[Thu]

To Columbia, niece Andrea driving the Durango, Mary tending Harrison in the back. We arrived at O'Charley's in time for lunch. I had a 1\2 BLT, donating the accompanying potato soup to Mary. At my suggestion, Mary had the shrimp scampi pasta plate. I helped out. Andrea ordered a hamburger with fries. Let Harrison lick Mary's soup bowl. The coffee was some of the best I've had, not requiring sugar. All came to about $35, plus $5 tip.

Marquis attended us at Verizon. Took a good while for us to decide on the GizmoPal™ for Mother ($87.39 cash), arrange for payments through my account, program the phone, etc.

Seems Marquis is in training, otherwise we might have gotten out a little sooner. Mary was beat by the time we left. Lugging Harrison around is a job. He is huge for his age.

Nice outing. Got a lot done. Andrea made it easy.

32.4 °F, clear.

[Wed]

More of Mary's soup for lunch, then we headed for town.

Mailed Christmas cards at the post office. From there we drove to Walmart to get the Durango serviced and to do our weekly grocery shopping. In the Auto Center I was hailed by some fellow who thought he knew me very well. Looked kinda familiar, but I hadn't the faintest idea who he was.

Ran into Sharon Downing, daughter of "Bubba" Downing who used to fill in for me at Belfast Rock. Sharon is seventy now, but looks as pretty as when she was in brother Marion's high school class.

Call from grandson Johnny in Kissimmee. He back-ended a girl today. He is not insured. Mary was upset.

Back home, Mary unloaded the groceries. We headed back to town. Kroger for prescriptions this time. I was again hailed by a lady who looked very familiar. Again, I drew a blank. Twice in one day? Am I so far gone?

Keep moving. Keep the blues away.

39.5 °F, mostly cloudy.

[Tue]

Business on the square. Time to pay taxes on my and Mother's properties. We started at the municipal building. Didn't take long there. Leaving the Durango parked out front, we headed to the Art Guild to meet niece Andrea. A bracing wind made 46 degrees feel like 36.

Delivered Mother's Verizon information to Andrea and browsed the art until we could feel our fingers again. Real estate agent Billy Lanier came in for some Christmas ornaments. We served together on the Equalization Board. He told me he is with Homestead Realty now.

Warmed up, Mary and I headed to the Courthouse Annex, stopping along the way to buy a newspaper. Harrison appears in it dressed in a Santa suit. Precious.

At the Annex, we renewed the Durango's license, then paid taxes in the Trustee's office. That latter was a hassle. My and Mother's info had been mailed to me in one bundle. I had to sort that out. My property needed to be further split into personal and business. Had to sort that out, paying from two accounts.

Lunch was at Rafael's. Mary had her regular house special calzone. I tried the ravioli. Too much sauce. Acid reflux.

Back home, we watched Frontera (2014) from Netflix. Everything that could happen to immigrants crossing the border illegally, does. Not a feel good movie, but satisfying. Well done.

Andrea called. I will have to go to Columbia in person Thursday to get the Verizon phone we picked out for Mother.

Delores called to tell me Marion has a doctor's appointment for Friday and can't eat lunch or play cards with us. Furthermore, he has three other doctor's appointments this month. Hmm.

Feel good about today. Productive.

39.7 °F, partly cloudy.

[Mon]

Anna brought Leah. George dropped off a check to deposit for Mother.

Pollock fish for lunch, with butternut squash, turnip and turnip greens. Cantaloupe appetizers.

Leah removed a couple of Christmas tree ornaments and refused to take a nap, but was overall, more of a "big girl" today.

Been downloading World of Warcraft onto the Compaq. Huge program.

46.2 °F, partly cloudy.

[Fri]

Deborah called. Mother needed to be picked up at 11:30 am from the Hairport.

Call from TNWEB. They found nothing wrong with the Compaq. Plays movies just fine. Hmmm.

Andrea came late with Harrison and Mother. Marion, Mary and I had already begun eating our soup and cornbread when they arrived. Marion needs to eat at a certain time because of his medication.

The card game went alright, until Deborah called. Several times. I needed to deal with Mother's cell phone that was out of commission. It had been dropped and soaked in the rain. I was left in no shape to play cards. We called it a day.

Delores picked up Marion. Andrea took Mother home.

