So we had a little snow.
And by now I hope you have been able to cope with it and get back into your usual routine.
We were snowbound where we live, not far from the St. Jones River. By Sunday morning there was something like 16 to 18 inches on the ground and we figured we had better stay put.
A couple of snow shoveling sessions got as far as the van in the driveway but it didn’t seem like a good idea to do much more, seeing that our street hadn’t been plowed, or at least the end of the dead end street where we live.
But a big city of Dover front-end loader turned up about the middle of the afternoon and did a good job of piling up a snow mountain of about 10 feet in the middle of the dead end circle.
I have a lot of respect for the guys who may go a couple of winters in a row without any serious snow plowing to do and then have to respond immediately and work nearly around the clock to handle a big storm like the one we just had.
My snow shoveling was helped by using a trick I had read about in a Reader’s Digest book published about five years ago. The book’s title is “Extraordinary Uses for Ordinary Things.” One super handy item was WD-40, which came out in 1953, the invention of a man in California. Today it is in four out of five homes in the country and, along with duct tape, I consider one of the most useful products to have around.
In the case of shoveling, the advice is to spray WD-40 on the shovel blade. The stuff keeps snow from sticking to the shovel. It really was my first opportunity to try this tactic since I bought the book and it worked just as promised.
Using WD-40 to help shoveling was one of the 62 uses for it listed, and the book claims that the number of uses for ordinary things for different jobs to be 2,317.
I have well over 2,000 uses yet to try out.
*****
We almost went up to Maine last week to join in the observance of my younger brother David’s 80th birthday, but after getting as far as Danbury, Conn., where we spent the night, we thought better of the winter trip and came back to Dover.
It turned out that the very heavy rainstorm we ran into on the way back was tougher than a ride up to Maine would have been, but of course we didn’t know that would be the case.
When I mentioned to the hotel reservation clerk in Danbury that we had intended to go to Maine, she immediately said something about that state being the home of Stephen King, the well-known author.
She had reason to think of him. It happens that he drives from his home to Maine to Florida every winter and does it on the same date every year, making his reservations for his Danbury stop in the hotel we used.
His name has just been in the news because he and his wife Tabitha donated the money for bus trips so that 150 soldiers from the Maine Army National Guard could come home for the holidays.
*****
You may have read or heard that President Obama said, in an interview with ABC News that his recent middle-of-the-night trip to Dover Air Force Base to meet the remains of fallen soldiers was “the most powerful moment in his presidency.”
He also said that his decision to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan was the most difficult decision he had yet faced in office.
The Dover base is, of course, very much involved in this decision.
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From previous comments you may think that Mary and I spend all our time in restaurants trying to overhear remarks from nearby tables but I do have to mention the comment of one crotchety diner the other day.
He had been very specific about how he wanted his meal prepared and mentioned to the waitress, “I read in the paper about a waitress who didn’t serve the right meal a man ordered and she had to spend five years in jail for it.”
He didn’t mention what paper, of course. Strange things happen, but his tale is far beyond the pale.
*****
One habit we do have is noticing how many cars we see with low license tags. It’s a Delaware thing, I guess — attaching prestige to low tag numbers. I don’t think this assumption is as prevalent in other states although I do remember hearing years ago that in Massachusetts people sometimes leave low tag numbers in their wills.
It seems that four-digit tags are all over Dover — it really isn’t that odd to see one. And there are a number of three-digit tags as well. Only once in a while does a two-digit tag come along, but it really isn’t that rare. What is rare is a one-digit, of course, with Nos. 1, 2 and 3 reserved for the governor, lieutenant governor and secretary of state.
Do you suppose it is because the Department of Motor Vehicles is located in Dover that so many low digit plates turn up here?
*****
More than 30 years ago I met Howard Johnson (no relation to the restaurant chain) and we did business with him in his capacity as manager of the newspaper press operation at the Easton Star-Democrat newspaper in Easton, Md. Later he had his own printing business in Easton, and in more recent years we knew him in his capacity as a real estate agent in Talbot County, Md.
Howard was an able and conscientious printer. It was a pleasure to know him and later his wife Clara.
Because of the snowstorm, however, we were unable to attend the memorial service for him Sunday in Easton.
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Merry Christmas to each and every reader, whether the number be 10 or many times that number. But I’m not counting on anyone beyond you, Dear Reader. Mary and I hope this holiday season is everything you and your family want it to be.
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“Are you a lawyer?”
“Yes.”
“How much do you charge?”
“A hundred dollars for four questions.”
“Isn’t that awfully expensive?”
“Yes. What’s your fourth question?”
