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…
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
This, That and the Other
Thunk up by
Ed
at
3:55 AM
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32 comments:
Whew didn't think I'd make it to first with all this competition going on lately. FOA
I was always a late bloomer, but I do like to win, being a Leo tends to do that.
And so to take first for first and second for last is pretty darn good in my books. And to think I owe it all to insomnia, insomnia is the one thing I would like to thank for helping me to get this award. If insomnia was your friend then you would get first as much as me. So does that mean that Maureen has somnia helping her to win last, it must be. So I too would like to thank somnia for helping me to win second for last. Oh yeah, good job insomnia and somnia, our hats off to you two.
And the game will be on again for 2010, I am gonna steal somnia to the dark side. May the force be with us.
God bless.
PS...does this make 56?
PSS....I was also last on your two previous posts, did you count those ones too? Didya, didya, come on add them in, pleaseeeee.
God bless.
Wow! Two months in a row FIRST? And I LMAO at the whole leaf thing. It's true!!! And that's the only bad thing about living across from a shopping centre...the unending trash that blows across...
So, rather than being a babe magnet, you’ve become a leaf/junk magnet.
Alas, the downside of home ownership & aging…
Leaves were the bane of my existence until we moved in October. Our previous house/lot had over 50 oak trees!!
We have a "nice" bouganvillea bush we're trying to get rid of. Would you like it?
AND...I had no clue that I was first on so many posts!
I amaze myself without even trying!
I comment when I get there.
9th! Woohoo! I'm going to Vegas.
maybe your a sexy leaf/garbage magnate?
april is a shock to me, i have to say.
Maybe you have my mother-in-law's recycle bin. It's missing.
Best way to get rid of raking leaves, get a divorce.
Also I am middling. Since I am neither first nor last that makes me middling.
I've never been a first or a last here. Is that good, bad or indifferent?
Since I do not have a competitive bone in my body, I just don't care. Get a leaf blower! Mine is part of the family. You aint seen leaves until you live on five acres with 100 Eucalypts! Seriously, they shed all year round.
I can't even win at being a loser.
You need a good leaf blower! Blown them all back to the yards they came from!
:)
Oh, and Mrsupole, what does FOA stand for? I've been wondering for a while now.
Hi Elizabeth,
I am not even sure when we started this "First" game, but I know it was many months ago. I discovered that when I read the post and then would write my comment, by the time I hit the "publish comment" someone else would beat me to first. Then I would just write First one here, or first. I am not sure if you remember the post where VE wrote about acronyms and their meanings, anyway I started using a lot of them just to play around. I think most of my comment from that post was acronyms. VE seems to guess all of their meanings without much problem, he is a lot better at this then I am. Very hard to find one he cannot guess. Here are the meanings:
FOA means First One Again.
DIA means Did It Again.
LOA means Last One Again
Just silly things like that. I try to stick to just three letters because then I might forget what the heck I was trying to write, but mostly I just use common ones like FUBAR. I know that when I was in the military we used lots of them. Not all of them were "nice", so I only try to use nice ones now.
God bless.
I can't believe I wasn't in there with the lasts.
mrsupole - I should have known you were a Leo! ha! No...I only counted tallies up to the 20th; same as the blog roll. They always lag back a few days...
subby - I can imagine you get a lot coming from a shopping center. That would drive me crazy. I think I'll put the whole property inside a big tupperware container...
beth - Alas...is that what it is coming to? Fortunately I'm also aging well...although I did notice my first gray beard hair a few months ago. Uggh...I guess at 48 that's pretty good though.
incredible woody - Another reason to live on my salt flat...
quirkyloon - You were a winner and you didn't even know it!
kurt - I know...and I remember one such comment that was first and said "Eat it, VE readers"... ;)
roy - They need you. The place was a ghost time when I was there in Nov...
dee - Always nice to know you attract gargabe! ;) The wifey-poo likes me still though...
lime - I know...you were just generally blabby and on top of it, weren't you? You were first 8 times this year.
reforminggeek - I've often thought things were blowing in from Texas...
gladys - Actually, you were first 4 times and last once...
nursemyra - The answer is "incorrect"...you were first 2 times and last once...
baino - Sounds like a lot of work blowing leaves around. I make the gnomes pick them up by hand...
perpetual chocoholic - It's ok, you still have chocolate! You were consistent...you were first 3 times and last 3 times...
elizabeth - I'm going to install special heat barriers that vaporize anything that crosses them. Good for bugs (and soliciters) too...
mrsupole - AWOL was fun...until you got caught (not that I ever was or got caught though)
megan - Amazingly, you had two firsts and NO lasts! I don't know what to say... ;)
What can I say? I attribute my success to focus, focus, focus. And laziness in other areas of my life, naturally.
I've always been a middle of the road kind of commenter, myself.
I'd comment now, but I want to be last.
Oh crap. Oh, well, I already won. I won something I had no frickin' idea about. Perhaps that's what I should do from now on.... "eh? What's this lottery thing people keep talking about?"
That really was hilarious. I had no idea I was such a slacker. Oh well, better late than never, eh?
I've never understood the obsession with being "first".
Does it come with free health benefits? Prescription coverage? Arby's coupons? Book of stamps? $100.00 Gift card from Wal-Mart? Can of chocolate frosting?
Bah.
As long as my comment still gets read and answered and loved and treasured, I'm ok with wherever it lands.
@ Mrsupole, I still use the ol' military acronyms, heh, heh...SNAFU is still a fave ;)
chris - I admire your lazy dedication! I somebody hope to achieve the same...
catladylarew - Of course...you can get run over in the middle of the road...
maureen - You're not a slacker...you're just a calculated non-achiever. You know right when I cut off qualifying for a tally by updating the blog roll...
janna - I should clarify and answer your questions. First, the only health benefit is not dying! As for Arby's coupons, buy one cow and get the second one abducted free. The Book of Stamps never made it in the Bible. Sadly, even the Bible was subject to an editor and God is so picky. He had to trim some "books" in it to get to an acceptible sellable size so he took out the book of stamps. The gift card to Walmart is a valued prize because it benefits nobody other than the greedy Walmart family. Chocolate Frosting CAN be a prize but when I find one with something still in it, it's actually a suprise, not just a prize...
subby - SNAFU...that really is a great government term...
"book of stamps"~LAUGH OUT LOUD!
And I think Theodore Geisel created Private Snafu...just sayin'...
Just lil' ol' me tryin' to come in last again?
That could prove to be harder than coming in first??????
I commented a bunch and I didn't even get an honorable mention!! Happy New Year!
Last dang it!...sit....stay....good dog!
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