Let me tell you, this week was really something! Trouble with the neighbors because of their apple tree, which majestically stretches its branches over the garden fence. But to be honest, that’s not so bad, because we get all the delicious apples we need at no charge. Unfortunately, some of the apples that fall from the tree do not land in the garden – they splash into our pond instead. And that’s the problem – my problem, of course.

First, I have to fetch the fruit out of the water. And then Martha gets hysterical because her goldfish could be injured. To this day not one fish has ever been knocked out by an apple. But that’s Martha for you. So I decided to draw my neighbor’s attention to the problem. I walked up to Hardy Miller, our long-time neighbor, as he was doing some work in his garage. “Hardy,” I said, “you have got to do something about that apple tree. Martha is afraid her fish will get hurt.” That was it! He just blew up and told me to shut up. A little goldfish is nothing compared to the hundreds of jars of apple jelly we get for free … to my surprise I stayed calm and walked slowly back to the house. I told Martha that Hardy promised to take care of the problem.