Amusing Events

I love my parents. Recent amusing events have plagued them. Let me elaborate...

Amusing Event #1
My parents had just parked in front of the Hallmark store in Farmington, MO. Since my dad wanted to help my arthritic mom out of the car, and my mom had a second set of keys for the car, my dad decided to leave the keys in the ignition. My mom didn't want to take her big boat of a purse into the store, so she left it in the car and locked the doors, naturally so no one would steal it. They then went on with their shopping. When my parents returned to the car, my dad wanted my mom's set of keys to unlock the car, and she, of course, did not have them because they were in her big boat of a purse, which was, of course, in the car. My parents had to call a locksmith and pay $35 to have the car unlocked.

Amusing Event #2
Some time ago, my dad went to Lowe's to return a defective Shop-Vac. The Lowe's employee gave him a Lowe's card worth $85 to use to buy a new Shop-Vac. My dad didn't know he was supposed to use the card to make the exchange, so he left the store with the $85 card--thinking it wasn't worth anything (i.e., a dead card)--and a new Shop-Vac. My mom recently persuaded him to have the card checked, and lo and behold, he found out that $85 was on the card. He knew it wasn't right to use the $85 (nor legal), but the woman servicing him insisted that he use the "free" money because, after all, it was Lowe's mistake. They should not have given him the card. My parents now have a new $100 Moen faucet in their kitchen.

Amusing Event #3
My dad was having some car trouble recently, so he was driving his '90 Chevy truck to work while the car was out of commission. While working on his car, he decided to leave the battery going to listen to music. After a snag or sure (I cannot remember how many), the project wound up taking a little longer than anticipated. As most of you know, if you leave a car battery pulling juice for too long, the car will not have enough battery power left to start. Needless to say, when my dad tried to start the car, it was 100 percent dead. He thought to himself, "It's okay. I'll just use the truck." When he turned the key in the ignition the truck wouldn't fire either! "What is going on around here?!" he wondered. He told my mom the situation, and my mom asked if he had left his lights on. My dad is very careful about things like that and thought the idea ridiculous but went ahead and checked it out. Sure enough, he had left his headlights on all day!... Hilarity.

Amusing Event #4
I've saved the best for last. My dad has been in a war against some squirrels in our backyard for a very long time. They like to climb the pole to the bird feeder and eat the bird seed. My dad has tried a funnel, a piece of wood I think, a strip of plastic, a strip of plastic with sides, and maybe even oiling up the pole. No matter what my dad has tried, the squirrel(s) end up on top (no pun intended). Recently, my dad has had to make revisions on his strip of plastic with sides and has formed it into a plastic box of sorts. For a week the squirrel was stumped (yes, the other squirrel gave up a while ago, so there is only one still fighting), then it finally happened. I was in the kitchen as my dad was walking into the dining room looking out the sliding glass doors. Suddenly he gasped. I looked out the window and saw the varment atop the plastic box, eating to his mischievous delight. For probably a good ten minutes, my dad, sister, and I stared outside the sliding glass doors, trying to figure out the seemingly genius animal's strategy. We laughed at the thought that my dad was being outsmarted by a squirrel. Make no doubt about it, we have seen these squirrels in action and know that they do actually think things through and study different angles--at least when it comes to getting on a bird feeder. For some added humor, know that the birds are particularly attracted to the squirrels' food when my dad puts it out on the ground. I will try to provide a picture of the bird feeder with its ridiculous contraption soon.

In case I do not write for a while, God bless your celebration of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection!