Yesterday, Lisa and I finished giving the top two floors of Casa Claire its monthly deep cleaning (I’m still working up the nerve to handle cleaning the basement, which I promise to do once the cover of SOF is done and dusted). We had handled the main floor living room and both floor bedrooms on Wednesday, so while Lisa handled the kitchen, I handled the two bathrooms. Like anything else I hate doing, the only way to attack the job of cleaning is to just commit and throw yourself into it until it is done. Did I mention how much I hate cleaning?! Surprisingly, I’m very good at scrubbing toilets.
After we finished, Lisa suggested we get out of the house and wander the local curiosity shops, starting with Cobblestone Corner in Berthoud.
I love this place. It’s based in Old Town Berthoud in an old Mason’s Lodge, and its young female proprietors recently opened the second floor where the once upon a time secret society meeting hall is now filled with bits and bobs, odds and ends, and just the coolest stuff you can never find anywhere else. Of course, you must know the secret handshake to find the best items.
You can find memorabilia of all kinds, hand-made items, and all kinds of old furniture and other furnishings.
The place has amazing energy.
After picking up a few mystical items, like some intention jars for us,
and this very interesting and prophetic Halloween gift for our grans,
we headed off to check out Habitat for the Humanity, where Lisa found another Fairy Boot House – we had found three others over the past few years and have given them to the three girl-grans. They are now all hanging in the tree in their backyard.
Of course, ours went right into the higher branches of Jack the Spruce when we got home.
We are quite confident that whatever fairies inhabit the boot will be very happy. And Smokey our feral familiar didn’t seem to mind sharing JTS with the fairies.
But before we arrived back at Casa Claire, we stopped for lunch at Loveland’s Sky Bear Cafe, where now and again we like to enjoy a tasty meal and for me, a non-alcohol freshly brewed beer.
Lunch at the Sky Bear Pub – The Wise Novelist
On the way home, I spotted a truck in front of me with the words “Tommy Gate” printed on its tailgate. Since I had no idea what that was, I have a naturally inquisitive mind and I do enjoy the name “Tommy,” used only by close friends, I had to know its derivation.
A quick AI internet search disclosed:
A Tommy Gate is a hydraulic liftgate—also called a tail lift—manufactured by Woodbine Manufacturing Company in Iowa, designed to raise and lower cargo on trucks, vans, and commercial vehicles.
Tommy Gate – The Original Hydraulic Lift
Given my narrowback construction roots, I was happy that my name was associated with something that lifts heavy things on and off a truck, as I have done on many occasions, most recently 14 full bales of hay, but I knew there had to be more to it.
It took a little more digging before I was able to determine why the gate was named “Tommy.” It turns out that back in 1965, the inventor, Delbert “Bus” Brown, named the original hydraulic lift gate after his son, Tommy Brown. https://www.tommygate.com/company
And that familial derivation pleased me to no end.
Well, my fine, five readers, enough mental meandering.
Friday is here and is welcoming you all with open arms. The Halloween weekend awaits.
You know the drill – in one office door, and after a visual rotation where other employees can attest to your presence, out the other.
And no matter what else we get up to, let us make today a great one.
