Cindy's Job At The Birch Street Nursing Home

Today at the Birch Street Nursing Home, I spent the morning in my basement laboratory setting up the drill press, soldering station and tabletop bandsaw I purchased last week. Before I left Winsome Headquarters this morning, Grandmother cautioned me not to run too many things at once in this old building, reminding me what happened when my machine knocked the power out. So once everything was set up and ready to be tested, I made sure to operate only one tool at a time. The others I left unplugged. I'm happy to report that all the tools worked perfectly, and the power remained on. And although I was eager to begin using the tools, it was time for me to join the poker game upstairs. I had promised the patients I would spend the afternoon with them today. So my work on the robot seeing eye dog will continue next week. 

Fanny Mail: A New Contest In California

Today I received a letter from Vera Worthington of Santa Rosa, California. Vera writes: "Dear Grandmother Winsome, the other day I read about an ugly dog contest, and it got me thinking. My daughter Shauna is not pretty. She's also not smart or athletic. She has no aptitude for baking, and has no skill in any artistic area. She's never won any awards, or even come close. I want her to excel at something, so I decided to create the World's Ugliest Child contest, following the model of the ugly dog contest. I thought it would be a fun way for children of a certain level to meet each other, and for their parents to have something to boast about. I know it sometimes takes these things a while to catch on, but I was disappointed that not a single other parent entered a child in my contest. My daughter won, but it wasn't as much fun for her as I'd hoped. In fact, she seems really down. What can I do to make this contest more of a success next year?" 

Sweetie, you can use your daughter to promote it. Have her pose in her crown and sash, or whatever she received as a prize, and post those photos on a website dedicated to the competition. And when it gets closer to the time, have posters made up with your daughter's image, and hang them in all the prominent businesses in town. It will be a way not only to get the word out about your new contest, but also a way to raise your daughter's spirits.

Cindy's Job At The Birch Street Nursing Home

During the week, I was helping Grandmother, and I didn't have time to go to the hardware store to pick up the tools I need to continue building the robot seeing eye dog for Mr. Pearlman. So today, after I made the patients their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for lunch, I left the Birch Street Nursing Home to go to the store. I put extra peanut butter on each of the sandwiches to slow the patients down, because I knew I'd be gone for a while. Fortunately, the drill press, soldering station, rotary tool for fine adjustments, and tabletop bandsaw were all in stock, and I loaded them into my little red wagon. The guy warned me that I wouldn't be able to return these items after using them like I did with the tools for pulling up carpet. When I got back to the Birch Street Nursing Home, the patients were scrubbing the last of the peanut butter off their dentures and were ready for a poker game.

Edward's Ice Cream Truck Adventures

I am on the road, and the ice cream business is booming at my current stop in central Pennsylvania, where there is a big baseball tournament underway. Kids, if you're bored watching your older siblings swing at terrible pitches, sneak on out to my ice cream truck. Mention this post to get a special tour of the back of my truck.

Cindy's Job At The Birch Street Nursing Home

Based on the measurements I took of Mr. Pearlman last week, today I began building legs for his robot seeing eye dog in my basement laboratory of the Birch Street Nursing Home. But I soon realized that my tools, including a hammer, a crescent wrench and a set of screwdrivers, were not going to be enough. What I really need is a drill press, a soldering station, a rotary tool for fine adjustments, and a tabletop bandsaw. It looks like I'll have to take another trip to the hardware store.

Cindy's Job At The Birch Street Nursing Home

Today at the Birch Street Nursing Home, I continued work on the robot seeing eye dog for Mr. Pearlman. It's going to be a great surprise for him. I want it to be the perfect height so that he's able to pet the dog without bending over. I knelt next to him to get a measurement, hoping he wouldn't know what I was doing. I was successful, but I did such a good job at being quiet that he didn't know I was there at all and ended up falling over me. When he regained consciousness, he asked me what happened. I told him that he had fallen and said that if he'd had a seeing eye dog it might not have happened.

Grandmother Winsome's Legal Advice

When collecting autographs, don't just focus on celebrities. Get autographs from regular folks too. You never know when a random signature might come in handy. If you worry that asking non-famous people for autographs might seem suspicious, one option is to stand near the finish line of a local foot race, and then collect autographs from the first dozen people that cross the finish line. No one will be suspicious of someone expressing enthusiasm for that kind of achievement.

Cindy's Job At The Birch Street Nursing Home

I arrived at the Birch Street Nursing Home early again today, but this time before heading down to my basement laboratory to work on the robot seeing eye dog, I wrote a note to the patients and left it on the poker table. I didn't want them to worry about me like they did last week when they thought I wasn't there and had been hit by a car. I got right to work, using some of the metal pieces I bought at the hardware store last week to begin making the robot dog's skeleton. After just a few hours, I got the frame of the dog's torso built, which was my goal for the day. That left me free to spend the rest of my time playing poker with the patients.