This, That and the Other

This

I once had this house built right on the corner. As the property was an old farm, there weren’t any trees around so they planted the same maple trees all along the development. The great news about a new development? No leaves to get into your gutters!

Now, for whatever reason, my trees were these pathetic dwarf maples that grew half the size of the other maple trees around. It was a bit embarrassing being the one with the smallest, puniest maples around. But come October my trees would dump all their leaves before Halloween. I thought, “This is awesome. No more raking.”

Much to my dismay, it turned out my lawn seemed to be a magnet call for every leaf in the entire valley. Every time a storm came and the wind blew, it blew all these leaves in from Africa or somewhere and deposited them on my lawn. Only my lawn.

Wisely…I got divorced and moved.

That

Remember that second house I just had built and still live in? Well, apparently even though I’m not on the corner and even though I’m shielded now from direct wind, the wind still whips around at night and apparently all the recycling and trash that break loose from the cans put out street side, want to gather for a party on my property. I walked around the neighborhood and sure enough, only my lawn had everyone’s remnants to pick up. Is it me or is it the gnomes?

The Other

I was going through the comments for the year wondering about our silly game of “first” or “last” that seems to continue on with no hope of stopping. So rather than fight it, here are the official records for the year:

Now you would think that surely Mrsupole has won the “first” award for the year. And she has, but the interesting thing is that she wasn’t the dominant commenter for the year. That award goes to Maureen who completely dominated the “last” comment category for nearly the whole year. Check it out:

There were 54 readers that got in a “first” comment this year. Most “first” comments:
Mrsupole – 55
Subby – 26
Quirkyloon – 13
Incredible Woody – 12
Monica – 10

There were 55 readers that got in a “last” comment (though I tend to actually have the last reply):
Maureen – 61
Mrsupole – 24
Carla – 21
Jaime – 16
Uncivil – 15

Even the month by month leader for the year was surprising. It took Mrsupole until October to dominate the “first” category surprisingly. Once she got going though, there was no stopping her. Maureen, on the other hand, dominated fairly early and had such a lead that it wasn’t even close the rest of the year. Here is who was leading for the year by the end of each month:

January:
First - Prefers Her Fantasy Life
Last – Janna
February:
First – Chris Wood & Incredible Woody
Last – Carla
March:
First – Chris Wood
Last – Maureen
April:
First – Lime
Last – Maureen
May:
First – Quirkyloon
Last – Maureen
June:
First – Quirkyloon
Last – Maureen
July:
First – Quirkyloon & Subby
Last – Maureen
August:
First – Subby
Last – Maureen
September:
First – Subby
Last – Maureen
October:
First – Mrsupole
Last – Maureen
November:
First – Mrsupole
Last – Maureen
December:
First – Mrsupole
Last – Maureen

Interestingly, you have to go clear down to The Self Deprechaun (who commented 53 times this year) to find somebody that wasn’t ever a first or last in the comments.

And those, my friends, are your useless fantastical nonsense facts for the day. Use them wisely…