Officially my third day off work and I am in full on sloth mode. I think the rain outside is on my side this afternoon. Tomorrow it is off to Tennessee for Xmas weekend. Basil is having his great doggy smell removed today (he's getting a bath at the vet). It will take weeks for it to return. In the meantime, he will be all shiny and fluffy but stink of fur products.
I bought some fat pants today at the farmer's co-op. Incredibly they have super work clothes for sale. If I had my way I would wear nothing but T-shirts and cargo pants everyday; simple and comfortable. Dress down.
Other than the usual internet surfing and catching up on Tivo, I've spent a long time reading about trilobites. I'm reading another Richard Fortey book called Trilobite: Eyewitness to evolution. Who knew they had stony eyes? (real calcite) I got so inspired I bought an unprepared specimen off ebay. If I can summon the gumption, I'd like to finish it.
My video game Elderscroll: Skyrim was a bust. Turns out my laptop's video card is too old for the graphics. I'm going to need a newer computer. I offered the game to my nephew Elliot but I just realized it is rated M. He's folks may not approve. The Sun came out...time to nap.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Last Faculty Workday
Fall 2011 semester ended today. I posted my grades, turned off my office computer, and wished my friends John and Brian a happy holiday. Work resumes on Thursday January 5th.
I had big plans for BIO 101 this semester but it turned into a cruddy lecture-filled mess. I feel like I was more successful with last year's debacle. Of course I was shocked that three signed up for 102 in the Spring. I thought that no one would be that masochistic. I am relieved however.
Ever since I realized that lecture is a poor way to teach, I feel like I am short-changing my students. I have begun reading another "what is wrong with college today" book called Academically adrift. They argue that students are completing their first two years and even four years of college without being able to think critically, reason, and write effectively.
My big worry is that I will start up the grand plan, stress myself out and ruin Spring semester. This happens over every break. I make a list of things I want to do and then only accomplish a third. Why do I get so ambitious?
I have two Bio 103 classes next semester. I hope I have more than a 30% C or better rate than I did this semester. I start with a full class then by midterm one-third are gone and then they start to disappear. I keep hearing "where did everybody go?" Spring semester is not the best for retention, especially when warmer temperatures arrive and outside looks inviting.
Of course my big plan is to go PBL which would, in my mind, be a far richer and more lasting educational experience than what I am doing now. I've thought of three units for it so far that touch all the major concepts of biology: milk, malaria, and melanoma. I might add a missed miscellany as the fourth M. The part of teaching I love the most is the planning. The delivery is fun if it works well. I am glad I eliminated my least favorite part: grading labs. Oh well, dinner time is nigh.
I had big plans for BIO 101 this semester but it turned into a cruddy lecture-filled mess. I feel like I was more successful with last year's debacle. Of course I was shocked that three signed up for 102 in the Spring. I thought that no one would be that masochistic. I am relieved however.
Ever since I realized that lecture is a poor way to teach, I feel like I am short-changing my students. I have begun reading another "what is wrong with college today" book called Academically adrift. They argue that students are completing their first two years and even four years of college without being able to think critically, reason, and write effectively.
My big worry is that I will start up the grand plan, stress myself out and ruin Spring semester. This happens over every break. I make a list of things I want to do and then only accomplish a third. Why do I get so ambitious?
I have two Bio 103 classes next semester. I hope I have more than a 30% C or better rate than I did this semester. I start with a full class then by midterm one-third are gone and then they start to disappear. I keep hearing "where did everybody go?" Spring semester is not the best for retention, especially when warmer temperatures arrive and outside looks inviting.
Of course my big plan is to go PBL which would, in my mind, be a far richer and more lasting educational experience than what I am doing now. I've thought of three units for it so far that touch all the major concepts of biology: milk, malaria, and melanoma. I might add a missed miscellany as the fourth M. The part of teaching I love the most is the planning. The delivery is fun if it works well. I am glad I eliminated my least favorite part: grading labs. Oh well, dinner time is nigh.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Ganas
My brain has been acting strange lately in that I have been spending a lot of time thinking and even dreaming of past girlfriends. The other night I had a long involved dream of my first fiance Elaine. I woke up a little disturbed by it. I've been tempted to contact a couple of them but that would be totally stupid. I know what the cure is.
