Possession #171 - Cassette Tapes

In high school I stayed up til midnight one night to make a cassette of the Barry Manilow double live album that a radio station was playing. Yes, I know, you can't believe I said the words "cassette" and "Barry Manilow" in the same sentence...but I just want to lay it all out for you upfront. The point is, itunes used to be known as CD's and they used to be known as Albums and they used to be recorded on cassettes. Cassettes made it very easy for someone like me to become my own DJ and make a mix tape or even record my own low-budget dramas. With dual players it was even easy to make copies until one of the tapes got eaten by the machine. Most of my cassettes are long gone, but a few are around, not because I have a player anywhere in the house, but because...ummm...isn't there a law against throwing away Barry Manilow tapes?

Possession #170 - Mountain Dulcimer

One of our instruments here in the "house of music" is a mountain dulcimer which we tend to use for Celtic music rather than the more traditional Appalachian stuff. A dulcimer is one of those wonderful instruments that's rather easy to begin on but you can make it as fancy as you want. You might want to check out a nice Celtic tune played on one in this Youtube video. We have this possession according to the "you can't have too many instruments" clause in our contract.

Oh...you might notice in the picture a strange extra piece of wood that lies about a 1/4 inch below the surface of the dulcimer. That's a possum board (also goes by a variety of other names). It helps project the sound when you're playing it on your lap. Thanks Steve!

Possession #169 - Cell Phone

It seems unbelievable that an object so central to life as we know it has been relegated to "possession #169." I suppose, to be honest, it was sort of included in an earlier post where I counted up all the clocks in my house. But it really deserves its own spot. The term "early adopter" refers to people who always have to be the first ones to try out some new technology. And while I am definitely not that person, I am a "somewhat early adopter." I like to see what all the commotion is about fairly soon. Therefore I love my smart phone but not so much that it's under my pillow every night. I enjoy a lot of the things it can do for me but not enough to remember to take it out of my pocket the first time I went down a water ride.

During the course of this project our home has become, like so many others, land-line-less. We dropped the land line and now exist solely on cell phones...and I think I can say we haven't regretted it once. I only wonder what strange things will pop into our lives by the time I'm old and cranky...ok...older and crankier. I say, "bring it on!"

Possession #168 - Razor

My first razor was a Norelco triple header electric. Then I went to blades, then back to electric, then back to blades. I don't think I ever had a single blade razor like my dad's. I started with a double-bladed razor. Then two blades and a gel strip. Now...the Mach 3 (despite the name, I find that it takes the same amount of time to shave)! Over the years, I don't want to think of the pile of blades that I've dulled and tossed. It certainly seems to make sense to go with a beard, but I'm stuck with this convention of my culture. At least I was going to leave you with a video of the classic razor blade swallowing magic trick, but instead, for no particular reason, I'll point you to a less bloody and far more phenomenal performance.

Possession #167 - Poop bags

Everyone poops...if you're not so sure about that, there's a book about it which was given to me in the hospital after my intestinal surgery. It's called, "Everyone Poops" and it comes highly recommended.

When our dog poops, it requires special attention...thus the poop removal system, for us, involving re-purposed bread bags. If you need some inspiration for this public service, then watch this video (at your own risk).

Possession #166 - Tent

For some, camping means a cabin with indoor plumbing and hot tub on the back deck. For others it involves a fairly large house with wheels and a motor that travels across country getting about 2 mpg. For still others, I suppose it requires being miles from any road or grocery store. For our family it involves a tent in any campground that has two things: flush toilets and a pool. Our first tent was a giant 3-room behemoth that took about 8 1/2 hours to set up and involved several thousand poles and pegs. Later, we got smart and bought a simple square tent with only two poles and took about 5 minutes to set up in the dark during a rain storm. Actually, it was decimated not on a camping trip, but during an imaginary camping expedition one year at Vacation Bible School.

Camping brings back good memories of sitting in the tent reading stories to our kids before trying to sleep in a strange place. Then waking up to elk chewing on the bushes next to the tent. It reminds me of failed fishing expeditions and encountering strange creatures on the way to the bathrooms in the middle of the night. Camping is supposed to be a bit uncomfortable and disorienting...otherwise it's not an adventure.

Possession #165 - Coat Hangers

I don't consider our family excessively clothed. Our two children are out of the home most of the year and we don't have either a large home or a walk-in closet in which to expand our wardrobe. And yet...a casual count of the coat hangers in my house adds up to 267. Most of them are being used.

Some historians credit Thomas Jefferson with inventing a precursor of the modern coat hanger. The standard wire coat hanger was probably invented some time around 1869. My question?...what did people do before hangers?...They must have had a lot more chairs in the house!

Coat hangers are notorious for a broad range of purposes other than an object on which to hang coats, shirts and such. You can break into your car with one. You can make an antenna for your TV. They have been used dramatically. Make an ipad stand. I've used coat hangers for more projects than I can count...primarily in the construction and manipulation of puppets.

In Iowa they're prone to use bailing wire. But I still like a good ol' coat hanger for most repairs and quick constructions.