Keys...again

When we lived in Waynedale about 18years ago, I had the habit of taking my keys out of the ignition of my van and just dropping them on the floor beside the seat. The van was always in our detached garage with the doors closed. One time my keys were not where I left them. My wife said that since I misplace things frequently, she thought I lost those too. I looked over everything that weekend, and had to go to Ace Hdwe to get new keys made Sunday so I could go to work. That night when I went into the garage to take the trash out, my keys were sitting right on the countertop. Weird.
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Didn't think much about for quite some time. During Christmas break my son and some friends were playing in the basement, in the 'playroom'. Our basement was broken into 2 sections - the playroom-stairs-hallway, and the furnace-laundry-storage area. Our basement also has a side door that goes outside. This door is dedbolted and can only be locked-unlocked with a key.
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One of the boys went into the hallway to get the car that raced out there. He and the other two raced up the stairs and told my wife that they saw 'a guy' in the laundry area. She told them that they were seeing things, and to prove this point, she went down there and switched the laundry. The boys still wouldn't go back down there. They were so insistant that she called the police to come take a look. There was a fresh blanket of snow on the ground that morning, they saw no tracks or anything suspicious in the basement. Hours later after lunch, they still refused to go downstairs. My wife kept doing laundry.
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Back story now....I always take left overs to work for lunch. Occasionally, in the morning, some and at times, all of lunch would be missing. Once in awhile, my wife would wake me up saying she smelled candles. And I did too.
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So...after lunch right after my wife brought up another load of laundry, a noise of something falling in the basement srtartled everyone. My wife called me and told my of this, I had her prop a chair under the doorknob while I called the police and came home. The same officers came out this time too. They had just came outside when I got home. They said that someone had indeed been in the house, and they apologized for not seeing the person when they were there the first time.
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A stack of boxes that we stored our Christmas decorations in fell over. Behind this 'stack' an opening went under the stairs. And in there was some used matches, candlewax drippings, a washcloth, a some foods scraps, a twinkie wrapper, and some other things. The side basement door was unlocked, and going across the seat and back of the lawn-glider chair were fresh footprints. The path went around the garage, into the backyard, and to the street behind us where the path disappeared.
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We were freaked out to say the least. That evening, I took huge nails and nailed that door closed, changed all the deadbolts in the house, put hasps and locks on the garage, and nailed all the first floor windows closed.
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Over the next several months we forgot about our 'visitor'.
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It was the next fall shortly after I got home from work, a police car pulled into the driveway. The officer told me that they got the guy who broke into our house. About 3 days before, a neighbor on the street behind us, ran into the guy in his kitchen in the middle of the night. He so stunned the intruder that he froze in place. He held him there until the police arrived.
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The kid, he was 18 at the time, was homeless. His dad was unknown, and while he was at school his junior year, she took all her things and left...he came home to an empty apartment. He still went to school and even graduated. On him was a backpack. In the back pack was a keyring with ove 30 keys that were numbered. Also was some clothes, candles, a lighter, some snacks, soap, and a towel.
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The kid described how he survived...he snuck into houses late, at some food, cleaned himself, and slept. He never stole anything but food. He did work at a couple of places - the police did verify this.
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The officer asked if I wanted to press charges. I did not, neither did anyone else.
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That following summer, I ran across the neighbor who caughtthe kid. He took him in and helped him get a decent job and apartment in Waynedale and the kid still comes by occasionally.
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That happened in 1990. We moved out of Waynedale in 1999 and lost track of the neighbor.
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Weird - huh?!

Socks...again

What is it about socks and NEVER coming out of the laundry in PAIRS??

I put three pairs of white HANES socks in the laundry, and out came thre pairs, but one - only ONE sock was a HANES DRY!!! I checked my wife and daughters socks, and they don't have HANES DRY socks - not to mention their feet are much smaller than mine.

How does this happen? Aliens? Gnomes? Trolls? Sock Fairy?

Mitch Harper is found!!

I just had a strange moment....

