They surrounded me like bees; they blazed like a fire of thorns; in the name of the Lord I cut them off!
Psalm 118:12
Cardboard boxes are on the list of huge success stories. I have often wondered who the first grandparent was that came up with the simple cardboard box as a toy. Perhaps it was Methuselah giving that first cardboard box to Noah; we all know how inspiring that was years later.
Granny was my inventive grandmother. She was absolutely fantastic at finding little games for us to play, and ways to make anything out of nothing. For inspiring imagination, she was tops. With Granny, no dream was too large and none was too small. She knew each of her grandchildren so well, and knew the best way to find appropriate entertainment for each of us, usually. I am confident that some of us provided a greater challenge for her than she was aiming for that day, but she still gave it a pretty good effort.
On one particular occasion, Granny gave me a small hammer to play with, and no real guidelines of what to and not to do; probably not one of her soundest moments. Granny, being an artist, often did her own framing. She had the miter boxes, and wire, and nails, and naturally the small hammers just right for assembling frames. Now Granny naturally thought that I could hardly get into any trouble with such a small hammer. So she handed it to me and sent me out onto the porch to hammer in any nails that may be sticking up a little on her porch. This was, of course, a job that needed to be done and with such a small hammer I could probably work all day on one nail and not get it done. What Granny didn’t count on, however, was my short attention span.
I set out with my trusty hammer, and for a while I was “Little Joe” on the Ponderosa. It fit into my belt just perfectly to be my six-shooter. In my mind I had Joe’s characteristic black hat on and rode that beautiful painted horse of his, which of course was a yardstick that Granny had turned into a pony with a newspaper head. I rode around for a while, chasing my sister, and practicing my draw; it was amazing at how often I was the quickest draw.
After a busy, at least ten minutes riding I was off to new adventures. The next adventure that I embarked on was discovering all of the really neat sounds that things would make when I struck them with the hammer. Most things on the back porch were wooden, but even they made some really neat sounds. I made my way around the porch to each new item, rapping on it several times, thoroughly satisfied with all of the neat sounds I was making. Of all the items back there though, the aluminum ladder was the best. It gave a very satisfying ring. I started at one end and made my way to the other rapping in between and on each rung; I was especially pleased when I could hear the pitch change slightly as I went along. Glee only partially describes the feeling I had. The ladder was lying on its side and I knelt down to get a good shot at the other side of the ladder that was on the floor. I then proceeded to make my way down that side of the ladder. I went along as before banging on each rung, and then there it was.
I had never seen anything quite like this. It was quite odd. It was semi-conical shaped and hanging on the ladder itself. It was only a couple of inches wide, and looked like old brown paper. The oddest thing about it was all of these funny looking bugs crawling on it. I sat, just inches from it, for a couple of minutes just watching these yellow and black bugs with wings walk around on it, and fly here and there. That was probably the oddest thing to me, the way they just walked around and buzzed, but never really went very far. Then I became curious about how it would sound, so I hit it with the hammer. That was very disappointing; it didn’t make any noise at all. However, it sure seemed to excite those funny yellow and black bugs. Then I discovered just how excited they were.
I don’t know exactly how many times I got stung before I got to Granny, but I do remember that at least one of them got me on the nose. The intense fire I felt at their sting was unlike anything I had ever experienced, and these bugs were all over me. I was terrified. I ran and ran, and cried out for Granny to help me. I was frantic.
Finally, I reached the top of the stairs on the back porch and Granny was there waiting for me. She grabbed me up and rushed me inside, quickly closing the door behind us. She gently held me and kissed my teary face, assuring me that I would be ok. She then explained to me that those were yellow jackets and that I had been stung. I still wasn’t quite sure what it meant to be stung, but I knew that I did not want to do it again.
The other thing I discovered in this grand adventure is the fact that grandparents have odd ways of remedying common issues and ailments. Granny then took her tea bag from her teacup she had been drinking from and had me hold it on my nose. I thought that she was crazy, but hey, she’s Granny, I’ll go with it. I don’t know if the tea bag actually did anything, but after a while I felt much better. Before I went out again to ride my painted horse, we both agreed that perhaps the hammer was not the best thing for me to have, and I definitely needed to give my new friends the yellow jackets a wide berth.
