'Twas the night before Christmas (12:01 a.m. 12/25) and all through the house (single family, joisted masonry, e.c.3, terr.44, pc5), not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse (thorough pride of ownership and excellent maintenance). The (flame-retardant) stockings ere hung by the (contractor-installed) chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there (in spite of deadbolt locks and central station alarm system).

The children (ages 4, 8, 14, & 16) were all nestled snug in their beds (check MVR on 16-year-old) while visions of sugar plums danced in their heads (check for drug use).

Ma in her kerchief (scheduled heirloom) and I in my cap (no slave to fashion) had just settled down for a long winter's nap. (Check employment, is insured sleeping all day?) When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter (check into condition of premises, housekeeping, etc.), I jumped out of bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window I flew like a flash, threw back the curtains and tore open the sash (intentional destructive act, no coverage; also, appears insured only wearing cap in front of uncovered window). When what to my wondrous eyes should appear, but a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer (check if sleigh is rated business use and corporate owned). With a little old driver so lively and quick, I knew in a moment if must be St. Nick. (Notify life underwriting, order medical on 600-year-old driver.)

More rapid than eagles (check MVR for speeding violations) his coursers they came and he whistled and shouted and called them by name (possible aggressive driver). Now Dasher (turbo equipped?), now Dancer (classic?), now Prancer (check occupation), now Vixen (definitely check occupation), on Comet (possible muscle deer), on Cupid (check credit score), on Donner (4x4) and Blitzen (possible drinking problem?)

To the top of the porch, to the top of the wall (check for structural damage; also look into height exposures), now dash away, dash away, dash away all (old man climbing walls either in great shape or overly medicated). So up to the housetop his coursers they flew, with a sleigh full of toys and Saint Nicholas, too. (Check for possible retail delivery classification of autos.) And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof, the prancing and pawing of each little hoof. (Check for shingle damage; also classification of operations - roofing is a prohibited class.)

As I drew in my head and was turning around, down the chimney he came with a bound. he was dressed all in fur (scheduled items) from his head to his foot, and his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot. (Part-time job as firefighter ?) A bundle of toy she had flung on his back. (Check to see if insured has safety committee; check lifting training.) His eyes how they twinkled, his dimples how merry, his cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry (order updated medical report, possible drinking and/or drug abuse). the stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth (ineligible for nonsmoker discount) and the smoke encircled his head like a wreath (check batteries in smoke detectors to make sure operational).

He was chubby and plump a right jolly elf (overweight for his height) and I laughed when I saw him in spite of myself. A wink of his eye and a nod of his head soon gave me reason I had nothing to dread. (Strangers enters past alarm and insured not worried? Sounds suspicious.) He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work, and filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk (review workplace for ergonomic compliance). And laying his finger aside of his nose (obscene gesture?), and giving a nod, up the chimney he rose. (Check operations, chimney sweeps are prohibited classification, look into GL PD deductible.)

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, and away they all flew like the down of a thistle. (Not likely with a fat man and sleigh full of toys. Check GVW for proper classification, light/service/local seems unlikely.) And I heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight, “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!&rdqo; (Check hours of operation; 24-hour service operations prohibited. Also check into seasonal nature of business.)

NOTE: ORDER NEW LOSS CONTROL REPORT. DIARY FOR 07/01/12 TO DISCUSS WITH AGENT.
[Source: InsuranceJournal.com ]




If catching a glimpse of a horny toad that has been dead for nearly 80 years was the only reason to visit the Eastland County Courthouse there would be no little reason to go inside.

The spiky reptile known as Old Rip lies in state in a velvet-lined casket encased in a glass box near a front window of the courthouse, where curious onlookers can gawk at the toad 24/7 without ever setting foot in the five-story building.

The tale of Old Rip - a hibernating horny toad entombed for 31 years inside a cornerstone of the courthouse only to emerge alive in 1928 - is one of many interesting stories associated with the courthouse. And missing out on the interior of the Art Deco structure, which features terrazzo floors, marble walls and a fantastic appellate courtroom, would be a huge mistake.

Visitors can view the district courtroom where a man representing himself in a chicken-theft case beat the rap with a simple but persuasive argument; a bullet-marred hallway where a fatal shooting occurred in the early 1970s, and a room that once housed the smallest court of appeals courtroom in the state.

Scott Bailey, a retired Eastland County judge, knows the courthouse’s legends better than anyone, as he served inside the building for 36 years. He recalls decades’ worth of trials, shootings and weddings inside the courthouse as if they happened yesterday.

“Those are just things that happen in a public building,” Bailey says as he stands in the courthouse lobby greeting people with a friendly hello. “There are some good things and some bad things.

But the courthouse“s No. 1 legend involves Old Rip,” Bailey says.

In July 1897, the townspeople of Eastland gathered to commemorate the construction of a new courthouse by laying its cornerstone. Officials placed various mementos in the hallowed out piece of marble when Eastland County Clerk Ernest Wood dropped in the toad that his son Will had brought to the event, according to the book “Weird Texas.”

More than three decades later, when an oil boom had cause the county’s coffers and population to swell, officials decided to build a new, larger courthouse. When the old courthouse was torn down, thousands of people gathered at the town square to see what had become of the toad placed in the cornerstone. As a county official held up the dusty reptile, his leg twitched, and then his whole body came alive. The toad - named Old Rip after Rip Van Winkle - toured the country and even visited the White House, according to the book.

“They said he got a smile out of silent Calvin Coolidge,” Bailey says of the tight-lipped 30th president of the United States.

About a year after being pulled from the cornerstone, Old Rip’s owners mistakenly left him in a cage on their front porch when a cold front came through town. The reptile caught pneumonia and died, Bailey says.

But the enduring legend of Old Rip had been born. The architects who designed the 1928 courthouse even had plaster friezes featuring images of horny toads installed as a wall border in a third-floor courtroom.