A Nobler Goal, Thanks to Heather

Welcome to "The Gods Are Bored!" Have you ever had an "Uh oh" moment, when you opened a work assignment and found it to be three times the load you thought it would be?

Dumb question. This is happening to almost every American worker who hasn't been laid off.

Anyway, that's my plight today. And how else would I spend a Saturday? It's been a long time since the word "weekend" had any meaning.

I began this web log in 2005 after reading about a woman who blogged about her sick dog and received over $500 in contributions from readers. That sounded good to me! I have a parrot, DECIBEL THE NOISY AND VICIOUS, and two cats -- Alpha the Sweet and Beta the Stupid. At present we also have two foster kittens from the animal shelter, Bamp and Bambi. They are "hissy spitties," meaning that they're feral and in need of taming.

All of these animals are the picture of health. So put your checkbook away, dear reader.

However, I did make a request on this blog about a month ago. I discovered that the dinosaur magic I'd been doing with my daughters had hit a five-year low. We had been leaving plastic dinosaurs at a local mini-park since about 2003 ... anonymously. The magic kicked in when other anonymous donors also left dinosaurs at the same site.

On occasion there have been as many as 40 dinos in the park. Last month there were none. The bench was empty. Oh, what a sad sight!

It being the Yuletide, I was unable to purchase any new used dinos at the thrift stores and flea markets that usually serve as my supply depots.

Yesterday afternoon a whopping big box arrived on my front porch. The mailman struggled up the steps with it. The box was addressed to me, but when do I get to open my mail? My daughter The Spare had at it while I situated the new foster kittens. (As hissy spitties go, they're not bad. Once a hissy spittie bit straight through my thumb.)

When the box was pried open, it was found to contain one zillion beautiful plastic dinosaurs, enough for years of magic at the park! It was a multicolored multitude of prehistory, arrayed on the living room rug ... every species imaginable, and some that are probably mostly imagination.

This was one of the best holiday gifts I received.

Thank you, Heather of Baltimore (but really Appalachia, like me), and especially your sweet son who gave up his abundanat herd of Jurassic playthings! The dinos will be parceled out sparingly and will be played with by little kids who expect to see dinosaurs at a park dedicated to a famous dinosaur.

Wow. I am blown away!