I actually took this photo yesterday, but I got to thinking about it today. There is a story about this which illustrates yet another difference between the sexes. We have had this basket for a long time. We put clean clothes in it for yours truly to sort. Sorting clothes is a job that Ginny allows me to do without supervision, so I absolutely revel in the opportunity to do something that I can do without direction. Anyway, I digress. So, a couple months ago I picked up the basket to move it into the kitchen to do my sorting job. When I picked it up one of the handles broke. That is not an unusual occurance for a wicker basket that has been in use for a long time. I sorted the clothes and put the basket back. I figured that I would think about how to fix it later. Well, GInny found the broken handle and confronted me with the (obviously female) question "Why did you break it?" WHOA! OK, that is a loaded question if I ever heard one. I had to think carefully and rapidly to come up with an answer. I quickly rejected "Because it pissed me off" and also "Because I didn't have anything to do and I felt like a little destructive mayhem" and also "because I knew that it would piss you off" and also "I just felt like doing it." I came up with the answer "I didn't break it, it broke." That was the only one I could come up with at the time, and the only one I have come up with since then. I actually had to use it again recently when I was trying to resurrect an old HP printer. The drive belt fell apart in it when I tried it out, and Ginny's first comment was (you guessed it) "Why did you break it?" I immediately said, "I didn't break it, it broke" and that was the end of it. I have that one firmly embedded in my quick response repertoire.
Good idea, Dave. Unfortunately she who rules the house has already accomplished field repairs utilizing linearly aligned macromolecular bundles and advanced topological windings. (string and granny knots.)
John