Silly Putty And The Diaper 3/20/2020

Good Morning,

Happy Friday to all. I just finished brewing a pot of Door County Heroes Coffee about ten minutes ago. I am lifting my mug to salute all the parents that are home schooling right now, while working from home.

I promised that I would write about the infamous Silly Putty incident that occurred in our home around 1962. Silly Putty was introduced to me around that time in my life. To me it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. I had a few of the egg shaped containers and I was 5 years old. I would take the putty and press it onto the colored comics in the news paper. I thought that copying Beetle Bailey onto the putty was the bomb. But as kids would do I used to forget to put the putty away into it's egg shell. Then it would harden and be useless.

That would just drive my dad nuts. He would pick up that putty and I would hear this statement. "The next time I find this putty left out, it's going into the garbage and you will be crying." Now if you knew my dad you knew he was serious.

Did I mention that I had a younger sister who as a baby had stomach problems? She had to drink some awful baby formula which caused her to be constipated and she cried all the time. Back then disposable diapers hadn't been invented yet. So the little rascal wore a cloth diaper. The kind you had to empty in the toilet, rinse and then wash them in the wringer washer. I am really dating myself here. For some reason this kid wouldn't wear the plastic pants that held her human waste within the diaper.  When the munchkin was constipated her poo was the same color and consistency as Silly Putty.

One fine day, the curtain crawler was toddling around the house dropping poo pellets on to the carpeting.  Guess who came along and saw what he assumed was Silly Putty balls on the floor?
Yes, it was my dad. He started picking them up squishing them together in his hands calling out one of my names as he was looking for me.  I happened to be under the dining room table playing Army with my lead figurines. (another day). He was wild, and he used my most common name as he was yelling. "Little ****. I was in deep trouble until I remembered that I hadn't been playing with the Silly Putty all day. Then it happened! The smell of toddler turds hit his nose. He had been picking up the nasty waste, packing it together so he could show me my mistake and yell at me.

What he said in Italian I cannot repeat. But then it was payback. He had pushed me too far. I started laughing and asked dad if he was playing with Silly Poo. I was quite skinny back then and faster than greased lightening. The old boy couldn't catch me.

For many years we laughed and laughed about this one. On his 60th birthday I purchased some Silly Putty and a diaper for dad just in case he wanted to play with some in retirement. He still couldn't catch me!

The lesson here today is, don't jump to conclusions! Test all things. What you think is putty, could be poo.

Proverbs 25:8 Do not hastily bring your neighbor into court, for what will you do in the end when he puts you to shame? 

God bless,

Marty