Fake-Bic Flickin', Belt-Buckling, Pennant-Waving, Gewgaws Have Arrived

Hick picked up some new merchandise for his Storage Unit Store at the auction Tuesday.

 

 

There's a decorative baseball-theme clock for the St. Louis Cardinals. And several belt buckles. I'm most intrigued by the silver buckle at the top, which says "White Castle Slider Pilot." For anyone who has never had a White Castle hamburger, they're greasy little things called "belly bombers." Hick paid $2 for it, and will ask $10.  He paid $10 each for the two Harley Davidson belt buckles, and will ask $25 apiece. The panther was $2, asking $10, as was the "marijuana leaf," as Hick calls the other silver buckle. I don't know what kind of weed Hick has been smoking, but that doesn't look like a marijuana leaf to me...

 

Looks like Hick got a deal on Bic-like lighters. He paid $6 for all, and will get $1 per 2-pack. So he'll double his money. He didn't mention the batteries.

 

Here are some sports pennants. Hick paid $2 for all. He will ask $4 per pennant. I don't know how well they will sell. I suppose they will, or Hick wouldn't have bought them. Maybe they're collectibles. Especially that blue St. Louis Rams pennant, since the Rams have been out of St. Louis for a while now.

 

Lots of jewelry! Hick paid $13 for all, and will ask $2 each. Suitable for a child to give a beloved lady as a Christmas gift, perhaps...

One thing is pretty certain. Hick will recoup his investment, plus at least 50 cents.

Something is Fishy in the Regional Distribution Center of Knoxville

Back on September 29, I revealed the pitfalls of the simple mailing of a packet of The Pony's documentation for a RECONSIDERATION of his denied workman's compensation claim. The gist of my outrage being that such a package mailed on September 17 had been IN TRANSIT for 12 days, its last known location only 60 miles from home.

Well. If only I'd known that this gripy blog post would jostle The Pony's package into motion, like The Fonz hitting the jukebox.

That blog post published at 1:06 p.m. on September 29. When I checked the tracking number of The Pony's package that day before leaving for town, the USPS site showed that it left the Knoxville processing center at 1:23 p.m.! Such a grand coincidence! I almost did a Snoopy dance. I sent The Pony a text. I never bother him while working, but this was good news, so he wouldn't have to compile another set of documents that night when he got home.

Good thing I held off on the Snoopy dance. When I checked later that night/morning, the tracking history had CHANGED! The Pony's package had arrived earlier, but had left later. Something is fishy in the Regional Distribution Center of Knoxville.

 

However, there is good news to report since then. I think...

Here's what I copied from the tracking website on October 1. You read from bottom to top.

Tracking History

October 1, 2021, 7:08 am
Available for Pickup
LONDON, KY 40742 
Your item arrived at the LONDON, KY 40742 post office at 7:08 am on October 1, 2021 and is ready for pickup.

---

October 1, 2021, 5:28 am
Arrived at Post Office
LONDON, KY 40741 

---

September 30, 2021, 12:01 am
Departed USPS Regional Facility
KNOXVILLE TN DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

---

September 29, 2021, 11:19 am
Arrived at USPS Regional Destination Facility
KNOXVILLE TN DISTRIBUTION CENTER 

---

September 21, 2021
In Transit to Next Facility

---

September 17, 2021, 11:22 pm
Arrived at USPS Regional Origin Facility
SAINT LOUIS MO DISTRIBUTION CENTER  

_____________________________________________________________________________

 

I was all excited about this, and told The Pony immediately. He was off that day, and headed for Steak N Shake. Of course I kept checking the tracking website so I'd know if that package was picked up. I was getting peeved-off again. I ranted to Hick:

"The Pony's package hasn't been touched! [heh, heh] Nobody from the Department of Labor has showed up to get it! Surely they pick up their mail at least once a day! It was ready at 7:08 a.m. What do they do, take Fridays off? Surely they'll pick it up Monday!"

"I don't know, Val. We always went oncet [that's how he said it, sounds like wantst] a day when I worked at the plant. But I don't know how they do it. You'd THINK they'd go oncet a day."

