This is Killing Me
Fun, contests April 9th, 2008
As you all know, lots of stuff bothers me. What’s killing me now? This bag.
It got caught in a tree outside my office almost three weeks ago. I can’t help but notice it every time I pass a window that faces it. When I point it out to others, expecting shock horror, I just get “Yeah? It’s a bag in a tree.”
OK, so I’ll admit that I’m the only one in my building who’s bothered by this. I’m going to be seeing it for days, weeks and months to come, so we might as well have some fun with it. I’ve decided to turn this into a little contest. 
If you can guess closest to the day the bag escapes its branchy prison, you’ll win a prize! Simply leave the date in the comments box. You must give an exact date (month, day and year — yes, year, because it could be that long). The prize will be a set of magnets or mousepad with the Junk Drawer logo on it (your choice).
p.s. To my sister, Ann of the Shampoo Bag, the bag is from your favoritist store in the whole wide world! Another reason to hate “The Big W.”
Addendum, 4/18: If you’re interested in knowing how the bag got here, check out the back story over at Midnight Wanderers. Just a warning — it’s heartbreaking.
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April 9th, 2008 at 5:39 pm
After pouring over old weather stats and the Farmers Almanac, I’ll venture forth and say - April 28, 2008
Do you want the time as well? LOL
Take care Kathy.
~JD
JD “The Supplicant”’s last blog post..The Lycanthropic Metempsychosis - The Conundrum of the Hunt: Part 3
April 9th, 2008 at 5:51 pm
1) The top picture looks like the courtyard of a minimum security prison.
2) Your only hope for sanity is FOLIAGE.
3) Your only hope for sanity is a CHAINSAW.
4) There has been a kite stuck in our neighbors tree for two seasons now.
5) Plastic bags take 1000 years to biodegrade.
BigNerd’s last blog post..Enlarge Button No Help
April 9th, 2008 at 6:36 pm
May 5, 2008 10:00 a.m.
April 9th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Oops! May 5, 2008, 10:00 a.m. e.s.t.
It’s just a gut feeling.
(Sorry, I got my website incorrect the first time - so no “CommentLuv”)
Poetikat’s last blog post..Days of Hell
April 9th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
I thought by law, these things are supposed to be bio-degradable. If that is the case, it should disintegrate after enough sun and moisture hit it. Probably in about 3 months. I would give it till 7/2/08.
Bruce’s last blog post..My - POV
April 9th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Well I have no idea about your weather but I’ll hazard a guess at May 11th 2008
babs (Simplycats)’s last blog post..Sundays in our house - in the 1950’s
April 9th, 2008 at 6:43 pm
Hmm… I’ll say August 31, 2008.
Your b-day present this year is that bag getting out of the tree.
April 9th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
July 13, 2009, 7:47 am EDT
April 9th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
June 3rd, 2008
KFJ’s last blog post..’80’s Fix Wednesdays
April 9th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
No problem… I’ll guess May 14, 2008… and then fly out there on that day and take it down. I can’t stand losing.
April 9th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
April 12 2008, 9:00 AM
Jaffer’s last blog post..A new WordPress, a new design but not before a new adventure
April 9th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
Your logo looks awesome! I want a mousepad! My winning guess:
August 11, 2008.
JD at I Do Things’s last blog post..I Eat the Whole Donut so you don’t have to
April 9th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
How can that NOT bug someone?
Hmmm…May 15, 2010 (and you’re being held to it.)
StephanieC’s last blog post..the makeover (UPDATED)
April 9th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
june 11, 2008
Margaret’s last blog post..General Stuff
April 9th, 2008 at 7:57 pm
may 3 8:12 a.m. by a northerly gust which brings a surprise snow fall…::)) I knew you would hate the last part…
April 9th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Oh, we’ve had two bags stuck in our tree 60 feet up for months now…. that flapping drives me crazy too.
My guess?
May 13th, 2008. I’m going to fly out and beat Jeff to the punch and take it down before midnight.
Maureen’s last blog post..Set the Wayback Machine to 1966 Sherman
April 9th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
I go with tax day - April 15, 2008!
April 9th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
I think it will be out of your tree (and your life) on or before April 22, 2008!
Jenny’s last blog post..The Moving Needle … Right?
April 9th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
There has been an Albertsons bag stuck in the tree across the street from me the entire time we’ve lived here. Doens’t seem to matter how windy it gets, that bag is not leaving.
