Wednesday, October 17, 2012

A pint’s a pound the world around



My parents used to say things that made my head swim in their incomprehensibility.  I could not grasp the pint and the pound, especially when confused with other sayings such as a pint of feathers weighs less than a pint of lead.   Although a pound of each still weighed the same.

Another mystery saying:  we eat what we can and what we can’t, we can.  I did understand that a drip a second was eighty gallons a year.  My parents were big on waste not; I could visualize a dripping faucet.

Yesterday at supper Jan said Patti was mighty happy for all those acorns she hauled over for Patti’s fat chipmunks and deer to eat this winter.  In fact, the haul was so heavy Patti helped carry them up a flight of steps.

“How heavy were they?” right out of Laura’s mouth, and Jan said she and Emily had filled three gallon bags with all the acorns gathered so far.  “A pint’s a pound the world around” came right out of my mouth.  I felt like my mother.  But those two girls were on it like a squirrel on an acorn.

Emily helped Laura work out eight pints in a gallon and it was downhill from there.  “Twenty four pounds!” Laura announced in triumph.  “And lots more are falling!”

Patti’s friends will be deep on her porch, begging acorns this winter.  I wonder if she makes them finish before they leave.  I’m sure a few squirrels and a few chipmunks have made off with the acorns.  Jan may be responsible for an oak forest in Brecksville.  Laura and Emily will be even more responsible.  And those four legged friends of Patty should be sending thank you notes to two little girls close enough to the ground to pick up acorns and send them to the land of maple and ash trees.  


Last week's haul

15 comments:

  1. I remember my Dad explaining to me how to tell the difference between a stoat and a weasel.
    "A weasel is weasily recognisable and a stoat is stotally different".
    Jane x

    ReplyDelete
  2. The blue jays and chipmunks have been eating all my acorns. I never thought to collect them for the deer. Great idea.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Don't bite the hand that feeds you, a fool and his money are soon parted, - there are so many that are so true.

    ReplyDelete
  4. We are getting visited by fewer deer every season. That is a huge amount a acorns to pick up. Can those kiddos come rake pine straw?

    ReplyDelete
  5. i have never heard this---do all of those acorns really mean a hard winter :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. What sweet girls to work so hard feeding wild animals!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Sounds like six of one, half a dozen of the other or in for a penny in for a pound.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I've not heard that expression before -- but it does remind me that some people do pick up an expression or two that are often repeated. My mother-in-law used to say, 'there's more than one way to skin a cat' and of having done 'whatever' 'more times than you've had cooked dinners'!

    Good for the girls -- 24 pounds is a lot of acorns!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Acorns (or at least their shells) are Jazz n Jewel's most favourite toys. They bat them around the house and pick them up to carry them off to where the other cat cannot have them - or to where they will sound better. An acorn batted around the bathroom sounds LOUD.
    And much more to the point my father used to use the pint of feathers versus the pint of lead with me. Though this was also the man who told my that my right hand was the one where my thumb was on the left.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I'm pleased that someone is remembering to help feed chipmunks and deer through the winter.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Man, it is so weird to hear my mom's words pop out of my mouth. Even worser (heh heh) is to see my mom's hands come out of the sleeves of my shirt. No acorns here. Oak trees don't like this part of the world. Have you ever figured out why the abbreviation for pound is --lb. ?? makes no sense.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Wow, what dedication!

    My mother's words frequently fly out of my mouth too. My hands and face are there as well.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Nice haul! That will make the little critters very happy. The squirrels and chipmunks here have been going crazy collecting all the black walnuts we have.

    ReplyDelete
  14. starting to look like my haul of pecans. sorry not sharing those with the wildlife.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh,I love parental sayings. "A stitch in time saves nine" was my Mom's favourite. And dad's? "Take good care. Wear it out. Make it do. Or do without."

    ReplyDelete