Didja fergit yer ostrich jerky?

I know y’all are really glad that I shared this loooooverly photooo with you. Especially those of you who have already seen it on facebook. When you go hiking on the North Country Trail and you fergit yer ostrich jerky, you have to scrabble around for food. I thought this thing looked a bit like a placenta or maybe an umbilical cord (except for all the appendages) but I was shouted down. Given that I have seen exactly *two* placentas in my life and that I was a little loopy both times (but NOT from drugs, thank you very much and I am NOT judging anyone who *did* use drugs during childbirth because we all do what we have to do), whaddoo I know?

Speaking of scrabbling around in the woods, I *finally* made a scrabble move with the three people I owed one. I am not quite sure if I’m in games with three or four people. (Mouse, do we have a game going right now? I fergit…) I am NOT in a scrabble game with MMCB because I think she probably about equals the Grand Poohbah and I am just not goin’ there. I know a couple other people who “cheat”. There are websites that “help” you make your letters into scrabble words, don’tcha know. I love my cheater friends and I don’t care if they “cheat” (actually I think it’s hilarious) but I’m not playin’ with them either. I can’t even make myself google crossword puzzle answers and I’m only playing against myself with those.

It is true that I am pretty good at crossword puzzles. I do the New York Times xword every day on my iPhone. I am nowhere near as good as those folks who compete in xword contests but I can usually knock down Monday through Wednesday in under 10 minutes and I can almost always finish the Thursday *on* Thursday. Friday and Saturday? Wellll… I return to them until I finish them. Sunday is all over the map as far as I’m concerned. I either finish on Sunday or I don’t.

’twasn’t always this way. One summer when I was home from college, I was on a crossword jag. I was working on a book of NYT crosswords and boy oh boy did I have a lot of blank squares in most of those puzzles. I also had a dastardly couple of uncles who were MUCH better than me at crossword puzzles. I learned very quickly to hide my crossword puzzle book when I wasn’t using it because if I didn’t, they would come along for coffee royale or whatever and FILL IN a few words for me plus they would sometimes leave snarky little notes. Miss those guys…

I am sure that I am not as good at crosswords as Duke or Don were but I am MUCH better than I used to be. Scrabble? Not so much.

One Response to “Didja fergit yer ostrich jerky?”

  1. Margaret Says:

    Placentas are UGLY…but necessary. I don’t want to get caught up in crosswords; I would get addicted and would be very tempted to cheat. 😉