Wed 6/24/09
A Daily Walk With DietPower
Walking is the best exercise for weight loss. And the things you see!
I get a kick out of studying litter. I've already shown you 280 cans and bottles on this page. Someday I'll post my gallery of banana peels. I photograph each and every banana peel I see. They're all different, and sometimes they tell a story.
Today's story is about this paint-roller tray that I found on South King Street near the church. As you'll observe, somebody had run over it.
You might think the tray was dropped by someone in the van parked down the street, but I included that just to throw you off. I had passed the van a minute earlier, and I can tell you that even though it had stepladders on top, no painters were on board. A Comcast crew was working on the white electrical box attached to the pole down there.
You should have known that the guys in the van didn't drop the paint tray, because a) why would they park so far away if they meant to come back and retrieve it? and b) why would they bother setting out an orange traffic cone for that? And c), even if they did, how come we don't see them walking up the road in this picture?
What happened, then? I don't see any other clues, except that the tray appears to be brand-new. This argues that it wasn't a professional painter who dropped it, because the pros use their trays over and over again, until they (the trays, not the painters) are coated with many layers of dried paint.
Wait: here's another clue: The tray's brand name (faintly visible on the edge nearest the camera) is Wooster®. Googling "wooster paint," I discover that this is a Deluxe Metal tray from the Wooster Brush Company in Wooster, Ohio—a 158-year-old firm that invented the angled sash brush and the Exploded Tip® process to make nylon bristle tips soft and fuzzy. I also found that Wooster's nearest "alpha dealer" is in Bridgeport, an hour south of here. An alpha dealer probably resells to smaller "beta" shops—tiny stores that can't afford to buy in bulk.
I think I know what happened. An amateur painter who lives in the neighborhood bought a gallon or two of paint to do a room. He or she (let's say "she" this time) probably bought it at Sears in the mall, five miles away. When she got home, she discovered she didn't have a tray. Eager to get started with the work, she drove to the little neighborhood hardware store exactly 0.8 miles from this spot—beside the gas station, the liquor store, and the 7-11—and purchased the tray. She was annoyed that she could have bought it cheaper at Sears. Distracted by her annoyance, she set the tray on the roof of her car while she searched for her keys in her purse. Then she got into the car and drove off—with the paint tray sitting on the roof. She noticed another car tailgating her, which added to her frustration. She sped up. Reaching the church, she turned right onto South King Street a little too fast, and the tray slid across the roof to the passenger side. She wondered, "What was that sound?" She thought no more of it, however, because now the tailgater was blowing his horn. The tray teetered on the edge of the roof for a few seconds, and fell off—and the tailgater ran over the tray. The woman didn't notice, though. Still furious over his tailgating, she sped down the road, triumphantly watching him receding in her rear-view mirror.
The hardware store isn't open now. I should call tomorrow and ask the proprietor if he sold two Wooster paint trays today, about twenty minutes apart, and whether the person who bought then seemed a little pissed off.
.
About this page: Precisely at noon each day, I step out of my office for a 3.5-mile walk around my Connecticut neighborhood. I carry a Panasonic Lumix DMC-TX5 pocket camera with a Leica 10x optical zoom lens. My object is to make an interesting photograph of at least one thing that is different that day. I post the results here, hoping they will inspire you and your friends to walk, too. —Terry Dunkle, DietPower founder and CEO.
Click here to return to today's page
All My Yesterdays
Tuesday, June 23: Why Did the Beetle Cross the Road?
Monday, June 22: Clown Car
Sunday, June 21: What's Green and Sounds Like a Banjo?
Saturday, June 20: Swimming in Primroses
Friday, June 19: I Hate Deer
Thursday, June 18: Drenched!
