I'm The Joke, Part 2

It's the ability to take a joke, not make one, that proves you have a sense of humor.

Max Eastmen
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As I wrote a few issues ago I don't mind being laughed at if I do something really stupid that's funny. In spite of all the disasters we may face there is a lot of humor in life and we should be free to enjoy it, whether the joke is on us or not.

So here is one of the stories I like to tell on myself. It makes me chuckle every time I think of it.

Decades ago a girl friend and I decided to spend a weekend at one of the big resort hotels in the Poconos, here in Pennsylvania. They put us in a nice, comfortable room on the first floor with a good view. It was in a remote part of the hotel, three long hallways from the main area. We settled in and then went exploring.

In the main area we found a spacious dining room with a cafeteria next to it. Just outside and in view from the dining room was a swimming pool. Then there was a grassy hill going down to a lake where there were canoes. Near the lake was a small forest. We went for a long walk in the forest, then took a canoe out into the lake exploring all the edges of it. We had a late dinner in the dining room and retired.

In the morning I woke before she did. I wanted a coffee, but rather than disturb her by calling room service I got dressed, left her a note and walked the length of all those hallways until I got to the cafeteria where I bought a coffee,

Immediately I noticed three grounds keepers out by the pool. They were standing around it and peering into it. One of them had a long pole with which he was pushing at something down in the bottom of the pool. Curious, I went outside to see what they were doing.

At that moment the man with the pole pulled it up out of the water. At the end of it was a net and a frog squirming around in it. Two of the men took the pole with the frog down to the lake to let it out in its natural environment, the other man stayed behind.

Now please bear in mind that I was two sips into my first coffee of the morning and two puffs into my first cigarette. I was not fully awake yet. That is neither an alibi nor an excuse, It is merely a reason.

I asked the man, "How did the frog get into the pool?" He looked me in the eye without the slightest hint of scorn or ridicule in his face or his voice and simply said. "It jumped."

DB
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Weekend puzzle: STEW

change Internet provider (6)
switch from off to particle (5)
Calloway born old (7)
auto rust (6)
pan to the office (6)
crush a hotel unit (8)
vigor for each )6)
sounds like a basement type thing (6)
worn around the neck down south (8)
southern California jungle beast (8)
answer to exist (5)
drink to the king (4)
beer joint to the left end, yes (6)
bad humor afoot (4)

Enjoy your dish.
DB
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