Smarter than Common Sense

Talmage had another instance of his intelligence out weighing his common sense.

We were at our soon to be new house with our real estate agent, checking everything out and making sure the roof is good, the outlets all work . . . When Talmage comes into the room I was taking measurements in and told me he changed the combination on the lock box.

This house for some reason has a combination lock box instead of one of the fancy digital key ones. When we had visited the house previously our agent had not mixed up the combination before Talmage had a chance to memorize it. So when we came to the house on this visit the agent let Talmage be in charge of opening the door. Talmage hurried up to the door, did the combination, popped the box open, pulled out the key and opened the door for us. Our agent said Talmage could be his assistant and quickly forgot about the potential problems of having a 7 year old running around with the combination memorized.

So after Talmage had finished testing all the outlets in the house with a lamp, to see if they worked (they did), he decided to find himself another job. The lock box looked like a good place to start. So he opened the box and read the directions on the inside of the box on how to change the combination. He then proceeded to change the combination and shut the box. Then he realized he had forgotten the combination. So he came and told me he had changed the combination. I figured he meant that he had spun the tumblers so that the numbers weren't left on the combination. That is not what he meant.

About five minutes later the kids were rolling in the grass out back (this house has very nice grass) when Aaron and our agent decided to get the key out of the lock box to open the garage and check things out in there. Well the lock box wouldn't open with the combination. That's when I realized that Talmage must have really changed the combination.

So I call Talmage in and started asking him questions, like how did you know how to change the combination, and what did you change it too. He said he had opened the box and followed the directions inside (that is now closed) and it told him to push this button and change the numbers and that he had forgotten what he had changed it too. Our agents eyes were big and I could see him thinking "how are we going to get out of this?" The people that are selling the house do not live near it (it was there parents home who have past away) and the selling agent lives nearly an hour away. Lucky for all of us I knew that Talmage's memory is better than he thinks. So I asked him if he could remember the first number, he could and told it to us. I then asked him if he could remember what the last number was, he could. Then I asked him about the second and so forth until we had all the numbers and the box opened. We were all relieved and our agent reset the combination and Talmage promises not to touch the box again-- even though he knows the reset combination and could get the key out anytime he wanted too.

Buying a House

We've found a house to buy here in the valley and we are so excited to move in. It has a beautiful yard with a HUGE garden and has lots of space inside. It is bigger than we were looking for but it's a good price and I'm not going to complain about having to have a sewing room. We are still in the middle of inspections and and keeping our fingers crossed that nothing odd comes out of it. It seems like a solid old home in a great area. If all goes well we'll be moving in the first of next month. Hurray!