Putting Things Away

The photograph makes it look like the title of this update refers to (former) President Bush. In fact, however, the topic involves storing the Christmas decorations. I am aware that everyone else handled this job weeks ago. Our situation is a little more complicated - we have more lights and oranments than are used for the Christmas Tree at Rockefellar Center.

After the kids (and, thankfully, the dog) left Casa Calamity to return to the home planet (California is rather unique), Nazy and I faced the daunting challenge of cleaning up. Unfortunately, we don't have a trans-dimensional mass driver so we were forced to manually dismantle the Christmas decorations. Pending repair of the mass driver, we phyisically carried materials to the upper floor planning to stow them behind the bookcases. Because of festivities associated with the holiday, someone forgot to maintain the anti-inflation incantation. Thus, the number of storage boxes increased and the median size, as viewed from within a standard four-dimensional space-time continuum, expanded. In short: the space from whence the material had been come was no longer sufficient. A mess ensued:

“Chanting incantations was your job, Dan.” Nazy exclaimed as she surveyed the assembled boxes of Christmas lights, ornaments, decorations, wrapping paper and various other random materials.

“I wish I could summon up a mute spell,” I thought. “Sorry, dear,” I replied. “I am having a little trouble getting these boxes in order.”

“I can see that,” Nazy replied. “I will arrange the boxes.”

“That, my dear, will be impossible. The volume of the boxes (measured in cubic light years) exceeds the available space by at least two orders of magnitude.”

“Precisely, Dan. That’s why I will handle the challenge.