Hodgepodging the Hottest Collectible

The house is on fire!!
HUGE paper wasp nest in our apple tree.


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we write the answers.

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1. They say you learn something new every day. What did you learn yesterday?

I learned that tar is a collectible.
(It is, at least, for our grandson. He loves the stuff.)

And it reminded me of being a kid and collecting all kinds of junk
 that I'd take home and treasure:
Old keys
Rusty hinges
Broken glass
Rusty nails
Rocks
Etc.
 So fun!

2. Have you ever had a now or never moment? Elaborate.

I'm pretty sure that I've had several now or never moments, and they usually end up in never. And that's probably a good thing. In most cases. Except when I purchased my KitchenAid mixer. I had carted it around the store, put it back, carted it around the store some more, put it back, carted it around the store... and finally realized that I would kick myself later if I didn't purchase it while on sale. I actually did buy it and have never regretted it!

3.  April 25th is National Telephone Day. Do you still have a land line or have you gone mobile only? When you receive a text message do you respond immediately? Last time you turned your phone off?  In two or three sentences share with us a story/memory/incident from your childhood (or something current if that's too hard) where the telephone is featured.

I don't know why we still have a land line. I absolutely never answer it. I respond to text messages pretty soon after receiving them. I turn off my phone whenever an app gives me problems. I will turn the ringer off and ignore my phone. I also keep my phone downstairs at night. My Kindle is what accompanies me to the bedroom. 

I think I've mentioned this before, but when I was a kid, the neighborhood phones were on a party line. And that meant that everyone on the line would hear everyone else's phone ringing. You had to listen for your particular ring. I think we were supposed to be on some sort of honor system and not listen in to other people's phone calls. However, we had a neighbor lady who would listen in on everyone's conversations to get the inside scoop on the neighborhood business. She always knew everything about everyone. I know that's more than two or three sentences, but you just try telling that story in fewer words.

My parents used this particular phone and its twin (an antique even at the time, I think) 

 to call between the house and barn. I hope I'm not making that up. At least that's how I remember it.

4. Close call, at someone's beck and call, call the shots, call a meeting, call it quits, call in sick, call on the carpet, wake up call...which call have you 'heard' recently? Explain.

Maybe 'wake up call,' for I have two grandsons with me for the next two weeks and yesterday morning they both appeared at my bedside at 5:30 AM. That was a tad early for me to get up. And they probably wouldn't have padded quietly into my dark bedroom if they hadn't seen the faint glow from my Kindle, which was a dead giveaway. 

Anyway, the youngest, who just turned eight on Saturday, had a question in his geography yesterday, 'What is the difference between a plain and a mountain?' He wrote, 'A plain can fly, a mountain cannot.'  This kid keeps me in stitches!

This photo is from last September, but since we'll be baking cookies this week too...

5. What subject do you wish you'd paid more attention to in school?

I would say history, but our history wasn't nearly as interesting as heads on pikes on Tower Bridge. It was mostly names and dates, with precious little historical fiction and biography. So maybe I wish I'd paid more attention in study hall while reading on my own.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Just in case you're not on Instagram, what's kept me from my blog was a wonderful visit to our son in Arizona, then an incredibly long road trip back to Wisconsin because Sun Country had to cancel all flights into and out of Minneapolis due to a fierce April blizzard that dropped about 18 inches of snow. After getting no help from Sun Country (who never answered our 500 phone calls - presumably because they were inundated with calls and had absolutely no way of helping everyone), we decided to rent a car at the Phoenix airport and drive home. (Yes, we got a refund for that portion of our flight.) Mr. C. and son drove north while I collected blood clots in my legs. (not really). :-)

That's 27 hours of road time. I will never do that again. It's a ridiculous road trip when driving straight through and only stopping for food and fuel.

So I asked a blogging (now Instagram) friend (@j_on_tour) from northern England where he would be if he drove for 27 hours from his home town. This is the map he sent me.

He wrote back, 'Pompeii!!'  I doubt he'll be driving straight through to Pompeii any time soon.

And do visit his blog, ' www.jayzspaze.blogspot.com' and his Instagram account. He has fantastic photos there. You'll enjoy them, I promise. The most recent has been a series from St. Andrews, Scotland.

Boothill Cemetery,

Tombstone, Arizona

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