TrivialBob

At my first dental checkup after using the Sonicare for a few months, my regular hygienist remarked, "Wow, you've really been doing a good job brushing." She didn't spend much time scraping plaque that day.

Along with the new toothbrush, I also started brushing twice a day, every day. I know I should have been doing that all along, but I decided to take it seriously. I follow the Sonicare's two-minute timer so I don't rush through the process.

Flossing has never been an issue for me, because I always floss every day. I can't fathom how some people rarely or never use dental floss.

My checkup earlier this week was also excellent. The hygienist made the same comment about excellent brushing and again spent very little time scraping plaque.

My long-time dentist retired at the same time I did at the beginning of this year. He is about my age. I always liked the care he provided. Great guy.

It's interesting how the age differences change over the years. When I was a youth, doctors and nurses were much older than I was. In middle age, I saw doctors who were around the same age as me. Most nurses and technicians were my age, though younger ones started to appear.

We did some bar hopping and also went tubing on a river. The drop off point is close to our place, and the end point is too. It took us 2.25 hours to float 1.67 miles. I had to leave yesterday for a dentist appointment this morning. Sheila told me Jack and Ali went tubing a second time.

Jack and Ali brought their dogs. The cabin got a little crowded, but everyone got along. It helps having a deck for hanging out and eating.

We went into a nearby town to eat at a diner I've been wanting to try, simply because its name. The signs on the door might also make some think the people who run the place are... rude.

That couldn't have been further from the truth. Everyone was great, and so was the food. Jack's waffle and hot chicken sandwich was huge. He said it was good too.

A deer ran into the side of Jack's car one evening. Fortunately, there was no damage.

Jack and Ali are used to presenting ID when ordering drinks at bars. They live in a college town, so bartenders there tend to be pretty careful. Wisconsin, however, is a little different.

At one bar, Jack offered his ID. The bartender had figured out Sheila was his mother. "As long as you're with a parent, we don't care."

Pleasant evening in Wisconsin.

The dogs are inside, staring through the sliding glass door, because they dont care for fires.

Besides the crackling of the burning logs, we hear a huge chorus of bullfrogs and the faint sound of a band playing outside on a bar's patio.

Sulley and me at the cabin.

We've been neighbors for about 15 years. They host a fair number of family gatherings. Sometimes when I see a bunch of cars in the driveway, and one of them belongs to the mother of the wife, I mix myself a cocktail and walk over there.

About 10 years ago, K—the boys' grandmother and mom of my neighbor—gave me a standing invitation to come over to her daughter's house for drinks whenever K was visiting.

It all started when the family went on vacation. Sheila and I were taking care of their dog, April. They asked that we stop by several times a day to feed and let April outside in their fenced-in yard.

Well, that got old—walking back and forth several times a day. So Sheila and I brought April over to stay in our house all week. Our dogs got along with April, and she liked our self-serve doggy door.

Midweek, K texted me. "I am at the house. Where is April??"

April was sleeping on my living room floor, her head resting on my foot, when I replied to K: "Sheila and I figured April would be happier staying with us and our dogs instead of being home alone. (I didn't add that my laziness was also a factor.)

It's National Donut Day.

The dogs and I went to our favorite bakery in Minneapolis after visiting the airport dog park (where we didn't see any interesting planes). The dogs waited outside while I got donuts. When I came back, I could literally see drool on the ground.

The plain donuts I bought felt like they went from the fryer into the bag. The wax coating on the bag was melting. I broke one into pieces, but had to let them cool before the dogs could eat any. The blue frosting on a donut I got for Sheila melted too.

As I was paying for my donuts, two awful, feral, vulgar, filthy, obnoxious people—who, other than all that had nothing in common with each other— got into an argument inside the tiny store. He disparaged her for some transgression outside the bakery, while she screamed at him (I suspect 10 is the only volume she has for anything).

Tonight, Sheila and I and went to the brewery for pizza and, of course, beer. We saw a bunch of people we know and talked and talked and talked.

Now we're back home, sitting on the patio. Here you can see my bald head, little Sulley, and, if you squint, there's Ella sticking here nose out the doggy door. She wants to see what we're doing while also keeping her butt cool inside the house.

