This morning as I was leaning over to tie my shoe, I caught sight of an old looking piece of dried paper. When I picked it up, I realized it was not paper, but masking tape – the masking tape that had Gopher’s name on it. It was bent over and wrinkled; I must have sat on Gopher sometime yesterday and his name came off.

A tremendous sadness overwhelmed me as I remember the day we had put it on him: time passes; things change. I dropped the old tape on the coffee table I use to hold my things – drinks, pencils, remotes, batteries and so forth. Then I felt just really done in and I stared at the tape, thinking, “Just let it go.”  A minute, two minutes. I picked up the tape and straightened it out; it had that fragile quality that dried out old masking tape gets. But there it was – GOPHER – resting in my hand.

So I got the super glue and put it back on.  Call me sentimental . . .

Oh, yeah, I’ll get a picture when Gopher settles down.

Yesterday, I was apprised that two rummage sales would be held today: Faith Methodist at 8 am and the Catholic Church at 9 am. I go to the first day, even though my real time to shine is on $1.50 Bag Day when you can cram as much as you are skilled enough to handle into a grocery bag. I am very skilled.

If anything has an empty space in it, I fill it with something – anything. My bag leaves the church as a solid cube. I give them a donation to even things out; I just pack the bag like that to retain my title and have the thrill of “engineering the squash” success.

But, that’s maybe history. This spring I forgot about the rummages sales until 10 o’clock. I jumped up when I suddenly remembered and then flopped back down. Despair.

Finally, I decided getting there was better than not going at all and made up my mind to go right away. My pants were too loose and I couldn’t find my belt right off the bat, so I used a safety pin to attach them to my shirt. Then I put a big sweatshirt on and pulled it down low and went.

It was great; I walked in and there sat a retro aluminum cake cover and bottom. Do you know how useful those are? I love them and they look cool – like I am hip or whatever. “Hip” isn’t the current lingo, is it? Did I give myself away? Probably. Good, I no longer have to worry about keeping it secret.

I also got a nice 50’s type cotton tablecloth for outside when we grill. And . . . and . . . a Pfaltzgraff pie pan, a large serving bowl, a creamer, three little serving bowls for $5. The price said $5 for all that and about six plates and a bunch of cups and soup bowls and a butter dish, plus a couple of other pieces. I couldn’t see being greedy, so I took the ones I wanted, gave them a high $5 – no, I handed it over at normal level – and went happily on my way.

Then I realized there was a puddle of transmission fluid under the little green car.

AAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH

While checking on a Garden City, Kansas website, just to get a feel for where I was, I looked over to the side and saw a link named “cemetery plots” – a little unsettling. Was it an omen, a hint I should be thinking “It’s a good day to die” a la Little Big Man with Dustin Hoffman? Then I got hold of myself and clicked on “postcards” and saw a Dust Bowl storm . . . and doctored photos of cowboys with giant bunnies, a man shooting a giant grasshopper, a grasshopper pushing a stroller. You can see these things here.

Aha, there is a Beef Empire Days – Do they have a website? Yes, the do . . . woo-hoo and I’m going to go look. Chuckwagons in the Park sounds inviting. Ooops, Carcass Show and Judging Contest; I don’t think I’m up for that just yet. Bikers for Beef Poker Run – does this refer to the card game or cattle prods? Probably better off not knowing. Hoof it to Health Road Run on June 7th and then on the 8th, the Beef Empire Cattle Crawl. Okay . . . Before I left, I grabbed this picture: which is not showing up – it’s a big molded steer with a sign set in its middle that says “Welcome to Beef Empire Days”. Maybe I can get a picture from another source.

Hey, it is working now.

Let’s see what else is lurking in Garden City.

Poogles popped up – they are a cross between poodles and beagles, sometimes called Beagle-poos.

They have a Sunnyvale Bed & Breakfast and the rooms are named for Bible verses.