Goats, Music & More

Partied with Eleanore Tanin last night. Episode "Hostage Officer".

Eleanore Tanin

She played the soulful dispatcher.

Got up a little out of sorts this morning. I blame the bad party popcorn.

Mary takes a call.

It was nearly 1:00 pm before we arrived at the goat festival. Headed straight for Margarita's stand for a lunch of her signature gorditas, only stopping to greet sister-in-law Anna. After eating, Mary and I took our time browsing.


More people than ever took in the festival. It was not easy finding familiar faces. We ran into the proprietor of the supermercado where Mary shops.

Denise and Robert with Leah. Andrea and Richard with their girls. Robert & Richard are brothers. Denise and Andrea are sisters.

Nieces Andrea and Denise were there with their families. Andrea said she'd been there since 4:30 am.
Terry, Mary and Gloria
I cooled my heels in the shade creekside, while Mary went in search of the Einhorns who were to meet us there. After a while, the three returned together.
Mary, Susy and Maylim
About then, Maylim and Susy came walking by. I felt bad later for forcing Susy into a photo. She has a malady that makes bright light unbearable for her.

Mary and I took Gloria home with us, so Mary could cut her hair. Terry stayed to take in the Charley Daniels concert. He would pick up Gloria later.

72.1 °F, clear. (Chapel Hill)

lost

Deborah and Mother brought us watermelons and tomatoes this morning from the farmers market.

Mary served chicken and rice for lunch, with potato chips and tomato.

At cards, one could tell that Mother was really lost. Sigh.

123 lbs.

84.0 °F, clear.

tulip poplar

Mary and I have this thing where, when we notice the time is 12:12, 1:11, 5:55 and so on, we act as though we had been granted a wish. Actually, a little prayer to be answered. Today, at 10:10 am, I asked that all would go well at the dentist's today. My appointment was for 11:00 am. Time to receive my permanent crown.

After depositing a check at First Farmers, Mary and I headed for Dr. Rector's. He was not at all phased by my not having been able for two weeks to chew on my right side. Probably the temporary crown had been a little too high, he said. Popped in the permanent and I was out of there "in seconds flat", as Paul McCartney once sang. I'm to stay off it for a day or so, giving the tooth time to normalize. I feel no sensitivity now, unless I accidentally apply pressure. High hopes for tomorrow. Prayers work.

Late lunch was the little Hormel "Compleat" dinners, plus plantain. Cheesy Ravioli for me. Guava juice on the side. Honeydew melon for my appetizer.
Antique disc in the field: Sony DSC-HX20v at 20X Zoom, using the "Illustration" setting, cropped and minor editing by ThumbsPlus 7.
Table in the garage: Sony DSC-HX20v with "Watercolor" effect, cropped and minor editing by ThumbsPlus 7.

Coffee with news from Colombia followed. Eventually, I went out. Made a few snaps. Been a while since the urge hit me. Took along the Sony. A little fed up with the Canon's ISO problem.


Deborah came with my two tulip poplar saplings. She wanted me to show her exactly where I wanted them planted. She had made some headway on the first hole, when I called Mary out to see Deborah's new light weight weedeater. It turned out still to be more than Mary could handle, without straining her back.


Mary did help with the digging and watering though. Things were going well, when brother george drove up. I dreaded the first word out of his mouth, "dummy". Yes, it was not the best time of year to plant trees. Yes, this wasn't optimal soil for poplars. But, I indicated to George that one receives a gift whenever and however it comes. He took that well enough. In fact, he drove down to the garden and returned with more tomatoes and okra for me and Mary.

George can't really help it, I reckon. He takes his torpedo remarks from our dad. One has to take something, right? Genes.

73.6 °F, clear.

familiar strangers

Burger King remodeling: Canon S100

Into town this morning. To the Taylors' for eggs. To First Farmers & First National for deposits. To Dollar General Market for avocados. Pulling out, we noticed Burger King, across the street, was almost finished with its remodeling. About time.
Sony DSC-HX20V with the "Gourmet" setting. Cropping, resizing &minor sharpening using ThumbsPlus 7[/caption]
Rotisserie chicken for lunch, with steamed asparagus topped with mozzarella, stewed & seared turnip, home-grown tomatoes. Guava juice on the side. Apple and pear appetizers.

We expected the delivery truck all afternoon. Had rushed home from town. Put off our movie till tomorrow. Only near sundown did I receive the driver's call.

I notified sister Deborah, so she could help with the batteries. She came. We waited. I showed her where I want the new tulip poplar. Finally, the truck turned into the driveway, with brother George following. He had happened by just then. What luck I thought. He and Deborah together would make short work of installing the batteries. But, I didn't count on some old family baggage.

Familiar Strangers

As the box with the new scooter was being lowered from the truck, brother and sister, hardly acknowledging each other, wandered in and out of the garage. George helped rip open the boxes and lower the seat onto the scooter. The batteries should go in first, Mary and I hinted, not addressing anyone in particular.

