All for Ten Cents!
Back many years ago when My Mother and Dad first got married they had a book shelf which for some reason they didn't want to use any more. They offered to let my Uncle Jim, my Dad's brother, and his wife, Marie, use it. My understanding is that it was a loan until they needed it back.
Uncle Jim and Marie used the book shelf for several years. Then one day I was thinking about it and I asked my mother if we could get that shelf back. I wanted it to keep my books in. My mother said I could go get it but I would have to ride a taxi there and bring the shelf home in the taxi.
So I called a taxi and went to Uncle Jim's place. I told them we wanted the shelf back. Uncle Jim was fine with that but I don't think Marie was very happy about it. Anyway, The shelf wouldn't go in the taxi. The driver said he could take the shelf apart and just bring the planks home for me. That is what he did. So he knocked the whole thing apart and loaded the planks into the trunk of the taxi.
Then we set out for home. He unloaded the shelves for me and charged me a dime. I am sure his work was donated.
I can't believe the taxi company could make any money charging just a dime even back in those days. But I am sure they did or they wouldn't have been in business. The last time I heard anyone mention using a taxi it cost them $15 just to ride about 15 miles here in Fort Wayne.That was several years ago. I am sure it would be more by now.
After all that, I had my book shelf and only spent a dime! You would think that for a dime the least he could have done was nail the shelves back together for me!
Cold Hands--Warm Heart
My whole life I have had to deal with cold hands--in cold weather. I don't think I have a cold heart.
Ford, my husband, had a very warm heart and he also had warm hands. His hands were always warm even in the coldest weather. He would sometimes hold my hands in his to warm them up for me.
The saying is not always true. It is said that the saying was made up to say to people who were embarrassed about their cold hands. It is embarrassing to shake some one's hand when your hands are like ice. As I write this my hands are cold. It is cold outside but I am inside my heated house so my hands shouldn't be cold. I put my hands under my arms a lot to help keep them warm.
I have several pairs of warm gloves which I make much use of during the winter. Even with gloves my hands are not always warm. But I hope my heart is!
Mister Bubs
Mister Bubs is my grandson, Brett's cat. So I guess you would call Mister Bubs my great grandcat.
Mister Bubs took an unexpected long absence from home a few days ago. Mister Bubs is strictly a house cat and has never been out on his own. He probably would not know how to catch a mouse for his food.
Mister Bubs was annoying Brett while he was trying to take a nap. Brett got nasty with him and told him to get out and leave him alone. Mister Bubs did just that!
When Brett got up from his about a two hour nap he went in the kitchen and was going to feed Mister Bubs. He got out the cat food bag and wondered why Mister Bubs was not in there ready to eat. Usually when the cat heard the rattling of the bag and would be right there.
Brett started to look for him and he was nowhere to be found. Then Brett went to the front door and opened it. The storm door was not latched and then Brett knew why Mister Bubs was not there. He had gone out the unlatched storm door.
Brett went out around the neighborhood and looked but no Mister Bubs. He called Carla and Tony and they went over right away to help hunt for the cat. They all spent a couple of hours around the neighborhood searching for Mister Bubs. Brett was sure he was gone for good.
Finally, just two doors away they thought they saw something behind a bush. Brett looked and there behind a bush was Mister Bubs scared to death. Brett got him and was so relieved that he had found his beloved cat. Mister Bubs is about 14 years old and Brett knows he will not be around that many more years but at least he won't have to lose him without knowing what happened to him. I think Brett makes sure the storm door is latched at all times now.
Crackers and Butter
Jane Council Once when I was a kid, just in the first or second grade, I went to Jane Council's home to play for a while after school. She lived very near the school.Her mother made us a snack to eat. It was such a common thing that I can't believe I never had it before. She just spread butter on plain old saltine crackers! I went nuts over that. We always had butter and crackers at my home but for some reason I had never been introduced to that delicious snack. I had crackers with peanut butter a lot but never with butter.
Jane's dad was the owner of council's meat market. You would think her mother would have made us some kind of a meat sandwich. But anyway, she was a hero in my mind for that snack. I still once in a while make myself some crackers with butter--actually, margarine. Sometimes the simplest things are the best!
Brown Eggs with a Kick!
Olive Thomas was a classmate of mine in grade school. We ate lunch together a lot of the time. Once we were eating lunch and she had a boiled egg in her lunch. It was so brown it almost didn't look like an egg. I asked her why it was brown. She replied that her mother had boiled it in the coffee pot in the coffee. I suppose she did it to save heating an extra pot of water.
I don't think I could have eaten that egg because of the looks of it. I can't remember if the egg was brown after it was peeled or not but I am sure it may have been brown if there were any cracks in the shell.
She probably got a dose of caffeine from the egg!
