Clovis* the computer whiz came down to visit...

.... this week. MFH had some heavy duty yard work to do and I immediately decided that young Clovis was the man to do it! So I invited him down for the weekend, promising him free food and some cash. Since he is starting at the big university next year and has no summer job yet, he said sure. I left him to thrash out all the weeds that I have been carefully cultivating all summer long while I worked on the computer ... inside my air conditioned study. Every now and then I popped out to check on his progress and to tell him what a great job he was doing. He would just mutter.

Since he is a big lad, over 6 ft, size 14 feet, nearly 300 lbs., he rooted around and pulled up stuff at a fearsome rate and was done in 3 hrs. Even I was impressed. He also fixed our weed whacker and then came in and taught me how to cut and paste url addresses onto my blog. I was so delighted.

I did the cooking that night, and even Clovis didn't complain about it much. The next day we practiced driving out at the old airport and then I drove him up the mountain to home.

*I've named him after King Clovis, first of the Long-Haired Kings. He was a horse sacrificing pagan and a bloodthirsty warrior. Then he became a Catholic Christian and inadvertently created France. Later the Long-Haired Kings changed their nick-name to the Do-Nothing Kings. No offence Clovis.

Last week I saw a terrible sight on the way up the mountain....

.... As I drove up past the runaway truck ramp* I first saw police cars and a huge tow truck at the side. Then I could see up on the ramp. There was something crumpled up that looked like it might have been a truck's cab, and the trailer behind it, ripped open at the front as if a maniacal giant had attacked it with a huge can opener. No sign of a driver or ambulance, but it was a sobering sight.

The next day as I drove up I heard on the radio a description of the accident. The driver was killed instantly. This is the second time in just a few years that a trucker was killed in that exact spot. The next time you are in a store, shopping for something like, say, food for your kids, remember the working guys who got it to you.

*NOTE: For those flatlanders like Elliott, a tractor trailor is so heavy that when it starts down a steep mountain grade several miles long, gravity working on so many tons sometimes causes the brakes to burn up or otherwise fail. So huge ramps of sand are piled up at the side of the road in spots so the truckers can pull up on the ramp, the wheels will sink into the sand and the truck will stop very suddenly. Sometimes, as in this case, so suddenly that the trailor breaks loose and crushes the cab. Authorities speculate that the driver was inexperienced with mountain driving and in fact may have been lost.

What I heard in the car today ....

... was an interesting take on Christianity. As I drove up the mountain I listened to the Diane Rehm show on NPR - an excellent talk-show by the way. Rehm is an intelligent and skilled interviewer. At first I was going to turn to my Recorded Book of Moby Dick but was so struck by the man she was interviewing that I stayed to listen.

The guest under scrutiny was Francis Collins, a pioneering medical geneticist who once headed the Human Genome Project. He has written a book called The Language of God: A Scientist presents Evidence for Belief. Raised in a non-religious family Collins went from being an agnostic, to an atheist, to a true believer in the Christian God. He sees no conflict between genuine religious belief and science. The natural observable world is the work of God and can be studied. It is, in a sense, 'true.' I liked his take on the subject and liked him, to the extent his personality could come through on a radio program. Makes me want to read the book.

When they got to the part of the show where people call in, I switched back to Moby Dick.

At work I checked Amazon.com - found the following assessment from a reader:

However, I did not find the book to be stunning or revelatory. It also tends to be dry, rational and logical in some places. Exactly what you would anticipate from a scientist. For this reason, I give it 3 stars and suggest that it may not be for everyone.

No, dry, rational and logical is probably not for everyone. At least not in this time or place.

As a teacher I sometimes want to weep, or laugh out loud, when I read comments on Amazon.

Maeréad came to our house for a sleep-over....

... and a good time was had by all. She's a sweet and charming little girl, but she is also smart as a whip, opinionated, and determined, not to say willfull. And enough energy in her nervous system to light up all of Wilkes county for a week. And, as my sister has helpfully pointed out, I managed to reach well into my 50's before attempting to be 'child-friendly.'

She chattered, as usual, all the way down the mountain to Wilkesboro, and then we took her immediately to see "Cars", which of course she had already seen. That, by the way, is one of her new phrases she uses in answer to almost any question: "Of course I can!" or "Of course I did!" A bit like, "What's wrong with you? Can't you see?" Still, she loved the movie for the second time and sat through it all.

