Tuesday Trivia and Fruit

Mother Nature gave us snow to make us work. Later, the ol' gal who runs the show threw in some extra-bright sunshine, allowing us to rejoice at the abundant beauty that was wearing our bodies out. 

Yup, yesterday brought out the toil, the sweat, the aches and the pains.  In the midst of it all, though, we could take momentary breaks, lean on our shovels and marvel at magical beauty emanating all around us.

The Lovestead now has a network of two-three-foot wide white canyons with floors of occasional snow boulders which have tumbled down from four-five foot mounds of shoveled, blown or plowed snow.

And, yesterday, poor Lily with her ever-expanding tummy, just turned around mid-trip rather than take one more difficult step toward the water tank.  

Having four legs sink deep into the snow with every step is bad enough, but when that heavy baby-filled barrel adds even more obstruction to normal movement, enough is enough.

So, I quickly shoveled a path to the water tank, and Lily's life is better now. 

We survived the heavy day-long workload and actually kind of enjoyed it. 

My mailbox also survived another round of rotational defense from the snow plow.  I'm starting to think that we're really pretty lucky that it's not firmly fixed to its post.  

After the plow went by on its mailbox hit-and-run route, leaving no sign of the mailbox or paper boxes, I took the shovel and found them.  

All it took for the mailbox was to grab hold of its top with the shovel and pull it my way. Within less than a minute the mailbox was once again ready for business, perched on its 4 x 4 post which is not buried in the ground.  

Pretty handy having a unit which dissassembles and reassembles with ease.

With all the stuff going on weather-wise yesterday, I forgot to add a couple of items of interest to the Monday blog  

In one case, I'll simply direct you to a story in Sunday's Spokesman-Review which took my eye.  I've known Jodie Topp Lewis since she was in high school back in the early 1990s. I did not have her as a student, but she hung out with several of my students.  

So, it's best to say I've known her peripherally, especially because I had no idea until Sunday that she deals with an inherited disease.  To say that she does so with grace is an understatement and is clearly illustrated by the article below.  

When I wrote her a note after reading the piece on Sunday, Jodie told me she had mixed feelings about agreeing to the story but did so because she wants people to learn about the disease. 

So, I do think the following story is both educational and a beautiful reflection of family members who refuse to let an obstacle stop them from making a positive difference in this world.  
http://www.spokesman.com/tags/jodie-lewis/

My other story involves my lifelong unique affliction of "Klutzdom," which does get in the way and which I seldom handle gracefully but which also provides me with fodder for writing ideas-----especially when the fodder is food. 

My story happened on Super Sunday at Super 1 Foods.  I had made a run to town to stock up on goodies to go along with Bill's pizza contribution to the Lovestead Super Bowl party. 

By the time I reached the check stand, the cart was filled with salad makings, bags of chips, ice cream, pickles, beer, kitty food (for Festus' Super Bowl party), frozen pies, orange and lemon chicken treats AND a lovely plastic container of nicely organized fruits, very similar to what is seen in the photo above. 

Like a good school teacher, I began my usual organized approach of placing like items together on the check-stand counter.  All was going well until I reached down to pick up the box of fruit and instantly realized it had not been sealed shut. 

Too late!  

Two different kinds of huge seedless grapes, big strawberries, generous pineapple chunks, cantaloupe and even the dip immediately erupted from the container. 

Like a lava flow, countless pieces of fruit rolled throughout the cart, through its openings and on to the floor, continuing their journey every direction through a five-six foot circle around the cart. 

Twas a big mess and very sticky. 

The lady in line behind me, who was almost attacked by the escaping fruit, calmly started picking up grapes while I attempted as calmly as possible to announce to the checker and the bagger that I had made a mess.  

Out came a roll of paper towels, and for about five minutes three ladies picked up fruit, while one of the trio kept apologizing.  

When it was all cleaned up, I had a new box of fruit, which, by the way, was not sealed too tightly either and I had met a new friend.  The lady behind me eventually asked, "Does your son, Mr. Love, teach at the high school?"

Turned out she kinda knew who I was and that she works as an aide around the corner from Willie. 

Long story short, watch those fruit boxes from Super 1, but if you can get them home intact, you'll have some great fruit to munch on.  In addition, I really appreciate the staff at Super 1 for helping me clean up my mess.

To add to the delight, this morning, while I was out in the barn doing chores, Bill opened an upper cupboard door only to have a half open bag of trail mix roll out and attack him before it emptied all over the kitchen floor.  

Unfortunately, he had no Super 1 staff members to help him clean up that mess. 

Guess that's enough for now.  Happy Tuesday.  Enjoy the photos. 

Kiwi, the Vampire Dog