It wasn’t all that long ago I wrote about having to train Jean with a list of “mobe rules”, something that allows two people to live in confined quarters without shooting each other. She struggled just a bit with them but finally was catching on. She didn’t spend much time at the mobe this year and, now that brother Bob owns it, neither will I.

I thought that the mobe rules would spill over into the new condo, but I was mistaken. At the condo Jean put all new silverware in the silverware drawer in one of those plastic things that keeps the forks separated from the spoons, etc. I’m not thrilled with the silverware pattern, but I won’t complain even if it is a little “girly”. There are two sets of forks; the regular forks and the salad forks. They look identical except that one is about an inch shorter than the other. So when Jean empties the dishwasher, they are mixed up. Some of the salad forks are in with the regular forks and vice versa. That’s just not right. But it does give me something to do putting them back where they belong.

The food pantry is a total disaster. First of all, the top and bottom shelves both contain something other than food. If it’s a food pantry, everything should be what? You guessed it…FOOD!!! The first time I looked in there, there was salad oil on one shelf, olive oil on the next shelf, and the flavored oils and spray Pam on still another. Chaos, chaos, chaos!!! Training will start tomorrow at 0700 with a surprise inspection and some food placement drills. We’ll see how much more help she needs before basic training is over. I think my chances of making a soldier out of her are in the single digit percentages.

And another thing, again something I’ve mentioned before. My name is Jack and I’m a food-a holic. So today Jean baked cupcakes for her “birthday group” and left four of them on a plate at home in plain sight. She might just as well have left four shots of whiskey for an alcoholic or a baggie of crack for a drug addict. She’s an enabler and there ought to be a law against it. I haven’t touched them yet, but they’ve only been there 8 hours. We’ll see how long they last.

This week’s message is a couple of days later than usual. For one thing, we have no phone at the condo and the Green Street house is at 50 degrees, so it isn’t that pleasant to sit at the computer and write for any length of time. Your fingers get so numb you hit two or three keys at once. Today was warm so I’m taking advantage.

As to the question from a couple of weeks ago about Becky’s mishap with the saw horses, I guess I had the details all screwed up and Becky corrected me. It was her father who made the saw horses, not her father in law. I didn’t get any response when I asked for anyone who had heard of that happening to them or someone they know. One writer, and I won’t mention any names but her initials are Lynette Doele, said that it hadn’t happened to her but a mammogram isn’t much fun either. I suggested she pinch herself between a couple of two by fours in that same place at let me know which was worse. I haven’t gotten a report yet but I’m guessing I would have heard the screams even from Gun Lake.

I saw a robin today, but I’ve seen them all winter so it doesn’t seem that big of a deal. Spring is just around the corner???

Just (Sick Of The Winter Weather) Jack