An old but fun riddle;
“As I was going to St. Ives, I met a man with seven wives, the seven wives had seven sacks, the seven sacks had seven cats, the seven cats had seven kittens; kittens, cats, man and wives, how many were going to St. Ives?”Ponder before getting to the answer below. Valentine’s Day is upon us. What is it that makes our spouse so special? Is it just the good times? Not hardly as almost any stranger can share good times with you, and you both can enjoy them. Perhaps, like the higher quality metals, real closeness comes from passing through the furnace so many times together. The bad times are better, and the worst times are at least endurable, as long as you stand shoulder to shoulder against the roaring winds, and see each other through the storm. The memories of bad times tend to fade with time, but the person who helped, and you helped, through them won’t. Gradually the passage of the years tends to cement you two together until the concretion of time has made two one. Perhaps not unlike artifacts discovered below the sea as solid pieces, welded by encrusting coral. Now I’m not suggesting Valentine’s Day morning you greet them with a hearty “Morning, you old barnacle, you!” If you do we’re not liable for any danger to life or limb. But do something together to mark the day. The passage together through any bad times deserves its own rewards.
Riddle Answer You can get a grand total living things by the math 1+1+7+(7*7)+(7*7*7) = 464 people, cats, and kittens. However, note you have no data the man, his wives, cats, or kittens were also headed to St Ives. In fact, unless you were walking substantially faster than other travelers, it’s more likely you met the man, wives, cats and kittens coming from St Ives. Therefore, the only person you can be sure is going to St Ives in the riddle is you! It’s really hard to conceive of a time before radio, television, I-pods, computers, the internet, when people came up with these puzzlers as a way to entertain themselves. So riddle me this; are we better or worse off today with all the gadgets?
Now there’s a puzzler! The town barber is cutting hair in the window when a boy walks past. The barber tells his customer “That kid is the dumbest kid in town, watch this!” He raps on the picture window and waves the boy in. Reaching in his pocket he gets out a dollar bill in his right hand, and two quarters in his left. “Take your pick Johnny, which do you want” says the Barber. Johnny looks for a second, then reaches out and takes the two shiny quarters, saying “Thanks Sir!” “See you around Johnny” say the Barber as the boy leaves. “What did I tell you” ,crows the Barber, “Kids today have no common sense! Why when we were young blah-blahblah.” As the customer pays for his haircut and leaves, he is walking back to his car, and sees Johnny sitting at a bench, enjoying an ice cream cone. “Son” asks the man, “May I ask you a question? Why did you take the quarters instead of the dollar bill?” The boy replied; “Well, he’s been doing this”
And there’s this story of a four year old boy; His next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man sitting in his backyard crying, the little boy went over, climbed onto the old man’s lap, and just sat there awhile. Later on the gentleman told the mother her son had “helped more in 5 minutes than all the rest of his friends combined since she passed on.” When his Mother asked the boy what he had said to make the neighbor feel better, the little boy said, ‘Nothing, He had so many tears, I just helped him cry some of them.’
February comes after January, and combined they challenge us all to persevere. Long gray cloud laden days, freezing pitch black nights. It seems at times life itself becomes a struggle just to bear up through another day. Yet, at our feeder what I call the “Wildlife Welfare Line” comes. My beautiful Joy has a menagerie that positively counts on her. Deer, turkeys, birds, squirrels, (the bear is fast asleep somewhere hibernating).Each and every one knows, for some reason they cannot comprehend, that the lady in the log cabin will have something to tide them through another winter day. No matter how cold, and it’s read (-12F) some recent mornings, Joy will tramp out through the snow to distribute. Even the sound of the garage door opening has become a clarion call, apparently heard by our furred & feathered customers as a dinner bell. There is one special guy, though. A red squirrel so tiny, he must have been born in the fall. He sleeps till noon, and then arrives. He can play, cavort. February is ok by him, life is still a joy! We can learn from him; having never known a July yet, winter is ok by him. Exuberance is its own reward!
The monthly chatter box is written by Donald Conyngham
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