Of course I didn't have much hope for a Saturday pickup. But by Monday night I was really worked up. I told The Pony when he got home.

"Your package STILL hasn't been picked up! But it would have been the same if I sent it as just a letter. Only we wouldn't know. Because the only address they have is a post office box."

"Mom. Once the mail is ready for pickup at the post office, it doesn't get scanned again. It's just there. And it gets picked up. They put it in the PO Box, and that's it. You don't know when it actually gets taken out of the box."

Never mind...

I'm hoping The Pony's package is lying on somebody's desk, waiting to be opened within 90 days, which is the time frame they give for the reconsideration of a RECONSIDERATION.

 

Speaking of Parking Lot Problems...

When I returned to T-Hoe from Country Mart on Monday, I saw THIS across from me:

 

What kind of inconsiderate oaf does THAT?

I tried to put myself in such a scenario. If I had my young child in that little car, and perhaps an infant in a basket, I might not want to leave them in my car while I returned the cart. You can't leave small children alone in a car. But you CAN unload your groceries, take that cart to the corral, or park it by a light pole out of the way of future parkers, and THEN grab your toddler out of the little car, and pick up your basket baby to walk back to your car.

 

A wider view shows that the perpetrator could have put that kiddie cart up against the light pole without much hardship. The cart corral was to the left, one space farther than that red sedan. ANOTHER cart corral was one space to the left of T-Hoe. The store itself is to the right, the sidewalk just across the driving lane by the light pole parking space.

Let the record show that Val does not always return her cart/walker. After a half-hour gathering groceries, and ten minutes in line, it's painful to toddle across pavement on knee bones that grind against each other without benefit of cartilage. If a cart is sitting out, I take it in with me on the way in, and leave it near where I got it after loading T-Hoe. In the very least, I park it against the building, or a light pole where none of the spaces will be obstructed, and the wind won't blow it into cars or the driving lane. On less painful days, I take it back inside to the indoor cart corral.

What's that? Did I just hear a whinny from a high-horse, begging me to hop on for a ride?

Val Funnels Too Much Information Your Way

Hick installed the two ceiling lights in Pony House. The ones he got at the rehab store for $5 and $10. I said I wanted a picture when he put them up, and he said, "I already put them up. Here's a picture." Not a close-up, of course... And he only showed the living room light. 

 

I believe that's the living room window that looks out on the side street, and the door to the Master Bedroom in the background. There's still a lot of trimming and painting to be done, but the living room was probably the most near-to-finished when we bought Pony House.

 

 

Also, Hick sent me a picture of the rest of the bathroom fixtures that got delivered. Namely, the three toilets. He got the tall toilets, because that's what The Pony asked for. The Pony calls them Old People Toilets. When Hick built our house, he put regular toilets in our master bathroom, and in the NASCAR bathroom in the basement. But for some only-Hick-known reason, he put a tall toilet in the boys' bathroom. 

Let the record show that Genius was a month away from his 3rd birthday when we moved in, and The Fetus Pony was still three months from arrival. Why in the NOT-HEAVEN you would want a tall toilet in a bathroom for toddler boys is BEYOOOOOND me! But The Pony grew up with a tall toilet, his feet swinging in the air while doing his sit-down business, and he says the regular toilets are way too low.

Anyhoo... remember how I showed you Pony House Bathroom 2, where Hick had fixed the floor joists? And I didn't know what that jug was on the left side of the picture? Now I know! But you may not want to!!! Don't read past the picture if you have a delicate constitution...

 

That is no jug. That is HICK'S PEE FUNNEL!!!

 

 

The main problem Hick has with re-habbing a house is the lack of a bathroom. He doesn't want to stop and lock up to drive a mile to Casey's every two hours for his mouse-sized bladder. It's not like he's in the woods and can use nature as one big toilet, like the Jeff Goldblum character in The Big Chill. 