I was on Fort Wayne Observed reading what Mitch was up to in St. Paul, when one of the cameras panned out, there was Mitch. He appeared to be doing what he does well, talking. It would be fun to say he was wearing a goofy hat, but I think it would be better to say that his goofy hat disappeared into a vortex or something....

Vortex opens and drops a Missing Item!

Yes, my keys have returned!!! Do you here the choir too??

The keys appeared while we were vacationing in the Paynetown Campground in southern Indiana! We were moving things around in our 1985 Pace Arrow and it was just like in the movies - Everything slowed to 1/10th speed, the choir sounded off, and there was a non-discript light that appeared out of nowhere. I jumped at the keys thinking it was either a trick or that the VORTEX would take them from me again. I moved with the speed of Mr. Miagi and snatched keys back!!! VICTORY is mine.

Now - What do I do with my replacement keyring?? Throw it in my key drawere and hold it for a spare? No - I carry it around hoping the VORTEX will take this one instead. I mean - you HAVE to offer the vortex something - RIGHT? Yeah, right now the key ring is somewhere. Its not lost, I just don't know where it is exactly. I 'hid' it somewhere in one of my 'TOO IMPORTANT TO PUT AWAY BUT DON'T WANT LOSE IT" places.

So for now, all is well.

Also Bobby G. and Phil M, thanks for the comments and I hope to see you soon!

Successful trip

After 20+ years of making the Goldwing in the USA, Honda has decided to move production into their new state-of-the-art plant in Japan.

The last weekend in July is the factory sponsored Homecoming. It started off with a few hundred visitors and has quickly grown into a true festival in its own right with dozens of vendors, and thousands of visitors.

This years event was colossal! With over 7,000 bikes and 12,000 people, the event will most likely go down in history as a fitting fareway to this incredible production line. The employees that welcome you, show you around, and explain the ENTIRE maunfacturing process were all of the highest caliber and were genuinely glad to talk with you. They were saying that when the motorcycle production leaves, they will begin producing another line of Honda cars, so at least them and the local vendors that supply parts will still be working.

The good news is that I made the entire trip without having anything slip into the vortex!!

Latest Loss - KEYS

On Wednesday, July 3, I lost my keys! They have yet to return from the vortex.

As important as keys are how did I lose them? Well I also have a Honda Goldwing that I have its own key for that I don't keep on my 'regular' keyring because of weight and size. My keyring is NOT an ordinary keyring. It is actually two keyrings joined by a clasp like you would find on a dog leash. One ring has all door keys and is on the 'fixed' side of the clasp, while the other ring has only ignition keys and is removable from the clasp. That way I can start my vehicles and still lock the doors.

I went to my Wednesday golf league (on the Goldwing) and I always put my cellphone, wallet, Goldwing keyring, and my regular keyring into a zipped pocket in the golfbag. Everything appeared to be okay. I was in a hurry when I left, so I only removed my wallet, Goldwing key, and cellphone. When I got home, the garage door was already open so I didn't have to use my keys.

With everything going on for our annual 4thof July party, I was off of work Thursday, and did all my errands on the Goldwing. It was Sunday when I noticed my keys missing. Between Wednesday and Sunday, I had done thousands of things, and been many places, I even cleaned my garage - Where did they go?

I have tore apart everywhere the could be, along with any concievable hiding spot! No keys! After waiting over a week, I finally admitted that they were in the VORTEX, and went about replacing them. What a drag!

Here we go!!

Every morning, and I do mean EVERY morning, I was reading Fort Wayne Observed when I saw Mitchs' reference to a post on Everett Whites' site. So in search of the whole story, I went there and was instantly amused with his sock philosophy. Then reading his comments, I saw Robert Pences' take on this matter and realized that we need to explore all sorts of wierd occurances in our lives.

Like many people, I have such occurances, but I feel I have lots and LOTS of occurances! It seems the frequency and oddness (is this a real word?) of occurances increases with children as well as the business of the individual.

This might be why I have soooo many 'things' happen to me. Right now my key ring is missing. This is not a small ring, nor is it a large one. It is quite unique though. More on this later.

But WELCOME EVERYONE!!