For lunch, we had salmon with stewed acorn squash, the snap beans brother George brought us from his garden yesterday and our own home-grown tomatoes. Avocado on the side.

A little later, Humberto drove up with grandson Christian on his new motorcycle, bringing the two dozen Colombian empanadas Mary ordered. $48. He threw in an extra empanada at no additional cost.

They stayed a while. Mary whipped up some beef and rice for them.

About then, the technician from Mr. B's came knocking at the door. It was Brad Thompson, son of my old highschool classmate, Kevin.

He had come with his young assistant to clean our air ducts. Mary has been suffering from some kind of allergy and blamed it on mold. She may have been right. Brad found lots of gunk to clean. What's more, the ac unit wasn't draining water. He corrected it. He also advised us to leave the thermostat set to Auto and not On for the fan. The bill came to $400.

All that done, Mary and I settled down to watch Germany disappoint Algeria 2-1 in overtime.

Deborah came by in a huff. She had had a run in with folks at First Farmers and needed to vent. She did.

After a light supper, I ventured out to check on the tomatoes and continued on to the outpost. No teasel flowers were yet reachable from my scooter. Grrr. So, out of frustration, I snapped some mature Curly Dock.

I seldom see this humble plant without remembering when I was about eight years old, playing with my brother and sister in the back lot of our farm on Pea Ridge. I would strip the seeds off the Dock and feed them to goats. Goats will eat anything, I was thinking. Then, I decided on an experiment. Holding Dock seeds in one hand, and shelled corn in the other, I offered both to a goat. Lo and behold, the goat shunned to corn and ate all the Dock! Are goats that dumb... or maybe just smarter than we know?

I returned to the house. Too much to do in the office. Sigh.

75.8 °F, clear.

Worked up a good case of nerves early, wondering what will become of Mother when she can't walk at all. A few Hail Mary's and Pater Nosters got me through it.

Big day for the World Cup. Quarter Finals. We first watched a real nail-biter that had Brazil edging out Chile by penalties.

Lunch break. Tomato and onion smothered beef chunks on yolk-free egg noodles, together with a steamer of baby potatoes, baby corn, broccoli, red bell pepper and carrots.

We watched Colombia frustrate Uruguay 2-0. Sitting next to a fan like Mary, I think I could enjoy a game in any sport. The victory of her native Country's team made Mary's day, and therefore mine.

After a light supper and my inhaler treatment, I spent a couple of pleasant hours at the outpost.

We will have to keep tomatoes on our menu for a while. About sunset, we harvested ten!

76.7 °F, clear.

Deborah brought Mother but left before an unexpected crowd arrived: Robert and Denise with Leah; George and Anna; Stephanie; Andrea with Harrison; Ruth, Marion. Robert and Stephanie had to leave early, but that still made a bunch for lunch. Mary threw some more meat in the pot.

We had beef, sautéed yellow squash Deborah brought, seared potato and our own home-grown tomato. Too much going on to set up a photo shoot.

Sang happy birthday to Mother. Cut the birthday pie. Chased Leah around. Bent each other's ear. Eventually, all company set out for their respective homes. It had been fun.

After the dust settled, Mary and I watched 3 Days to Kill (2014) from Netflix. Kevin Costner did an alright job as an aging CIA hit man. There was plenty of delicious irony as he had to constantly interrupt the performance of his "job" to take care of domestic matters. But, all felt unbalanced.

Got to spend a little time at the outpost.

119 lbs.

75.5 °F, clear.

Yesterday's leftovers for lunch.

Marcelino came to look at our fifteen-year-old faucet water purifier in the kitchen. Leaks. Will find us a new one.

We attended nephew Joel's and Tabitha's wedding reception (3:00-5:00 pm) at Pickers' Creek Winery.

Really feeling my weakness today. A little people dodging and covering uneven ground in the scooter was enough to wear me out. I'm not worth a flitter any more.

79.8 °F, clear.

Mother was confused when she arrived this morning. Didn't understand why she was here. Deborah explained to me that Mother had just been wakened from a nap.

Pork chops for lunch, with garden peas from last year's garden, baked whole sweet potatoes with butter, turnip greens and stewed turnips. Cantaloupe appetizers. Butter pecan ice cream for dessert. Oh man, was it good, all of it!

Marion made it for cards again. But, by 2:00 pm was tightening up. His doctor had explained that proteins worked against his Parkinson's medication. In spite of that, this morning, Marion felt he had to satisfied a yen for a Lawlers barbecue pork sandwich. Uh oh. Fortunately, he was beginning to feel better by the time Delores took him and Mother to their respective homes.