We all liked "Cars" and discussed the deeper philosophical points over dinner at the Creamery. I liked the animation, especially the car race at the very beginning. Laura and Maeréad both liked the infamous tractor-tipping scene with Frank the combine (I used to drive one of those things - they really are scarey). Dinner was good. Maeréad got the peanutbutter and jelly sandwich with french fries. She ate the french fries first in about 2.3 seconds. Somewhere along the line, in a move I still don't quite remember, she managed to extort a free order of hushpuppies out of a very nice waitress.

When we got home MFH and Maeréad made an 'experiment' - watermelon popsicles. It was simple - chop up a watermelon, throw the chunks into a blinder, add a teaspoon of sugar, and turn the blender over to the 4 year old. She has an iron finger when it comes to the fast speed button on the blender. Thanks goodness I had managed to convince her to wait until the top was on good before hitting it. Anyway, the ice-pops, as she calls them, were good on a hot evening.

When MFH took her back to her room to sleep on the futon the little lummox quietly followed them back. He knows that is cat territory where he is not allowed to go. When Maeréad had been read several of her little stories, MFH decided to just leave her and see if she fell asleep. The little lummox stayed behind, stretched out right alongside her on the futon. He almost got away with it, but eventually MFH asked where the dog was. We went back and told him to get back up to his room, which he did without making a fuss but looking very hangdog about it. Maeréad didn't stir.

By the time her dad got her the next afternoon we were worn out and she was just picking up steam. It was a great weekend, but we needed a day or two to rest up.

My old hometown and libraries....

.... I was raised in Loudoun County in Northern Virginia. Here's what an editiorial the Washington Post had to say about the County Supervisors, who sound like the biggest set of twits you could imagine.

THE STARCHY schoolmarms and would-be censors who hold sway on Loudoun County's Board of Supervisors have pronounced themselves opposed to spending public money to stock R-rated DVDs in the public libraries. Luckily, these Guardians of the True G-Rating do not call the shots at the county's seven library branches when it comes to determining acquisitions policy; the county's library board does that, and, being independent, it wisely decided to ignore the priggish directive from on high.

Why did the Supervisors threaten the Libraryies' budget? Good question.

Neither the libraries nor the supervisors have reported any public complaints about the fact that 440 R-rated movies are available as DVDs in Loudoun's library system. In fact, as The Post's Amy Gardner reported, the titles are so popular that they are usually checked out. Nor are youngsters getting their hands on the DVD versions of movies that they cannot see in the theaters; the libraries have a policy of not lending R-rated flicks to minors.

Do the good folks of Loudoun actually pay people for this?

Sometimes I think that the librarians of the nation are the only people who have actually internalized the values of the US Constitution and a liberal democracy.

And I get to see Mulan too!

... I was setting in my office yesteday, working hard, sweat beading my brow as I labored at the State's business, when Mulan's dad came in. Of course, I had to stop working so I could solve all the problems he had created. When I had done that he told me that Mulan and her mother were going to meet him at the Mushroom. Now, since I haven't seen my niece for weeks and weeks, I had to go over to see them at the Mushroom. Where, to be polite, I had a beer. Or two. And they forced me to eat that piece of pizza. Tapas.

It was great to see Mulan again. She has had a terrible time the last few weeks with sore's on her mouth that hurt so bad she couldn't even eat. I felt so bad to hear that. But I was greatly relieved to see she was back to her usual sunny self and happy to tease her dad. (He needs that to keep him in line). When she gets finished with her day camp way up deep in the mountains we will bring her down to our house for a sleepover. Maybe lummox and I can find the chocolate pony for her again.

Maeréad and I had a chance to spend some time together.

Her mother Maire an Rua has gone off to Ireland, to learn Irish of all things! So her poor dad is stuck alone with a four year old (funny how MFH and I never think this way when he runs off to Texas!).

It was a chance to get my hands on the WRX, so I kindly offered to pick Maeréad up on my way in to Boone Tuesday morning and take her to day care. Got to her house at at about 8am (the crack of dawn for me). Once I strapped her into her car seat I turned to talk to her Dad. Immediately she began to give commands: "Okey, Uncle Oscar, get in the car! Let's go to school!" Et cetera. Her dad turned away muttering something that sounded like "thought I'd got rid of the bossy one."

So we rode off to her school, with Miss Maeréad chattering away. She's happy, in fact delighted, to be called a chatterbox. She gave me very explicit directions how to get there.

I spent the day working on the new schedule, advising two very problematic students (one of them keeps getting pregnant due to the activities of the other), and playing around with my blogs (only for about 15 or 20 minutes, honest).