Memarie Lane’s last blog post..Public Notice
April 9th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
That bag would drive me nuts too. Bags are NOT supposed to be in trees.
I vote for May 25, 2008.
Carla @ WordPlay’s last blog post..Mother’s Day Gifts for Moms Who Blog
April 9th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
Maybe it will NEVER come down! Mwa-ha-ha.
I think maybe you could climb that tree, Kathy. What do you think?
Or maybe you could stand under it and throw stuff up at it, to try to get the bag down.
Will you feel better if leaves hide the bag so you can’t see it?
You could cut the tree down.
Just trying to help. ; )
Great contest!
I’ll guess May 16, 2008, for the Junk Drawer mousepad! Cool!
April 9th, 2008 at 9:57 pm
There is another kind a bag I hate to see in tress and that is the bagworms (also known as webworms) Gross!! http://www.realgreenlawns.com/austin_tx_texas/webwormsx.htm
April 9th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
6th June, 2008.
Riayn’s last blog post..Top 5 Artists on my iPod
April 9th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Since Jenny has Earth Day already, how ’bout April 20, 2008.
April 9th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
June 13.
April 9th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
Darnit - late to the party again.
10:15 (AM) - July 17th, 2008.
Of course, for your sake I hope it is sooner.
April 10th, 2008 at 2:25 am
In my expert opinion & with a little help from my crystal ball, I believe your tree will free itself of the evil bag on Arbor Day, April 25, 2008. Makes sense, doesn’t it?
April 10th, 2008 at 5:00 am
EVERYONE — I see we have a competitive bunch here! For the record, here’s my guess: November 7, 2009.
JD (The Supplicant) — Don’t worry, the time won’t matter much.
BigNerd — It does look like a prison, now that you mention it! It doesn’t surprise me about the kite. I’m going for it being stuck more than a year.
Poetikat — You’re so specific! Are you an accountant?
Bruce — I figure it’ll gradually disappear, one shredded piece at a time.
babs — I’m in Eastern Pennsylvania, but not sure it much matters. If that changes your guess, post another comment and I’ll take your second choice.
Regan — Bless your heart. That would make a fine present.
Jeff — No way a human could get up there. Luck, Jeff. Luck and a stiff wind.
JD at I Do Things — You’ll notice on the Zazzle page there are two different logos. You can have your choice for either item. This logo design thing is addictive. I can’t stop changing it!
StephanieC — Glad I’m not the only one it bugs! Hmmm, 2010. I pray not, but you might be the winner. I do think it’ll be there more than a year.
robert bourne — If it snows in May, we’ll have bigger problems.
Maureen — Sorry you’re being bugged by your bags. I feel your pain.
Memarie Lane — I have a sinking feeling you might be right, but I can’t imagine seeing it forever. Nope. Can’t imagine.
Carla @ WordPlay — Maybe one day we won’t see plastic bags anywhere anymore!
FerdC — I did think maybe throwing rocks at it would help, but it’s too high up, plus I could kill someone when the rocks fall down. You know, like me.
Rattln Along — Oh, no. I don’t want to click that link! Honestly, I don’t.
Mama O — Perfect sense!
EVERYONE — You know I’ll be keeping watch on the bag. I only see it about twelve times a day. Good luck everyone!
April 10th, 2008 at 7:10 am
There is a bag stuck in the tree in our neighbor’s backyard. Trouble is, we see it but our neighbor likely does not (it’s on our side of the tree). Or, he has and could care less. Regardless, it’s in his tree.
So, since the bag is about 25 up and I’m scared of heights, I cannot climb up to get it. I do have a pole pruner, but am afraid that if I cut off the branch, he will retaliate with a heavy dose of herbicide, thus wiping out my perennial garden adjacent to his yard. He’s never home, so I cannot even ask if for permission to cut it down.
So, I have left it up there….it’s been there since Christmas. It’s ripped up a bit, but not much worse for wear.
November 16, 2008
April 10th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Wow, that’s some view you have! Meanwhile, on the other side of campus, I look out my window and see…..the Payroll Office. Way scarier than a bag stuck in a tree. Do you know what could happen if you irritate the Payroll people?
April 10th, 2008 at 8:47 am
damn shame it’s so high up in the tree… May 15, 2008
April 10th, 2008 at 9:28 am
Hey, Kathy! I’d like to invite you to a private blog. Can you send me an e-mail to adivers@inbox.com?
Thanks!
