wonder how far away those mountains in the distance are?

View from the top - wow!

West, By God, Virginia!

What a day we had yesterday! We left at 6:30 am for West Virginia and arrived back home at 11:30 pm - tired, but happy! We had gone to see if we could locate property markers to save having to get a surveyor out there, but we could only find one. The real estate agent provided us with a copy of the plat and measurements for the lot. We tried to go off of those measurements from the marker that we did find, but there weren't any markers to be found. We had brought Andy's metal detector with us which picked up everything else - including a pipe running under the access road - but no property markers. We dug where they should have been, but still didn't find them. Oh, well. It's probably better to have a new survey anyway, since the airstrip has been changed and we need to find where 100' from the original airstrip should be. We will be going back after the survey is done. While we were there we went through Romney to see how it had changed. It has changed A LOT! I actually found myself disoriented a couple of times because things weren't where they used to be!

We picked Jerry's mom up on the way yesterday morning. This worked out well for me - I chose to sit in the back seat with Andy, which is where I prefer riding. I'm getting better about traveling, but I prefer the back seat to the front passenger seat, and it doesn't seem right for Jerry to be in front by himself while we ride in the back! He looks like a chauffeur! I do ride in the front seat when it's just the two of us going somewhere - that would look strange! One day I'll be totally comfortable riding in the front, but for now I'm making small but steady progress - at least I'm going places! Baby steps, right?!

We had originally intended to take care of business in Romney, then head further west to look at property. When the weather forecast seemed to be changing by the hour, we decided we would wait until the afternoon to decide whether we would head back home or not. By 3 pm they were still calling for nasty weather starting in West Virginia Sunday morning and moving east by Sunday evening. We decided to play it safe and head back, and just plan to explore west on another trip.

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Gotta Love Technology

I got a new scale today. Why, I'm not sure. I already knew that I was, well, let's just say that if I were a fast food item I'd be super-sized. Avon is starting to carry a lot of health stuff, so I saw this neat scale and thought I'd like to have it. Momentary insanity, I guess. This scale not only tells your weight, but also your percentage of body fat and your body hydration level. I stepped on it and it told me that my weight was &*%. Oops, my keyboard messed up. My weight was *^$. Darn, there it goes again. Let's just say it said I was @&%$ LARGE!

Tuesday, February 15, 2005

Why I Only Have Two Children

I hope he's enjoying the carpet,
not allowed to sleep up on the couch.
Hope the floor doesn't make him too grumpy.
I don't want to live with a grouch.

I speak not of a dog or a cat here,
or a creature brought in from the wild.
No, what I am making this reference to
is my bright, but yet misguided, child.

I'll love him forever and always,
but what is a mother to do?
When sent out for a bed, he came home instead
with - smelling salts, please - a tattoo.

Mother has the vapors.....

Sunday, February 13, 2005

Us 1, Clutter 0

Yesterday was a major blow to clutter in our household. Armed with four family members on a de-cluttering spree and a large, empty dump trailer, the junk around here didn't stand a chance! As much as I hated to do it, I did have to step in, though and put a damper on the festivities. In an effort to get Andy's room de-cluttered, Jerry told Andy he would park the trailer under his bedroom window and Andy could have a grand time tossing things out the window. Andy thought this was a wonderful idea, and I would have too, except that I was afraid that Andy would toss the things that he didn't care for - but that we still needed - like portions of his curriculum for next year! I finally agreed to the arrangement with the stipulation that I had final veto power about the things being tossed out. Eventually, though, the trailer got full before we got to that point, so we haven't done that yet.

It was kind of a sad day on Friday. Andy's goldfish died. I had thought that the fish was getting sick earlier in the week because he would just lie on the bottom of the tank and didn't seem to want to eat. He used to love frozen peas, but he wouldn't even eat them. On Thursday I changed his entire tank, scrubbing everything, reconditioning the water and changing the filter, but I guess it didn't help. We think the fish died of swim bladder disease. Andy's last fish died of the same thing, too. When fish have this disease, they can't really control their swimming and look like they are doing acrobatics in the tank. It is amusing, but only for a little while because then you realize that they are sick and only have a 50/50 chance of surviving. Swim bladder disease is like that - either they will recover by themselves or they won't. Andy's last fish was one he got from Wal-Mart. We were amazed at how big he got. We had him for over two years and when he died last September he was 5 inches long and 2 inches wide (yes, we measured him when he died!). This last one also amazed us with his tenacity! Andy won this fish from the county fair last October. You know, the game where you land a ping-pong ball in a fishbowl and win a scruffy-looking goldfish in a plastic bag?! We couldn't believe he lived as long as he did. Andy was very brave about it - a little sad, but he chose to take the fish out of the tank and take care of everything himself. We have decided not to replace the fish as it would be something else to move, if that's what we decide to do.