Andrea made out checks for Mother's annual gift to her children. I signed them. Barely able to do that.

Town run. Spitting rain. Picked up the Compaq at TNWEB. Deposited my check at First Farmers. I was feeling better.

119 lbs.

58.7 °F, overcast.

[Thu]

George came by this morning in the golf cart with Leah. Gave me a check to deposit for Mother. Reported on the water situation at my #2 warehouse.

Lunch: mouth-watering tender beef smothered in onions and tomato. Penne with spinach and Parmesan cheese sauce. Steamed carrots. Avocado on the side. Apple and pear appetizers.

Town run. Dropped off the Compaq at TNWeb for repair. Bought stamps at the post office. Deposited Mother's check at First Farmers. Took care of Mary's business at First National. Gassed up at Murphy. Picked up odds and ends at Walmart. A balmy 69 degrees in the parking lot. I was hailed by R.L. Williams from his car. Got to know R.L. back when he picked up stone at Belfast Rock for East Tennessee Natural Gas. He's been around the corner and back a few times since then.

Back home, we watched Belle (2014) from Netflix. History based romance. Beautiful young mulatto finds her way through the mores of Eighteenth-century England. Something between a Jane Austin inspired film and a soap opera. Not my cup of tea.

Three good days, but now teetering.

53.4 °F, mostly cloudy.

[Wed]

Another day on the road. But, without the rain.

Breakfasted on sausage Egg McMuffins.

In Franklin, Mary made more deposits at Bank America. Mostly Christmas money for Antonio, Johnny, etc. From there, we headed for the big Walmart nearby. Christmas gifts for the toddlers. Groceries. I browsed laptops, deciding not to buy. Mary put her foot down. It was near Christmas and she would not move an inch until I bought one. I gave in a little too easily perhaps. Got the Dell Inspiron 15 (3542). ($399+tax)

Windows 8.1. Terabyte of storage space for pictures on the hard drive. Bluetooth for my future convenience. No touch screen. That suits me just fine. Touch screens are for tablets only, in my situation. Arms too weak.

The Dell will be my party machine while my Compaq has a new DVD player installed. The Compaq again in my bedroom, I will move the Dell to my office to replace the old eMachines desktop still running on Windows XP. I might then be able to play some World of Warcraft Online again. My fingers are not now up to any great battles, but I can still explore and lose myself in those wonderfully exotic landscapes. We'll see.

Mary and I had late lunch in Blimpies. Club sandwich for Mary. Southwestern chicken wrap (spinach) for me. Surprisingly good. The name Blimpies had always summoned up in my mind the image of a child's plastic bathtub toy or of a slatternly greasy spoon waitress.

Turned back South to Columbia. Stocked up on mi remedio at the Oasis. Headed home.

Turkey on pumpernickle for supper. Mandarin slices.

Feel fine. Two days on the road may have done me good.

46.0 °F, overcast.

Messy day for going out. But, I felt rested and was in good spirits.

We lunched at Hardee's in Winchester. I ordered Charbroiled Chicken Club Sandwich. (540 calories) Not bad, for fast food. Mary had her regular Little Thickburger combo, this time with Texas Toothpicks. (225 + 300 calories) I thought the "toothpicks" were a variety of french fries. Turned out they were deep-fried jalapeno and onion strips.

Arrived in time for our 12:30 pm appointment at Dr. Tidmore's. Terry took our vital signs, gave me my injection, etc., but it was a three-hour wait to see Tidmore. When we did, she quickly removed the last stitch from my hip and mercifully sent us home without further ado.

On and off rain heading back. Dark by the time we reached Fayetteville. Oncoming traffic became blurs. Nevertheless, I held up well.

49.5 °F, overcast.

Anna brought Leah, as usual.

For lunch we had tilapia and yuca (cassava) seared to perfection, stewed butternut squash and steamed asparagus. Guava juice on the side. Apple and black grape appetizers. Yum! But for the calories, I would have gladly had seconds.

When niece Denise came for Leah, she told me my dentist, Dr. Rector, died early this morning when his bicycle was struck by a car. His son is still in the hospital after losing an arm and leg in a motorcycle accident. He's out of coma, but has lost his memory. My heart goes out to both Mrs. Rectors.

43.2 °F, rain.