Kat
Poetikat’s last blog post..Grade Eight Beauty
April 10th, 2008 at 9:36 am
November 8, 2008
April 10th, 2008 at 10:17 am
My guess is NEVER.
You know what’s sad about this guess? Even if I’m right, I’ll never get to collect the prize…
kev’s last blog post..Atlanta Braves to Face Brain Eating Zombie
April 10th, 2008 at 10:46 am
Kathy:
You are an absolute riot. Okay, I give the old bag until April 26 to give it up and move on.
Love the post.
Swubird’s last blog post..I HATE YOU!
April 10th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Deecemeber 10th. Walmart doesn’t go away easily.
windyridge’s last blog post..Mother’s Day Gift Ideas
April 10th, 2008 at 12:45 pm
lucky you can go near the tree where you could meditate a solution maybe you could get some kids to throw rocks at it, oh just get some kids involved they always think out of the box
sad me can only communicate and use my energy online to tell people to be worried about leaving plastic lying around coz that sending wrong messages into the future you know
wish i could get that bag down for you
April 10th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
But if a bag blows out of a tree and there’s no one there to see it, does it still have a date?
Anyway, I’m in. Let’s say… May 15. We have a lot of bad weather in May sometimes. Good storms. That’s my guess. The Ides of, er, May.
Jenn Thorson’s last blog post..Which E-mail Personality Type are YOU?
April 10th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
BabaBooey — Really sorry to hear about your predicament. That would drive me insane if I could see it all the time. I try to avoid the window at work, or else I’ll surely go insane.
Susan — I guess I feel better that I can see trees and life outdoors where I work. Yeah. Do NOT mess with Payroll!
Mandy — Seriously, if it were only halfway up, I’d probably call someone to see if they can rescue it. I’d be just that nuts.
Poetikat — I will, thanks!
kev — You, my friend, get something anyway. You’ve been with me since the 3 subscriber days. Feel better?
Swubird — Thanks. You always flatter me!
windyridge — My sister’s been on a Wal-mart boycott for months. I try to avoid them when possible.
n — My 11-yr-old niece suggested I put a fake cat up in the tree, thus earning some sympathy. “And while you’re up there, couldn’t you get the bag?” She’s brilliant.
Jenn Thorson — If it blows out of the tree over a weekend, those closest to Fri-Mon win a prize. I don’t know. May’s pretty mild around here. But let’s hope for a good storm, shall we?
April 10th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
I’ll say June the 8th
I had a similar thing going at a place I used to work - except it wasn’t a carrier bag, it was a pink child’s tricycle. It was there for months and then one day it was gone… and no one ever knew what happened to it…. spoOOoky:)
tfa’s last blog post..The Shameless Address The Powerless
April 10th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Okay. You MUST remove the bag. The big W is doing enough damage in this world without the free advertising high up in the tree.
Mizmell’s last blog post..The BumbleBee Dance
April 11th, 2008 at 4:49 am
tfa — A what?!?! Gotta be a teenage prank, or somebody was really mad at his little sister. So sad, but glad it got free eventually. Can’t say the same for the bag.
Mizmell — It wasn’t until I looked a little closer at the bag that I even knew where it came from. If you enlarge that 2nd shot, you can just make out “Wal-mart” reading top to bottom. Believe me, I’d remove it if it were physically possible.
April 11th, 2008 at 9:48 am
Here’s a short story for you….An ex-coworker of mine was not up to speed on “OLD WIVES TALES”. My Mom used to tell me one could tell when a bad storm was brewing because the leaves on the trees would blow upward. When I relayed this to my ex-coworker she scoffed and asked “What happens in the winter when there are no leaves on the trees?” Well, I didn’t have an answer for her, but shortly after that we found a plastic bag high in a tree outside our office. It was winter and the trees were bare of their leaves. We decided the bag was there to predict future storms. We were a strange group, but we sure did have fun! My prediction?? Hmmmmmm….I say June 18, 2008…by then the leaves should be on the tree and the plastic bag will no longer be needed.
April 11th, 2008 at 11:02 am
I’m in. The bag will unclutch from it’s branchy perch on May 30, 2008 at precisely 11:42 P.M.
So if you see a guy who looks like me, carrying a ladder in a courtyard, outside of an office building, in the middle of the night, on May 29th, pay him no mind. He has his heart set on an official Junk Drawer mouse pad and cannot afford one!
April 11th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
I’ll go for the windy day on the 3rd of October 2008.