If you really want to get depressed, read the webmd section on the female libido. How do women even put up with males? We must be uber-pests to them. Natural selection is never perfect.
If you really want to get depressed, read the webmd section on the female libido. How do women even put up with males? We must be uber-pests to them. Natural selection is never perfect.
Sunday Coffee
I thought I would blog a bit before reading Pharyngula and the NYT while the brain cells are still functional. Susan made some mighty strong coffee this morning. Usually all I taste is the splenda and french vanilla soy creamer. Tomorrow is the last practical for my anatomy class. Last night I set up the models, 47 questions on the muscles of the body. I have a good feeling that most of my students will ace it. I have a very good class this semester. I will miss them.
The hunt for a new coffee mug is ongoing. I struck out at the Pensacola art show. The only one that comes close to the beautiful handmade one I broke last month is a 600 ml pyrex beaker mug from educational innovations but it is not really thrilling me too much.
The long weekend has been wonderful. The only dark cloud is the student learning outcomes due Monday. I've put them off until today. SACS, the accreditation board, is making every college keep track of how students are doing mastering the material so teachers can improve instruction. A noble thought, but another meaningless stat that will only breed resentment among faculty. Larry had to do the same thing 30 years ago. This is what you get when you have top-down teaching initiatives, probably from some administrator who read a book or went to a workshop and decided to get 500 colleges to try it out. What happened to "pilot programs"? Plus, unless the standards are universal, it will be impossible to compare outcomes between schools. I am not sure the administration and SACS have really thought this through.
One more week of classes before Thanksgiving break. I checked my finals schedule and discovered that I have one each day. I really like it when they are spread out like that. It makes prep and grading far less frantic. I have actually begun to look forward to next semester classes which always surprises me. Some of my 101 students expressed interest in taking my 102 class. I thought I wouldn't have a soul in there. I'm glad I didn't scare them off too badly.
Remarkably I am still on the fossil kick. I can't seem to get enough books about prehistoric vertebrates. I have stacks of books to go through and everyday at work I look longingly at my Crusin' the fossil freeway poster of the West and dream of seeing all those delicious paleospots. A few months ago I looked into to seeing how much a plane ticket would cost to fly to Pittsburg for a weekend to see the famous Carnegie fossils as well as NYC to see the mother of all museums, the AMNH. Someday...
When I was 5 years old, Mom, Brent and I would go to Temple Square every week to get our fill before we moved to California in August of 1969. The museum bug bit early I guess. I had my favorites: number one being the seagull monument, the spiral staircase in the visitors center (great for shock fights with Brent) with the space painting on the walls and ceiling, the sacred grove diorama, and watching "Man's Search For Happiness" for the zillionth time. I remember going with my Mom to the Church Office Building and seeing a church magazine cover in a waiting room depicting Mormon Crickets and wheat. Several years ago I searched google trying to find that particular Ensign but no luck. I hope I didn't imagine it. I would love to have a copy of it so I could do an art piece. I'll have to search again.
I sometimes fantasize about living somewhere where I could often visit a really good museum and go in and see my favorite exhibits and savor them slowly. Exploring each bone and tentacle at my leisure without being rushed. I gotta get back to prepping my sand dollar fossils and that beautiful cretaceous crab.
The hunt for a new coffee mug is ongoing. I struck out at the Pensacola art show. The only one that comes close to the beautiful handmade one I broke last month is a 600 ml pyrex beaker mug from educational innovations but it is not really thrilling me too much.
The long weekend has been wonderful. The only dark cloud is the student learning outcomes due Monday. I've put them off until today. SACS, the accreditation board, is making every college keep track of how students are doing mastering the material so teachers can improve instruction. A noble thought, but another meaningless stat that will only breed resentment among faculty. Larry had to do the same thing 30 years ago. This is what you get when you have top-down teaching initiatives, probably from some administrator who read a book or went to a workshop and decided to get 500 colleges to try it out. What happened to "pilot programs"? Plus, unless the standards are universal, it will be impossible to compare outcomes between schools. I am not sure the administration and SACS have really thought this through.
