The first night of Merlefest and the lummox and I go for a walk....

.... just to enjoy the night air. Actually, I took him for a little ride over to the grocery store first. He likes to set in the car even if he can't go in. Then we went for a little walk about 9 pm. It is the first night of the big Merlefest which will last all weekend. Our house is on a low ridge overlooking Moravian Creek and the festival is spread out all along the opposite side.

As we started down the big hill I heard the announcer on the main stage say "Here's Doc Watson!" Sure enough - I'd recognize his voice anywhere. He say a song as we walked and then the other performers took over. We went up by the school, which is always a good thing for something called School Street to have at one end. The school yard is even closer to the main stage and I listened to the first band or two while the little beast nosed around, paying absolutely no attention to the music.

Tomorrow friends are coming down and I will spend at least the afternoon over at the Festival grounds. Now I have to go and suit up with my new equipment for a good night's sleep.

It's been a long day here in Wilkesboro today ....

... First Ben got both of us up bright and early so she could... well, ... yell at us, I suppose. Don't know what else she wanted.

I got up and read some research for the paper I am writing, then rushed up to Boone to meet with Roger the Respiratory Therapist. Once we established that I went to a church and believed in Christ he outfitted me with a brand new, very latest, oh so stylish ResMed S8 Escape System (the little vacuum cleaner part), along with a HumidAire 3i humidifier, AND the Mirage Swift II Nasal Pillows System (the mask part I breathe through). It vacuum cleaner, excuse me, the S8 Escape System, will force a blast of air down my throat that will expand my airway like blowing up a baloon. Supposedly I will get a good nights sleep with lots of REM sleep. We will see.

At least it feels less uncomfortable and looks a lot less frightening that I expected it to be.

After this I rushed back to Wilkes and drove Carmen to the airport so she could take off for her reunion trip to Mount Holyoak. Got back late and decided to take the beast out for a late night walk.

The show must go on....

... but first there was considerable brew-ha-ha among the dozens of kids who came in. A lot of the little girls sat in front of the stage talking quietly among themselves waiting for the show to begin, while the little boys ran around the gym hooting and hollering. Somehow I don't think little boys and little girls are born exactly the same.

The show started with Miz Lisa, the guitar lady, singing little fun songs. The first one was the "ABCs Song' which Maeráed has known for months. She had a great time singing along. A few more songs and Rosemary Wells herself stood up and read one of her Max and Ruby books.

This one in fact.

The kids, even the little boys, were breathless with anticipation. When the story was over Ms Wells went off to sign books for the kids and Miz Lisa played some more songs. The kids loved it. She'd say, raise your fists and yell, and all the kids would immediately raise their little fists and yell in unison. Actually, it was kind of scary - like a political rally that might take a wrong turn at any moment!

Then the dancing started. They went wild. Maeráed loves to dance. She was spinning like a top, prancing like a horse and twisting the afternoon away with her little plastic flower boots.

Fortunately the next stop of the day was to take her to meet her mom so she could go swimming or I never would have gotten her calmed down enough to leave.

And so we arrived at the 'puppet show'...

... with five or ten minutes to spare. We went into the big Methodist Church Center and found dozens of kids and parents (actually, mommies - Uncle Clemens was the only male adult to be seen) milling around tables stacked with Rosemary Wells' children's books.

Maeráed immediately marched up to the display, said "Look, it's Max and Ruby" and grabbed one of the little books. So it was - cute little bunnies named Max and Ruby. She said she knew them from TV. She was so intent on the little book that I asked if she wanted it.

"No, I want to look at it."

"Are you sure? I'll buy it for you if you want it."

"Uncle Clemens, I just want to look at it. Then I will put it back over there!" and she points to the stand the book had been on. Nice to meet a kid who knows her own mind - and doesn't hesitate to tell you about it!

So now that I knew who Max and Ruby are, we went into the big gym where the show would take place.

BTW, if you want to read a little Max and Ruby story to some little one, click here.

Next post: The show

Maeráed and Me, and Max and Ruby...

... which was originally supposed to be a puppet show. The day I finished my sleep test, conducted by Nurse Cindy of Torquemada M.D. and Assocs., I took my friend Maeráed to see a puppet show. It was part of a Rosemary Wells, illustrator of children's' books, presentation. I thought I would enjoy hear Ms Wells talk about her work whatever it was. Other than that I knew nothing about her but Carmen informed me she is "a big deal" in the kiddy-lit world because of her Max and Ruby books. I had never heard of them either but would soon learn in exquisite detail.

