Sunday 8 February 2015

case of the missing shovel

I had a mystery on my paws, for sure.  The mystery of the missin' shovel.  Duh duh duh duhhhh....  MOUSES!

There had been talk about the house for a few weeks.  Talk about a shovel that had mysteriously gone missin'.  You see, in other years, the peeps always had two shovels.  Two peeps, two shovels.  One shovel per peep.  Made sense to me.

Although the two-peep-two-shovel model appeared to be perfectly logical, Peep #1 claimed that really, it was a two-door-two-shovel model.  She said that she liked to leave one shovel at the front door and one at the back so that dependin' upon which way the wind blew the snow, and therefore which door was best for startin' the shovellin', there would always be a shovel handy.

But Peep #1's story had a major flaw so I wasn't buyin' it for a minute.  We have three doors, you see.  Front, back and side.  And that's not even includin' the little kitchen window that we cats like to use as a door.  So for her story to be correct, one would think there would be three shovels.  The ever illusive three-door-three-shovel model.  And usin' this model, you might wanna throw in a little cat-sized, shovel, too!  Clearly, the peep forgot that I'm a super logical cat with an inquisitive mind and above-average reasoning skills and can easily see through her fairy tale stories like I'm lookin' through a looking glass.  And I'm not talkin' about a grungy ol' lookin' glass that's hard to see through.  No sirree.  I'm talking 'bout a nice, sparklin' clean lookin' glass through which it's easy to see everythin'.  Everythin' including her silly, make-believe stories.

Anywho...  Bottom line is, we used to have two shovels.

That's right, used to have two.

Talk on the street...  Scratch that.  Talk in the house was that one of the shovels had gone missin'. Went missin' even before snow shovellin' season had begun.  Peep #1 put one shovel at the back door but when she went to put the other one at the front, the other one wasn't there.  It was nowhere to be found.  It was...  MISSING.  Duh duh duh duhhhh...   MOUSES!

This mysteriously missin' shovel should have been in the garage.  It should have been standin' there, right next to the first one.  It should have been standin' at attention, preparin' for duty but it was slackin', for sure.

And when I say slackin', slackin' is what it might have been doin'.  Our garage is not the neatest garage on the block, you see.  Not even close.  Might win an award for messiest garage on the block, though.  Might win an award for messiest garage on the planet.  Yup, it's that messy, for sure.

The garage floor is covered in plant pots 'cause Peep #1 uses the garage to overwinter some of her plants.  Talk about tiptoeing through the tulips!  I can't make it from one end of the garage to the other without tiptoeing through the plant pots.  Funny thing is, I don't think any of 'em contain tulips. More likely to find roses and small potted trees and whatnot.  She should seriously plant some tulips in there so that I can say I'm tiptoein' through the tulips and actually be tiptoein' through the tulips.  A considerate peep would do that for me.  MOUSES!

But back to the slackin'.  It was entirely possible that the second shovel was in that ol' garage, slacking.  It could easily have fallen down somewhere and been lyin' there, hidden amongst all those plant pots.  Had that happened, no one would ever know.  It would be completely hidden from view.

So Peep #1 was thinkin' that the shovel wasn't really missin' but just slackin' although even she had to admit that she couldn't remember the last time she had seen it.  She vaguely remembered seein' it outside, leanin' up against the garage at one point but try as she might, she couldn't remember exactly when.

Personally, I was bettin' the second peep had hidden it away somewhere, hopin' that if there was only one shovel on the go, there could only be one peep doin' any shovellin' at any given time and since it's almost always Peep #1 who goes out there to shovel first, Peep #2 would be able to avoid any and all shovellin' duties this winter.  And even though I had no real evidence supportin' my theory that Peep #2 had hidden that ol' shovel, there wasn't any evidence sayin' otherwise so that was my workin' theory, for sure.

So on Thursday mornin', Peep #1 went outside to shovel a bit more path before the fourth snowstorm in just over a week arrived that afternoon.  She was a-shovellin' and a-shovellin' and a-shovellin' and then...  SNAP.  She was a-shovellin' no more.

Nope, the peep didn't snap.  Shovel did, though.  Snapped clean in two.  Where the handle had once met the scoop, it met the scoop no more.  MOUSES!

That was when Peep #1 decided to find that ol' slackin' shovel.  Positive that it was somewhere in the garage, she trudged through the snow and flung open the door.  Peerin' around inside, she thought that if she could just catch a glimpse of the handle or somethin', she could possibly make her way through the plant pots and get her paws on that shovel.

But there was not a trace of the shovel to be found.

Needless to say, Peep #1 had to head on out to the store before the next storm arrived and go get herself a new shovel.  When she was there, she bought two and yes, we are now back to the two-peep-two-shovel model, for sure.

Regarding the missin' shovel, Peep #1 has decided that one of two things must have happened. Either someone came into our yard over the summer and stole the second shovel or perhaps, and more much more likely, that ol' Hurricane Arthur is to blame.  Had the shovel been outside when Arthur arrived, he very well could have huffed and puffed and blown it right down.  Blown it around! Perhaps the second shovel blew away.

Even I must admit that it is possible Arthur is at fault.  I remember once when the peep left her leaf clappers outside on a windy day, that ol' wind picked up one of those plastic clappers and blew it right away.  Last time I saw it, it was headin' down the driveway, hung a left at the end and blew right down my street, never to be seen again.

