a post!

Yeah, I haven't been blogging again, although I've been told that having an online reference to the Shaw boys so that people can prove to their friends that they actually do exist is a help.

Jacy's home, so I've been spending a lot of time cooking and cleaning, although people bring meals, which is nice. Jacy doesn't so much create the extra work as I actually have to keep up after my own messes so she can navigate the house.

But today I finally found what I had been waiting for...the Good family treasure. Previous searches had yielded only half a Goodwill's worth of well worn socks and undershirts, ties from the 70's, my dad's collection of true crime novels, his wisdom teeth, and an overflowing four drawer filing cabinet that after removing all the maps, vacation brochures and other paperwork long rendered obsolete by the internet, was decimated to one half drawer of important documents and one drawer of old newspapers. While moving said filing cabinet, I found it in the corner of my parent's closet behind 14 containers of generic Gold Bond, stacks of bar soap, shampoo bottles and disposable razors...a box with a combination lock on it.

I could pry the box open slightly, enough to see more disposable razors, but that just had to be a ruse. I managed to get 2 of the 4 bolts off of the latch, but the other 2 would not budge. I chiseled at the weld, but couldn't get it to peel off. I fruitlessly tried sawing through the lid around the latch. I tried to knock the pin out of the hinge to no avail, so I found a grinder and took it to to bolts. Then I went and got a pair of sunglasses should a spark land in my eye. After my second attempt was aborted due to fear of a spark nesting in my hair, I got a hat, and after catching a few live ones on my feet, put on jeans and shoes. My fourth attempt was pay dirt, I slowly ground off the head of the bolt, and, not equating 2 minutes of showering sparks with friction related heat, promptly burned myself.

I opened the lid.

On top, World War II commemorative stamps. These were mine from approximately 1991, and instinctively knew that they were not worth enough to mail a letter. Next, a peanut butter container filled with old coins, along with an appraisal sheet stating their value at a little under 300 bucks. Not bad.

And finally, there it lay. A pile of various shotgun shells and .22 rounds. The most valuable thing known to man, 'cause once the economy falls through, no one can afford utilities and we're back to the dark ages, the only thing a man is left to do is terrorize his neighborhood, shootin' 'n' lootin'.