Ballard Street by Jerry Van Amerongen for May 28, 2018

Back when I worked in a service station (we’re talking real full service), we used to try GM keys in cars where people left them overnight to be serviced (and forgot to leave us the keys). Oftentimes we could find a match from a different model (Buick, Chevrolet, Pontiac, etc.) that would work.

Larry should get a good set of lock picks then he wouldn’t have to carry all those keys. (Unless he goes the bump key route then he’ll have three times number of keys.)

Larry likes to jingle his way down Ballard Street.

Larry has more keys than a piano.

Larry has been arrested 4 times for breaking and entering, he always gets out because he produces the right key for the lock.

The Sheriff is pretty PO’d at him, but can’t prove anything!

The neighborhood watch is on the case, watch out Larry we’re on to you and your nefarious ways!

Um…. I don’t think Larry would want to be caught with lock picks, bump keys, or any other device that could be construed as a burglary tool.

He’s already, as per the caption, “trying” keys that don’t belong to him.

Should he be caught after managing to open something…. be it door, mailbox, padlock or gate…. he can simply show that he has the key….

therefore, unless the observer is the owner of said property, who would know better, his right to possession will probably be presumed.

However…. opening a lock without the key can be construed as breaking and entering, or unauthorised access….. possibly even attempted burglary.

Not only does Larry want to avoid that sort of suspicion… much less arrest….

I don’t think actual entry into the premises is even his goal…. and certainly not theft.

I believe he has merely collected old keys for many years….

till they number in the hundreds, if not thousands….

and the point of his key-testing rambles is merely to see which ones will open something….

whereupon the location, along with the number he has assigned that key,

is duly noted in today’s “Key Log” … of which, by now, he has amassed a fair number…. and the walk resumes.

The next day, that key is detached and hung in an appropriate display cabinet…

and another key hung in its place on the belt.

Hey, everybody needs a hobby.

I went up to the front desk at my pool once to try to find my missing lock and was shown a plastic box full of combination locks and car keys.

How does a person not notice they’ve lost their car key? How do they get home? The desk clerk said some of the keys had been there for months.

No sitting on Emma’s love seat; or Emma for that matter.

Is this Larry an ex-con?

Larry ought to be locked up.

Larry is going to loose his place in the Witness Protection program if he’s dosen’t become a little more discreet about his past crimes.

Yesterday was a good day for Sweetheart. Long but fun.

I took her into Depoe Bay for a walk, and to do some whale watching. Got to watch a calf in the play-pen area of the bay.

I then took her with me to a trailer-park where a friend lives. They are having a communal yard sale this weekend. While i was there i took Sweetheart to a client that i sometimes see. Had a short visit with her.

After we went home and had a little nap. (I’m feeling better, but still having fatigue issues.)

In the afternoon i had a picnic with a couple of friends at Fogarty Park, just north of Depoe Bay. Three people and two dogs.

It was a good day for me as well as for Sweetheart.

I like Larry’s key separator belt. I have all my keys on one ring attached to a belt loop on my pants.

My problem is I don’t remember what half of ‘em go to and the other half all resemble each other so I’m never sure which is which !

I used to work with a guy who carried a ring, with every key he owned, clipped to his belt. When he walked, it was the proverbial bell around the cat’s neck.

The first time Larry sat down, all of Ballard Street heard the most plaintiff, bone-chilling wail…

Me thinks Larry is overcompensating for some deficiency in his life..and not all of it financial.

Larry’s gonna have to invest in some suspenders soon if he wants to keep those pants up.

Larry was a Bosun’ in the Navy.

⇧ @ susan

yawn…