Tom was feeling a bit sore this morning, but we got a chuckle out of it. We had decided a long time ago that his mattress needed replacing, but he kept putting it off until finally yesterday while we were loading the trailer, we told him the mattress HAD TO GO! It was falling apart and didn't smell too pleasant, either. He and his drummer friend were already going to play music in our garage yesterday afternoon, so since his drummer friend has a truck, they were going to go get Tom's mattress first in the truck and then bring it here before they played music. Well, apparently Tom decided that just hanging out with his friends and getting back here to play music was more important, so he decided to put the mattress-buying off. We told him in no uncertain terms that he was not going to sleep on any of the furniture just because he chose not to go shopping. This morning we saw him asleep on his floor - a sheet underneath him and a blanket on top. When he got up I asked him how his sleeping arrangements worked out. He said that he was NEVER going to do that again. He said he was so stiff and sore and had such an awful night, that the FIRST thing he was doing when he got off of work today was to find a mattress. Looks like he got a lesson in procrastination!

Wednesday, February 09, 2005


Andy's narcissistic fish! The real one is on the left - his reflection is on the right. The white line between the images is the corner of the tank. He spends a lot of time staring at himself! Maybe it's time for another fish.

Here is the 2.5-legged cat, just wishing he could get that squirrel who is teasing him just outside the door!
Not a lot has been happening here recently. Which is just fine with me! Yesterday I worked at Andy's school and, as always, it was fun. As I was looking at the children in Andy's grade yesterday, I couldn't help but noticing how very grown-up they are all becoming. I have seen these children in the school since Andy was in kindergarten, and they look so different now. Gone are the chubby cheeks and missing teeth. They are truly starting to look like middle-schoolers. I will miss being involved in the school next year. I will, however, be thoroughly enjoying homeschooling! We have pretty much gotten his curriculum together. We are doing a modified Charlotte Mason approach which is based on living books. Living books are books that have a story to them, whether true or fiction. They differ from textbooks in that they don't just teach dry facts and figures - the people in living books are real and have real-life situations and problems. Hence, the name living books. For instance, instead of just reading about World War II in a history book, we will read The Diary of Anne Frank, A Boy At War, and others like that, and then study the countries involved, etc. I have chosen Math-U-See for his math because I really like it. It's not based on grade level skills. I know some fifth graders who have trouble with addition! The sequence of the Math-U-See curriculum is according to skills - not grade level, so you don't advance to the next set of skills until you master the necessary ones that come before that. I also like the fact that once you get to the high school tricky math, it comes with a DVD that teaches it so parents can learn too! (A must in my case!). It goes up through calculus and trigonometry if you want to go that far. We'll have to see about that when the time comes! I'm not too worried about language and grammar. I feel that if you are reading well-written books, you will pick up on grammar and language usage just as well as using a textbook. Andy is already correcting my grammar! Just this morning before school I reminded him to "brush your teeth good". He said, "Well. Brush them well." Wiseacre.

