Help Wanted: Weigher of Tomatos

Something I learned this weekend…In the 1920’s, the state of Maryland used to employ 1 “Weigher of Tomatoes”. The holder of this esteemed position was appointed by the governor, and earned a whopping $1,000 salary per year. In 1923, the official Tomato Weigher was Mr. Joseph K. Benson of Baltimore.

In 1922, there was a vote to amend Section 10 of Article 15 of the Maryland State Constitution: Equal Legal Rights for Women. 98,901 people voted for this amendment. 77,374 voted against it. The county where I currently live voted against.

In 1922 the Governor of Maryland earned $4,500 per year. The Chief Oyster Inspector, working for the Conservation Commissioner, earned $1,200 per year. Venereal Disease Clinic Physicians working for the State Department of Health earned $900 per year. The State Superintendent of Schools earned $8,000 per year. Go figure.

But enough about Maryland…

I’ve noticed that my most weird and crazy dreams seem to occur most often in the morning, many times taking place during the 9 minutes between when I hit the snooze alarm and when the clock goes off again. Or…maybe I just remember them more, because I am having them closer to the time that I wake up. lol…Anyway….

Last Saturday morning I had a dream that I was on a jet airplane. Rather than the standard rows of seating, however, this plane was divided up into rooms. I was in a room with another person – no clue who he is or who he was supposed to be. There were two chairs in the room, both of them resembling the chair on the new show “Dollhouse” where the ‘actives’ sit to get their minds wiped (yes, I had just watched the show the night before – I’m so impressionable!)…but there was no mind-wiping going on in my dream. They were just chairs. I don’t remember seeing him, but I ‘knew’ in that way that you know things in dreams that my brother and two other people were in the cockpit and would be flying the plane.

The plane took off…it banked hard to the right, then hard to the left, stalled out and crashed. Because we had only just taken off and weren’t very high, my companion and I were fine. I left the room and ran to the cockpit, but the door was closed and locked. I asked, “Are you all right?” and my brother replied, “No, we’re not.” I said I was going to call 911 and that they should try to open up the cockpit door, and then the dream ended.

The only reason I mention the dream is that a few hours later I was listening to a blogtalk radio show that I had missed the night before, and on the show, my brother told a story about a daydream he’d had recently….about a plane crash. His daydream was different from my dream – he watched the plane crash from the ground and then tried to help the victims – but I thought the similarity in themes was funny. I used to dream about planes crashing all the time – to the point where I was really starting to think that someone didn’t want me flying – but I hadn’t had one in a really long time before that morning.

I can’t believe tomorrow is Monday already – where does the weekend go???

11 thoughts on “Help Wanted: Weigher of Tomatos”

  1. Where are the other vegetable weighers? Should there not be one for each and every vegetable? I think this must be and outright case of vegetable discrimination! This is an outrage, someone call the governor!!

  2. Apparently the governor didn't make enough to care about the outrage, T, you needed to call the Superintendent of Schools to get anyone with some real clout!

    Jenny- I heard that little bit of that radio show too. Maybe a plane is just an imagery for you being involved in a situation/project that you have no control over, but your brother does. And crashing is your fear that it might fail in it's early stages, leading you to obviously be concerned for your brother who was one of those in control, but unable to help them (locked door).
    Dunno, just a thought! Heck, with the crazy dreams I have, it's a stab in the dark to try to read other people's dreams!!

  3. Hmm…I'm thinking that way back in 1922, maybe the other vegetables hadn't been invented yet? That's the only explanation I can come up with for such an otherwise obvious case of discrimination. Although…if you are going to argue that a tomato is a fruit and not a vegetable, then that just opens up a whole new can of worms, because, while I can't speak for all the other fruits, I *am* pretty sure that there were apples way back then…

    Sharon – honestly, I don't think that I am that deep. lol…I think my brain just likes to trip out when I am asleep.

  4. So I blogged per your demands..lol

    I have my own idea of what your dream means as well as Davids I will let you know what it is when I see you in person again.

    I want to weigh produce for a living…but then again I would eat most of the stuff I was weighing…lol

  5. I would like to weigh Cadbury Cream Eggs for a living…but that's a whole other ball of wax…

    Jen, I hope your not planning to tell me that my dream represents some deep-seeded, Freudian desire to sleep with my brother or something…lol…'cause I can tell you right now…uh…NO.

  6. You're very right, Monday came too fast this week. I have such a busy week ahead it's just abnormal (for me!). Not looking forward to it.

    I have plane crash dreams a lot more if Tony is going somewhere on a business trip. It's awful!

Leave a Reply to Jen Green Cancel reply