This is what our dogs look like when Sheila goes inside for something and I stay on the bench. From left to right is Sulley, Ella, Oliver, and Stella, all laser focused on where Sheila went.

This is what it looks like when I go inside, and Sheila remains sitting on a patio bench:

First, the golf cart is working wonderfully. The single lithium battery (which replaced four very heavy lead acid ones) holds a charge really well.

Second, we'd had a problem with the air conditioner from last fall, after someone (not Sheila or me) installed a new wi-fi digital thermostat. An ambulance co-worker of Sheila's also owns an HVAC company, and he has an RV parked a few miles from us every summer.

It took him a couple of hours to figure out the wiring, but he got it fixed. The first night there, I sweated, the dogs panted, and fans pushed air around. The rest of the time we chilled in comfort. Oh, and he absolutely would not let me pay him for his time, no matter how much I insisted. Sheila and I will find a way to make it up to him. He expressed interest in inner tubing with us on the nearby river. There are also plenty of bars and restaurants we can try too.

A neighbor up there wanted the lumber from our old deck, from when Sheila and I had a travel trailer parked somewhere else. We had to remove the deck when we sold that trailer. He and another neighbor assembled a deck at his trailer over the weekend using that lumber. I was late and didn't help, but they still invited the dogs and me to come over for dinner.

I was equally excited by all the nice, cordless tool and the tantalizing assortment of grilled meats.

After dinner, we sat around and enjoyed some gin and tonics. A few of us have the Merlin Bird ID app on our phones. It's pretty fun. We heard owls in the distance, and the app identified them as Barred Owls.

One of the guys played the app's owl call over a Bluetooth speaker. It sounded like owls were hooting on the deck right next to us.

Within a few minutes, the real owls we'd heard in the distance flew in and hung out in the pine trees above, check us out. Beautiful birds, especially when they spread their wings and flew around.

I'm excited about the key rack and keychain labels I put together. We have keys for so many different doors, cabinets, bike locks, padlocks and the golf cart that I had to do something to keep them organized.

The funny thing is, up there hardly anyone locks anything unless they're going to be gone for a long time.

A UPS Boeing 747 arrived at MSP very early this morning (around 5:30 AM, which is also sunrise today). I almost drove over there to watch because planes were landing over the dog park, and I haven't seen a 747 up close in a long time.

But I was still sleepy. So were the dogs. When I finally got up, I did laundry and hung everything outside to dry, including the bedding. It all dried fairly quickly, even jeans, bath towels, and a comforter.

At the dog park later in the morning, I captured a Southwest 737 landing. It wasn't a busy day, in the air or on the ground. The largest plane I saw in the air was this Airbus A350-900. Sadly, I wasn't up close for this one.

On the way home, I stopped at an Indian restaurant. The place had just opened for the day, so it was very quiet. I asked an employee for help deciding. I explained I love butter chicken (it's one of Sheila's best dishes) but wanted to try something different, and I'd like something spicy.

There was something with coconut that sounded good, but then he mentioned vindaloo, which sounded really good. I ordered it with medium spice (which turned out to be perfect for me).

The guy threw in an order of coconut naan on the house. I got the food to go. (It was all wonderful tasting.)

The dogs waited for me in my truck, which I could see from inside the restaurant, as I ordered and paid. An older man and woman stopped their car next to my truck and gave it some stink-eye. They sure looked crabby. They talked and stared at Ella and Sulley, who were sitting in the front seats. Oliver was in the back seat behind tinted glass. I'm certain that the couple was not admiring my pretty dogs but were thinking it was 200° inside the truck.

It is very warm today. I left the engine running (it can do that without the key) and the A/C blowing. I often leave the doors unlocked, in case some crazy person thinks the animals are suffering and decides to free them by breaking a window.

When you get to the speaker, you give a four-character code (two letters followed by two numbers) assigned by the app. Then an employee thanks you for using the app and instructs you to pull up to the window.

My code this time was YY12.

When I gave the employee my code he replied, "I don't know, I don't know why it's twelve!"

For about a fifth of a second, I thought to myself, "What's his ******* problem?"

When we bought our place last fall, the seller included his golf cart as part of the transaction. It broke shortly after the sale. A number of people (neighbors) tried to fix it without success.

