A Pleasant Spring Break

This week has been spring break for us. It sort of slipped up on me with all the snow we've had, but I'm not complaining about getting the week off. We didn't go anywhere. We just stayed around here and took care of a lot of those little chores we can never seem to find the time to do when school and ball are going strong.

TOOTHLESS. Back at Christmas I reported that Nate lost a front tooth prompting a visit from the Tooth Fairy the same night Santa Claus was due to come. Recently the front tooth next to that one has begun to wiggle.

All was going well with this until Tuesday when Vicki and the kids went to Sam's to do some shopping. When they finished and were returning to the van, Nate was looking down and not paying attention to where he was walking. That's when Nate walked right into a pole in the parking lot and then Vicki heard things hitting the ground that should not. The collision broke off the top of the tooth that has been growing in since Christmas. It also loosened the other tooth so much Vicki was able to pull it right out.

Nate made a trip to the dentist. The adult tooth was broken so badly they could not cement it back on so they opted to let the neighboring tooth grow in, giving the broken tooth time to see if the root was damaged, before capping it off. When that tooth has grown in they'll have something to go by for size.

I asked Nate why he wasn't looking where he was going. He said it was bright outside. Nate has always been sensitive to light, but Tuesday was an overcast day. The Tooth Fairy did come to visit Nate, but only for the baby tooth that come out.

THE GREAT TREASURE HUNT. Back in 2008 I wrote that our house was celebrating 100 years. I think I wrote at that time that Mr. Oley Simmons was the man who had this house built. One of the stories that has been handed down to us about Mr. Oley was that he would hide his money somewhere in the house and that no one has ever found the hiding spot.

I don't doubt Mr. Oley hid money in the house. It wasn't too easy to get to a bank at that time. Being a farmer and living during the Great Depression he probably didn't have a whole lot of money to hide. We've never found it.

The thing that is strange is that a lot of doors in the house show evidence of having hook and eye locks on the inside of the door. In most doorways you can see holes in the woodwork where the hook or eye was once screwed in. The closet door in our bedroom actually has an eye still screwed in to the door jam on the inside (meaning you'd have to be in the closet to hook the door shut). And strangest of all, one of the attic doors still has a hook and eye on the inside of the attic.

Occasionally our conversation will turn to strange things about the house and Vicki or I will laughingly mention something about Mr. Oley. The other day something came up and one of us made a joke about his hidden money. Well, that was all the boys needed to hear. They have questioned me about hidden money and have been speculating as to where it could be hidden, pointing out some of the most preposterous places to look. So, now we're looking everywhere for Mr. Oley's long lost treasure.

BUDDING COOK. Jenna has given up her dream to have her own bakery, but she's still cooking. She's made cookies and cakes over spring break. It's all been wonderful, but it sure hasn't helped me to stay true to my New Year's resolution.

Joe