Sort a Little, Talk a Little

[ Class of 1949 ]

March 14 – Several reasons come to mind as I remember that I haven’t written a real blog post in quite awhile, maybe around two weeks! And for me, the talkative one, to miss out on the opportunity of sharing what happened to me all that time, was very unusual. When I’m with others folks, I try not to monopolize the conversation, but so many interesting things come up every day, that it’s hard not to share them with anybody who will listen!

I have told Dale and many others that I really don’t like to talk all the time, but when the others have decided they’ve shared all they want to, I don’t want us all to stand around in just plain silence! That is embarrassing to me, and maybe it would be better to just say, “So long. See ya later,” and get on to something else. So, here I am ready to write a few paragraphs or more, to let you know what we’ve been doing since last I wrote.

Of course, the first task to get us on our way again and ever since is the computer! Such an improvement over our older one, but it has so many different ways of doing things that we had never heard of before that it takes a lot of time to make the proper connections, and many times we have found that the time we put into the tasks really didn’t do us much good. Just simple things, yes, maybe to most users, but not to us. But we are not giving up! I plan to master this machine and get it to work FOR me, not AGAINST me!

We continue to check out the Thrift Store to try to find more books for kids who enjoy them so much. While I was picking out a few dealing with history, I came across three books that looked like some Dale had been reading. One was a general nature book, and the other two were about cats. As soon as I saw them, I remembered that Dale has started a habit of putting a big black X in the right corner of the first page, just to remind him not to take those books home again. Why? He has bought so many and reads so much, that sometimes he brings back home some that he has already read!

[ Lone Jack Library ]

After I had found that X in each book, a strange thought came to mind. “I just wonder if those cat books are the same ones I picked out for him in the Lone Jack Library earlier in the week when I was signing out some stamp catalogs.” Right on the button! As I checked out the covers and the illustrations in the books, I was positive that they needed to go back to the library. With the price of around $22 each, it’s a good thing I did the checking. I didn’t really want to pay $45 to the library, but chose instead to take the books back a few days later! Now and again, in friendly fashion, I still tease Dale about those two books with the big black X in the top corners! Nice that Lois and the others in charge of the Thrift Store trust us and believed our story!

I have been wondering why it seems to take longer for me to do the usual sorting and putting away of various materials, letters, stamps, books, and all of the other things that fill the big plastic storage boxes, or the same materials in various shoe boxes. I guess I will have to admit to my age as being part of the cause, but there’s even a better reason.

[ Some FDCs from the storage bins ]

As I sort, I come across personal letters and cards, notebooks, and materials that I still enjoy checking through. College writings, historical items, interesting articles from the newspapers (some of them many years old), and old family photos catch my eye. I just can’t be content with stacking those items in neat piles, putting them back in the boxes, and bidding them farewell until the sorting period the next year. Some folks think that I should get rid of some of “my junk,” but what might be junk to them, is a real treasure to me! – CHRIS