Silly Possum?

  Damon and I went back to the old hotel for a little more hunting the other day. No more gold rings, but we both came away with a few interesting items. Most notably for me was a large coin-sized brass button, with a beast of some sort and the words "Silly Possum" on it. I was bemused and befuddled by both the image and the slogan. I figured it was some sort of clown-suit button or something. I showed it to people and said, "Look. Silly possum. Ha." I looked it up on-line and could find no silly possums. In fact, I wish I had never punched that combination of words into Google. Don't Google "silly possum". You will regret it.

  It wasn't until this evening, when I decided to try searching for a "possum button", that I discovered it was not "Silly Possum" at all, but "Billy Possum", otherwise known as William Howard Taft, our 27th President of the United States of America. Apparently, his nickname was Billy Possum and the buttons were political advertisements. I don't claim to understand how referencing marsupial scavengers could help win votes, but it does make me want to have a catchy animal nickname. Maybe Aaron Aardvark.
  I found a handsaw, which I momentarily thought was a gun. Actually, I thought it was a gun for about six hours. I made a holster for it and everything. I felt so tough, and handy.

    Another fork... I love forks. So does Laura. She's always asking me to bring home more forks. Here's another fork, babe.

  And some jewels. I don't know what they are, but they fell out of a nineteenth century brass hair-clip as it was being unearthed. I hope you like them.