[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.

[Sat]

Peaceful day.

Cheesy Brussel's sprouts with more leftovers for lunch.

We watched Sabotage (2014) from Netflix. Schwarzenegger in his dotage. I was put off by the foul language.

53.1 °F, clear

[Fri]

Richard came with Harrison. Andrea soon followed with Mother. Marion arrived. We had the makings of a party!

Richard was called away, but the rest of us had the savory leftovers from yesterday. Even better the second time around.
Stephanie and Tyler joined the the festivities. My niece brought me and Mary enough of her home-made okra pickles to last us a year or two.

A game of double-fifteen dominoes followed lunch. We had fun continued till Mary and I were all give out.

Delores picked up Marion. Stephanie took Mother home. Andrea left with Harrison. It had been a good day.

For supper--guess what--a turkey sandwich. That gobbler has a thousand lives.

118 lbs.

42.1 °F, clear.

Almost too weak to get up into the Durango this morning. Trying not to think of where that will end.

Deposited Mother's check and cashed two of mine at First Farmers. Breakfasted on sausage Egg McMuffins before heading to Fayetteville.

At the Lincoln County courthouse, we paid their part of Mother's property tax. Across the street, we paid the city taxes. Back at the car, I called Pete Anderson of General Real Estate and had him bring me the keys to Mother's Hedgemont property. He claimed to have bought the new locks. I thought I remembered paying for them.

Since Mary and I were there in town already, I stopped at Tennessee Brace & Medical to see what could be done about my Pacesaver and the scooter lift. Steve tightened the scooter's battery connections. That may solve the power outs. As for the loose rubber contact pad on the lift, he squeezed it back on with pliers, but when it fell back off, he could only suggest using a wooden board at the contact. Maybe, I could find a replacement part on the internet. A new lift would cost as much or more than a scooter would.

Back home, we found a rent check in the mailbox. Since I was still in the car, we went ahead and took garbage to the recycle center, deposited the check at First Farmers and picked up needles for Mary at Kroger. I was thoroughly pooped by the time we returned for a late lunch of Progresso soups.

Deborah called. Mother got good marks from Dr. Tidmore today.

43.7 °F, mostly cloudy.

[Mon]

We had Leah today.

Salmon for lunch, with black beans, stewed butternut squash and steamed okra. Apple and pear appetizers.

George brought a check to deposit for Mother.

48.3 °F, clear.

In a Sherlock Holmes mood last night. Partied with Aubrey Mather in The House of Fear (1945) streamed off YouTube. Mather is a delight. He transforms a glass of milk into a wanton elixir. I partied further with Alan Mowbray in A Study in Scarlet. (1933) Mowbray's Inspector Lestrade is far from the buffoon others make him.

For lunch today, I had baked chicken, a steamer of carrots, sugar snap peas and cauliflower in basil butter sauce, and a very spicy tamal de rajas. Avocado on the side. Apple and grape appetizers.

We watched Non-Stop (2014) from Netflix. Spanish language option. A federal marshal (Liam Neeson) on a trans-Atlantic flight fights an uphill battle to save passengers and crew from an unknown terrorist-extortionist. Suspense and action aplenty. Mary liked it.

Tumbling.

54.3 °F, partly cloudy.

[Fri]

George came early for more keys to #2 warehouse. Brought us more eggs from his hens.

Cheerios with blueberries for breakfast.

Mary and I fetched Mother and brought her here. Niece Andrea is in Las Vegas and brother Marion had a doctor's appointment, but we would still have a threesome for lunch and cards.

Deborah came to tell me Verizon had blocked Mother's cell phone for non-payment. Apparently my trip to Columbia had been for naught.

Mary and I ate bowtie pasta with shrimp for lunch. Mother had a chicken pot pie. Apple, pear and grape appetizers.

I cut the card game short at an hour, so there'd be enough time to deal with Verizon again in Columbia.

Took longer than expected, but Jeremiah was helpful, to a point. I had to pony up $101.75 in green to get Mother's phone unblocked and will have to continue paying her bill with cash for six months. She will then be eligible again for automatic bank drafts.

Marion called with good news. Examinations showed he didn't have glaucoma.

Back in town, I dropped Mother at her house and headed home. Wasn't such a bad afternoon. Felt pretty good actually. Got out of the house and my mind had been diverted several hours from my own problems. Need more of that.

Mary made me an egg (George's) and (Ball Park) wiener sandwich for supper. Mmmm. Apple and red grapes on the side.

118 lbs.

42.8 °F, partly cloudy.