…solicit the help of everyone in your email address book then try, try again.

Ladies and gentleman, I was beginning to have my doubts, but after getting a little help from her friends……..we have a winner for this month’s Pensieve Picture Puzzler:

Jeannie, Musings from Left Field

"It looks like a tool that was used to bind or tie up things with a rope being put through the eye and the iron tool is placed in a secure place to hold whatever is being tied up or bound."

What she was describing is a rope hasp, a 1900s version pictured here in its entirety:

I can’t give you much history on this blasted thing because in my limited extensive research I never could find another!  Other hasps, yes, this one, no. 

Jeannie wins a FANTASTIC Paula/Bobby/Jamie Deen prize pack, including the boys’ new cookbook and some other PD goodies.  Thanks to Phil (seriously, my webmaster friend) for providing this month’s Puzzler prize!

For a runner up, oh, my……..comments amused me continuously over the past several days–DID ANYONE REALLY BELIEVE ANY WOMAN WOULD LET ONE OF THESE THINGS NEAR HER "a r e a s" to pull out a baby (or perform any other manner of medical procedure!!)?  Tiger Lamb Girl had me grinning from the get-go with her introductory question, "Would I count if I’m a Texican living in UK, but coming home for a visit this summer, therefore I have a US address?"  She was all over the place with her guesses (and actually, not too far off with one).  Joy T. revealed her "relationship" with MY Phil is blossoming…(hmmmm, hand’s off sistah!). Sarah halfway suggested they might use one in an autopsy scene of CSI and Karmyn’s children’s guesses were charming (a slingshot or "shooter").

And the suggestions that deserve s o m e t h i n g for persistence and the smile factor and Fantasiatic Imaginations??

Kim Davis at Mom Unscripted.  She reeeally had her thinking cap on with "A chastity belt? for males? a musket ball molder? An old timey car
jack? An ice cream scoop. A noose holder for public hangings. A weapon…".  THEN, she dreamed about it and had some more guesses:  It’s a surgical piece used in hip
replacement surgery. Pre-911 airport security days. Pre-airplane day.

DID YOU GET THAT PEOPLE?  SHE DREAMED ABOUT THE THING!  (Me thinks Mom Unscripted needs a bit of a blogging break 😉 ).

And then there’s CPA Mom, bless her heart.  She guessed (a clamp of some kind, perhaps used to hold the leg of a horse while it was being shoed).  Then she guessed again (for melting metal – or for smelting).  And again (clamps for getting a baby out (human or farm animal) ).   Then she remembered the name of those "clamps" (vaginal speculum or forceps).  She persisted (this is hard but I LOVE Paula Deen and am willing to work for it!)…and she eventually resorted to schmoozing other bloggers, although I’m not sure what good THAT does (I think Karisma is a very smart woman.  I’m adding her to my blog roll now)!

So…there ya have it.  Jeannie wins the whiz-bang prize pack and Mom Unscripted and CPA Mom win some kind of second-rate runner up prize (please email your addresses, ladies…even though I think you’ve all sent them before).  OOooo, and THANK YOU to ALL of you who have linked the Pensieve’s Picture Puzzler on your blogs!!!

THANKS to all of you who made this FUN for anyone reading along (especially me!)