Our tomatoes refuse to turn red, just keep growing and growing.

120 lbs.

74.2 °F, clear.

Mary was up earlier than usual to mow grass before the midday heat set in.

Chicken breast, green beans with almonds, and rice and sweet corn torrejitas for lunch. Avocado on the side.

A friendly technician from Medical Necessities came to check on the oxygen concentrator.

Brazil tying Mexico at the World's Cup. Excellent. I could almost become a fan of soccer.

Ventured out. The air was think. After only an hour, came back in where I could breath. Feeling trapped, I watched my Blu-ray Big Sur on the big screen. Very calming.

88.6 °F, clear. (feels like 94 °F)

Cod fish for lunch today, with a spicy chicken tamale and a steamer of broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, corn, mushrooms, red peppers and water chestnuts.

Watched more World Cup action.

Took a check to deposit at First Farmers.

We watched Her (2013) from Netflix. Spanish language option. Joaquin Phoenix's character falls in love with a computer generated personality. Interesting idea poorly executed. Two hours are too much for this ho-hum semi-romance. Mary fought sleep all the way through.

Watched night come on from the outpost.

73.4 °F, clear.

Partied last night with Dennis Weaver on Youtube. Episode "The Big Bar" (1954) of Dragnet. He later played a key role in the popular series Gunsmoke, then starred in his own series, McCloud. I find it interesting to learn he was a vegetarian.

Mary made a run to Kroger for chicken this morning.

Rotisserie chicken for lunch, with steamed carrots, creamed spinach, creamed corn and yuca. Avocado on the side.

After watching Costa Rica upset Uruguay in World Cup play, Mary took off the garbage. Then, drove us to The Oaks shopping center. I waited in the car for an hour while she looked for a certain dress on sale in Goody's. It was hot.

From there, we headed to the park. Starting from VFW, we went as far as the college before turning back. Counted fourteen park benches in the new path. No wildlife sightings.

I was beat by the time we reached the Durango. Not enough zip left in me to check out the tomatoes. I write this post only from

71.5 °F, clear.

In this morning's mail, a box came with my name on it. When we opened it, we found a month's worth of achiras, herpitos and other Colombian treats. Inclosed, also, was a card from my grandchildren in Kissimmee, Johnny and Lina. Happy Father's Day, Grampa!

Potato soup and cornbread for lunch. cantaloupe appetizers. Under my watchful eye, Mother forced herself to eat about half of hers. If she loses much more weight, a good stout breeze will carry her away one day. Marion arrived in time for lunch, but had already eaten. Ate some cantaloupe.

Instead of playing cards, as we generally do on Fridays, I decided Mary and I should take Mother and Marion to see Andrea's new baby, Harrison. When we arrived, Harrison's other great-grandmother, Ruth, was already there. We had a good long, happy visit, we seven. Usually Mother begins to complain, after a short time, about being tired. Not today. We were at Andrea's for well over two hours. It was for me, ultimately, to get the ball rolling. I figured niece Andrea had had enough for one afternoon.

Did my heart good to see how much Marion and Mother enjoyed seeing Harrison and Andrea, and each other. At one point, the topic of vacations arose. Marion chirped in, "This is my vacation." As we took him home, he thanked me warmly for arranging the visit. If I were a person who cries, I would have shed a tear then.

The tomatoes are looking good. Several are huge. Surely, I will have one to eat next week.

120 lbs.

74.5 °F, clear.

Stop at Kroger for Mary's magnesium supplement. Lunch at Burger King. Mary had the usual Whopper Jr. Grilled chicken wrap for me.

At Walmart, I ran into Danny Wilson with his mother and Danny's son Mat.

Mary and I watched Goodbye Solo (2008) from Netflix. English with Spanish subtitles. Senegalese tax driver relates to a suicidal elderly fare in North Carolina. Good acting. Alright overall.

Got the idea of trying out the "Macro" scene setting in the RX100 II. Had I ever done that before? It did very well on St. John's Wort that I recently tried with the HX20V. That opens up future possibilities.

George caught me at the outpost. I learned that nephew Joel and Tabitha were at the courthouse when it opened this morning, got their license and were married at 10:00 am in the little park on the square. Only next of kin were notified. Sounds like something I'd do.

Much talk of our job being co-executors one day. Left me a little nervous.

Mary is determined to salvage our damaged tomatoes.

70.1 °F, clear.