Grateful For Smiles, Three Unexpected Things

/ Ally Bean

THING ONE: Looking Up

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Our local Kroger is undergoing a remodel that started in April.  Since about day 1 this upside down wheelbarrow has been on the roof, not moving, just sitting up there.  While the unexpected wheelbarrow placement is a charming bit of whimsy, every time I see it I chuckle to myself wondering if anyone doing the remodel remembers that it’s up there.

Care to place a bet as to when [if] it ever comes down?

~ • ~

THING TWO: Looking Forward

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Shopping in Half Price Books I noticed that the clever employees have quietly moved all the books by and about Hillary Clinton off the “First Ladies” shelves to the nearby “Presidents” shelves.  This might be presumptuous OR it might be prophetic, but it is, if nothing else, an unexpected bit of humor.

Good people in that store. I like how they think.

~ • ~

THING THREE: Looking Around

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Fuzzy the Squirrel, who hangs out around our house, has found a new, unexpected way to entertain [annoy?] me.  For the first time he’s leaving nut shells all over any concrete or stone surface in front of the house.  Meaning that when I want to get the mail I have dodge sharp nut shells as I walk to the mailbox OR use a broom to sweep the shells away as I walk along.

Sure, he’s cute, but oh. so. bothersome.

~ • ~

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{ This post, inspired by Nerd in the Brain‘s Three Things Thursday, is part of a weekly blogging event dedicated to the idea that gratitude is awesome and leads to smiles. You can join in too. Go here to learn more. }

39 thoughts on “Grateful For Smiles, Three Unexpected Things”

  1. In reference to #2, I can understand how people are starting to accept the inevitable (as in the bookstore employees). My concern is that with an election over two weeks away, we’ve already become complacent with mainstream media’s next President. . I appreciate the chuckle it gave you though, they’re hard to come by these days.

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  2. My squirrels are equally messy, and always have been. I do believe they are spoiled, entitled squirrels now.

    I like the bookstore clerks, too. I prefer to think of the display as one for role-models.

    The wheelbarrow reminds me of the William Carlos Williams poem, “So much depends on the red wheelbarrow, beside the white chickens, in the rain.” (or that’s how I remember it.) Peculiar, but interesting addition to an otherwise dull facade, non?

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    • joey, Fuzzy and friends have never been ones to use our front yard for any purpose, so this year’s messiness is something new, and curious. [I mean, why?]

      Excellent assessment of the meaning behind the bookstore display. I can go with that.

      I’d forgotten about that poem, but now that you mention it, so perfect for this absurd wheelbarrow that adds a certain je ne sais quoi to the building.

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  3. Thanks for the smiles, you know how I love them. I believe the bookstore display is working under the power of positive thinking, putting it out in the universe you know? Squirrels, too many cats around our house for it to be an issue here. Maybe when we get that country house we are dreaming of (which we’ll be able to afford once the bookstore prophesy becomes a reality) – smiling? I’m going to have to check out the Three Things Thursday. Thanks Ally!

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    • Janet, that’s a great way of interpreting the bookstore display. Positive thinking is good, actually voting for HRC is better!

      This squirrel situation is a new one. I mean, I cannot figure it out, but am getting to be good friends with my broom. Like a witch, before Halloween. How seasonal.

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    • Kate, creative for sure. I wonder if you’re onto something with your staffing idea. Fuzzy seems like he thinks a lot of himself, kind of self-important. Like he deserves the front yard.

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  6. I thought the same thing as Akilah about going barefoot. Not here as my box is half way down the street. Squirrels around here have a treasure house of acorns 2 streets over from us. I walk there sometimes and know what you mean about those things under foot.

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    • Deb, it’s not a big deal to have this happen, but I find it odd that it just began this year. Are younger squirrels not listening to their elders about the dangers of the front yard with the street & cars? Yet another example of a generation gap?! 😉

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  7. That squirrel is obviously up to no good, laying out a landmine field just in time for tricker treaters to come to your door.

    I too would spend a dangerously long time standing in the parking lot pondering the why about that upside down wheelbarrow. I’m thinking its placement is also the squirrel’s doing, but haven’t yet worked out its nefarious plan.That is unless its plan is to distract me from wondering about what its real plan might be…

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    • Allie P, Fuzzy and his friends are often inscrutable as to their motives. The nut shells are a stupid thing, but I’d not put together your logical leap to the upside down wheelbarrow/squirrel connection. No doubt there is one, yet to be discovered. I’ll stay alert.

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  8. Bah. My meticulously thought out and well written comment was eaten. Now I must try to reconstruct it and I’m certain it will not be the great work that it previously was. Blame wordpress for anything I say that does not make sense or appears offensive or otherwise imperfect.

