If you’ve read some of the recent posts here, I talked in one about some new exhibits at the Indiana State Museum about Abraham Lincoln. Well, I went there to see them myself yesterday. The museum controls the number of people who go through so it doesn’t get too crowded, letting a certain number of people enter every 15 minutes. I was told the average person goes through the exhibits in about 45 minutes. I got absorbed with reading all the information on signs and cards near the displayed articles, listening to the recorded audio-video and looking at everything. I enjoyed most things on display, but some items were simply fascinating. It took me over three hours to go through it…and I could have taken longer but had to leave to do something else. Anyway, it’s well worth the trip if you like American history. I loved it as you can tell hopefully. I guess that’s one of the reasons I offered admission to the museum for two as a prize for solving the “Mystery Challenge”. It’s not an expensive prize, but still a valuable one if you consider what you can receive from using it.
The photo here is looking out the great wall of windows in the museum’s lower lobby. They don’t allow any photography in the Lincoln exhibits…and no flash photography in the rest of the museum. So I settled for this shot without flash as I waited my turn to see Abe’s things.
It’s not the money…it’s more the principle of the thing. So I take recyclable items every week or two when I’m going in the direction of the collection bin anyway. Efficient use of gasoline I figure. The two containers I have fit perfectly side-by-side in my trunk when closed. I’ve been happy with this arrangement for years. The other day though, I was lifting the container to dump it in the opening, and it was wet from the snow…and it actually slipped OUT of my hands and fell inside the bin! The collection bin had just been emptied and my container landed on the bottom and bounced really far away from the opening, way out of reach. Great…just great!! Even if I wanted to jump inside the filthy bin after it, I wasn’t positive I could get out of the thing afterwards. I actually thought about it, but I had good clothes on too so I couldn’t try that. I studied it and fussed a while as I couldn’t see any way I could reach it. I did NOT want to leave it there inside but felt there was no choice. Then, out of the blue, some sort of instinctive, creative powers took over. I pulled out my jumper cables from the spare tire well where I keep them. I thought I might be able to make a combination lasso/fishing apparatus out of them? The handles of the metal clamps angle backwards from the ends of the cables to resemble sort of a hook. After several tosses, I managed to snare the edge of my container…and carefully, slowly, pulled it closer toward the opening. Then, I grabbed the car jack crank handle which is a little over two feet long and has a small hook on the end that inserts into the jack when you want to turn it. The jack handle was JUST long enough to reach and hook the lip of the container and pull it up to the opening…where I grabbed it myself. Gotcha! Catastrophy avoided. I had a good laugh to myself about it as I drove away, and mentally celebrated the creative use of what I had available. Another one of life’s little victories. Of course I forgot about how stupid it was to drop it in the first place.
This last month saw a continued strengthening of the market in central Indiana. Overall number of sales were down slightly from last year at this time, but the average price of those homes selling were up…with some areas showing dramatic increases. Average sale price has been down in recent years, so this is a positive sign.