One more week of classes before Thanksgiving break. I checked my finals schedule and discovered that I have one each day. I really like it when they are spread out like that. It makes prep and grading far less frantic. I have actually begun to look forward to next semester classes which always surprises me. Some of my 101 students expressed interest in taking my 102 class. I thought I wouldn't have a soul in there. I'm glad I didn't scare them off too badly.
Remarkably I am still on the fossil kick. I can't seem to get enough books about prehistoric vertebrates. I have stacks of books to go through and everyday at work I look longingly at my Crusin' the fossil freeway poster of the West and dream of seeing all those delicious paleospots. A few months ago I looked into to seeing how much a plane ticket would cost to fly to Pittsburg for a weekend to see the famous Carnegie fossils as well as NYC to see the mother of all museums, the AMNH. Someday...
When I was 5 years old, Mom, Brent and I would go to Temple Square every week to get our fill before we moved to California in August of 1969. The museum bug bit early I guess. I had my favorites: number one being the seagull monument, the spiral staircase in the visitors center (great for shock fights with Brent) with the space painting on the walls and ceiling, the sacred grove diorama, and watching "Man's Search For Happiness" for the zillionth time. I remember going with my Mom to the Church Office Building and seeing a church magazine cover in a waiting room depicting Mormon Crickets and wheat. Several years ago I searched google trying to find that particular Ensign but no luck. I hope I didn't imagine it. I would love to have a copy of it so I could do an art piece. I'll have to search again.
I sometimes fantasize about living somewhere where I could often visit a really good museum and go in and see my favorite exhibits and savor them slowly. Exploring each bone and tentacle at my leisure without being rushed. I gotta get back to prepping my sand dollar fossils and that beautiful cretaceous crab.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Gulf Coast Art Festival
My yearly excursion to the Pensacola art show was eventful and fun as usual. The weather was sunny and cool. I wore my pith helmet for fun. Scarfed on some great food---red beans and rice, sweet crab cakes, boudain balls (awesome), creme horns, gyro, and cheese streudel. The art was good this year. I actually bought a piece. A nice print of a pastel of a texas longhorn in a field. It is going in my office. My craving for beer almost got the better of me when I saw there is a new microbrewery right there next to the park. Candace was kind enough to buy a wheat beer and let me smell it and watch her drink it. I lived vicariously through her for a moment. I do miss beer. Damn GE valve!
On the Road
I played hookey from work on Friday and drove up to Montgomery to see my friend and therapist Fonda. We had a nice visit. Turns out I am depressed. It seems I need a reassessment of my meds.
I finally got to try the indian buffet place out on the Atlanta highway. Big beautiful restaurant, few diners, good buffet, lots of naan and great mango lassas. I will try to make it a habit to stop there and graze for lunch or dinner. I did the usual shopping stops--World Market for Susan's vino, Earth Fare for B food and delectables for Shane and Susan and Michael's for animal figurines.
The worse part of driving to Montgomery is the long drive home. I can't wait until they finish the bypass through Georgiana.
I finally got to try the indian buffet place out on the Atlanta highway. Big beautiful restaurant, few diners, good buffet, lots of naan and great mango lassas. I will try to make it a habit to stop there and graze for lunch or dinner. I did the usual shopping stops--World Market for Susan's vino, Earth Fare for B food and delectables for Shane and Susan and Michael's for animal figurines.
The worse part of driving to Montgomery is the long drive home. I can't wait until they finish the bypass through Georgiana.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
iphone
I upgraded to an iphone over the weekend. Susan got a new 4s and so gave her old one. I can now listen to audible books as well sirius radio. So far I haven't done much with it other than look at the time. Speaking of new technology, I also got a new set of headphones so I can watch my stupid tv shows with deafening the rest of the household.
School is going alright but I find myself wondering if I will be able to cover everything by the end. I am constantly amazed at how long it takes them to take a quiz. Tonight I spent 45 minutes waiting for them to finish a 19 question quiz. So I had to race through the stages of mitosis so they could do the lab after the break. I did a diservice to them. I still suck at this teaching gig.
School is going alright but I find myself wondering if I will be able to cover everything by the end. I am constantly amazed at how long it takes them to take a quiz. Tonight I spent 45 minutes waiting for them to finish a 19 question quiz. So I had to race through the stages of mitosis so they could do the lab after the break. I did a diservice to them. I still suck at this teaching gig.
