Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The Sinker

This is a sinker which has been on the end of my dock for centuries decades. What's so amazing about that statement is that this very same dock has been flooded over by various storms--including a hurricane and a tropical storm--that have knocked heavy-duty items clean overboard and into the creek. Yet this one little sinker stays put.

For Grandma J. any of you who are unacquainted with sinkers, they're the weight that you tie to the end of a fishing line to keep it below the surface of the water or on the bottom of the creek or river you're fishing in. I've also used them as paper weights to weigh down crab lines but that's probably not the intended use for them.

My father has thousands of these stashed in various places like the garage, the boat house, the barn, etc., but a few have managed to linger on the dock in spite of Mother Nature's every effort to nudge them overboard.

This particular one looked like a fish to me. (A fish with a string attached to it, that is.) The way the colors of the string and the weight blended in with the dock also gave me pause.

Gave me pause? Did I really say that something "gave me pause?" How does that work, anyway, this giving of pause? Maybe they thought that saying "caused me to pause" would sound too Dr. Seuss-like. Still. Even so. Better to sound like Dr. Seuss than a geek or a freak, that's what I always say.

Now that I've analyzed this simple sinker to death, the only thing remaining is to share a poem that I wrote, because that's what weird normal people do, isn't it, they write poems about things like fishing line sinkers when they are crazier than a loon trying to stay awake in a meeting at work.

The Sinker
By Chesapeake Bay Woman, written in under four minutes while pretending to take notes attending a meeting yesterday that lasted 2.5 hours but should have lasted four minutes.

At the end of a dock
Off the Chesapeake Bay
Lay a fishing line sinker
That wouldn't go away.
Right there on the boards
It would stay. It would stay

through hurricanes and flooding
and Nor'easters too.
The dock would be swallowed
By the tide as it grew.
But the little lone sinker
Stayed put through and through.

You'd think that at some point
This lone little sinker
Would wash off the dock
'twas a clingy little stinker.
Then again, you have to wonder why Chesapeake Bay Woman didn't just bend over, pick the dang thing up and put it away or throw it overboard.

The End.

* Have you ever used sinkers for anything other than their intended use?

* Is there something in your house, your yard, or anywhere in your daily travels that you know you should pick up, put away or throw away, yet you don't?

* Fill in the blank: The last thing to give me pause was ______________.

18 comments:

maria from nj said...

When the blog first popped up on my Crackberry, my (old) eyes read the title as "The Stinker"! Oy! That gave me pause. LOVE the picture and glad the story didn't end in a February Fabreze Festival.

And I didn't know you attend the same meetings I do. Maybe we can sit next to each other and play hangman. Save me from reading the NY Times obits!

Mathews Mark said...

It gave me pause to relish the cause of picking up the sinker,but being a stinker and not a thinker,I chose to tinker and left the sinker. Sorry best I can do at 1am. MM

Mathews Mark said...

I can't believe I just tried to write a poem. Don't tell anybody!I knew I should have put anonymous on that one. That is just plain pathetic! MM

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

Maria-This sinker IS a stinker. Also, I'd like to start a movement that bans all unnecessary meetings and/or places a fine on people who drag them out unnecessarily. I could write a book on this topic, seriously. It doesn't help that I'm not a very patient person either. Plus I probably have ADD.

Mathews Mark - Your poem is way better than mine. I was struggling to come up with a rhyme for sinker - thinker and tinker escaped through the holes in the sieve of information held in my brain.

Off to another day of fun. Have a great Wednesday.

Country Girl said...

The last thing to give me pause was reading this post when you wrote that something gave you pause.

And now I must not pause and get ready for work. Because even though the county has a 2-hour delay, and we're supposed to follow the county, we have been told that our school is going to open on time. Darn!

Mental P Mama said...

We have a bat house that fell out of a tree some time ago....it is still just sitting there...and it gives me pause every time I see it. And then I remind my husband that it needs to go to the dump. And there it sits.

Ann Marie said...

* Have you ever used sinkers for anything other than their intended use? HAHAHAHAHAHAAH ARE YOU KIDDING ME! They work great at holding down shower curtains in the fiberglass tubs that the magnets don't stick to... Holding the bottom of LONG curtains in place.. oh jeesh I am going to stop here I am starting to look nuts..

* Is there something in your house, your yard, or anywhere in your daily travels that you know you should pick up, put away or throw away, yet you don't? I would say the dust, the dirty laundry, 3 years of magazines etc but the insomnia has cured all of that.. so I would have to say the one thing that just stays where it should is the hunk of foundation left from the old house.. it is my own little person Stone Henge so it will be staying.

* Fill in the blank: The last thing to give me pause was ______________.
HHMMMM it is really not blog appropriate... Oh here is a good one.. being told to stay out of someones business because I passed on a piece of fun to them... yea that was pretty stupid.. and caused me to pause.. then cuss

Mathews Mark said...

