Bring on the comments

1. TG_Alibi says:

   August 25, 2010 at 3:05 pm

   I feel like I’ve let you guys down. I have so many great stories that are all true and I was just too lazy to type one out. I’ll put away that laziness for a minute and share one of my more memorable stories with you, Reddit. One of the first jobs I took as a teenager was as a stockboy at a downtown department store. I worked afternoons and evenings after school during the week, and all day on weekends. The store stayed open until nine PM on Friday nights and one night toward closing time, I was asked to retrieve an item from the warehouse for a customer. It was a small wrought-iron patio set, they came packaged in a large cardboard box and could be moved about with a simple hand truck. The store was in an old building that had been built shortly after the turn of the century, so it was decades old and had been remodeled many, many times over the years. It was nice on the shopping floors, but behind the walls and in the back rooms it was old and had that musty smell of neglect. The warehouse was a separate building behind a narrow back alley, not visible from the main street that the storefront was located on. An even older building of concrete, brick, and steel-trussed roofs, with wire-reinforced windows that wouldn’t open and barely admitted any daylight into the cavernous interior. I grabbed a handtruck, made sure I had my warehouse key, and went out the back door of the store, down the loading dock ramp, and down the alley to the warehouse door. I unlocked the warehouse, went inside, and felt along the wall for the old-fashioned light switch. I turned the switch and what few naked light bulbs there were hanging from the ceiling came on. The warehouse was three stories tall and I was on the first floor. I needed to go to the second floor to get the merchandise. When I got to the freight elevator, as old-fashioned as the rest of the building, I found the wooden safety gate closed, but no elevator. It was up on the top floor. I pushed the “down” button, but only heard the bell ring that indicated that the gate wasn’t closed on the elevator itself, or the third-floor safety gate wasn’t closed. It wouldn’t move if either gate was up. This was irritating, because it was against company safety policy to leave the gates in the open position when not in use. It meant I had to go up the stairs and ride the elevator back down. I vaulted up the dark stairwell and went to the elevator. Sure enough, both gates had been left in the open position. I got in, closed them, and rode the elevator back down to the first floor, got my hand truck and rode up to the second floor. I opened the gates and went down the aisles, looking for the merchandise I had been sent for. I turned a corner, found the box I was looking for, and began wrestling it into the aisle where I could slide the handtruck under it. Suddenly, I heard the freight elevator gates close and the elevator began to go back up to the floor above. I stuck my head into the aisle and looked down, just in time to see an empty elevator going up! “What the hell?” I thought, “how did those gates close?” and walked back over to the elevator shaft. I pushed the “down” button, but only heard the bell again. The gates were open on the top floor! This was strange, because the gates were strictly manually operated. I wondered if someone else could be in the warehouse, but knew that I was the only one who could possibly be in there. “Maybe it’s some weird malfunction”, I tried to console myself with that thought, knowing there was nothing mechanical that could close the gates and make the elevator move by itself. I went back up the stairs, got in the elevator, closed the gates again, and rode it back down to the second floor. Just as I got back to the box I needed, I heard the gates close again, and the elevator started back up! This was getting really strange. I repeated my foray to the third floor and again rode the elevator back down, this time blocking the gates from closing with a box. Back in the store a little while later, after helping the customer load-up their purchase out in front of the store into the back of a pickup truck, I told the sales clerk what had happened. She was an elderly lady, having worked at the store for over 30 years and now in semi-retirement. She said, “Oh, you met Boyd.” I replied, “Boyd? Who is Boyd?” Then she told me a story that made the hair on the back of my neck stand on-end. “Boyd was our warehouseman after World War Two. He worked in there for nearly 20 years, was a nice man. One day he was working on the top floor near the elevator shaft, when the elevator was on the bottom floor. For some reason, the safety gate failed and went up by itself. He didn’t notice, and backed into the open shaft. He fell three floors to his death on top of the elevator car, below. Ever since then, his spirit has walked the place by night. Mostly the warehouse, but sometimes strange things happen here in the store after-hours as well. Been going-on since his death about eight or ten years ago.” As soon as school let out, I transferred to a strictly daytime position!
2. elotterywinner says:

   October 16, 2010 at 10:55 am

   Cast Iron Patio Furniture – The Best Choice For Your Patio via
3. Sis says:

   November 4, 2010 at 10:47 am

   I'm glad, glad, glad you're workin' hard, hard, hard so you can really, really, really enjoy your rest. Didn't you learn a poem as a child that was about that somehow? Not the repeated words part, just the sentiment.We had one of my favorite kinds of spring days. It was my Yarborough's Nursery day. Same old guys work there, Dan. Got my yard juices flowing good and proper and worked all afternoon and all evening in the flowerbeds. Gobs to do yet, but it's Wonderful to Get Started. It's nice to come in That Kind of Tired at the end of the day. (And I always work past dark on Yarborough's day.)And Daddy and Roy … Cleaned off the workbench… competely. That's the kind of housecleaning you do for an outdoor guy party.I have Elijah practice all morning tomorrow, and then home to help get ready for the tool shower tomorrow night.Oh, and on the way home from Yarborough's, Harris (who happened to be driving (smile)), spotted a wrought iron patio table out for the taking on the side of the street, which we promptly bagged. All it needs is a new coat of paint, and not even that very badly. So it probably wouldn't get anything, except that Roy immediately and enthusiastically claimed it for a makeover he had just been wishing for a table to perform on. Something he saw in a catalog. so..Woohoo back atcha!May you find something equally cool on the side of the road on your days off.I love you, Mama
4. Sylvie says:

   November 10, 2010 at 5:34 pm

   Those signs are lovely. I too think an entryway helps to make a home feel friendly and people feel invited.
   I just bought two 1940s iron patio club chairs for $20 each, painted in bright colors, and a teak patio table for $40. I've set them up with my favorite little striped bistro umbrella near the entry to the house. It's instantly become a special lingering and lunch spot. And people driving by have been doing a double-take. I like to think I've inspired the neighborhood
   What a sweet gesture this contest is Jaclyn.
5. valwebb says:

   November 10, 2010 at 11:53 pm

   Beautiful shaggy green yarn! You are truly an accomplished bargain hunter. Last night, as we were driving home from a family visit, The Perfect Man spotted a nice iron patio table and two matching chairs on the side of the road, awaiting garbage pickup. The property owner said she was tired of them. The moral of this story: It pays to always drive a pickup truck!

   Hee hee, it does pay to drive a pickup!! That sounds like such a great find and would be perfect in the bunny field outside of your studio, at least in my mind's picture.
6. hallmarkhomeimp says:

   November 23, 2010 at 3:22 am

   hallmarkhomeimp

   Your living room sounds light and airy with a casual style that you want to reflect in your entry. If your entry is large enough. A round white iron patio table in the center with a large (unarranged) floral could look nice. Maybe paint the entry the s…