Saturday, March 27, 2010

Hunting For My Mailbox

Don't look at the undies handing on the clothes line, look at that jumbo mailbox!!! I had no idea where the heck to put my mailbox, but where it's sitting on the porch isn't the right place - ya know how rural mail works, the mailboxes gather in a cluster somewhere, like a family. So i started walking down the road in search for the mailbox family i hoped to eventually find...

There are creeks that run across my driveway, not under it, but like right on top the road. Gives me fond flashbacks to the flash floods in the roads of New Orleans ... these creeks ain't got nothing on a crescent city flood - except that they are clean and way prettier!
I walked and walked downhill ---- for so long that the sounds of rushing water in the creeks was making me thirsty and I could feel the muscles in my legs straining from sitting around too much all winter. It's like a never ending forest...
with BIG creeks, big amounts of water creating loud sounds as it hits more rocks below...
AND lots of BIG rocks....
and some crazily BIG McMansion Log homes.....
And FINALLY the family of big jumbo mailboxes I had envisioned!!! YAY! Now I can plant my flag, and truly settle into my new home. USPS here I come... ;)
XoXOxoxo

"Adult" is not a synonym for common sense

Last night, I volunteered as a docent for a downtown tour of homes that invovled standing in a room for three hours saying the same thing every three minutes or so. I'm not complaining about that, exactly, because I really do enjoy it. Standing on your feet for three hours straight isn't terribly comfortable, but I have such a good time talking to people as they walk through the house that it's worth a little foot pain.


But you would think that some of these people were raised by idiots...which in some cases is probably true. The houses on the tours are private homes that people have graciously opened to the public, and you would think that people would respect that, but that's not always the case.

I didn't have anybody try to touch anything last night, but I did a tour last fall where this woman actually opened an old cutlery box when my back was turned. She almost dropped the lid when I turned around to give her the stink eye. Are you kidding me? What would possess you to touch something in a person's private home when you are on a tour? And 9 times out of 10, the culprit is an adult. I rarely see small children on these tours, so that leaves imbecilic adults who don't know how to behave themselves.

In addition to sticky fingers, I also get a lot of arrogant know-it-alls who like to interrupt/correct me when they think they know more than I do. I will admit it when I don't know something for certain, but I hate being interrupted. I had a man last night who I had to use my "teacher stare" on to get him to stop talking so I could begin the tour. After that, he interrupted me three times. Hello?! Use manners much? I am not a genius, but I do know a few things about old buildings and I never say things that are inaccurate.

This just reinforces my belief that just because you're an adult does not mean that you are a professional, considerate person. When you're a kid, all adults seem so cool and sophisticated and always know the right thing to do and say. Now I know that is not always the case.

Oh well, maybe I'll just bring a cattle prod and perfect my disapproving glare to encourage people to keep their grubby hands off people's personal property and keep their unwanted opinions to themselves.