Sunday, October 9, 2011
Fossil Horses
I can't seem to finish a book before starting another one. I have a good but long geology book, Earth by Richard Fortey, still on the stack and with only one chapter to go but I keep jumping into new tomes. Right now I am stuck in a wonderful book translated from German on fossil horses. I had assumed that all early horses were North American but the book starts out describing an oil shale quarry in Mesel Germany loaded with Eocene horses.
I knew that horses lost their side toes, elongated and flattened their teeth, and grew much larger. What I did not know that they elongated their faces to accomodate their deep rooted teeth, also reduced the size of their ulnas and fibulae. What truly amazed me was that the early horses were super fast. George Gaylord Simpson estimated that they ran at Greyhound speeds.
I also learned that eventhough modern horses are a little faster than dogs, they specialized their tendons and ligaments into elastic afterburners that reduced the energy needed to move their toes and push off. In other words, the economized their locomotory energy.
I am eaten up with paleontology. I hope this interest sticks around for a while.
I knew that horses lost their side toes, elongated and flattened their teeth, and grew much larger. What I did not know that they elongated their faces to accomodate their deep rooted teeth, also reduced the size of their ulnas and fibulae. What truly amazed me was that the early horses were super fast. George Gaylord Simpson estimated that they ran at Greyhound speeds.
I also learned that eventhough modern horses are a little faster than dogs, they specialized their tendons and ligaments into elastic afterburners that reduced the energy needed to move their toes and push off. In other words, the economized their locomotory energy.
I am eaten up with paleontology. I hope this interest sticks around for a while.
Gary's Cafe
One of my favorite places to eat is a country buffet in River Falls called Gary's Cafe. It is what they call "a meat and three" place. You can't get a more authentic south Alabama place. The food is wonderful. I usually go on Fridays for lunch. I'm not much of a chicken fan but they do make very good fried chicken. I usually get a scoop of coleslaw, a scoop of cheese-grits (leftovers from their breakfast buffet), and a dollop of baked beans. I get a big glass of sweet tea (easier to get refills) and for dessert they usually have the Southern staple, banana pudding.
The cafe is connected to a small market called Wages'. They have boiled peanuts, cane poles and local produce. I have a couple of students/former students who work there.
The cafe is connected to a small market called Wages'. They have boiled peanuts, cane poles and local produce. I have a couple of students/former students who work there.
Amber and Copal
A few months ago I went crazy on Abebooks, a wonderful used book website, and bought a ton of fossil books. They are stacked on my desk at work and in the back seat of my car. I was looking for some lunch reading this week and cracked open one on Amber. So informative!
I had no idea that amber is not found where the trees dropped resin. It has been secondarily processed, most likely eroded out of the soil and then washed down a stream or river and then deposited in sediments. Unfossilized amber is called copal. It can also have inclusions of insects and is sometimes sold as amber. One simple test is that a drop of alcohol on it will make it sticky upon evaporating. Several years ago I bought what I thought was amber at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show but after Brian and I did the alcohol test it became sticky. It wasn't amber after all, it was copal.
I learned that it is fairly common to fake amber. Sometimes people with cut open amber, hollow out one side, drop in a bug, and then sell it as amber. The big money of course is for specimens with large trapped critters. These larger critters were usually strong enough to escape. So there are lots of fakes out there with scorpions or lizards in them.
In addition, phenolic resins, caseins, and glass can all be made to look like amber. After reading the book I had an idea that this would make a great science lab. There are some simple tests you can perform (like the alcohol) to check the authenticity of the amber. The other night I went on eBay to see if I could find some amber plus some of the other materials for the lab. I became so skeptical I became discouraged. I think I will have to find a more trustworthy source than eBay for buying amber.
I had no idea that amber is not found where the trees dropped resin. It has been secondarily processed, most likely eroded out of the soil and then washed down a stream or river and then deposited in sediments. Unfossilized amber is called copal. It can also have inclusions of insects and is sometimes sold as amber. One simple test is that a drop of alcohol on it will make it sticky upon evaporating. Several years ago I bought what I thought was amber at the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show but after Brian and I did the alcohol test it became sticky. It wasn't amber after all, it was copal.
