Pizza Box Mystery

There is much that comes with living in the country…the obvious peace, quiet, and beautiful surroundings, but there’s also responsibility for water, septic, and trash. When we first moved to the country we quickly learned the importance of a secure area for trash and with the new house (we’re talking twenty years ago, really not so “new” anymore) we built an 8-foot square room off the garage where we accumulate trash between dump-runs. Yesterday was just such a run and Verne filled the back of our long-bed farm truck with over two months worth of trash. Are you asking what this has to do with a pizza box? Well, Verne told me this evening he’d found a pizza box in our trash.

Now this is very odd. We both found it mysterious, because (1) we only eat pizza at Pine Grove Pizza (except for one time this past year when we cheated on our favorite pizza parlor and had pizza at Paisano’s Pizzaria in Jackson); (2) our order is always the same (pepperoni, sausage, and green bell pepper); (3) we always eat at the restaurant so we can people-watch (Amador County is full of strange and interesting people to watch); and, (4) most importantly, we always take home leftover pizza in foil, NEVER a box! So, how did the box get in our trash??? After about 15 minutes of concentrated thinking and discussion, we finally kind-of remembered having pizza with Lara, Rick, and the boys when they visited a few months ago. Neither of us remembered exactly when they’d visited and we actually weren’t sure we’d eaten pizza with them, but it was a process of elimination that we determined it had to be the weekend of October 10th (thanks to a note of their visit on my calendar) and, after all of this memory-jarring, I was beginning to have a fuzzy recollection of ordering our pizza “to go” because of one of the boys having a sick tummy). For confirmation, we looked at Moser Good Eats (our family journal) around that time, but there was only one post in October just prior to the Rausch visit and my first post in November was all about pomegranates…no mention of a family visit. Hmm…how is it I failed to blog about the great time we had at Chaw’Se Indian Grinding Rock Park and share the several dozen pictures we took there?

Just to be sure Verne called Lara to discuss their visit and our dinner at Pine Grove Pizza. No, Lara said, we did not eat pizza that weekend. What??? Impossible! How, then, did the dang pizza box end up in our trash? We were back to square one searching for clues about the pizza box. I continued my quest by looking back through our check register for checks written to Ace for dump fees to determine the timeframe associated with the box. The previous check was written in early September, over three months ago. The box had to have been deposited in our trash sometime during that period. Another fifteen minutes of concentrated thinking and discussion and it came to me! Our young friend Ted Burns came up from SoCal Labor Day weekend to participate in the Kirkwood Chili Cook-Off on Saturday and he met us the following day for dinner at Pine Grove Pizza (his favorite, too). Gradually the memory of that night came back to me and I recalled chastising him when he grabbed a couple of boxes rather than foil for the leftovers. In hindsight, the box is probably a greener approach than foil, but as Verne would say, mox nix. The mystery is finally solved.

I could say something like, “Getting old and forgetful is the pits”, but it is what it is and I’d rather just find the humor in it. We’ve spent over an hour pondering the pizza box and sleuthing like Sherlock himself. We both love a good mystery and it’s been fun. I’m thinking we should dumpster dive more often!

On to the Rausch visit…we always try to plan some fun outdoor adventure for the boys. Chaw’Se is just five minutes from home located between Volcano and Pine Grove and involves a mile hike around the park, which includes a Miwok village and a museum with Miwok and other Sierra Nevada Indian artifacts. The park is best known for its large number of grinding rocks with mortar holes, where the Miwoks ground acorns and other seeds into a meal, their primary sustenance. If you’ve not seen a grinding rock, that would be because you haven’t visited us in Volcano. Our property has over a dozen of these large, flat rocks with mortar holes. The rock pictured below is one of several just outside of Verne’s barn.

Both boys brought their journals and pencils with them on the hike. We must have stopped a dozen times to admire the red bark of the Manzanita and Madrone shrubs (they were fascinated with the red color and texture of the bark) and collect leaves that were later pressed. Matthew made notes and detailed drawings of what he saw, preparing to share the experience with his second grade class. Logan is a few years younger, but he does what his big brother does. So, he too made drawings and notes in his journal. Verne always makes these experiences fun with his colorful and sometimes outrageous stories that captivate little boys and big people alike. Here are a few pictures from our day at Chaw’Se.  

Ready to hike the North Trail

Matthew and Logan journaling