From our Sniper and Griper, in answer to the e-mail answer I sent him last month.

"Hey, Chuck, I'm fine. This e-mail won't be too long. One thing led to another and the day went too fast for me. I only have a few Snipes n' Gripes left in me for today. You see, I didn't get to sleep until about 3:30 A.M last night so I'm kind of listless. Now there's a word for you. If you are full of piss and vinegar, have lots of energy, could you say you are full of list? And if you have no energy, you are listless?

I have finally put down that book I was telling you about. The one about the Brooklyn Bridge. Too much of the book was about the politics of New York and Brooklyn and not enough illustrations and wordage about the construction of the bridge itself. That brings me to my Snipe n' Gripe about books. (Maybe this Snipe n' Gripe should go to your Readers n' Writers editor?) If you can't tell me your story in a few pages then I won't read your stuff. Much like an English author who gets away from the plot and takes two pages to describe a doorknob as the subject enters a room. There are only one or two English authors whose stuff I'll read. Their names escape me at the moment. If I pick up a new book, read the blurb and it sounds interesting, I will read about the author. If it says he lives in England, I will immediately put it back.

Today it's a little too cold, not too cold to walk around outside but cold enough. It's lousy weather out there now. Rain, rain and more rain! Have the fireplace on. We had gas fire- logs installed last weekend. My son-in-law got them for me. He works a route for a propane gas company here. It seems that someone on his route bought now ones and threw these out. He had them checked out where he works, had a guy install them, and viola, I have a working fireplace. He deliveries gas into a lot of rural and elite sections here in Connecticut and you'd be surprised at what these people throw out. If something doesn't work right, they don't have it fixed, they just buy new ones. So far, from that section of our state, we've got snow blowers, lawnmowers, weedwackers, and even a tiller. With the help of a mechanic friend we got al of their motors running. Their loss is our gain!

So, what is my Snipe n' Gripe, you ask? Well, there it is! How can these people throw out, into the trash, perfectly good items?

What I need now is a chain saw. I had one for about 20 years. I took real good care of it too, all that time. It was one of those things that was a lemon from the start. It would run fine for about a half hour, then it would spit, sputter, fart and fritter. MANY other times I had fixed it myself. This last time I turned it in to be fixed. I just got it back from the repairman about a month ago and I was using it to cut wood for my smoker when it went on the fritz again. No amount of adjusting would make it run smooth. Lightning bolts came from my eyes, my head expanded to twice it's size from increased blood pressure, an ear splitting scream started from my lungs -- so loud that it startled the birds for a hundred yards. I raised the chainsaw high above my head, screamed, and hurled it against the concrete on the driveway. I put it in its case, threw it out onto the trash heap in front of my house and I haven't seen it since. Now if I need a chainsaw, I'll borrow it. Let someone else worry about keeping theirs running.

I was walking up my hill last week and saw one of my neighbors busy with a howling chainsaw sawing up wood for winter fireplace burning.

"Hey, Joe," he yelled at me, "why did you throw out this chain saw? All it needed was the motor housing soldered, the spark plug changed and the carburetor overhauled!"

Bah!!! Humbug!!!

EDITOR'S NOTE:
Our Sniper n' Griper writes us regularly. His homespun humor keeps our adrenalin pumping. How can one have a hard day up against his odds?