Long Stories Are Not Short

 Cool temperatures linger and I itch to have my hands in some dirt! Tulips are coming up and some are trying to bloom. I hope the cold snap doesn't hurt them.

Old fridge, new fridge sitation is the same. I have said my piece and it is time to move on to other issues. I have successfully unloaded the RV fridge and most of the meat resides in new fridge freezer on the porch, while all manner of beverages are in the refrigerator section. This forces HeWho to actually go outside to get a refill in his cup ...... or, so I thought. He is slowly bringing his beverage of choice into the house and putting them on the top shelf of old fridge.

This brings me to today's thought ..... Why is it that men put absolutely EVERYTHING on the top shelf? The top shelf holds tall items. I suppose I could unload this fridge (again) and rearrange the shelves, so that the tall shelf would be in the middle or on the bottom. Or ... maybe I should put labels where everything should go? No matter, as I am sure he would still use the shelf holding tall items as his personal shelf of choice. 

We had take-out last night because I was bending over a project on my ottoman and twisted my back the wrong way. The muscle grabbed me and I immediately went to the medicine drawer in the kitchen and grabbed the Tiger Balm and instructed HeWho where to rub it in. Then I spent the remainder of the day moving very carefully. Applied more of the rub before bedtime and took a muscle relaxer from HeWho's pain-in-the-back marathon. Today I am fine.

HeWho offered to make a take out run just for me because he wanted Mexican food. He got some convoluted burrito thing that was not on the menu and I got my usual chicken soup. I love the chicken soup at this establishment. It comes with big chunks of advocado and lots of white meat chicken floating in a delicious broth full of veggies with just the right amount of spice.

When I opened old fridge this morning I found that he had put all the tiny containers of stuff left from his dinner on the TOP SHELF.

Last week I noticed a sign on a small diner we had yet to try announcing Fish Friday. The diner is only open until 2 pm except for Friday. It is all you can eat. This doesn't appeal to me, since I can't finish an entire entree and end up bringing it home. But who doesn't want fried fish occassionally without having to purchase the fish and fry it at home? 

Feast your eyes! It came with slaw, cheese grits. 2 hushpuppies and 4 big pieces of fish. I did eat more of the sides and HeWho relieved me of my last hushpuppy. We took two big pieces of fish home and it was just as good cold. Well, the one bite I got was good. HeWho lost so much weight and had no appetite is now ravenous, eliminating leftovers. I am not complaining!

Coffee bar progress, none. I started working on a different project that I can complete with out the need for a skill saw.

When we had our business in Minnesota and rented space in a building that housed a bait store that originally used the entire building, but had been sold by the sons of the original owner and they had made small storefronts with various businesses in the front, while the bait store remained in the back, taking up the largest space.

This was a large building that had apartments up stairs and a big basement. We had a back door that opened into the bait store. The sons of Larry's Live Bait and Tackle were not young, but very likable. On mornings when I would come to work before anyone else it was comforting to know they were close by. If I ever felt uncomfortable, I would just leave the connecting door open, unless I brought my two dogs in with me. Our space was only 500 sq. ft. and I didn't bring them often, since a St. Bernard and a Collie took up considerable space. 

Louise, the Saint, wasn't much of a watch dog, she would just lay on the floor, her tail thumping a friendly beat when customers entered. Sarge, the Collie was content with your presence, as long as you stayed out of his mistresses' space. He would move between and growl a warning. The only time it became a problem was when a UPS driver actually touched me when handing me a package. Sarge was fast and had his paws on the man with an open mouth snarl before I assured him that it was okay to give me a package. I loved that dog so much! I miss him. He was such a good dog. My vet once commented that Sarge had the kindest eyes. Much like my Eddie does.

I have wandered off track, getting old! By the time we purchased the building to house our business, we had taken over the basement and one of the apartments upstairs. This was after our daughter rented that apartment after her son was born. Her door opened to stairs that went down into the bait store. She was not working for us then and would come down the stairs in her pajamas, through the side of the bait store, where our connecting door was and hand me my grandson to watch while she showered and got ready for work. I kept him until he got too active to just be happy in a little carseat that fit under my desk while I typed out bills and packed up pagers to be shipped out. It was wonderful to see him every day. He made everyone smile just by being!

Back to my story. When we took over the apartment upstairs I found an old ammunition box in a closet. Very old, about a foot deep, 10" high and about 28" long. It had three drawers, each separated into 16 small compartments, 8 in the front and 8 in the back, with a glass top that was broken.

I was intrigued. What could I do with it? I turned it into a rather large jewelry box. Not that I have a lot of jewelry, but it turned out great. Replaced the glass on top and the drawers that were visable had jewelry nicely displayed. The bottom two drawers became catch-alls, as you can imagine. Paperclips, slips of paper with addresses, screws, nails, nail clippers, old dog tags. You could find what you needed to hang a picture in those drawers.

It takes up a lot of space, though. Space is in short supply here, so I have decided this needs to go to my She Shed until I am struck with an epiphany.

Since all my jewels will be displaced I had to come up with an alternative. Stay tuned to see my new jewelry solution ....