I've got a weird one

Last week I found a beautiful clock for only five dollars at a flea market. It was made of polished wood with a brass pendulum and glass covering the entire face and it plays the Westminster chimes and chimes the hour. I brought it home and hung it up in the cottage I'm working on, on a screw that was already in the wall.

The cottage is small, but Amish-built and set and very sturdy. The clock has a heavy metal hanging tab on the back with a keyhole-shaped hole in it, so it has to be lifted up before it can be taken off the screw.

Today I went in and the clock had fallen and the glass is broken out. It still works, though the chimes sound a bit like they're underwater now. The thing is, how/why did it fall? The hanging tab is still firmly attached to the back of the clock and the screw is still solidly in the wall. The door was locked and there's no sign of anyone messing around. There was a storm night before last (I wasn't in the cottage yesterday so I'm not sure when it fell) and there was a window open across the room, but nothing on the sill of the open window had been blown off and nothing else was disturbed.

So what happened?

And, by the way, anyone know where I can get a clock fixed cheap? :-/

Chapter and Verse

Mindy Tarquini keeps telling me I need to write a non-fiction book about my experiences converting an Amish-built shed into a liveable cottage (before winter!). I haven't taken too many notes, but I have started a list of chapter headings (in no particular order):

• TRENCHES, and why you shouldn't dig them until you know for sure where they need to go.


• Why planning is the second thing you should do.


• TOOLS and how to lose them.


• Why you should respect electricity and what happens when you don't.


• The unfitness of wasps as subcontractors.


• Why it is important to measure FIRST, cut SECOND.


• 101 ways to hurt yourself without even trying.


• Slip-sliding away, or What happens when you try to install a submersible pump without having a clue what you're doing. (I haven't actually gotten to that part yet, so consider this a prophecy.)


• How many times do I have to give up before I can actually stop trying?


• Why it is better to have a first-aid kit in advance, than wish you'd had one in retrospect.


• The importance of clear-cut guidelines and why I wish I'd used some.


• The folly of shopping for electrical supplies without knowing exactly what you need.


• How to pretend it's someone else's fault when you're exchanging electrical supplies. ("I told the dog I thought I'd need a 100 amp breaker box, but he was just sure . . . .")


• What to say when your friends laugh at you.


• What to say when your cats laugh at you.


(Image from here.)


• 1001 excuses you can use for still not having the electricity hooked up.
• Power tools and how not to use them.


• And, finally, a handy glossary of swear words.

So, how's the project going? Uh, kind of like the search for Bin Laden. Nothing yet, but I keep hoping. :-/