Sunday, April 17, 2005

Recycling Run Amok

Well, hello, F.O.T.E's! Life's been busy and interesting around here--as usual! It's been wonderful seeing the plants and flowers come back to life after the long winter. We were delighted to find that an iris plant Lovable rescued from sure death during an excavating project last summer, had bloomed in the pot she transplanted it to. It's beautiful. The bees and wasps are busy, and the lizards are beginning to show up again. Carnival reminded me that if you grabbed their tail, it would fall off. I love Spring.
I hear tell that Earth Day is (was?) sometime this month. In honor of it, I'm going to tell you a story about my ingenious children and their little contribution to The Fold Recycling Program.
First, you should know that, again, our Beloved Vehicle is visiting the mechanic. This time, it was a pre-emptive strike; I just wanted him to check out some suspicious behavior and fix anything that needed it before it actually broke. So, anyway, we've been home for days (which is just fine with me, homebody that I am.) We've been "living off the land," foodwise, which around here means we're cleaning out the freezer and pantry, making do with what's on hand.
Tonight, what was on hand was an old pantry standby: spaghetti and marinara sauce. We had just about eaten our fill and Lovable wanted a second helping. I explained that the noodles were just about gone, though we had a lot of sauce left. I guess in a subconscious attempt to convince Lovable she was getting more food than she actually was, I put more sauce on her noodles than she wanted. I apologized, and, seeing that my plate had too many noodles and not enough sauce, I quipped, "Hmm. Well, we can't take the sauce out of your noodles." Lovable glanced up and matter-of-factly announced, "Oh, I can. I just suck the noodles out of the bowl and the sauce stays behind." For some reason, this struck me funny and I chortled a few minutes. Seeing my enjoyment of Lovable's ingenuity in Sauce Conservation, Carnival decided to share with me an episode that had happened this week...
Carnival and Lovable had gotten up one morning and made cereal. This emptied out the milk container, with no way to get more. While those two were munching their kibble, Musical came padding down the stairs, wanting cereal. Hmm...no milk. What to do? Well, not one to be daunted, Carnival came up with a plan. She instructed Lovable about her scheme. A few minutes later, Musical got her bowl of cereal, complete with milk. How did they do it? Carnival tells me that she and Lovable used their spoons to carefully fish out the bits of their cereal, leaving the milk (or what was left after the cereal soaked up it's share)in their bowls. Then, they combined the paltry puddles in each of their bowls and poured it over Musical's cereal. So, all three girls got bowls of cereal, even though there was only milk enough for about one and a half.
Carnival does report that, since each girl had a different type of cereal, the resulting residual milk tasted a trifle funny. Ahh, that's ma' gals! Making it good to the last drop! :-)
Well, must run. Gotta get to bed. A lady never knows when a mechanic might call and tell her her carriage is ready. Could it be tomorrow? Alas, only time will tell...
Y'all keep your wool dry,
The Ewe

P.S. Though the carrot cake last Saturday was a bit homely, the church folk assured me it *was* "fit to eat" and, in fact, they made rather flattering noises while consuming it. :-) I just might do that again...maybe...

No comments: