Thursday, January 19, 2012
Snow Fences Revisited
Einstein has been credited with saying, “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” That is how I feel about snow fences. It is January and we have reset snow fence #2 several times because it keeps falling down. Success eludes us. We have finally had our first snow and so far, the darn thing is still standing. I think the snow is holding it up. We are expecting 5-8 inches of snow tomorow. I will keep you posted.
The Law of Good Intentions
While visiting my family in Texas over Thanksgiving, Gene and the kids enjoyed trap shooting one afternoon. They talked about it for days, so I decided that a great Christmas gift would be to buy Gene a clay trap thrower. How hard could it be? Well, it turns out that it is a bit more involved than just having good intentions.
Like all good shoppers, I got online and investigated various throwers (trap shooters to the well informed). I found one with a good rating and ordered it. Once it arrived, I discovered that you needed clay traps to go with it. Why don’t they do like other toys and give you a few to get started? I opened the box and read the directions to find out what size I needed—yes, there are three sizes. So off to the sporting goods store I went.
Now let me be clear about how my day was going. I had a bad head cold and concentrating and figuring things out was not my strong suit on this particular day. When I got to the store, I looked for the gun section and found two helpful looking men stocking the shelves. I asked them where the clay thingies were that you throw out for target practice. No one laughed. They said, “Do you mean clay trap?” and promptly showed me a mile high stack of them. I grabbed a box (gasp, they are heavy) and the man asked, “Do you need shot to go with these?” I said, “Huh?” He said they had 8 packs of shot on sale and it would be good to buy some. I asked to see them and then said, “Oh, you mean bullets.” Okay, I meant to say ammo, but my head was fuzzy and things weren’t processing really well.
At this point, the salesman should have figured out that I was out of my knowledge base, so maybe it was out of pure entertainment that he asked me, “What gauge gun does he have?” Gauge? I know I have heard that term before, but how am I supposed to know what gauge the gun is? I asked him if they printed the gauge on the side of the gun somewhere. He excused himself (I’m sure he had to go to the stock room to laugh). Then the other, 12-year old looking salesman came over to help. He showed me how to read the gauge and other info on the end of the box. Truly, these things should be sold in sets with everything included! I studied the display and reached with total confidence and picked out a box of shot. The way I see it, shot is cheap, so if I made a mistake we could either give it away or my husband would have to buy a new gun at the After Christmas Sale.
At this point, I huffed my way to the front of the store carrying what felt like 50 pounds of clay and 2 pounds of shot, purchased my goods, slid out the icy sidewalk to realize I couldn’t open the car door and juggle my load. I’m here to tell you, that the law of good intentions dictates that I’m due some really thoughtful gifts as payback for my efforts.
Like all good shoppers, I got online and investigated various throwers (trap shooters to the well informed). I found one with a good rating and ordered it. Once it arrived, I discovered that you needed clay traps to go with it. Why don’t they do like other toys and give you a few to get started? I opened the box and read the directions to find out what size I needed—yes, there are three sizes. So off to the sporting goods store I went.
Now let me be clear about how my day was going. I had a bad head cold and concentrating and figuring things out was not my strong suit on this particular day. When I got to the store, I looked for the gun section and found two helpful looking men stocking the shelves. I asked them where the clay thingies were that you throw out for target practice. No one laughed. They said, “Do you mean clay trap?” and promptly showed me a mile high stack of them. I grabbed a box (gasp, they are heavy) and the man asked, “Do you need shot to go with these?” I said, “Huh?” He said they had 8 packs of shot on sale and it would be good to buy some. I asked to see them and then said, “Oh, you mean bullets.” Okay, I meant to say ammo, but my head was fuzzy and things weren’t processing really well.
At this point, the salesman should have figured out that I was out of my knowledge base, so maybe it was out of pure entertainment that he asked me, “What gauge gun does he have?” Gauge? I know I have heard that term before, but how am I supposed to know what gauge the gun is? I asked him if they printed the gauge on the side of the gun somewhere. He excused himself (I’m sure he had to go to the stock room to laugh). Then the other, 12-year old looking salesman came over to help. He showed me how to read the gauge and other info on the end of the box. Truly, these things should be sold in sets with everything included! I studied the display and reached with total confidence and picked out a box of shot. The way I see it, shot is cheap, so if I made a mistake we could either give it away or my husband would have to buy a new gun at the After Christmas Sale.
At this point, I huffed my way to the front of the store carrying what felt like 50 pounds of clay and 2 pounds of shot, purchased my goods, slid out the icy sidewalk to realize I couldn’t open the car door and juggle my load. I’m here to tell you, that the law of good intentions dictates that I’m due some really thoughtful gifts as payback for my efforts.
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