April fooling

I couldn't come up with some wild, wonderfully believable April Fool's joke to post, so I am sharing some I remember from years past.

One morning, as a teen, my brother Pat came running upstairs yelling, "the basement's flooded!" His bedroom, most of our toys, our TV room and the laundry were all in the basement and our mother lived in fear of having to mop it all in the event of a flood. Just as she fell for it he said, "April Fool!"

I still boast of the year I 'got' all my kids in a simple prank. On occasion, deer would wander from the woods into our front yard. It was a most exciting event. So one April first, I went to the living room windows and hollered, "deer out front!" All four kids came trotting in. As they rounded the corner I said, "oh, they've run to the back!" And the children scampered to the back of the house, hoping to catch sight of the deer. By the time I fooled them into running to the front again, I squealed, "April fool!" and laughed hysterically.

Well, I just got my husband Bill. I went up to the washer, pulling the knob in and out and hollered, "great, the washer's not coming on!" And I snapped the knob a few more times for drama.

"What?" He bit. "I'll go down and check the circuits." After a few minutes of his rumbling around the basement, I tiptoed down.

"Find anything?" I asked.
"No," he was none too happy.
"Have you checked the calendar?"
"Huh?" Still clueless.
"It's April Fool's day!"

What April Fool's jokes do you remember, either as the fooled or the fooler?