Mary managed only a few words in Spanish. George made some wise cracking small talk with me. Deborah hardly opened her mouth. Finally, she left. Maybe she thought George would see things through. But, George was too tired. Maybe next Thursday, if he had the time. Drove off. The batteries remained unpacked on the garage floor.

I remarked to Mary that I couldn't see what the big deal was with putting in the batteries. She spoke rather harshly to me for a time after that. Perhaps, I was out of line.

Deborah called and said she would come over tomorrow. Shortly thereafter, she called again. Coming right over.

Local Engineers at Work

Between Mary and Deborah, the scooter was put in running shape.

Seems like I wasn't given flat-free tires or the arm saddlebag.

75.2 °F, clear.

Leah livens things up

We were ready as we could be this morning when Anna brought her granddaughter Leah.


Mary and I had salmon, yellow squash casserole, stewed butternut squash and tomato for lunch. We're taking full advantage of the fresh produce.

Someone needs a change.

No sooner said than done.

Leah thinks she needs some bigger shoes.

It was all laughs and chases and change the diaper. Mary doesn't have the heart to leave Leah in the play pen all day. "Jail", some call it.

spaced out

Slept well, I think.

Mary gave Mother the full treatment today. A permanent. That left little time for cooking. Mother and I had chicken pot pies. They were good. Mary had a bowl of leftovers potpourri layered over with Habanero & tomato sauce. Apple and peach appetizers. Strawberry shortcake for dessert.

Mary and Mother at cards.

Mother was pretty spaced out. She remarked that she was ninety. "Ninety-one", I corrected her. She looked at me unbelieving. "How do yo know?" I told her to subtract her year of birth from this year. "What year was I born?", she asked innocently.

124 lbs.

81.7 °F, clear. (835 Yell Rd 1/8 mile S downtown square)

cascade

George Eldredge gives Dorsey Keaton and Broderick Crawford the low down.

Partied last night with George Eldredge and Dorsey Keaton in episode "Mistaken Identity". Eldredge had a busy career playing middle-aged and elderly men in bit parts. This episode is one of the very few appearances of Keaton on the screen. Little is know about her. Too bad.
Wayne Heffley looks over boss Broderick Crawford's shoulder.

Followed this up with Bing Russell and Wayne Heffley in episode "Hostage Family Copter". Russell was a busy fellow, though never winning a leading part, as far as I know. Heffley had a long varied career, ending with soap "Days of our Lives".

Got to thinking this morning. Can't chew on the right side of my mouth. Need three crowns and a root canal, but don't trust my dentist. One scooter is on its last legs. The other needs a new battery. The living room TV no longer listens to the remote. Mary's recliner chair won't un-recline. The office to garage door will not close. My computer and internet connection needs serious upgrading. And, the unthinkable...Mother's bank statement comes end of next week.

A veritable cascade of bad news. But, that's alright. Cause, you know what? Mary and I have each other and I can still chew on one side. So, there!

Called brother Marion to find out how he was doing after his final procedure Tuesday. He was worried. Asked me if I could come over and explain how his monitor works. Didn't even know if it was on or off. The explanatory DVD ran too fast for him to absorb. And, he couldn't make head nor tail out of all the documentation that came with the apparatus. I said sure. After lunch.


Took a lot of encouragement, but Mary agreed to cook carrots the way I wanted for lunch. We had them with snap beans, spicy cheese tamales, squash casserole and tomatoes. She admitted that the carrots tasted alright.

Marcelino fixes Mary's recliner.

Our invaluable handyman Marcelino was in the neighborhood, dropped in to help Mary with some repairs. Unblocked the recliner mechanism. Unblocked the TV's remote sensor and adjusted the garage door. All in about half an hour. No charge, this time. :-) Wish Marcelino were a dentist too.

John doing what he's always has.

Mary and I now had time to pay Marion a visit. We found him in fair spirits. I watched his instructional DVD a couple of times and carefully showed him how all the buttons and dials worked, then explained that the device is only for checking and programming his implant. The doctor had taken care of the programming. I divined that Delores already understood all this, but for some reason was unable to communicate it to her husband.

We talked Dentists. What Marion and Delores told me did nothing to increase my confidence in Dr. Rector. :-(

Mary with Delores' aloe. As always, Delores hid from the camera as best she could.

Before leaving, Delores showed Mary her big aloe plant, then gave her some of its offspring to take home. Marion followed me to the car. Hated to see me go.

Since we were already out, Mary and I headed for Walmart to get gas and buy pots to replant aloes and our little bamboo plant. We also purchased a sack each of pebbles and potting soil. Mary saw a large carpet marked way down and decided it was time to replace the old smelly one in the living room. All totaled less than a hundred dollars.


Mayor Bingham

At check out, I was glad-handed by our new mayor, Jim Bingham. Knew him from the days we were both on the County Board of Commissioners. He recalled the services my late father and brother had done for the community. Jim is a true politician.

Mary was worn out from man-handling all her booty. She will be sore tomorrow.

76.8 °F, clear. (Chapel Hill)