Sep 3, 2007

Finally, rain! And laboring on Labor Day...

The clouds rolled in late yesterday as the wind picked up and the trees offered up the underside of their leaves to the heavens. It was going to rain last night for sure. But, so far I know, it didn't. Today, however, after the cookout was over, the clouds in the sky finally let loose their precious treasure. It rained the whole afternoon and part of the evening. There was a lot of thunder, though just a little lightning. The rain was a soothing, soaking rain, rather some angry maelstrom. And, the bed of my truck, with its new bed liner began to fill like some corrugated bathtub. The front section has no drain holes, so the water fills and fills. I finally backed the truck into a position that let the water run out of the space between the bed and the tailgate.


The only "labor" on Labor Day allowed is cooking out, though, really, can you call that laboring? Oh, and we did laundry (started is probably more accurate). Oh, and I killed a mouse. My Mom called and said she had a field mouse (happens, considering we live in a field) in her tub. Of course, I was called upon to slay the awful beast. I'm not too squeamish about such things, but still, the fact that I am killing a small animal sits funny with me (one of the 9 billion reason I don't hunt, though 3AM tops the list!). At any rate, by the time I roll out of bed this morning following the phone call, Mom has the bugger under a towel and she is trying to convince it to run under a vase. With a swift motion, it complies...mostly... Its head peeks out from under the glass rim. Closing my eyes (even though the towel was now covering the thing), I did the only thing I knew to do. I pressed downward firmly. As the sounds of tiny bones cracking floated through the air, my heart raced in my chest. It is one thing to set a trap, but quite another to BE the trap.

Once I let up a bit, the portion under glass writhed and twisted in one last fit, and then all was silent and motionless. We hunted down some paper, which I slipped between the tub and the vase and I carried the slain critter to the trash (outside). Mom wanted no part of the vase anymore, so the whole thing went into the open receptacle, which so happened to have a bit of water in it from a previous shower. So, on top of having its neck broken, it was now going to be drowned for good measure. It was not a pleasant endeavor, I assure you.


After the cookout, during the rain, Shan and Emily and I played a few rounds of "Go Fish." Emily won a couple hands. Shan won a couple hands. Afterward, we dodged raindrops and headed next door for supper (leftover cookout!!). Notice there was no mention of me winning a hand in there.... We'll just leave it at that... :-)


I saw a post where the 2007 Topps Allen and Ginter card of George Washington's HAIR strand is up for auction on eBay. As I write this, the current price is $8300+... Yes, for hair... The really funny thing is that if you do a search on eBay for "George Washington Hair" you can buy certified samples for less than fifty bucks... What is with people? Of course, if presidential hair is something you've been searching for all your life, you could grab a 6-president hair collection for a whole lot less!


It's hard top presidential hair.... So, I bid you good night.

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