The mailbag is open at Velcrometer, where a reader mentions that “Dr. Jellyfinger” may have had a cousin, “Mr. Hamhands.”

I’ve been reading your entries for a about a year now and I have to tell you how much joy my husband and I get from of your entries on Dr. Jellyfinger. You see, it seems that we live in a house owned by his cousin, Mr. Hamhands.

Now that’s interesting, I think that Dr. Jellyfinger’s great-nephew-in-law might be the former owner of this house, The Rev. Izontha Prize Doolittle.

Rev. Doolittle apparently spent so much time looking up to Heaven awaiting the Rapture that he thought it wasn’t worth doing things like cleaning out gutters, upgrading the landscaping, maintaining the drainage, or indeed adding any amenties such as decks, fences, or 3-season rooms. All or some of which it would be nice to have.

Oh, well. Next summer, maybe, is the summer of getting the deck with a pergola. I’d like to have an area that could be somewhat shady… and screened off would be great, because David doesn’t like being outside during mosquito season.

At least this way we get to have something built the way we want it.