Beaman’s last blog post..Beaman’s Website & Blog Finds
April 11th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
July 28, 2008. Now, where is your office? I’m pretty sure I can take vacation and travel several thousand miles to release it from that tree on that date.
If I’m unable to make it, can you do it for me, Kathy? I’ll give you one of the magnets!
chartroose’s last blog post..In Praise of Rainer Maria Rilke, 1875-1926
April 12th, 2008 at 4:54 am
Sue — As storm predicting goes, the bag will never help me because it’s always blowing. How do I know? Because I’m still looking at it 10x a day! When the wind inflates it completely, I can see it still has a good grip. Darn.
damonm55 — That I’d like to see. Assuming it’s still there, because there are others here who’ve threatened to get it out themselves, too.
Beaman — Trust me, wind won’t help. But we can dream, can’t we?
chartroose — Not if damonm55 gets there first. He sounds like a man on a mission. I can’t help. It was hard enough for me to take the pictures leaning a little out a window. Scared me half to death.
April 12th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
I had one of those stuck in a tree at my house and it was literally there for years.. years I tell ya!
But I won’t hazard a guess that far ahead…. instead a much more conservative April 19, 2008
Andrew’s last blog post..1978: April 15-21
April 13th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
October 12, 2008. 2:51pm.
(and 23 seconds).
April 14th, 2008 at 5:05 am
Andrew — I don’t doubt it. I, too, think it’ll be there for more than a year. I don’t want it to, but I think it will.
the blogger formerly known as the frogster — You’ll always be known as frogster to me. You have my deepest sympathies on the loss of your blog.
May 1st, 2008 at 3:20 pm
7/4/08
May 1st, 2008 at 10:13 pm
June the 7th, 2008. That’s the day the bag will fall from it’s arbolic prison and promptly wrap itself around on Kathy Frederick’s ankle, as she wanders by on her morning break.
Alas.
Daniel Cox’s last blog post..I lost my zipper today
May 1st, 2008 at 10:53 pm
It must be so hard to be you sometimes…lol.
I’ll pick May 26th (my birthday)
DrowseyMonkey’s last blog post..5 Out of 500 Survive
May 2nd, 2008 at 4:48 am
Peg@Lehigh — Date noted. And wouldn’t that be a fine Independence Day for our little bag?!
Daniel Cox — Funny! And don’t laugh. If I’m around when it gets down, I’m going to keep it!
DrowseyMonkey — You have no idea. I’ll hope it comes down on your birthday, but honestly, I think it’s going to be up there into 2009. Maybe your next birthday?
May 2nd, 2008 at 5:50 am
Oh man! I can so relate. I have a big window in my livingroom and I’m pretty much a couch potato who sits with the tv on, computer in lap and watches everything that goes on outside those windows. Last summer there was a bag way up in the tree of the house across the street. But that old man over there, he is SO fastidious with his yard and that bag wasn’t there for more than a few days.
Ok so…my guess is going to be Sept. 15, 2008
Lori’s last blog post..Another critique of today’s commercials
May 2nd, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Lori — I used to have a neighbor like that. I’m certain he couldn’t tolerate looking at a bag in a tree for more than two days. He’d lose sleep over it until it was out. Your guess is noted!
May 20th, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Lori- You sound like me. I also sit on my chaise lounge, computer in lap, tv on, and watch outside my patio door.
My guess is October 19, 2008.
May 21st, 2008 at 4:04 pm
ann of the shampoo bag — I’m there right now. Is there anything better?
June 12th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Well, here’s my guess…July 4, 2008 4:05 p.m.
Independence day after all.
castocreations (Home Zookeeper)’s last blog post..Dogs in Need for Friday
June 12th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
castocreations — That’s an appropriate guess, but don’t count on it. We looked again today, and the bag is exactly where it was the day it got stuck. It ain’t movin’.
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:25 pm
Time for an update picture.
Rattln Along’s last blog post..Saving Plastic Trees one bag at a time
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:59 am
Rattln Along — You’re right. Now that we’re over 100 days in the tree, it’s time. I’ll get one next week. Although, it looks pretty much as it did before, only the tree is sagging a little. I think debris is collecting in the bottom of the bag.
July 13th, 2008 at 8:17 pm
i guess feb. 3, 2009
my birthday will bring very good news to your sanity
July 14th, 2008 at 3:51 am
brooke — I’m not sure I can take any new guesses, to be fair to everyone who already guessed. Besides, it’ll probably be there longer than that.