If You Knew Susie Like I Know Susie

Ma had this gadget called a Gopher. It allowed her to reach things when a tall person wasn't around. It's made of metal with a trigger grip that closes pincers with suction cups. She called it Susie, and it became one of the items that came to live with me to collect dust in a corner of the kitchen.

The thing always reminded me of the Martian encounter from War of the Worlds (1953)



Regardless, Susie or Martian, the foolish thing turned out to be very handy. When decorating the tree, I always had to leave the top of the tree where I couldn't reach bare of ornaments until Himself was available to hang them for me. This year, with Susie Martian's help, I was able to ornamentize the entire tree without waiting for Himself. Well, almost the entire tree. There was one small, spun glass angel, and I didn't quite trust Susie Martian's dexterity. So Himself hung the little angel where I directed.

So Susie Martian got promoted from dust collector to top of the tree decorator and part-time dust collector.

Diffusing Mulled Wine: Thieves and Orange