After the leaf clapper incident, I tried sellin' the remainin' half pair of leaf-clappers over the Internet but there were no takers.  Peep #1 says that half a pair of clappers is as useless as no clappers at all but I disagree. Somewhere out there, someone probably found the clapper that blew down the street and that person is in need of only one clapper, for sure.  Had only he or she seen my ad.... MOUSES!

Hmmm...  I wonder if anyone would be interested in buyin' the scoop from the peep's ol' broken shovel.  I'd be willin' to throw in the handle for free.

ONE SNOW SHOVEL SCOOP FOR SALE.  Comes with a complementary broken handle.  Goin' cheap.  Get it while you can.  MOUSES!

30 comments:

  1. Now that was such a funny post. Love the part about the shovel breaking and you are selling the scoop. Good luck with that idea. You all have a great Sunday.

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    1. A cat has gotta earn a livin', you know? Still savin' my pennies to invest in nip futures and you know what they say. EVERY penny counts. purrs

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  2. That is a mystery! My dad is always saying things have gone missing, but that is only because if it is not in his line of vision he says he can't find it. He collects shovel scoops too. He has got 4 or 5 and they all have broken handles. Mum keeps telling him to get new handles or put them on the scrap metal pile.

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    1. You ever try sellin' any of those scoops, Flynn? So far, no one has offered to buy this one of the peep's. MOUSES! purrs

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  3. Only a human could make such an ordeal out of shovels!

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  4. The two peep two shovel model gets things done quicker at least. Those scoops really aren't that good without the handle. May not get much offers

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    1. But I'm willin' to give 'em the handle for free. Just not attached to the scoop, you see. purrs

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  5. I think that darn groundhog that predicted more winter probably had something to do with it Nissy!

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    1. I think you might be onto somethin'. Brian. Wouldn't put it past a groundhog to do somethin' like that. purrs

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  6. Nissy you are a very clever businesscat...keep tryin' we think someone just may buy that two piece shovel from you yet. Hope your snow FINALLY stops! Hey maybe that neighbor kitty of yours took the other shovel and is trying to sell IT on the interwebs? Hmmm....

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    1. I might borrow somethin' you just said, Clooney. "Two piece shovel..." I think a TWO-piece shovel should be worth more than a one-piece one, for sure! purrs

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  7. Mom's friends in Halifax told them there are a few storms heading their way........hope the peeps get a new shovel.

    The Florida Furkids

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  8. Nissy, I think a person stole the shovel. We can't leave ours by the door or they get stolen and we don't live in a busy area. We are all set with shovels, but I will ask around to see if anyone wants to buy your broken one.

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  9. We agree with Brian. That groundhog is one mischievous dude. He could definitely be involved with that shovel being AWOL!

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  10. Ya know, you can sell all sorts of stuff on ebay. My human cousin sold his brother on ebay! The deal fell through though as the buyer wouldn't come and collect! Good luck with the scoop selling ;) x0x

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  11. Maybe my dad-person needs snow shovel with a complementary broken handle ,
    it could work over here since we have NO snow *mol*

    XOXO

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  12. haha! What a great story! BOL! Things seem to mysteriously go missing around here, FAR too often! That's too funny that the one shovel broke though, it just figures since your peeps couldn't find the other one. Always seems to happen that way doesn't it?
    ღ husky hugz ღ frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky!

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  13. On the bright side, if they do find the shovel, you will have 3 shovels for 3 doors next year :) We have a shovel and I haven't seen our Mom take it out of the garage. Uncle Kevin just brings the big snow blower over and clears the snow thank goodness! Mom knows a LOT of HBO words she uses when she shovels and they are not very nice MOL!

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  14. Hmmm That is odd about that missing shovel. The Dad here says he used to miss the shovelin but has since seen the light and uses that indispensable addition to any day of snow the call to the snow shovel guy. Works fur us
    Purrs Nissy. Hey was is going on out that cat window anymeow?

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  15. Well Nissy dat's a mystewy fur sure. Wunnew just what did happen to dat ole shovel. Ifin ours wuz to go missin' it wuld be cuz one of da neighbors took it. MOL Guess yous hav better neighbors than we do. Glad yous got 2 new shovels to keep yous peeps in business again. Yous gunna need 'em when it comes time to plant those nip plants this spwing. :)

    Luv ya'

    Dezi and Lexi

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  16. OMC that is a real mystery isn't it? Maybe that missing shovel is hiding under the snow somewhere...after all those storms maybe it needed a nap, MOL

    Mom bean has three shovels but our bean brofur isn't furry good at using any of them. So mom bean does most of the shovelling and she isn't happy about that at all.

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  17. Maybe u can make a snow hoomin?

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  18. We're glad there's not much need for shovels around here.

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  19. Do you ship internationally ? Purrs

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  20. Hmm... If you paired the half leaf clapper with the broken shovel and threw in the handle as an extension (for short armed peeps) you could get big bucks for sure, maybe even get a patent? purrs

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  21. And NOW that you have 2 new shovels, I fully predict one of your peeps will find the missing one!

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I love hearin' from my pals. I really, REALLY do. PURRS.