    I was thinking about Fuzzy this morning. When I returned from therapy and was sitting in the door of my car waiting to stand, one of our local squirrels came running up the stair rail and hopped over to the tree closest to the garage. He jumped branches to the next tree and paused to say hello to me before moving on. He didn’t seem in the least worried. Perhaps he has seen me walk and knows I can’t catch him. I wondered where he was going in such a hurry. Perhaps to my neighbor’s yard where all the acorns live.

    I saw this on the interwebs this morning, if you haven’t seen it:

    Be sure that the patient remains completely fixated on politics. Arguments, political gossip, and obsessing on the faults of people they have never met serves as an excellent distraction from advancing in personal virtue, character, and the things the patient can control. Make sure to keep the patient in a constant state of angst, frustration, and general disdain towards the rest of the human race in order to avoid any kind of charity or inner peace from further developing. Ensure the patient continues to believe that the problem is “out there” in the “broken system” rather than recognizing there is a problem with himself. Keep up the good work.

    It was written anonymously in the style of C.S. Lewis’s Screwtape Letters, but what I found most interesting while I was searching to see if I could find where it was really from, was that both the right and the left were taking it in support of their own viewpoints. I, of course, see it from the left.

    I like your bookstore’s apparently hopeful view. It concerns me, however, that so many people see the election as certain and will possibly not get out to vote to keep the orange fellow out of the office.

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    • Zazamataz, I’m sorry that you had difficulties with WP. I had some problems earlier this week to the point that I took down a post, after which the bugs seemed to disappear.

      I’m equally fascinated & irritated by Fuzzy’s antics. This new behavior is odd, but not exactly a problem. There’s no sign of damage to the house or concrete, so I dunno. Squirrels are weird.

      I’d forgotten all about The Screwtape Letters. I loved that book. A friend gave it to me years ago, I think I read it in a day, then passed it on. I need to find another copy of it, now that you’ve reminded me how wonderful it is. Thank you.

      I, too, am concerned about people becoming unmotivated to go vote, thereby allowing the Tangerine Tornado to win. I voted already via an absentee ballot, so I’m with her… FOR SURE.

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  9. I’m with you on the Wheelbarrow Sighting. That sort of thing charms me, and I would be captivated by its presence (or eventual lack thereof) for the duration. I hope you keep us updated.

    Also charming is the subtlety of the bookstore’s politics.

    You have a Good Eye. Thanks for the Smiles today.

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    • nance, oh I’m so glad that someone else understands my fascination with the wheelbarrow. It should not be up there, except maybe it should, but maybe it has been forgotten, or maybe it’s going to used for something near the end of the remodel. I need to know!

      I almost missed the bookshelf arrangement because I was walking down that row to get to another one, but it caught my eye. And made me laugh out loud.

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  10. cute cuddly squirrel! May such a creature be that close to me – and other creatures at a distance … I’m off to the bush tomorrow back on Monday where there are lions to be seen (from a safe distance) and other wild animals .. I’ll probably put up a post next week on the wilderness … and that wheelbarrow looks like it belongs …

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    • Susan, ok, seeing lions in the wild tops seeing the nut shell remains of annoying rodents, but I can only write about that which I know! 😉 Will look for your post next week. And I agree about that wheelbarrow. It looks much too comfortable up there, like it might be there for years.

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    • You nailed it Margaret. If you’re sane and moral you vote for Hillary. I didn’t come up with these two choices, but I won’t let that stop me from doing the right thing.

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  12. Is it too late for Fuzzy to run for President? I’m undecided on who I’m going to write in in two weeks, and Fuzzy’s certainly a candidate…

    *Note, I have boycotted the Presidential election for many years due to the fact that I find the Electoral College unfair, so finding a cute write-in is my usual thing. Not that I’d need much help this year…. I don’t like HER or HIM… I’d rather vote for Fuzzy.

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  13. Good eye and fun share!

    You should wear Fuzzy Slippers when you push the broom out to get the mail . . . along with a bathrobe and shower cap (or tin foil cap) to give the neighbors something to talk about on their blogs.

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    • Tara, you and Z-D have the same bet going. I say it’ll come down whenever a new Kroger sign goes up on the front of the bldg, and someone looks over and notices an old wheelbarrow.

      I tend to agree about squirrels, but this particular one is so photogenic that I can’t resist him.

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    • Thanks brickhousechick! These are odds-n-ends of my life, but what is a personal blog if not a place to put said odds-n-ends? I agree about that wheelbarrow and promise there will be a “rest of the story” follow-up. Someday.

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