Things that go "thump" ...

Marlene Terry

Most people don shorts and other athletic wear and along with rackets in hand, proceed to a local tennis court where they hit one of those yellow balls you see pictured today, back and forth over a net.

That is, they hit a yellow one if they are in competition against an opponent. But if they're not in competition, the ball they use can be any color at all — blue, red, green  and I even saw one that was red, white and blue WITH STARS of all things.

That is for sure ONE use for a tennis ball. But I've seen others that for all intents and purposes have worked well too.

Take Carol for instance. She was a sweet coworker of mine who arrived to do her job every day with her walker in the back seat of her car.

It was admirable that she, in her 70s, was always prompt as well as thankful she had somewhere to go where people counted on her and things to do that as she said were "important."

All I have to do is close my eyes and I can still see her coming down those halls, her walker in front of her, all four legs fitted with a "slit in the top" yellow tennis ball.

"Keeps me from slipping," she'd say with a smile.

Tennis balls are hollow you know, rubbery and cheap. So it stands to reason they'd also become a popular dog toy.

Easy for a dog to chomp on to when they're thrown and hold on to them in order to return them to the owner. ... "Good boy."

... One dog owner also told me, yuck ... the covering of a tennis ball also absorbs his pet's slobber. So he can be assured that the toy can be chewed on for hours before it really needs a cleaning!

... As I said ... yuck!

OK. Here's one use for a tennis ball I've been putting off telling you about.

... And why? ... You'll see.

Years ago the large freezer that we kept in our garage sat at the far end against the wall in front of my parking bay.

One day it (the freezer) was just fine and the next?

For some inexplicable eason it suddenly had a large dent in the door.

It really wasn't that big of a deal. I mean the door was still workable and there was no discernable adverse conditions created inside the freezer. In other words it still froze everything very well.

But from that day on, even with several moves to other homes, my hubby has always insisted on hanging a yellow tennis ball from a wire in the garage ceiling.

"When you pull into the garage," he's told me more than once, "and you hear the thump when the tennis ball makes contact with your windshield, that means you need to STOP immediately!"

... Don't know why he laughed when he told me that. ... And I'm really certain I don't know why I laugh every time I drive into the garage and ... "thump" ... either!

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