I learned that it is fairly common to fake amber. Sometimes people with cut open amber, hollow out one side, drop in a bug, and then sell it as amber. The big money of course is for specimens with large trapped critters. These larger critters were usually strong enough to escape. So there are lots of fakes out there with scorpions or lizards in them.
In addition, phenolic resins, caseins, and glass can all be made to look like amber. After reading the book I had an idea that this would make a great science lab. There are some simple tests you can perform (like the alcohol) to check the authenticity of the amber. The other night I went on eBay to see if I could find some amber plus some of the other materials for the lab. I became so skeptical I became discouraged. I think I will have to find a more trustworthy source than eBay for buying amber.
Coyotes on the Nature Trail
Earlier this week, Mr. B and I hit the golf course for an evening romp. I kept hearing this strange sound coming from the woods. About every 20 seconds this loud lilting howl would sound. Basil seemed completely uninterested. I asked both Susan and John Carpenter (he's a hunter) what is could be. When Susan said it could be a wounded deer my heart sank.
Anyway, we went out again on Thursday and it began again. This time there was some barking and then the weird sound. I called Susan to see if she could hear it over the phone but it didn't work. When we got home, Susan found some examples on youtube and sure enough it was a coyote. What was remarkable was I could still hear it when I got to the car in the parking lot.
According to the internet, coyote numbers are increasing due to higher deer populations. Also, the eastern coyote is bigger because it has some wolf in it due to some hybridization that happened in Canada. I remember hearing Coyotes during campouts in California. I think I will call our local one Peter or Wiley. I haven't decided yet.
Anyway, we went out again on Thursday and it began again. This time there was some barking and then the weird sound. I called Susan to see if she could hear it over the phone but it didn't work. When we got home, Susan found some examples on youtube and sure enough it was a coyote. What was remarkable was I could still hear it when I got to the car in the parking lot.
According to the internet, coyote numbers are increasing due to higher deer populations. Also, the eastern coyote is bigger because it has some wolf in it due to some hybridization that happened in Canada. I remember hearing Coyotes during campouts in California. I think I will call our local one Peter or Wiley. I haven't decided yet.
Floored
Yesterday I awoke from my afternoon nap with a cold sore right below my philtrum. I have been slathering on the Abreva to keep it from turning into an angry lesion. My current hypothesis for the outbreak centers on my flu shot earlier in the week but I must say it is a weak hypothesis. I haven't had a fever or a sunburn but I have had a few stressors this week. Susan is busy replacing the floor in the living room so I have been living in cramped conditions.
After the loss of our beloved Emily, Susan wanted new carpeting. She put down some offwhite textured wall to wall downstairs. Well, Mr. B came along and his muddy feet turned the carpeting to a darker shade. After a few DIY attempts and a Stanley Steamer visit, she decided that the carpeting was going to remain dingy. So she decided on hardwood flooring. We began in Basil's room. It does look beautiful and it is warming to hear his nails clicker-clack on it while he pads through the room.
Well this week was the time to do the great room. Joe ripped up the carpeting for us exposing warped particle board damaged from a leaky roof way back in the mid 90's when Hurricane Opal roared through town. Joe spent two afternoons with a crowbar ripping out the particle board. Ritchey came in and put in new plywood and then the hardwood. It looks better but he does still needs to finish the patch in front of the sliding glass doors. I never realized it was such a tricky task. You've got to cut the boards to different lengths for a staggered look and you got to randomize the different colored boards to prevent anyone spot becoming a sore thumb.
All that hammering eliminated my typical nap times on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons. I was a yawny, cranky mess this week. Plus I am also in TIVO withdrawals. I have missed the first two episodes of my favorite shows and this sitting through commercials is getting old. Susan moved her TV down into Basil's room and her TIVO works but she only records HGTV and Food network. She complains that my TV is blowing her ears out. I offered to close the door but she said she wanted to be close. I bought a pair of wireless headphones for the TV so my deaf ears can hear the TV and not deafen Susan.
