A few weeks ago, Grandpa & Grandma decided it was time to clean out the garage. You have to understand, this was no ordinary garage. For many years (and 3 or 4 retirements), it was the home of Don's Furniture Service. The creative den where Grandpa took the mundane or mildewed and recreated antique divinity. His skill at refinishing and repairing any manner of wooden furniture was so well known that even the Busch family had him on speed dial (yes,
those Buschs
). The footprints of a vast and untold number of chair legs, inlaid table tops, upholstered footstools and Time-itself-only-knows-what-else are indelibly etched in the stained and pocked floor of that small piece of real estate. And today it fell to all of us to pilfer our personal treasures from flotsam & jetsam of a very successful, albeit deliberately
collective, career.
Aunt Helen took the helm of organizing the event, complete with a dumpster of epic proportions. Aunt Janet journeyed from the east to get in on the party. Unfortunately, Mom & Dad had back-to-back funerals at the last minute and couldn't make it, but J-J & H and S-S & C made an early morning commute to Bridgeton and by 9:30AM the fun had commenced. Aunt Helen took some time to remind all of us of the work and dedication that Grandpa & Grandma had put into their lives and ours and then delegated duties. We went through just about ever nook & cranny of the place and
filled that monster dumpster. Yes, we kept bits and pieces of sentimental value, but 40 years or so of accumulation can, well, cause some accumulation. You can jump over to the
pictures to track our progress. Needless to say we were pretty tuckered out and in desperate need of a good hosing off by day's end. We missed Mom & Dad, but it was great fun to be with all the STL clan!
A few weeks ago, Mom & Dad came home to the scene above. It didn't take long for those highly evolved scavengers to figure out what the squirrels could not; they not only got past the Dome of Intrusion, but the next night, the family knocked the entire bird feeder down! This type of activity just could not continue at the Lodge and so entered Trap 1. The morning light revealed our first capture, obviously a bit dejected at his predicament.
The score stood at one juvenile down and 3 more, plus the Momma to go. Dad & I took a trip out to Sugar Creek Lake an dropped our friend off in a new neighborhood. That night, I brought Trap 2 and, predictably, we got two more. Another trip to the Lake for a double drop and that night we got Coon Kiddie Number Four! He was also promptly delivered to his siblings' new home. Amazingly, the momma hasn't been tempted by a smorgasbord of birdseed a' la bacon grease on a bed of rotting strawberries. I can't imagine why.
