Monday, November 20, 2006

what's the word?

I wanted to drop in to tell a couple of brief funny stories.

On Friday, I discovered that our food shelf in the basement, the one with all the handmade preserves and canned goods, the bottles of wine, etc. had drops and splashes and puddles of a molasses colored, goopy, sticky viscous stuff on it. I was panicked...it seemed oily, yet was water soluble. I couldn't find out where it was coming from. Husband was lecturing to his huge Intro. Biology class, so I called my father. In our long distance consultation, we couldn't figure it out--and I had a student arriving for tutoring at any minute. Finally, a couple of hours later, the biologist comes home to help solve things. At first, there was gnashing of teeth and worry. Did we have a weird leak? What was this mysterious stuff? Oil? Rotting stuff? Chemicals? Resins?The stuff came from a punctured can of Pepsi. The one medicinal soda pop can, kept for upset tummies, etc. sprung a leak, and sprayed the rest of the food...sticky to clean up, but definitely not toxic. We laughed, and enjoyed the unusual pleasure of getting to eat lunch together, at home, during the week. When imagining the worst, think instead of a drippy, spritzing soda can!

Today, I discovered I couldn't get an essential program (Word) to work on my computer. I tried everything and am considering re-installing it all. This does keep a writer from working... In the midst of this, I baked two loaves of the very good crusty bread...so we could freeze some and have it when we get back from our Thanksgiving travels. I sliced some of the bread and tasted it. It was good. I left the sliced bread to dry a bit before freezing, so it doesn't stick together in the freezer. I continued re-knitting my new Cuddle Coat, which will shortly be posted on my website for sale, with new improved photos, since the copyright on the pattern has now reverted to me.

Then, I hear licking. I hear crunching noises. Harry and I run to the hall and discover...Sally thinks the fresh bread is very very good. She has eaten what looks like 3 or 4 slices of it...since it's no longer on the cutting board on the kitchen counter. One slice, half-eaten, is in her mouth. Another slice waits for her on the kitchen floor. I take away what I can, say "NO!" and Sally looks scared. Then she realizes I will not hit her. I won't scare her into having an accident. She looks repentant, and then goes to clean up any crumbs that are left. After all, that bread was good.

So, the word here, even though "Word" itself isn't functioning, is Thank You. Things are pretty good here, considering...no scary chemical leaks and well, we've got ahold of some dang good bread, according to Sally the dog. It's time to celebrate one of my favorite holidays, Thanksgiving...a time when all Americans celebrate at once, and are grateful for our plenty. I'm looking forward to spending time with some of my husband's kin, getting away from the computer, and knitting a little on all the airplanes. Wherever you are, have a great holiday. (If you don't live in the USA, please, have a treat and celebrate with us!)

1 Comments:

Blogger sarah said...

Our TV, stereo, etc all sit on top of what we call the wine cellar, a hideously bodged cupboard inserted into a corner by a previous owner of the house. A. passionately hates it, but I will not permit demolition until he devises a better solution to conceal the electricity meter and fusebox that live in it along with an eclectic assortment of wines and spirits. And, for a while, bottles of 7-Up. A couple of years ago a peaceful evening was interrupted by a loud 'bang' from within the cupboard. We flinched, and I waited for all the lights to go out, or the house to burst into flames. Nothing happened. I cautiously opened the cupboard and discovered everything was dripping wet: one of the 2l plastic bottles of 7-Up had exploded. We took that as a hint that we should stick to wine in future... so we do :-)

Have a lovely Thanksgiving. We don't celebrate the holiday, but I try to remember just how fortunate we are.

November 22, 2006 at 5:35 AM  

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