Why do I have FOUR old manual pencil sharpeners? It's kind of a long story, so I'll try and synopsize. Ebay. That's why.
We had one of these pencil sharpeners when I was a kid, and I've never been able to find one that works better. The little clampy jaws thing slides out and holds your pencil while you grind merrily away, making a fine point and a nice pencil shaving smell to boot. The sound it makes is most satisfying. Truth be told, it's one of the few things that served as incentive to do my times tables and other tedious math homework. If I wrote enough, I'd get to use the pencil sharpener. I know...I probably needed to get out more. Anyhoo...I found one at an estate sale for about a buck and happily snatched it up. Score! Fast forward a couple years to me wondering, "Gosh, what will I ever do if my pencil sharpener breaks?!" So I went on ebay and, of course, there are many for sale, but not for a buck. More like $15-$45.
This is where it gets murky, but I think I bid on one, maybe two, and forgot, and then bid on another one or two...so, long story short, I "won" three (one of these is my original estate sale one), so if anyone needs a pencil sharpened, I'm running a special. Fun aside: One of the sellers sent along a large fistful of pencils. I guess he's eschewing all traditional writing methods from here on out.
I had a personal day to use up, so took it yesterday and enjoyed a marathon of outdoorness that started with poaching a huge bowl of black raspberries that may or may not be on private property (but I was *standing* on public property, so that's legit, right?), a bike ride, more berry picking, kayaking (thank you to the dad shuttle service), and, finally, as the sun was setting, the grass cutting and weeding that I originally took the day off to do. A gal's gotta have priorities. Though I always keep a container in my bike bag this time of year for just such discoveries, I can report that bike shorts and a t-shirt are not the ideal attire in which to pick raspberries. I actually went home after the first container was full and changed into long pants and a long sleeved denim shirt. The second bout of berry picking entailed a few more raspberries found along the bike trail (sadly, the county seems to have clear cut all the wild raspberry bushes in their attempt to tidy up the trail) and a bountiful crop of service berries (a.k.a. June berries?), also along the bike trail.
I ate a couple service berries (the animals were eating them, so...) and found them to be amazingly sweet and delectable. But I wasn't sure what they were, just had a hunch. I googled these when I got home to make sure they're edible, and they are, so now I'm gonna freeze most of them for smoothies. I like the idea that my berries were free and organic if one discounts fallout from the local chemical plant and possible bail money if I get arrested for trespassing. I'll be eating the rest of the evidence shortly.
In other news, this little guy/gal was in the bushes next door. I like to sit in there when I don't want to be noticed too.
I also found out who's been mucking up the birdbath. A mom raccoon and her, count 'em, SIX babies.
I left my motion-detector light on last night and caught them foraging in the yard. I made a noise and they scuttled, very slowly (not fast scuttlers, baby raccoons), back up the tree and sat up there in the crook staring at me. Then, figuring I was no threat, they made their way back down, so I tapped on the house and they scuttled slowly back up again. This went on for some time 'til the mother decided the game had gone on long enough and waddled over toward the bird bath, at which time I threw a rock at the fence (to make a loud noise, not hit her -- I'd use a shot gun for that), and they all disappeared into the hostas. Another evening in the wild kingdom.
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