We had kind of a homemade dinner the other night. I didn't realize it until I was loading canning jars into the dishwasher afterwards, though. I had cooked a pork roast in the crock-pot and had poured a jar of applesauce (that I had made) over it while it was cooking. Then at dinner we had beets that I had canned (jarred?) this summer, and green beans that I had also canned. I managed to can quite a bit this past summer, but we didn't grow all of it. Jerry's mom lives next to people who grow lots of vegetables and they are very generous. When we were there visiting and they found out that I canned things, they loaded me up with beets, squash, green beans, cucumbers and onions. I pickled some of the beets and canned them, and the rest of them were canned plain. Jerry doesn't eat pickled beets, but I sure do! I froze the squash, and canned the green beans. The cucumbers were made into bread and butter pickles, and we tried to make dills for the first time, but they were terribly soft and soggy. Yuck! I braided the onions and hung them to cure. There is something very peaceful about seeing jars lined up and a braid of onions hanging! I managed to grow tomatoes, green peppers and banana peppers this year, which we really enjoyed during the summer. When the weather became chilly and the first frost was called for, I still had quite a few things on the vines, so I picked everything and made a bunch of chow-chow with the green tomatoes and the different peppers. I followed the recipe as I had never made it before, but it was very tart! The kind of tart that gives you jaw cramps! Whenever we open a jar we add sugar to it and it's delicious. I especially like it on my tuna sandwiches. Tom eats it all by itself in chow-chow sandwiches. Next time I'll just add more sugar right from the start! I would love to have a huge garden, but it's very hard to do here. We have telephone lines and a water line in the front yard, and cable and electric in the back! My tiny tomato and pepper patch was on the side, and that's about all that will fit there. I have managed over the years to stick things in wherever I can fit them, though. I have about 50 strawberry plants on the hill in the back yard. There are grape vines there, too. This past summer I found raspberries and blackberries growing on the side of the ravine in the yard. I marked the plants with pieces of fabric so that I could transplant them into the yard in November, but then realized I really had no place to put them, so I figured I'd leave them where they were and brave the mud to pick the berries. I started a small rose garden. My original intention was to plant a rose bush for each family member. I was going to start with my family, and then expand out each year, adding a rose bush for each extended family member. Tom thought this was a hilarious idea - he said if you're mad at someone you can go pour gasoline on their bush. I found that less amusing than he did. Anyway, I decided not to do that as I just didn't have space for it. I managed to get six rose bushes in. I guess I'm glad I didn't plant them for specific family members this time - a few of them got diseased and had to be treated! I would have hated to have had "diseased" family members! One day when I have the space I would also like an herb garden. For the past three years I have had a small one in a pot that I kept on my front porch. The chives come back each year. I love to go out and snip some to use on baked potatoes or put in food. I grew dill which we used in the pickles we made, and sage. I really should have tried to dry the sage, but it got away from me and I didn't get to it before it got too strong. I planted mint and catnip on the bank of the ravine in the back yard. I like to pick mint leaves and chew on them while I'm "touring the estate"! (Takes all of five minutes!). It's interesting that the catnip doesn't have an enticing smell until you crush the leaves, so the cats (mine and the strays in the neighborhood) leave the plants alone. I pick leaves and tear them for the cats who will claw them out of your hands once they smell it, if you're too slow giving it to them!

I suppose it's a good thing that not a lot has been happening, or today's blog would have been a novel!

Monday, February 07, 2005

A Virus By Any Other Name

is still a virus. Well, this weekend was certainly interesting. I learned two new things - that virus scans can miss computer viruses occasionally, and that God definitely has a sense of humor. I discovered last evening that my computer had contracted a virus that wouldn't allow me to access DOS programs - which of course I need for one of my jobs. I finally found information on this virus and found a web page where the issue is addressed and gives step-by-step information for getting rid of it. Step 1 - run a full antivirus scan on all of your computer. Okay, no problem - except that the scan took a very long time, and by 10:30 I was ready for bed, so just left the computer to do it's thing. At about 2:00 I woke up and decided to check it. It hadn't found a thing. Nothing. It declared my computer "virus-free". Oh yeah? Try running WordPerfect for DOS! (At 2:00 a.m. I am entitled to talk back to my computer). I turned it off and went back to bed. I got up this morning and started again. Okay, where was I? Oh, yes - step 2. Use your original Windows XP disk and replace three files corrupted by the virus. Hmm - can't find my XP disk. I searched everywhere, and could not find it. I turned my house inside out. I asked Tom at 6:00 if he had seen it and he said no. Well, I decided that now was a very good time for another prayer. (The first prayer had been said the night before, asking for wisdom to figure this thing out!). I prayed for help finding my disk, but afterwards I felt a little nudging about spending more time on housework, and less on, well, everything else. I prayed again - message received loud and clear. Please help me find this - and yes, I promise to be better organized. By this time it was time to get Andy up, so I figured I would have to wait to get back to looking. I went downstairs to put some wood in the woodstove, and just happened to remember that not too long ago Tom had asked me something about Windows XP. I again went to his room and asked him if he was sure he hadn't seen the disk - at which point he got up and announced that he just remembered that he did indeed have it! I figured I would get Andy on the bus and then fix the computer and be on my way. Well, here's where God's sense of humor comes in. When I finally got back to Step 2 - replacing the corrupted files, I figured I had better read all of the directions through once to make sure I didn't mess anything up. That's when I saw what was written further down. It said "However, it is possible that you do not have the original XP disk at your disposal, so here are the three necessary files. Just click this link and your XP will be restored." I could have sworn I heard laughter. Anyway, it turns out that my XP was restored this way, but I have a bonus - I know where my disk is should another virus be missed! Now I need to get busy. Oh, not working - housecleaning. I have a promise to keep!