After the loss of our beloved Emily, Susan wanted new carpeting. She put down some offwhite textured wall to wall downstairs. Well, Mr. B came along and his muddy feet turned the carpeting to a darker shade. After a few DIY attempts and a Stanley Steamer visit, she decided that the carpeting was going to remain dingy. So she decided on hardwood flooring. We began in Basil's room. It does look beautiful and it is warming to hear his nails clicker-clack on it while he pads through the room.
Well this week was the time to do the great room. Joe ripped up the carpeting for us exposing warped particle board damaged from a leaky roof way back in the mid 90's when Hurricane Opal roared through town. Joe spent two afternoons with a crowbar ripping out the particle board. Ritchey came in and put in new plywood and then the hardwood. It looks better but he does still needs to finish the patch in front of the sliding glass doors. I never realized it was such a tricky task. You've got to cut the boards to different lengths for a staggered look and you got to randomize the different colored boards to prevent anyone spot becoming a sore thumb.
All that hammering eliminated my typical nap times on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday afternoons. I was a yawny, cranky mess this week. Plus I am also in TIVO withdrawals. I have missed the first two episodes of my favorite shows and this sitting through commercials is getting old. Susan moved her TV down into Basil's room and her TIVO works but she only records HGTV and Food network. She complains that my TV is blowing her ears out. I offered to close the door but she said she wanted to be close. I bought a pair of wireless headphones for the TV so my deaf ears can hear the TV and not deafen Susan.
Sunday, September 25, 2011
Bone Quiz
I saw a doe tonight when I walked out of the administration building. She was lovely. She ran off toward the golf course. My new book on the evolution of horses must have arrived on Friday, it was in my box. It is a great-looking book. I've been slowly collecting plastic figurines of prehistoric animals. I've gotten several dinosaurs, a mammoth, a mosasaur, and even a Dunkleosteus. I am sort of making a wish list of transitional fossils I'd like to have figurines of: Hyracotherium, Tiktaalik, Basilosaurus plus a bunch of cenozoic mammals. A brontotherium would look great on my desk.
Tomorrow is a fun school day. Last day of bones for Anatomy--the pelvis and lower extremities. I set up a mini-practical for them tonight. Thirty questions--they'll take it individually and then with their groups. They'll be happy about the group quiz. My super-pokey non-majors section starts on mutations at 1 in the afternoon. One of my favorite subjects, I hope they enjoy it.
Susan is taking tomorrow off to work on Paul's house some more. Last week someone broke into Paul's house and burgled the place. Susan called the police. They were very understanding. One mentioned after he met Basil that he had been bitten by dogs more than a dozen times. Basil was a perfect gentleman. Gladys, Paul's neighbor, had some medication stolen around the same time while she attended a funeral. She knows who did it but apparently it is dangerous to snitch in that neighborhood.
I've got to set my alarm. Six-thirty comes pretty early. Monday mornings suck! I hope I won't have an 8 AM class next semester. May all your bases be paired.
Tomorrow is a fun school day. Last day of bones for Anatomy--the pelvis and lower extremities. I set up a mini-practical for them tonight. Thirty questions--they'll take it individually and then with their groups. They'll be happy about the group quiz. My super-pokey non-majors section starts on mutations at 1 in the afternoon. One of my favorite subjects, I hope they enjoy it.
Susan is taking tomorrow off to work on Paul's house some more. Last week someone broke into Paul's house and burgled the place. Susan called the police. They were very understanding. One mentioned after he met Basil that he had been bitten by dogs more than a dozen times. Basil was a perfect gentleman. Gladys, Paul's neighbor, had some medication stolen around the same time while she attended a funeral. She knows who did it but apparently it is dangerous to snitch in that neighborhood.
I've got to set my alarm. Six-thirty comes pretty early. Monday mornings suck! I hope I won't have an 8 AM class next semester. May all your bases be paired.
Montgomery Trip
Friday, I had my semi-annual appointment with Dr. Harwood. I had only been taking half of my dose of wellbutrin for months. For some reason I had forgotten to take a second dose at night. I wonder if I had been affected. I have had a difficult time getting excited about many thing lately but I don't know if it is due to the lack of meds or just natural boredom. I started taking my meds at night like I should. We'll see if any more ambition arises over the next few weeks.