I promise to never write a poem again! Here is a story which has nothing to do with sinkers. I have to tell it today, the two old brain cells in my head are starting to blink again, therefore I must put this to paper before it is lost in the vastness of bulls@#@#and crap that now occupies my head. This is dedicated to all of the Mother out there that have had the pleasure of raising teenagers or are soon to do so. Back in the late 70's or early 80's their were 4 Todd boys, myself age 17 #2 BKT age 16 #3 MMM age 13 and #4 JWT age 3. my Mother age 44 and father age 47. we life in a big old farm house on Stut's creek. It was mid summer, the old house we lived in was lacking in air condition. Being normal (My brothers may have been) we were all was walking around the house in shorts and no shirts.Of course back then we all had six pack abs and muscles on top of muscles, we did the usual flexing and checking of the mirrors that teen age boys do. Mom did not have a problem with this most of the time. She would how ever raise Hell if we showed up at the dinner table with out a shirt.Dad, He would just punch us in the stomach to see how tough we were. Around our house Sunday dinner was a must show! You better be half dead or be in jail if you missed Sunday dinner! Well it was so hot that summer we (#1#2#3) decide to test our mom and come to Sunday dinner with out or shirts. Mom look at us an said: If you show up next Sunday at the dinner table with out your shirts I am going to take mine OFF! we knew a bluff when we heard one, could not wait tell next Sunday to see who wore the pant, uh ,shirt around MY house! Sunday came we all showed up with out the shirts. Mom (Pookie) is sitting at one end my Dad at the other,we are lined up on each side of the dinner table with #4 JWT sitting in a high chair next to my Dad. Oh we just could not wait for Her to back down! Well Pookie took one look at us AND OFF CAME HER SHIRT! My Dad was laughing so hard< He fell out of his chair and pulled his diner plate on top of him. MMM and I covered or eyes.BKT #2 being the proper one out of the bunch YELLED:MOM NOT IN PUBLIC!!! And little JWT #4 pointing his finger and said BOOBIES,BOOBIES,BOOBIES !!! Well once again Pookie proved to us that She wore the pants uh shirt in the house hold.That was the last time we showed up at the dinner table with out shirts! MM

Noe Noe Girl...A Queen of all Trades. said...

hmmmm...i'm surrounded by pause!
<><

Mrs F with 4 said...

The last thing that gave me pause? Dog.

Oh, hang on, that was his paws. (To get the ice out of, in case you were wondering. Yes, it is still snowing, and he is still sulking. Apparently he thinks that if he licks his (missing) testicles for long enough, they might grow back.

WV: unedi - "That was singularly unedifying, Mrs F."

Caution/Lisa said...

An event at work yesterday gave me pause and then kept me awake all night. Stupid crazy students.

It would be impossible to visit this house and NOT have to step over something which should be picked up and put away. My bra -- on the stairs -- for example.

I'll stop right there because that sounds kind of romantic though there wasn't a hint of romance involved. Just a too tight undergarment.

Meg McCormick said...

We didn't have sinkers on the farm... so, I'll opt for question #3. The last thing that gave me pause was just last night, and over the past couple of months, it has occurred to me that I AM GETTING OLD. I have friends who have wee little babies, and I have one son who is old enough to babysit his 5 year old brother. I have a built-in babysitter. This means I am OLD. Another sign of this is that I am filling out high school forms and whatnot for him this week. HIGH SCHOOL! I mean, how is that possible? I just graduated myself, in... oh, wait. It was 25 years ago. And that, too, gives me great big pause.

OK, funny WV in light of the "sinker" talk: piker.

Jamie said...

I always use sinker to weigh down the chicken necks when we go crabbing, they also work well to hold down tablecloths...

RoseMary King said...

I have used sinkers to weigh down curtains that were very light weight. I will try anything once!!!!

Daryl said...

I want a sinker now .. one of my own .. and I have to say I always admire anyone who can write verse ..

VW ekiedna ... I would if I kied

Chesapeake Bay Woman said...

Who knew there were so many creative uses for sinkers? I really like the tablecloth idea. I was halfway kidding when I asked the question about alternative uses, and had no idea there were so many.

Mark-Too doggone funny. Although I can see Pookie roller skating and feigning a fall to get boys to help her up, I cannot for the life of me picture her doing what she didt at the supper table. Except that my own mother did the same thing. Oh, the memories that come flooding back...

We are going to revisit this story of yours, and compare it to mine. Stay tuned.

Annie said...

1. Yes, I remember my husband using them as weights on the end of a plumb line for leveling! A long time ago that was.

2. Yes, there are many things I should pick up here, and at home. I am such a messy person of late.

3. The last thing to give me pause, was the threat of a broken relationship.

Unknown said...

Oh crud! I'm two days behind, and the party has moved on!

I love the sinker, and the fishing lesson....you know me too well!

Listen, writing poetry during a meeting is considered multi-tasking in my book. So is napping if you don't get caught.