EchoBooming in Birmingham

I figured this one out last night when the second clue got posted, but now clue #3 is up over at Birmingham Treasure Hunt. If you can’t figure this one out, you probably didn’t take business law in college.

Here’s my hint: The business that used to be in this building was involved in a lawsuit with the federal government that set a precedent as to how far reaching federal law can be when it comes to “interstate commerce”. I’m personally glad that the federal government won their case, eliminating one of the last signs of (public) racism in Birmingham.

You’ve got until I can make it over there after work to find the Treasure or it’ll be 2 weeks in a row for me…

(if this keeps up, maybe I’ll just become a professional treasure hunter!)

I came to the realization today that I only use the term assgasket because I like saying the word…

AssGasket.

I’m not a germ freak, I’m not afraid of catching some funky butt disease from a toilet or anything.

But when I walk into a stall and I see the assgasket dispenser, I immediately say the word to myself in my head, chuckle a little bit, and then reach for the assgasket…

Probably for no other reason than the fact that I can think to myself:

“I’m unfolding the assgasket.”
“I’m tearing the preforations on the assgasket.”
“I’m laying the assgasket on the toilet seat.”
“Woah, don’t let the assgasket fall in the toilet.”

I used the word assgasket 10 times in this post!

Well, hello everyone! This is my first official post although I’ve been mentioned several times by EchoBoomer. Allow me to introduce myself – I’m “teh wife”, aka “DrWife.”

So, why is this week a contender for worst ever? My favorite aunt died. Joby was more than an aunt – a lot of times, she was almost a mother to me. And, she was just way-cool, especially for 63. In her first 30 years, she had done more living than most of us will in a lifetime. All in all, she served in two wars, was Colonel in the Air Force Reserves, a master’s level nurse, a professor, and did I mention a way-cool person? This was just so unexpected for me, and I haven’t even begun to accept the loss. I’ve been in “doing mode”, helping to make the arrangments, etc – it seems like any moment, she will fly into town to help us solve this latest family crisis…..but wait, the crisis is her. Like Kel said, she was a bad-ass chick, and now she’s gone – the world couldn’t really spare a bad-ass chick either.

In the midst of going to my small hometown to meet family, EB and I find this dog. I’m grief-stricken at the time, but I’m a sucker for animals, and I knew this one was lost and clearly belonged to someone. Since he only had a vet tag and no home tag, we had to wait for the office to open this Monday. So, we loaded him in the car and took him to get the little one, then home. On the way, I’m holding the dog, feeling my loss, feeling very surreal, when suddenly the thing starts heaving! He then proceeds to puke on me – no, not a few grass blades, we’re talking Campbell’s Chunky Soup plus Puppy Chow!!! In a last-ditch effort, I try to catch it in my hand – It runs down my blouse, my jeans, onto my new Wet Akole car seat covers and onto my new car-scented carpet! Linebackers after ten tequila shots have thrown up less than this 8 lb puppy.

EB and I proceed to laugh so raucously that we’re hoarse by the time we pull in the drive, I with my hand still poised in the air, with now cold puke dripping off it, and the dog sitting innocently on my lap. The good news is that the owner was grateful. BTW, the dog was a purebred Jack Russell, and she told me over the phone he answers to “Chet Highlander”. Hm.

Soon after this, my mother has knee surgery and ends up in intensive care. She’s okay now, but it gave me quite a scare. Anyone who knows me would say that I’m organized to a fault and tend to obsess over picayune details. I was so distraught this week that I managed to forget a very important job interview. Don’t know how I’ll recover that one. Then, I go to FINALLY get the “grill” set, and turns out, none of the caps fit my teeth! The dentist said it’s only happened one other time in his ten years of practice. That’s what I get for telling him what I do for a living – it’s Murphy’s Law. If I weren’t in the medical profession, these teeth would have looked better than Angelina Jolie’s, but as it stands, I’m stuck with new temporaries. EB says, “They’re a little much.”

Well, Aunt Joby would have been amused. She would have laughed her cynical, yet somehow still warm, laugh and would have told me stories to top mine ten times over. Thinking of that makes it better.

I found the first ever Birmingham Treasure Hunt put on by the fine folks over at Our Place.

I’m not sure if I am supposed to reveal the actual treasure, so until I hear back from Mike and/or Mandy, I’ll just tell you a little bit about how I found it.

Here are the clues that were given starting on Monday:
Clue #1: The treasure can be found after you go under Highway 31. It is between St Vincent’s Hospital and I-59.
Clue #2: The color Green.
Clue #3: Beige rocks and beige bricks mark the spot.
Clue #4: 3 down from the big red door and 1 away from the wall. Look down and dig a little for it all. ( nice rhyme, huh? )
—You don’t really have to “dig”; just a bit of a metaphor—

So after work today, I figured I’d drive back and forth under the Red Mountain Expressway until I found a big red door. Well, at first it wasn’t looking good. I started on 5th Ave. S (since I got off at the 3rd & 4th Ave exit), then went to 4th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st (no wait, I don’t think I actually went to 1st).

Anyway, then it was back to 6th…

Aaaaha! A big red door (well, crap the door is actually up in those pictures but you get the idea).

So I started snooping around…

At first I was focused on the 3 down thing so I started counting the number of posts on the chain-link fence closest to the door…
That was a bust, so I tried to remember the clues.

Beige rocks and beige bricks, it must be in the flower beds (the beige rocks were in the flower-bed).
Ok, count 3 bushes down from the door, one out from the wall…..NOTHING…
Lets try the other side…. NOTHING…

(during all of my looking around w/ my LED flashlight, a guy wearing a SCS shirt on came out and asked me what I was looking for, like a dork I explained myself and he started helping me look).

Still no luck! I knew DrWife was waiting on me at home and at this point I really thought I had been beaten to the punch, so I gave up.

When I got home I checked the site again and reviewed the clues…. DrWife said that we needed a MiniDV tape for her aunt’s memorial tomorrow (her mom is in the hospital and can’t go to her own sister’s memorial ), so I used that as an excuse to go look again.

This time I was prepared. I put on some jeans and grabbed my flashlight. I was looking through the bushes, in the bushes, under
the bushes, etc (remember all this time I was thinking that I didn’t have to dig as the last clue said).

Again, I was about to give up, but I decided that I might as well start moving some of those beige rocks around…

BINGO!

In the flower bed to the left of the big red door, behind the third bush from the red door, and right up against the wall was the treasure!!!

I was literally giddy-like when you find the HUGE gold Easter egg that your grand-parents hid with the money in it-giddy.

I don’t think I even opened it until I got in the car and started heading towards K-Mart for the MiniDV tapes….

As awesome as the treasure is (It is a $20 bill!!!!), finding it was the real reward

I’m looking forward to the next treasure hunt!