Memories: The Day I Chose The Rope! Dad was the VP and buyer for a small dime store chain called Ralph’s 5, 10, and 25 Cent Stores. He would go “downtown” and place orders for almost everything the dime store would sell. It was Christmas time of 1954, and dad took me to place last-minute toy orders.
This warehouse was huge, and dad bought tons of stuff, making selections from the display tables near the entrance to the warehouse. After an hour, he was done, and the warehouse owner told dad, “Have your son pick out anything he sees; Merry Christmas.”
Well, I looked at the large Radio Flyer wagons, bicycles, boxes of Tinkertoys, and a hundred other items and finally said, “I would like that rope!” I pointed to a large piece of 1/2-inch rope lying on the floor used to tie boxes to trucks.
Dad gave me the evil eye and said something like, “Are you sure that big red wagon is not what you want? Silly, I replied, “Nope, I’ll take the rope!”
Versus…
Dad didn’t talk to me on the way home; I know why!
The forecast for the week is wet through Wednesday, but that is fine with us; we need the water badly!
It was quite cool out, so we only did the necessary errands. First, we went to Home Depot to get special metric screws for our portable TV stand. We also bought three roses in the backyard, so our gardener will plant them this Friday, and he will also scalp (trim) the roses we already have.
“The rose does not have a why; it blossoms without reason, forgetful of self and oblivious to our vision.” – Angelus Silesius
We put away the groceries from our quick stop at Ralph’s and proceeded to “outer” around the house. Puttering includes loading the bathroom with paper products, organizing Scout’s treasure chest of leashes, harnesses, and costumes, harvesting dinner from the garden, and other odds and ends.
Mary and I are first-class putterers! Sometimes we sing as we walk down the hall, “A puttering we will go, A puttering we will go, Hi-ho the derry-oh, A puttering we will go!”
We inspected the garden pre-rain, and then we gave a garden tour to some neighbors who happened to be walking by the front yard. The young man works at Home Depot and loves gardening; he approves of the new garden.
Around 5:30 PM, we decided to fix dinner while watching several John Wayne movies. I did the steak while Mary stir-fried the snap peas and a lot of small and tender Swiss chard. She also prepared a baked potato with all the fixings. In addition, we had an English cucumber and yogurt salad which was amazing.
Steak for dinner again! Life is tough.
Mary loves to gnaw on the bone, so I caught her mid-gnaw. I should have taken a video with sound, and those sounds would scare a lion away!
Someone likes the bone.
I asked Mary, “What do you call a cow with a twitch? “She pondered the questions and answered, “Beef jerky!” She is beginning to think like me, and that’s too bad!
We headed for bed around 9:-00 PM but needed one more picture of the yard pre-storm. Scout is out on the grass doing his pre-bedtime business.
It’s beginning to drizzle.
The rain has started already but very lightly. Tomorrow is supposed to be heavier, so never mind cats and dogs; it will rain chickens and ducks. Pretty fowl weather!
Rain is coming tomorrow.
We attempted to finish a movie when in bed, but we both lasted about five minutes; I turned off the TV at midnight.
