ueblvjun1102

A pea-sized meteorite, a large, wobbly bird, a sign with noindication of what the sign meant? Whatever it was, the table tops detonation meant that we were leftwith the square, green, rickety table on the deck that has servedas the bed for Gennie, our huge black lab mix, for the last fewyears. The solution seemed simple to me. Dust off the square table, Picnic Table Cloth on it, and when the weather was nice enough to sitoutside, eat dinner there. We are not going to eat dinner on a dog table, my wife said. A dog table? A dog table is different than a table on which a dogsleeps. If we follow this reasoning, then we must designate thehandsome blue carpet inside our family room as the dog rug eventhough this is a rug we proudly use ourselves. This was not a winnable argument. As far as Sue was concerned,Gennie, by virtue of logging thousands of hours of sleep on the topof the table, had imparted a certain dogness to the table that madeit off-limits to what city planners might call mixed use. TABLE SHOPPING NO PICNIC Dont even think about a picnic table that is not made ofredwood, said Russ, a friend, who conspires to make life moredifficult by throwing up issues of taste and expense at everyopportunity. Redwood? Of course. Why not wrought iron, marble or beaten gold? The problem with iron, marble or gold is with theirpurchase, thehomeowner moves from the picnic table genre to patio furniture orperhaps even to heirloom status. Couple patio and furniture, twoinnocuous words when used separately, and summer vacation plans areat risk. Im going to find a table, I announced recently as if I wereleaving the cabin to track down and shoot an elk. Costco was the first stop. They had a marble-like table similar tothe one neighbors had that was beautiful, solid and cost more than$1,000. It also required a seven-ton crane to move it three inches. Next up was Lowes, which had one of those old-fashioned picnictables made of pine with the benches attached displayed in front ofthe store for $90. Pine's fine until the first rain and then your picnic table bowsand turns into Noahs Ark. Inside Lowes was a beautiful wrought-iron table with fourwrought-iron chairs. I sat down on one of the comfortable swivelchairs. I called Sue and asked her to come and look at the set,which I was confident shed absolutely love. It's ugly, Sue said, when she finally arrived. I want to likeit, but I cant. How do you argue with ugly? Ugly has never lost an argument. Theonly thing that trumps ugly is pretty and pretty was not available. Wal-Mart. No. Target. No. After three hours of shopping for picnictables on Rosedale Highway, I was no closer to an elk or a table onwhich to serve it so I returned home. The next day, I called several glass shops. It costs $200 toreplace the glass top. Two hundred bucks puts us back in businessand solves the problem of eating on a table with a large black labas the centerpiece.