Saturday, February 05, 2005

When Did "Nice" Become A Four-Letter Word?

Getting online this afternoon, this story caught my eye. Okay, maybe 10:30 or so is a little late, but still did not warrant the consequences. Geez, it makes you not want to be kind to anyone anymore. I'm glad all of the lots on our street were sold and are built on now, because I really don't feel like baking any more cakes and welcoming new people to the street. Six years ago when the first new house was built in front of us I baked a cake and got a card in which I put our names and phone number in case they needed anything, and welcomed the new neighbors to Decatur Street. Since then I have done this four more times and all except for once have been treated kindly. That one time, though, was the last house built, so I guess if that's the direction my welcoming was headed in, it's better that there will be no one else to welcome! There is such rudeness everywhere that it really becomes disheartening sometimes. I really don't think people understand how being nice works! Being kind to someone else doesn't take ANYTHING away from you; on the contrary - it benefits you and the person you were kind to. People are too selfish to see this. Everyone is too busy looking out for themselves, instead of having faith that God is looking after all of us, and all we have to do is behave ourselves! I had a friend who asked me why I was so nice to everyone all the time - especially my husband. I told her that my priorities went in this order - God first, Jerry second, the boys third, THEN myself, which includes my job. I know that on days when everything is going wrong, it's usually because (discovering this in retrospect, unfortunately), I had my priorities out of order. When I put things in the order they should be, I find that I can fit so much more in my days than I thought possible, and that everyone - not just me - has a good day. My friend said she wanted to try this. After a week or so she called me back and told me it was just too much work, that if her husband and children couldn't fend for themselves while she was trying to watch television, study, visit friends, surf the net, etc., etc., then that was just too bad. I hadn't heard from this friend in a long time, and found out last week that she is now in the middle of a messy divorce. Hmmm......

On the lighter side, (gotta have a lighter side or mother will think I'm depressed!) I had a really good time at the grocery store this morning. What I mean is that I came out of there $30.00 under what I had budgeted for myself and got everything I had on my list, plus an extra just for me! (Think Miss Clairol!). I usually hate grocery shopping, but I finally had to go. You can only eat so much pork!


Wednesday, February 02, 2005

Laundry Lessons

I learned a lesson yesterday. Always, always, always check your husband's pockets before doing laundry. I have gotten some interesting items out of the washing machine over the years, including a blackened, mummified-looking frog that 8-year-old Tom couldn't remember where he left - and yes, it was alive when he put it in his pocket. Instead of the sadness I expected when I showed it to him, all he said was, "So that's where I put him!"

Yesterday's haul wasn't quite as exciting, but it was a haul, nonetheless. I washed Jerry's coveralls, and there are just way too many pockets in those things. I netted a tube of Chapstick, a container of Campho-Phenique, paper clips, a store receipt, nails, and what seemed like a million itsy-bitsy screws. The sheer number of the screws was bad enough, but their size enabled them to stick into all the little holes in the bottom and side of the wash basket. Their heads were just big enough not to let them fall through. While it looked quite festive, it was not fun plucking them out a couple at a time. Much like his son with the frog incident, instead of acknowledging that he had left all these things in his coveralls, Jerry snatched the tube of Chapstick from the pile of goodies I had removed from the washer and said, "So that's where I left that!" Lesson learned.


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