A couple of weeks ago these two jaybirds decided to bury a time capsule. They did it while I was at work, so I didn’t know about it until I came home to a newly dug and newly covered hole in the backyard.
The girls know the value of documenting something of this magnitude-after all they are my daughters.
They took tons of pictures-even if some of them are in an impossible to correct sideways position.
I did know something was up that day-although I would never in a million years have guessed it was the dedication of a time capsule.
Chatter called to ask where my rubber stamp ink pad was. I told her I didn’t think I had one anymore and if I did I hadn’t a clue where it was at.
When I asked why she needed an ink pad her response was “I don’t want to tell you, its a surprise.” I’ll admit I figured she was making me a card and in a totally mean spirited manner I thought “Oh my goodness if you want to help me don’t make me a card clean my house!”
Rest assured, I felt the appropriate amount of guilt once I saw my sparkling clean house and discovered the real reason she wanted the ink pad was to put a print of Ruby’s paw in the time capsule.
The girls went down to Pap’s to find some old coffee cans to put their stash in-Pap quickly advised them a coffee can would rust and suggested canning jars for their mission.
So what did they put in them? Chatter wrote herself a letter full of goals she wants to accomplish in the next 40 years (that’s how long they’re going to wait to unearth the jars), Chitter wrote herself one too-but she wouldn’t tell us what was in her letter. They included the paw print of Ruby, a few trinkets, and unbelievable to me Chatter put Wilson in there!! If you don’t know the story of Wilson go here-it really is a must read.
Tipper
Fun!! A word of advice to the time encapsulators: mark the exact spot with a stone so heavy you wish you had a backhoe to move it. Because the ground shifts as it freezes and thaws, and though today you know exactly where you dug, it is very, very possible that the hole will move when you are not looking.
Guess how I know this!
p.s. I am astonished you haven’t already dug Wilson back up again 😉
Your girls sure are thinking ahead ! would make a really good story about thoughts when it was made and thoughts when it was opened. Forty years ago I could not have had the remotest idea I would be where I am, much less have predicted how I would get here.
I don’t want to make you sad, but I think your girls feel their position at the end of childhood and the early years of adulthood. It is a time when one knows, without knowing just how, the future is going to be different. For me, Robert Frost’s ‘The Road Not Taken’ has always said it best. “Two raods diverged in the yellow wood, and I…..I took the one less traveled by. And that has made all the difference.” May God ever grant your girls joy in the journey.
What an imaginative and delightful pair of daughters you have, Tipper! I love, love their idea of a time capsule. Some of us won’t be around when they dig it up in 40 years, but it would be interesting to know all the things that will happen to Chitter and Chatter when they unearth it four decades hence. I enjoyed again the story of Wilson! How clever and entertaining as well as unusual!
spizzerrinktum comes up as spizzerrinctum if you highlight it, right click on it and choose “Search Google for ‘ ‘.” Merriam Webester comes up first with a definition “the will to succeed: vim, energy, ambition” How do I know that? I was called that too when I was little and felt the need to know what I was being accused of. I’ll take it!
I am also a nincompoop which is an antonym of spizzerrimctum. Does that mean I have a split personality? Dissociative Identity Disorder ?
I thought of bluejays too when I saw the pictures. Bluejays are beautiful birds especially those pictured here today. The auburn of Chatter’s hair matched Chitter’s shirt and Chitter’s headwrap matches Chatter’s blue shirt. I don’t know much about color and style but I would say they are perfectly matched!
One thing troubles me. If you weren’t home for the interment who took the first photo? That added a hint of mystery to the story. If the pictures were of a reenactment of the actual event I would rather not know. The narrative is better with a mysterious third person present.
I love this! Just another side of the very talented and creative Pressley Girls! What a great thing to do and how fun it will be to open their time capsules 40 years from now.
Tipper,
After I got my eyes fixed and went
back for a check-up, the eye Dr.
told me I had glaucoma, but if I’d
put in these eyedrops in each eye
before bedtime, I should be OK for
the next 50 years. Immediately I
asked “yeah, doc, but what am I
supposed to do after that?”
I once knew a man (Robert Guffey, much older that me) that
buried a big jar of money back
in the 70’s. When he dug several holes, he found it. After opening the jar, it was
molded so he got in touch with
a Government Official. And later
they retuned over $17,000 to him. That was money he saved from busting locust posts over the years…Ken
Tipper,
How cool! I would never have thought of doing that, but you never know what girls are thinking.
Mine did cute things too growing
up and all my grandchildren are
girls. Funny thing tho, both me
and my son-in-law came from all
boys, so we decided all the boy
genes got used up along the way.
I think those girls of yours, with those pretty eyebrows, take
after their mama alot…Ken
darn I’m gonna miss the unveiling/digging up.
What a sweet idea! I hope the lid doesn’t rust. My Grand Daughter calls me “Negative Nanna” when I make that kind of statement.
Years agoI decided to bury something before I even knew about time capsules. I found an old Prince Albert can and tucked notes in it. I planned to dig it up when I became an adult. As curiosity and impatience will set in on young folks, my time capsule only lasted about a year. I found this rusted piece of can with wet, molded, illegible notes. I can so relate to those sweet girls and their effort to preserve a piece of the wonderful time they live in.
What a sweet idea! I hope the lid doesn’t rust. My Grand Daughter calls me “Negative Nanna” when I make that kind of statement.
Years agoI decided to bury something before I even knew about time capsules. I found an old Prince Albert can and tucked notes in it. I planned to dig it up when I became an adult. As curiosity and impatience will set in on young folks, my time capsule only lasted about a year. I found this rusted piece of can with wet, molded, illegible notes. I can so relate to those sweet girls and their effort to preserve a piece of the wonderful time they live in.
Those girls are two pieces of work – and mighty fine work at that.
Love it, we did that in high school, loved the memories
Love it, we did that in high school, loved the memories
Love it, we did that in high school, loved the memories
Love it, we did that in high school, loved the memories
That was great fun for the girls! I can tell from the pictures. History is something to remember; one just needs to remember where the time capsule is buried. Perhaps, the girls will be married and you will be retired and enjoying your garden and fond memories of writing this blog everyday. In 40 years, I won’t be around, but their fun and young years will be remembered. This was such a great idea!
That is so cool
A time capsule was just uncovered here in Jefferson city in a state building. They won’t reveal what was in it until July 4th . . . I hate waiting
It’s been years since I have heard of anyone making a time capsule. What a cool idea! My sister-in-law buried a large sum of money in a not so airtight container when she realized she would soon be divorcing her husband. The divorce was delayed and took years to finalize. Meanwhile, the cellar flooded several times and stayed damp all the time. When she dug the container up, the money had molded and crumbled. I don’t think she told too many people that story. I hope the girls made sure the lids were tight on their time capsules!
I hope am around and invited to the unveiling. I’ll only be 94!
Wilson? Chatter put Wilson in her time capsule. Now that’s a surprise and a very good selection. That acorn could grow a fine tall tree, and probably will…one of these days!
Tipper–You call them a pair of jaybirds, and that’s appropriate inasmuch as jays are inquisitive, somewhat raucous, colorful, talkative, and real busybodies (in the good sense of that word). I would suggest that another word descriptive of them is jasper.
I had a beloved aunt who often suggested I was a jasper (rightly or wrongly I took it as a term of approbation or maybe suggesting I was colorful like the mineral jasper). Of course she also called me a spizzerrinktum, and if you can find that word in any dictionary I want to know about it.
At any rate, henceforth I’m going to think of the twins as the jasper jaybirds.
Jim Casada