Susan and I had a lovely afternoon in Montgomery. We ate lunch at one of our favorite places...Mimi's Cafe. I am a junkie for their tomato and basil bisque. We brought home a quart of soup. I have eaten the entire quart with sourdough bread to wipe up every last drop. Susan replenished her wine supply at World Market. I bought some bird seed at PetSmart because I couldn't get sunflower seeds here in Andalusia. We then went to Kohl's so Susan could buy some new pants and tops for her new skinny body. I had to work hard hide my suffering from her. Nowhere to sit, I finally found a display platform on which to park my butt.
Our last stop was Earth Fare. It is sort of a whole foods supermarket. I lusted after all the octoberfest beers. My stupid gastroesophageal sphincter won't let me drink beer. The heartburn is too excruciating and HCl blockers haven't worked. We got Basil some cow bones he loves to chew the ends off as well as some liver soft dogfood. I bought some strawberry kefir which is a liquid yogurt I used to drink in California during my Mom's health food kick. I found an apple pie to take home. It was delicious.
The worst part of the 90 mile journey to the big city is the drive back home. The interstate was packed with people heading south for the weekend. We had bumper to bumper traffic a few miles outside of Fort Deposit. When we got to the reason, it was a guy with a TV camera on the side of the road with two cop cars flashing their lights. A mile or so beyond was a wrecked TV news truck on the back of a tow truck.
We slowed to a crawl between Greenville and Georgiana. A tractor-trailer had wrecked up ahead. We listened to some of my new Alan Parson's Project CD. Susan said it sounded like stoner music. We had had a scare on I85 on the way to the doctor's office. A mattress, box springs, and a headboard flew off the back of a trailer. Susan pulled off into the slow lane and stopped to help a man pick up the broken headboard. He had stepped out right in front of us. Susan went on and on talking about how paranoid she was of what had just happened. She said people have been killed hitting stuff that had fallen off the back of trucks and trailers. I told them of how we had lost our couch on the Garden Grove freeway.
I'm off to shower now. Susan is cleaning up Paul's house. She brought some of his furniture home yesterday and put it in the shop. It now smells like Paul. She is a good soul for helping him out. I am ashamed but what is new.
Susan and I had a lovely afternoon in Montgomery. We ate lunch at one of our favorite places...Mimi's Cafe. I am a junkie for their tomato and basil bisque. We brought home a quart of soup. I have eaten the entire quart with sourdough bread to wipe up every last drop. Susan replenished her wine supply at World Market. I bought some bird seed at PetSmart because I couldn't get sunflower seeds here in Andalusia. We then went to Kohl's so Susan could buy some new pants and tops for her new skinny body. I had to work hard hide my suffering from her. Nowhere to sit, I finally found a display platform on which to park my butt.
Our last stop was Earth Fare. It is sort of a whole foods supermarket. I lusted after all the octoberfest beers. My stupid gastroesophageal sphincter won't let me drink beer. The heartburn is too excruciating and HCl blockers haven't worked. We got Basil some cow bones he loves to chew the ends off as well as some liver soft dogfood. I bought some strawberry kefir which is a liquid yogurt I used to drink in California during my Mom's health food kick. I found an apple pie to take home. It was delicious.
The worst part of the 90 mile journey to the big city is the drive back home. The interstate was packed with people heading south for the weekend. We had bumper to bumper traffic a few miles outside of Fort Deposit. When we got to the reason, it was a guy with a TV camera on the side of the road with two cop cars flashing their lights. A mile or so beyond was a wrecked TV news truck on the back of a tow truck.
We slowed to a crawl between Greenville and Georgiana. A tractor-trailer had wrecked up ahead. We listened to some of my new Alan Parson's Project CD. Susan said it sounded like stoner music. We had had a scare on I85 on the way to the doctor's office. A mattress, box springs, and a headboard flew off the back of a trailer. Susan pulled off into the slow lane and stopped to help a man pick up the broken headboard. He had stepped out right in front of us. Susan went on and on talking about how paranoid she was of what had just happened. She said people have been killed hitting stuff that had fallen off the back of trucks and trailers. I told them of how we had lost our couch on the Garden Grove freeway.
I'm off to shower now. Susan is cleaning up Paul's house. She brought some of his furniture home yesterday and put it in the shop. It now smells like Paul. She is a good soul for helping him out. I am ashamed but what is new.
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