Old Words

I was thinking about words my mom, dad and grandmother used that I don't hear  in conversation or on tv! The first was towheaded. I remember my mom saying, "My that is a towheaded boy." I must have been five or six. I thought she meant that his head was shaped like a toe.  Tow means unraveled fiber or light colored flax.

She also used to speak of waiting till her ship comes in. That's pretty easily figured out - like waiting for Publisher's Clearing House to call.

My dad used to call me a shitepoke which he pronounced shyt poke. When I looked it up on the internet dictionary, the recording sounds like shit poke. Shitepoke is any form of a tern (with long thin legs) That was me as a kid.

My grandmother told me that the way she got to school was by shank's mare. The information said that the word shank was used in the twelfth century!

Shank is the lower part of the leg so the meaning is that you walked wherever you wanted to go.

Clodhoppers was another goody that I like that has two meanings.

Clodhoppers were always big shoes or boots to me. The dictionary says also a clumsy youth.

And finally claptrap. This one I did hear on tv tonight! It means pretentious nonsense.

Another Trip to the Grocery Store

Many times I go into the BIG grocery store for one or two items. There were two or three cashiers there who had lanes labeled "15 items or less."  That was very convenient. No longer.

Now they have fewer cashiers and more of the self service lanes where you scan your items, throw your money in a slot, bag your items and get your change if everything works right.

So today Lee needed Zyrtec. We drive to the BIG store, I find the correct size to go with my coupon, go the frozen bread aisle and pick up a box of garlic knots for a spaghetti meal later and head to the check out area.

OMGOSH!

Memorial Day Sunday week-end afternoon at about 3:30. What are all these people buying humongous carts full of groceries. oh.  Maybe for a picnic tomorrow. I look for a lane that looks like it might have a fewer than $500 worth of groceries.

Nope.  I do not want to use those self service lines. I do not work there. So I see three employees standing and talking in the aisle near the cashiers and I ask if one of them would help me check out. I explained I had a coupon and I didn't know how to use it at that machine. (Scan it?) So this nice young man scanned my knots and my Zyrtec. I handed him the money. "Oh. This machine does not take cash."

WHAT?  Another employee (a woman!) said she would take care of it.  Another machine, another scan and I'm done.

Or not.  I start out the automatic sliding doors and this horrible klaxon sound starts going off. I'm the only one in the door way so I stop in my tracks. Sure enough, here comes a young female employee and I said, "An employee checked me out!" She looked in the bag and says, "It's probably the Zyrtec." The loud horn stopped. I laughed told her that this was embarrassing and that I'm probably on camera. She laughed and said I was fine.

I didn't feel fine. I just knew this was another weird day but I did laugh when I told Lee. Next time he can go get his own Zyrtec.

Leather Bracelet

This was a gift from one of my mother's friends to me at Xmas, 1942. At that time we called our mother's friends "aunt" instead of "Mrs." or by their first names.
At any rate, this was from my Aunt Edith Colgrove Johnson who lived in Dalhart TX. She and my mom  had been friends for years.
This was a unique item. I have never seen one since. I had kids sign it both in grade school and junior high.I don't think I wore it very often. The fact that I still have the card board it came with is amazing.

I wonder if this could indicate a hoarding tendency?

More Showers

We have nine inches of rain this month. More is forecast. We are lucky that we live in a high part of town. There are sections that are threatened with flooding. The city has provided sand and bags at a location near the area that may flood. People can go there with a shovel and fill the free bags to take home and try to protect their homes. The paper stated that there would people there to help you fill the bags if you were unable to do it. I really think this is a great service by the city.

It seems to me this month has had many more storms and high water than usual - all over the country.
I wonder if it is due to climate change or we just notice all the bad news because it is featured on the network and local newscasts.

I hope this pattern moves out soon.

The Wind and the Door

We had some strong winds two nights in a row. Thankfully they were straight winds with no twisters near us.

The first night the wind loosened this door because it had not been properly latched. It was torn loose at the top with the small screws exposed but it was still attached at the bottom.

Last night I thought I had pulled the door tight and that the latch was engaged. Well, this morning I found out I was wrong. Luckily the glass was not broken but another gust evidently finished the job with only the door prop still attached.

Why would someone install a storm door on the back of a garage anyway? It was there when we moved in but I think it will be gone now.

Monday Rumblings

It's dark and cold (50 degrees) and it is raining along with thunder. Poor Jill, the bully dog, is like most bullies, the first one to be afraid. She paces and tries to find a place where she can't hear the noise. Jack, the one who is bullied, sleeps through the whole storm.

I went to P. T. and when they asked how I was doing, I let them know the sad story of last Friday and Saturday. So today they were a lot easier on the new stuff. I guess I think that new and unusual usage of old limbs and muscles is counter productive.  We'll see. I have one relative telling to keep it up and another telling I might want to quit!

Guess I'll have to make up my own mind.

Someone is Obsessed with Doughnuts

Last night I checked online for the hours for Daylight Donuts in our town.  Closed at the present time but open Sunday morning at 5:00 a.m.

O.K. then!

We made it out the door at 7:30, drove down Main Street to 3rd near the tracks and went to the door. The sign in the window said OPEN.

The door was locked.

Don't these people want to sell doughnuts??