Picked young madam up that afternoon so she could come over to my office. She decorated the hallway with some wonderfully vivid Maeréad originals, went to her mother's office, drew, colored, ran up and down the hall and then started bothering 'her David'.

Finally we all went over to the Mellow Mushroom where I had a much needed beer. Or two. Clovis was there too, and her dad showed up to regain custody of his WRX and agreed to take his daughter off my hands too. It was a fun evening.

Dooley's Fine Dining at the Tory Oak...

.... a new restaurant in town. Or rather the revival of an old restaurant. MFH and I went there last night with a local historian and his wife last night. Started off by setting in the old bar in some excessively comfortable couches - we almost didn't want to get up to move to our own private dining room. The building was once a hotel and is right across the street from the courthouse (now a museum). As our friend said, as he settled back into the couch, "A lot of important events have taken place here!" He could remember when it was still a hotel serving, among others, the judge who held court in the courthouse. As a very young child he would play on the big cannon out in front. Apparently it has gone through several paint jobs over the years. Between Seth, the owner (a former student of mine btw), and our friend, we learned quite a bit about the history of downtown Wilkesboro and the family that ran the hotel.

It's definitely a one man show, with Seth doing most of the work himself. The food was excellent, Seth's recommendations worth following, and the service attentive, informative and slow (Seth does it all himself and has to run down to Dooley's Bar to get draft beers and wine).

Bottom line: it's a charming place of Nineteenth Century atmosphere with good food if you want to spend an evening chatting with good friends. Which is exactly what we did.

For Mulan: The Chocolate Pony and his summer look....

.... Mulan has not been down for awhile, not since she had her long talk with the chocolate pony. Yesterday was hot, but I decided to take the little lummox for a walk along the Reddies River, out to where the pony hangs out. MFH was busy in the house, tearing up the living room so she can put it back together again after giving it a coat of paint, and disgression dictated that the two males of the household have some quality time elsewhere.

I feel that interspecies male bonding is important.

Anyway, hot as it was lummox was full of energy and trotted along nicely. We found Chocolate right by the fence as if he were waiting for us. He is a different animal! He used to look like one of those little Mongolian ponies, short, fat and shaggy, with fuzzy thick legs and mane and tail trailing the ground. Scruffy but loveable.

Now he has his summer cut - someone has trimmed him all up. He no longer looks like a shaggy mean steppe pony, but like an elegant miniature horse. His legs look trim and neat, as does the rest of him. I could hardly believe it. Lummox was so phased that he was actually good with Chocolate - didn't lunge or bite at all. For the fist time I realized just how small Chocolate really is - if Mearead got on him, and she is only four, she would look too big. If Mulan tried him, her feet would drag the ground.

So the little lummox and I had another quiet and uneventful walk. Or at least we did until he found an inviting mud puddle, walked into the middle of it, and sat down. Wet dog smell all the way home.

Down by the banks of the Yadkin with the little lummox....

.... the other day when it was so hot I took the little lummox down to Becky's Park. I like to go there for several reasons, not least that we knew and liked Becky, even though we'd barely gotten to know her at all before cancer took her. The other reason is that the little park is in a corner of woods bounded by the Yadkin River. On the hottest day it is cool under the trees, which is important to the lummox since he is strictly a cold weather dog, like me. On days when it is hot he drags along, wants to stop and sniff the air, look at the trees, eat the grass. He might as well do that down by the river. This day we saw something beautiful - a blue grey heron came up from under the bank and glided along the river until it shot upwards into the tree. Lummox was indifferent - he was burrowing with his nose into the dirt looking for something to eat.

Under the dark of the trees, looking out to the sunlit waters, is always refreshing. Perhaps this is because I grew up between the Potomac and the Shenandoah Rivers. And perhaps that is why one of my favorite places is a dark bar where I can look out onto a sunny day.

Come to think of it, the little Lummox is a lot like me, he even seems to have developed the same allergies I have - except that he is cranky, obsessive and stubborn.

Me and my fish monger.....

.... went to Lee's Seafoods today for some salmon. I came in so quietly that Lee was back in his little inner sanctum, complete with lounge chair and TV, waiting for the next customer. Once I said 'Boo!' he came out with the salmon - he said it was so fresh it smelled like watermelon. I took a whiff and danged if he wasn't right. It really did.

Three hours later, after baking it with a sauce made of honey, butter, and Worcestershire sauce, MFH and I decided that it was the best salmon we'd ever had. So the Captain of the Kitchen looked good.

If you want good sea food in the foothills, go to see Lee.