Psalm 118:12
Grandparents are often overwhelmed by the boundless energy of their grandchildren. The result of this is that grandparents will not always make the soundest of decisions in their efforts to redirect some of that energy. Often they will agree to the most foolish things just to get them to quiet down. Other times they will try to find something to occupy the little nymph, even for just a moment while they get a few minutes off their feet. Sometimes this can be a rousing success. Sometimes, the grandparent will regret for years that foolish decision.
Cardboard boxes are on the list of huge success stories. I have often wondered who the first grandparent was that came up with the simple cardboard box as a toy. Perhaps it was Methuselah giving that first cardboard box to Noah; we all know how inspiring that was years later.
Granny was my inventive grandmother. She was absolutely fantastic at finding little games for us to play, and ways to make anything out of nothing. For inspiring imagination, she was tops. With Granny, no dream was too large and none was too small. She knew each of her grandchildren so well, and knew the best way to find appropriate entertainment for each of us, usually. I am confident that some of us provided a greater challenge for her than she was aiming for that day, but she still gave it a pretty good effort.
On one particular occasion, Granny gave me a small hammer to play with, and no real guidelines of what to and not to do; probably not one of her soundest moments. Granny, being an artist, often did her own framing. She had the miter boxes, and wire, and nails, and naturally the small hammers just right for assembling frames. Now Granny naturally thought that I could hardly get into any trouble with such a small hammer. So she handed it to me and sent me out onto the porch to hammer in any nails that may be sticking up a little on her porch. This was, of course, a job that needed to be done and with such a small hammer I could probably work all day on one nail and not get it done. What Granny didn’t count on, however, was my short attention span.
I set out with my trusty hammer, and for a while I was “Little Joe” on the Ponderosa. It fit into my belt just perfectly to be my six-shooter. In my mind I had Joe’s characteristic black hat on and rode that beautiful painted horse of his, which of course was a yardstick that Granny had turned into a pony with a newspaper head. I rode around for a while, chasing my sister, and practicing my draw; it was amazing at how often I was the quickest draw.
After a busy, at least ten minutes riding I was off to new adventures. The next adventure that I embarked on was discovering all of the really neat sounds that things would make when I struck them with the hammer. Most things on the back porch were wooden, but even they made some really neat sounds. I made my way around the porch to each new item, rapping on it several times, thoroughly satisfied with all of the neat sounds I was making. Of all the items back there though, the aluminum ladder was the best. It gave a very satisfying ring. I started at one end and made my way to the other rapping in between and on each rung; I was especially pleased when I could hear the pitch change slightly as I went along. Glee only partially describes the feeling I had. The ladder was lying on its side and I knelt down to get a good shot at the other side of the ladder that was on the floor. I then proceeded to make my way down that side of the ladder. I went along as before banging on each rung, and then there it was.
I had never seen anything quite like this. It was quite odd. It was semi-conical shaped and hanging on the ladder itself. It was only a couple of inches wide, and looked like old brown paper. The oddest thing about it was all of these funny looking bugs crawling on it. I sat, just inches from it, for a couple of minutes just watching these yellow and black bugs with wings walk around on it, and fly here and there. That was probably the oddest thing to me, the way they just walked around and buzzed, but never really went very far. Then I became curious about how it would sound, so I hit it with the hammer. That was very disappointing; it didn’t make any noise at all. However, it sure seemed to excite those funny yellow and black bugs. Then I discovered just how excited they were.
I don’t know exactly how many times I got stung before I got to Granny, but I do remember that at least one of them got me on the nose. The intense fire I felt at their sting was unlike anything I had ever experienced, and these bugs were all over me. I was terrified. I ran and ran, and cried out for Granny to help me. I was frantic.
Finally, I reached the top of the stairs on the back porch and Granny was there waiting for me. She grabbed me up and rushed me inside, quickly closing the door behind us. She gently held me and kissed my teary face, assuring me that I would be ok. She then explained to me that those were yellow jackets and that I had been stung. I still wasn’t quite sure what it meant to be stung, but I knew that I did not want to do it again.
The other thing I discovered in this grand adventure is the fact that grandparents have odd ways of remedying common issues and ailments. Granny then took her tea bag from her teacup she had been drinking from and had me hold it on my nose. I thought that she was crazy, but hey, she’s Granny, I’ll go with it. I don’t know if the tea bag actually did anything, but after a while I felt much better. Before I went out again to ride my painted horse, we both agreed that perhaps the hammer was not the best thing for me to have, and I definitely needed to give my new friends the yellow jackets a wide berth.
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