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
I remember my Dad explaining to me how to tell the difference between a stoat and a weasel.
ReplyDelete"A weasel is weasily recognisable and a stoat is stotally different".
Jane x
The blue jays and chipmunks have been eating all my acorns. I never thought to collect them for the deer. Great idea.
ReplyDeleteDon't bite the hand that feeds you, a fool and his money are soon parted, - there are so many that are so true.
ReplyDeleteWe 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?
ReplyDeletei have never heard this---do all of those acorns really mean a hard winter :)
ReplyDeleteWhat sweet girls to work so hard feeding wild animals!
ReplyDeleteSounds like six of one, half a dozen of the other or in for a penny in for a pound.
ReplyDeleteI'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'!
ReplyDeleteGood for the girls -- 24 pounds is a lot of acorns!
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.
ReplyDeleteAnd 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.
I'm pleased that someone is remembering to help feed chipmunks and deer through the winter.
ReplyDeleteMan, 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.
ReplyDeleteWow, what dedication!
ReplyDeleteMy mother's words frequently fly out of my mouth too. My hands and face are there as well.
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.
ReplyDeletestarting to look like my haul of pecans. sorry not sharing those with the wildlife.
ReplyDeleteOh,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