“Come to Your Home” Salespeople

My sister left a comment on my "MTM - a Small Town Insurance Agency" blog. She commented about the insurance guy who came to our home. That put me in mind of several other salespeople who came also.
First there were the bread guys. One was from Bond Bread and I think the other had Silvercup Bread. They each came two days a week, so you had four chances to buy bread, cupcakes, crullers, doughnuts, pies, etc. They would park the truck on the street and then come to the door with a basketful of stuff.
Then there was the egg lady. I don’t remember how often she came, but I do remember that she drove a pickup truck. A woman driving was rare back then, let alone a woman driving a pickup truck!
The milkman came several times a week. Of course he come so early that he was never seen. He knew your regular order, but if you wanted to change it, just leave a note in one of the glass empties hew would pickup.
A less frequent visitor was the “rag man”. His first visits were with his horse and buggy. He purchase used clothing and then I think branched out into other items (or was that the junk man?)
Another man came to sharpen knives and scissors. He had a pushcart that had his sharpening wheel mounted on it. He used “peddle power” to turn the wheel.
If someone needed a new pair of shoes: just call Johnny the shoe man. He knew everyone in the homes shoe size. Tell him what kind of shoe and he would show up with a box or two of shoes in your size and maybe one size below and one above. He brought shoes in different styles and different colors.

Of course we did go out to some stores, but that is another blog!

Wordless Wednesday

We call this a "Crime Scene" at our house. would you believe a nine pound dog did all this?

MTM - a Small Town Insurance Agency

Over the last several weeks I have dealt with a small insurance agency in my town. They remind me of the first insurance agent I dealt with, about fifty years ago. This was of course the one my parents had dealt with. When I got my first automobile policy his advise was that I should never make a left turn. It was better to go around the block and make three right turns!

Back to the agent in my town: I don't think they own even a typewriter let alone a computer. The few documents they have sent me were hand written. They also do not have a postage machine. They use stamps. It is just nice to have this touch of nostalgia.

Picky, Picky

The other day when I bought in the mail, I noticed that three envelopes had been returned, as they did not have stamps on them. You see DW has this system for paying her bills, all of which are credit card payments for her shopping excursions and online purchases. She writes the check, puts it in an envelope and writes the date to be mailed on the outside.

As a good DH I put stamps on the envelopes and posted them at the post office so that they would not be further delayed. When I told DW what had happened she said that the post office was so picky!

The Furnace that did not Roar (for me)

I woke up and felt the cold in the bedroom. A quick look at the travel alarm told me that the inside temperature was 61! A look at the time that is projected onto the ceiling told me that the outside temperature was 28! I quickly reached the conclusion that DW was "cold" when the A/C was on and closed the furnace vents in the bedroom. I went to the kitchen to confront DW. A quick look at the digital room temperature thermometer told me that the kitchen indoor temperature was 60! It is a good thing that I saw the kitchen temperature before initiating the confrontation/accusation of DW.

So like a good husband, I called the Heating & Air Conditioning guy. It was 9AM. He would be out "this afternoon". He said of course he would make every effort to get out to us as soon as possible. At least he was willing to take my cell number so I could run "downtown" to the coffee shop and for lunch and not miss missing this guy.

Next we decided to turn on the gas fireplace so that at least the dog has a warm spot to nap. The fireplace did not go on by flipping the wall switch. However a search yielded the manual. DW found a switch under the front grill of the fireplace that when turned did ignite the fireplace.

The HVAC technician comes about 4:30PM and turns up the thermostat to about 100 and says, "yep it's not running". He goes up and down the stairs to the furnace room and out to his truck several times. Then he reports that he went to the furnace, turned the switch on the furnace off and then on and the furnace worked fine! Unfortunately the electronics on the furnace did not store the "error code". If we have this problem again during the night we are to cycle the switch on the front of the furnace. If it happens in the day, call them and ask for Scott to come back. Do you want to bet that it will happen again on Thanksgiving or Christmas and that the switch cycling won't do a thing?

Constable In Training

I was sworn in as a constable on November 14, 2008. I have quickly found out that there is no "Constable's Manual". Sen. Dan Seum has filed a bill in the Kentucky State Senate

"to require the Kentucky Law Enforcement Council, in cooperation with the Department of Criminal Justice Training and the Kentucky Constable Association, to develop a qualification program for constables and deputy constables and to require the basic forty (40) hour training course to be provided to constables and deputy constables at no cost." However with the current budget crisis I don't have much hope of this bill passing any time soon.

I thought that I would get to serve my first civil summons today. However, since I was also one of the complainants, I was advised that I should not serve it. So I paid $38.48 to have the Circuit Court's office serve it on four people via registered mail. The alternate would have been to have the sheriff serve it for $160.

While at the Circuit Court office I got a quick lesson in issuing citations for say, traffic violations or parking violations. Who knew that for many traffic violations, the fine is only $20 but the court costs are an additional $143? For improper parking there is no court costs. For handicapped parking violations there are also no court costs, but the fine is $250!

There is a uniform citation system in Kentucky but you have to get the forms from someplace in Frankfort and must file a copy of any citation written with the clerk's office.

And so it goes...

My First Blog

Junosmom talked me into staring my own Blog. So here it is! I have no idea what I will blog about or how often I'll blog, but I hope the readers will enjoy it.