by Jan Fielden
The missing manual. The missing manual that I “supposedly” threw away! We were doing some remodeling in the ranch house and while we were at it decided to get rid of a lot of things that we didn’t need or didn’t want. The house was torn up completely because of furniture having to be moved. We had furniture in the foyer, kitchen, utility room, sitting vanity room, etc. We were under a time constraint as the people were coming and we still had lots of stuff to do. The Colonel told me to handle the office stuff. In particular one table that had lots of things on it. I have told him from time to time it was his stuff and he needed to do something with it…to no avail I might add.
We completed our part just in time before the workmen got here. We had cleaned out a lot of files, piles and other stacks of papers, books, etc. The workmen did their job and as we were putting things back, The Colonel asked me about the manual for his bulldozer. I told him I never saw it. He told me it was on the table in the office that I cleaned off. He needed it because not only did it have information for the dozer, it had the receipt showing he had bought it. I even went through the trash that we were throwing away and it wasn’t there. I accepted responsibility for the missing manual since I was the one that cleaned off the table where the manual was. This was in early June of this year. The Colonel informed all of the kids that I had thrown it away, all the friends, etc. All in good humor though.
Tonight, four and a half weeks later, I walked into the office and saw him going through some files. Next to the folders lay a caterpillar manual. I said hey! What is this? The Colonel look up at me with a sheepish grin and said I remember now I put this in the file cabinet so it wouldn’t get thrown away!. So, this is his apology column! Apology accepted! The Red Oak Ranch caterpillar manual is safe and sound tonight!!!