Wednesday, June 17: They Sprang up Like Mushrooms
Tuesday, June 16: Where Time Doesn't Count
Monday, June 15: Behind a Basketball
Sunday, June 14: Flags for Elijah
Saturday, June 13: Crawling into a Daisy
Friday, June 12: Life Under a Warm Green Lantern
Thursday, June 11: Shell Game
Wednesday, June 10: Fearless Fox
Tuesday, June 9: Wet Clover
Monday, June 8: Two Bees, or Not Two Bees
Sunday, June 7: A Gorgeous Glutton
Saturday, June 6: Two Clowns
Friday, June 5: My Favorite Mailbox
Thursday, June 4: The Tomato's Deadly Cousin
Wednesday, June 3: Electric Pink
Tuesday, June 2: Lucky Boy
Monday, June 1: Six-Figure Mower
Sunday, May 31: Cool in the Shade
Saturday, May 30: Under the Butternut Tree
Friday, May 29: Awaiting a Pink Explosion
Thursday, May 28: I Shoot a Chipmunk
Wednesday, May 27: Who Dropped the Ball?
Tuesday, May 26: Out Standing in Their Field
Monday, May 25: Flags Galore!
Sunday, May 24: House of Patriots
Saturday, May 23: Memorial in a Rusty Hinge
Friday, May 22: The Sexually Clever Iris
Thursday, May 21: Raising the Wrong Baby
Wednesday, May 20: An Old Friend Is Dying
Tuesday, May 19: Crow vs. Hawk
Monday, May 18: Yours Truly
Sunday, May 17: A Wild Geranium
Saturday, May 16: War Flowers
Friday, May 15: A Mysterious Barn
Thursday, May 14: Who Invented the Microscope?
Wednesday, May 13: The Kitchen Sink
Tuesday, May 12: Slow Down!
Monday, May 11: What Lilacs Are For
Sunday, May 10: Mama Butterfly
Saturday, May 9: Gone to Seed
Friday, May 8: A Pack of Boston Terriers
Thursday, May 7: Underground Passage
Wednesday, May 6: White Violet
Tuesday, May 5: Singing His Heart Out
Monday, May 4: Kenny's Secret
Sunday, May 3: Monument to an Afternoon
Saturday, May 2: Gasoline Rainbow
Friday, May 1: The Duck and the Bashful Maiden
Thursday, April 30: A Poison Ivy Sandwich
Wednesday, April 29: The Very Picture of Spring
Tuesday, April 28: A Busy Bumblebee
Monday, April 27: Electric Pink
Sunday, April 26: Saturday Night Special
Saturday, April 25: An Old Oak Falls
Friday, April 24: How an Ant Sees a Daffodil
Thursday, April 23: The Nameless Brook
Wednesday, April 22: Weeding Time
Tuesday, April 21: Wet Apple Buds
Monday, April 20: Mr. Allen and the Crew Team
Sunday, April 19: Bloodroot II
Saturday, April 18: Green Jellybeans
Friday, April 17: Bloodroot
Thursday, April 16: Skunk Cabbage III
Wednesday, April 15: Find the Critter
Tuesday, April 14: Blessing of the Animals
Monday, April 13: The Crow Who Said "Wow!"
Sunday, April 12: A Quirky Church
Saturday, April 11: Self-Portrait in a Pothole
Friday, April 10: Easter flowers
Thursday, April 9: Dumb as a Squirrel
Wednesday, April 8: April Snow
Tuesday, April 7: Egg Trees, Connecticut Style
Monday, April 6: I Carry My Lunch
Sunday, April 5: A Tree in Spring
Saturday, April 4: Pigs with Drivers Licenses
Friday, April 3: Forsythia
Thursday, April 2: Skunk Cabbage II
Wednesday, April 1: Mystery of the Hanging Shoes
Tuesday, March 31: Downy Woodpecker
Monday, March 30: 300-Year-Old House
Sunday, March 29: The Broken Fence
Saturday, March 28: "You're Such a Delight"
Friday, March 27: Skunk Cabbage
Return to today's page
To comment on this page, .