Finally this spring, Sheila found a golf cart dealership a half hour away. I trailered the cart there earlier this month. The guy there got it up and running for a price less than I expected.

I have a morbid fascination with Buy Nothing pages on Facebook.

One local woman often seeks (begs for) miscellaneous household items, plants, and toys. In fairness, she sometimes offers free things too. She lives in a half-million dollar house.

This week, someone offered half a container of sherbet. It was the "rainbow" flavor. The giver decided, after eating half of it, that although correctly labeled as having lemon, lime, and orange flavors, it lacked strawberry.

One person replied that she was interested in it. A second person posted that he'd like to have it, but since he doesn't have a car, it would melt before he could walk home with the frozen treat.

Then someone offered a rotisserie chicken that was two days past it's sell-by date. She hadn't smelled it, but assumed it was still good. Two people wanted it!

You might think this would be a time-sensitive offer, but the giver apologized for not checking for replies right away. Of course, there was someone else who wanted it but let us know she didn't have a way to pick it up.

Comments like that last one further my argument that every social media post should incur a small cost to the person who posted it. Would it be worth 5¢ to you to tell people you can't pick up something you want?

Last month, when I was in Manhattan, I saw a Google camera/GPS car driving while I was walking around the East Village. Sheila was inside The Strand bookstore nearby.

That's my red and black LL Bean jacket and a wool ball cap I got in Ireland last year. I tried to move the Street View to see my blurred out face, but once I click past that Mercedes G wagon, the picture changes from April 2026 to September 2024.

We arrived a bit early and walked around outside. An employee coming to work asked if we needed anything. "Nope, we know we're early." He welcomed us warmly and said he'd see us inside when the doors opened. Later, he said hi to me again when we were were being seated by our server. Everyone working there was fantastic.

I ordered a very expensive steak and didn't give the price a second thought. It was indeed a tasty selection and worth it.

We ordered fancy cocktails too. Sheila thought she'd like this mango concoction, but the serrano in it was a little too spicy for her taste. I stepped up and finished it for her. I loved the spice on top of the mango sweetness (mango tequila, mango tonic, mango ferment, serrano, tamarind).

This morning, Sheila went to work, and I got going on yardwork. The Aussies hung out in the back yard as I mowed the grass. Their white feet now look like the Grinch's.

Got some steps in.

A former coworker (who is still working) texted me asking for help with a subject I knew well. I don't mind her questions, as they aren't frequent. She wanted to hear about my trips to New Mexico and New York City, and I like hearing from her who else is retiring and the hot gossip on that one manager nobody cares for. Another favorite coworker called me to let me know she is retiring this week.

Since yesterday, the only other things I've done are eat, read, watch the latest season of Beef, and take the dogs to the nearby little off-leash park. After the park, I picked up Chinese food from a tiny local place I hadn't tried before. $7.99 for a takeout lunch special which seemed to weigh about three pounds. That was lunch and I have leftovers for dinner.

Beef has me hooked. The first season was in 2023. The second season isn't connected to the first. I didn't even know there was a new season except I Googled the current most popular TV series and saw it.

Another series that appeared was Margo's Got Money Troubles. I watched two episodes with limited interest before switching to Beef. The book I brought with me is keeping me very entertained, so I don't know if I'll have time to give Margo's another chance.

Last night it got down to 49°F/9°C. This afternoon we reached 83°F/28°C. Cold nights are great for sleeping. The little cabin has stayed fairly cool this afternoon without using air conditioning. Surrounding tall pines provide a lot of shade.

The dogs have been pretty lazy. I found a bar and grill in a neighboring city that will let me take them onto the patio. I stopped in today to check the menu and make sure I could bring the dogs. $7.50 (cash only) for a mushroom and Swiss burger. Be still my frugal heart. I talked briefly with the manger who was a super nice guy. This place will be our lunch tomorrow. At those low prices, I'll order a plain hamburger for the dogs to share.

I usually stop at the local grocery store for some produce for the weekend. It costs a little more, but I like and to support the local businesses. I have two produce code memorized for the self-checkout: 4011 is yellow bananas, 3283 is Honeycrisp apples.

Those apples are always relatively expensive, but they are worth it. However, I think I got some that were mislabeled. They were not crisp, bordering on mushy, and lacked the flavor I was expecting. I still ate them, but with a frown.