Category: Life with Pratts

Where I Am Not Today

The auto dealership where I bought my car five years ago desperately wants me to drive down there today and sell my car back to them. I feel so guilty about the manager being in an embarrassing situation!

More money than I ever thought possible for my car? I wonder what my house is worth? Solicitations from local realtors, as well as “we buy homes” outfits, come in the mail almost weekly. They’d be delighted to give me an estimate of the house’s market value! But I’m a grumpy “aging in place” senior whose selfishness is preventing some nice, young family from owning a home.

Follow-up: I’ve done some checking on the local market. It seems the recent spike in mortgage rates is having a negative effect on the asking prices for houses, compared to a couple of months ago.

My Watergate Day

John and Maureen Dean at the Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities, 1973.

The 50th anniversary of the Watergate break-in is, I suppose, a good time to mention the day I spent with John Dean. As president of the college’s so-called Economics Society, I sponsored Dean for a campus lecture.

A previous guest speaker had been Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith, but what did John Dean have to do with Economics? Nothing directly, but the faculty advisor, Dr. Darrow, was hot to talk with Dean.

It was a very interesting day, and a very long day. I have a newspaper clipping somewhere about Dean’s talk that includes a photo of him that I arranged to have taken. If I find it I’ll post a scan and have a bit more to say.

My Little Chickadees

The flap for the dryer vent cover broke off last year, and I hadn’t gotten around to replacing it. This made it possible for Mr. & Mrs. Chickadee to build a nest that completely filled the vent. I realized this when I saw one of them looking into the dryer from the other side of the drum!

Once I started working, the birds escaped without injury, but they were not happy! Clever birds that they are, they were using dryer lint to pack between twigs. Fortunately, there were no eggs yet in the nest.

Replacing the cover required, of course, more effort and tools than it should have. The problem was the hole for the old, all-metal, vent wasn’t wide enough for the plastic housing of the new vent cover. With a hammer and wood chisel I was able to widen it just enough to make it fit. Mr. & Mrs. Chickadee will now have to find another place to prepare a nest for their blessed event.