 

Since the sewer pipe was already in Bathroom 2, Hick took matters into his own hands, so to speak, and brought a funnel. When not in use, the sewer pipe is capped off with what looks like a 44 oz cup! You know, to keep the sewer gas smell contained. When he needs to use the facilities, Hick flips over his funnel onto that pipe. Then he washes it down with water from the case of bottled water that he took over there to drink.

As The Pony said when HE looked at the picture: "Oh, that's Dad's funnel for peeing. It's not like a real funnel with slanted sides. It's a really weird old-timey funnel."

"Um. I think that's the kind of funnel used to drain oil out of a car!"

"Maybe. That wouldn't surprise me."

Anyhoo... one of the tall toilets will be going on that sewer pipe when Hick gets to work on the floor of Bathroom 2. Not sure what he will do with the funnel...

Avert Your Gaze, and Keep On Walking

People are batcrap crazy these days! Val does not like to get involved. Tries to blend into the woodwork, or the asphalt. Will not respond unless directly addressed. And then minimally. I swear, Missouri is becoming the new Florida. Every day, when I read an outrageous headline on the UK Daily Mail (which is pretty much all of them), I think: "Please, PLEASE don't let it be in Missouri!"

Friday, I stopped by Save A Lot for some products I like and can't find satisfactory versions of elsewhere. Like fake Honey Nut Cheerios, and medium salsa. With it being a Friday, on the first of the month, the parking lot was pretty full. I had to bypass the row directly in front of the store, and loop around to the other side. There's only one long row of parking here, for Save A Lot, the Subway Sandwiches on one side, and the Dollar Store on the other side. There was ONE parking space near the door, which I started to take, but decided it was too tight for T-Hoe's door to fully open.

On the other side of the row, facing the store, I found a spot next to one where the metal cart corral was shoved over, taking up the front part of the space next to me. It was pretty clear that nobody would try to park there. In front of me was a red sedan, and beside it was a white pickup truck. I noticed, because they were in my path to the door. Val does not take extra steps lightly. I knew right away that I would be walking around the rear of T-Hoe, and then start up the other side towards the store. Two men in the white pickup truck had their doors open. I figured they were just getting some air, waiting for their womenfolk to come out of Save A Lot.

As I started walking up along T-Hoe's passenger side, I heard arguing! It was one of the men, with his door open next to the red sedan, and an old woman standing behind the red sedan. She looked like a slimmer Edith Bunker. The man looked like Yosemite Sam, but with the white hair and beard of the dad on Alaskan Bush People.

Woman: "Yes you did!"

Man: "No I didn't."

Woman: "I SAW you, sir!"

Man: "I did not. You're crazy!"

Woman: "I WATCHED you!"

Man: "Then PROVE it!"

Woman: "You hit my car, and I called the police!"

Man: "Call them then! I want your license plate!"

Woman: "The police are already on the way! Here's my plate: A Y 6 T R 9. HANDICAP!" 

[I made up those numbers, because I don't have a phonographic memory.]

 

I was commiserating with that woman. What rumpusholes! How dare they hit her car! And then she had one more thing to say as the police car pulled up:

 

"THIS ASSHOLE HIT MY CAR!"

 

Okay. Maybe I might want to hold up on my judgment for a bit!

A couple of people came out of Save A Lot. One was on the left side of me, on the other side of this argument, scurrying to her car. The other came out the door on my end, and cut eyes at me, raising eyebrows. I knew right away that she was telepathically twirling her crazy temple finger, the second her eyes locked on mine. I sent that message right back.

After wheeling my cart/walker around the store gathering my groceries, I got in line behind a woman checking out. She was talking to the cashier about the scenario unfolding in the parking lot. The police had left their cruiser. It looked like they were taking statements. She turned to me.

"There's the police! I wonder what's going on."

"When I walked by, she was accusing them of hitting her car."

"I don't see any marks on it. People are SO hateful these days!"

Several customers gathered by the window that spans the front of the store. You know, where they were not noticed by those having the tiff. By the time I bagged up my groceries on the long counter, the white truck had left, and the red sedan was gone. I think the police were taking a witness statement. I guess it would just be hearsay, since I didn't notice anyone lurking around right when the argument started. Unless they had been sitting in a car and saw the hitting or not-hitting of the sedan.

