It's in the Dictionary......Honest.

Tessie made her list and I made the boxes. She had one more label on her list than I had boxes. Instead of making more boxes, I suggested that she get rid of something on her list. You will probably have to poke the picture to read the list.

I noticed that she has "Ant Whiskers" at the top of her list and "Octodecillion Ant Hairs" down a ways. I tried to talk her out of the second one. "Why do you need a second box of ant parts and why name it that?" I asked.

"Because that's how many ant hairs there are in the box! It is important that I be exact in counting. I don't want to have to do it again. And besides, I don't want to mix the ant whiskers and ant hairs in one box." she said.

She finally decided to let one go for the time being and of course it was the one with less letters that she got rid of. I looked "octodecillion" up in the Webster's Universal and was surprised to find that it really is a word. There is no way that she counted that high! It is a 1 with 57 zeros behind it....That's a lot of ant hair!!!

I proceeded to make twelve boxes for parts. I am sure that there will be more, but that's all I am willing to make today.

When I finished them, Tessie took them all and labeled them. Then, not satisfied, she illustrated what was in them. Have you ever seen a box with two ears? Very weird.

She dragged them up to the attic and started arranging them.

I looked in on her. "There's no place to put my rubber chicken!"

"Stick it in with the ant hairs." I suggested.

Nope. It seems that rubber chickens and ant hairs don't mix. She wouldn't tell me what the result would be, but she did specify that it would be a disaster to mix the two.....


Meanwhile, Zar heard the commotion in the attic and having to get in on everything, he found a way up.

Tessie specifically ordered no stairs because she didn't want anybody nosing around up there.

Now she knows how Zar feels when she tries to get into the secret room.

Please note that she has her hand poised over the Politesse Powder box. I had to look that one up too. It means "formal politeness"....I assume that the powder, if thrown on somebody(Zar)will make them polite. I also believe that she just likes the word because it has part of her name included in it.

Anyway, soon after she threw a handful at him, he politely excused himself and apologised for invading her privacy. He said, " I am so sorry. I will get down now and I will straighten things up in the tea shop. Then I will quietly leave the premises."

I wonder if that powder works on the person that made it. Nah.....Tessie would never make something that could work on herself instead of Zar. One can only dream.......

See you tomorrow.