Monkey Puzzles and Motorcycle Stories, and a Monster at Home

Ahhhh. I feel so much better now. Got to go garaging today after a month’s absence, probably my longest hiatus in years. Spent a whole $1.10!

Of course I had to get out on Friday since we have two more puppy kindergarten classes for Zoe on Saturday morning.

Which I assure you she needs. This week she turned into

the TP monster! Yes, she discovered the delights of nice squishy rolls of toilet paper that she can sink her teeth into and run around with, leaving a trail of white tissue behind her. I’m hoping the sign on the bathroom door will curtail this particular form of fun. I’m retired…can’t afford all that TP!

Going out today was no hardship, since the rain stopped a couple of days ago and it’s beautifully sunny. Make that rain…and snow. This is what we had on Leap Day.

There were a number of sales today but quite scattered around town, so I narrowed my list to five. The first was an estate sale, and I was surprised to see a line still in front of the house since I got there about 20 minutes after the start time. That’s usually long enough for things to settle down. But it gave me a chance to admire the monkey puzzle tree in the front yard – not something you see all that often.

There was nothing I wanted in the house, but on the way out I pulled a couple of items out of the free box – a hand towel that will be fine for drying puppy feet, and a pillow I can recover as needed.

At another sale I shelled out a dime

because it fell open here.

More free stuff at the next place. When I asked how much magazines were, she said they were free, and grabbed a box hoping I would take them all! I limited myself to just these.

I did pick up a shirt I might try to resell

and a piece of vintage ceiling glass. It really needs cleaning, which I’m sure the dishwasher will be glad to undertake.

She had an interestingly-shaped pot that I asked about, but it wasn’t for sale. But it started the conversation and I got to see her wonderful backyard, almost half an acre. “Some friends are going to use the back section for a community garden. I had a bad accident a while back and can’t work in the yard, but this way I’ll get to share the vegies.” I agreed this was a great plan, then heard more about the accident. It seems that she and her sweetie were on a motorcycle ride in southern Oregon, and probably hit something on the road like silver pine needles. They went off the road, her sweetie flew over a bank, she landed on the road, the motorcycle flew up in the air…and then all 800 pounds of it landed on her. “It’s more than a miracle I’m alive,” she said, and I had to agree. She was not only crushed, the exhaust pipe was pressed against her face and burned her. She lifted her hair to show me her cheek. “Look at that,” she said. “Didn’t they do a great job on me?” Yup, hardly a scar. By now everyone in the garage was riveted, listening to this story. “Oh, but let me tell you the GOOD part,” she said. “I was wearing my favorite sunglasses, these Oakley glasses I’ve probably had for 20 years. They’re designed so that the side pieces pop off if they’re hit. So somehow my sunglasses ended up in my purse, but just the lenses. So six months later we were back down there getting stuff from the bike so the insurance company could write it off, and we went back to the place the accident happened. I was walking along the road, kind of scuffing leaves aside with my foot, and then I saw a little silver ‘o’ glinting in the sun. But it was just one of the side pieces, so I kept looking, and about fifteen minutes later I found the other one!”

Guess it pays to buy good quality sunglasses. And to have the kind of resilient attitude that makes you want to tell the GOOD story instead of the horrors.