I walked back to T-Hoe, proud of my non-involvement. I'm going to order some extensions for the legs of my high-horse, and wax my nose until it shines, the better to look down upon the ruffians in parking lots who start fights over nothing that require the police.

Two COINS in the Downpour

Not quite three coins in the fountain, but I'll take 'em! 

 

All it takes is one stop. One stop to harvest a crop for Val's Future Pennyillionaire Fortune. This week, that stop was on THURSDAY, September 29. I was on my way to mail Genius's weekly letter. I left home later than usual, because we had a drenching rain until about 3:00. Drenching rain, as opposed to a dry rain, heh, heh. It was an unusually hard rain. As if gravity had been dialed up to pull it down more forcefully. The creeks didn't run over. So not a LOT of rain. Just a hard rain. 

Anyhoo... throughout my trip to town, I never encountered more than a sprinkle. So the timing was a good choice. I opened T-Hoe's door to get out at the School-Turn Casey's, and saw

 

A sign that I was where I was supposed to be, when I was supposed to be there! A coin was waiting for me!

 

It was a heads-up 2001 NICKEL, fresh from the rain. Of course I was thrilled to pocket that seldom-found nickel. As I turned back to T-Hoe to get my keys and winning scratchers off the seat, I glanced toward the store, and saw

 

ANOTHER coin waiting for me! Good thing nobody was parked in that other non-parking space beside me.

 

It was a face-down 2016 penny, also shiny in the rain. Mine now!

_______________________________________________________________________

On Friday, I almost represented the other side of the coin, so to speak! I got out of T-Hoe at the Gas Station Chicken Store, parked in the space next to the FREE AIR hose, and DROPPED THREE OF MY PENNIES that I was clutching for my 44 oz Diet Coke. Of course I stopped to pick them up. Nobody's going to find pennies on MY dime!

That makes 2 COINS, for 6 CENTS this week towards Val's Future Pennyillionaire Fortune.

_________________________________________________________

2021 RUNNING TOTAL

Penny       # 96.
Dime         still at 12.
Nickel       # 5.
Quarter    still at 6.

2020 TOTALS
Penny     134
Dime        25
Nickel      10
Quarter      1
________________________________________________________

Light, Showers at Pony House

Hick went to Pony House early on Monday morning. The delivery of the bathroom fixtures was scheduled for 7:00-11:00 a.m. That's not exactly what I call a schedule! At 11:15, Hick called me.

"I been here all morning, and Lowe's never showed up. I called them at 11:05, and asked where my stuff was. The guy apologized, and said somebody didn't show up for work. He said they should be here by 2:00. I told him I already waited four hours, and I had things to do. So he said they'd be here on Tuesday between 7:00 and 11:00."

Hick was NOT happy. He had an auction to go to that afternoon! It's not like he sat at Pony House twiddling his thumbs waiting on Lowe's. There's nowhere to sit at Pony House, heh, heh. In fact, Hick was working on the floor of the Master Bathroom that day. He still made it to his auction, where he bought himself some Oreos and bananas.

Anyhoo... on Tuesday, Lowe's showed up with the showers and tub and toilets and sink at 7:05. The squeaky Hick catches the early delivery, I guess.

 

It's not much to look at, just boxes. But Hick also found two lights. Not sure if they came from Goodwill, the auction, or a rehab store. I'll have to get the details. Hick says the small light was $5, and the big light was $10. He plans to hang the big light in the living room, and the smaller light in the Master Bedroom. The Pony agrees.

The pedestal sink is for Bathroom 2. Or maybe the hall half-bath. Hick has another sink like that here that he's planning to use in the other one. I think it's in the BARn right now. Guess nobody will be washing their hands in the BARn! Nah. I'm not even sure it's hooked up to anything.

The bathroom fixtures are currently stacked in the living room. Hick has been working on those bathroom floors for now, shoring them up with new floor joists. Still waiting on his construction buddy to discuss the plumbing.