I picked Maeráed up from her day care and off we went to the show in what would turn out to be an awful frigid rain (probably what brought on this annoying cold). I told the divine Ms M that the puppet show had been cancelled, and would be replaced with a reading by Rosemary Wells and a 'children's' musician', whatever that meant. Maeráed kept calling it a puppet show anyway, displaying her usual strict attention to her Uncle Clemens.

She did, however, ask why the puppets weren't performing. I told her that I thought they had gone on strike. She wanted to know what a 'strike' was. Once I explained she seemed to accept that as another one of her uncle's goofy ideas (please see the discussion of the notorious Laotian puppet strike). She just kept saying we were going to the puppet show. And so we were...

[next post: the 'puppet' show]

Good news on the Apple crop ....

... only half of it was destroyed by the freeze we had at Easter. So that is something at least.

I still think of poor old Blaine the Groundhog...

... because I am afraid that someone may have run over him deliberately. His body was laying in the middle of a fairly short driveway and unless someone picked up speed at an extremely fast clip he should have been able to avoid it.

Unless, of course, he was coming back from a night on the town and his reflexes were impaired.

Hey! I am NOT that old!!!

You may, faithful reader, remember the unfortunate "where's your grandson?" incident at our favorite pizzeria. Well, now I have grown a nice fluffy white beard (with a small patch of what is left of my original auburn coloring right on the chin).

Tonight we went over to Chile Verde, our favorite Mexican restaurant. The waiter was very nice, spoke to us in Spanish. After a bit Carmen pointed out that he was addressing me as "abuelito."

Grandaddy!

I told Carmen I was shaving off the beard and the moustache, and dying my hair, but she said she wouldn't recognize me!

The results of my sleep test ...

... of a few weeks ago finally came in - I definitely suffer from sleep apnea. That is almost certainly the reason I have trouble staying awake when I am driving. So - one more trip to the sleep lab to see if I can sleep. This time with the C-PAP as they call it. It consists of a small vacuum cleaner on exhaust attached to various types of clear plastic masks to force enough air down your throat to keep the soft tissues from collapsing while you sleep.

Nurse Cindy was there at the door to greet me when I arrived about 9:30 pm. Got me set up with the first of the sleep masks she wanted me to try. It only covered my nose.

I didn't like it. It felt like the Alien stage that attaches itself to your face. But after about a half hour I fell asleep. A bit later Nurse Cindy woke me up and told me my mouth was falling open, which destroys the effect of the C-PAP. She attached an elastic band around my head to keep my mouth shut. Now I felt like both the Alien and the Mummy. Not very comfortable.

She woke me up a bit after that and said let's try another one - this one covered my nose and mouth both. It felt better than the first one, though I felt a bit like Jacque Cousteau on an aqua lung. After a bit the piece across the bridge of my nose begin to cut in a bit too much. Didn't like it much, but it was an improvement from number 1. And I did fall asleep with it on.

A bit later she woke me up a third time to try yet another one. This one simply stuck up my nostrils with a rigid plastic bar built in to keep my jaw up. It was the least obnoxious of the three, though when she took it out after the test my nostrils hurt. Still, she said that was the one I did the best with as far as sleeping went, and that I would get used to it. Easy for her to say.

By then it was 5:30 am so I packed up and left. Went to the Huddle House for a good old fashioned high cholesterol greasy breakfast of pork chops and eggs. Then out to the Boone Greenway was a long walk, and then over to my office at school.

It was about 9:30 and I needed a nap.

The taxes are done ....

... and ON TIME. In fact, I had more than 10 hours to spare this time. Makes up for having to take an extension last time.

Now, we just have to decide what to do with the check for 2005's return. We got it in November but don't think it is right.

Oh well.

The weather in Wilkes has taken a nasty turn ...

... and eventually got around to our house. On Easter weekend we had two days of all night lows in the 40s which destroyed the peach crop and probably most of the apple crop. In an agricultural community these are heavy blows.

Then Sunday and Monday we had two days of absolutely ferocious wind. Except up on a mountain top, or in Minnesota, I had never seen such severe wind. By Tuesday morning though it seemed to be over, we thought.

Then as I sat at my computer in my home office the power went off and I heard the loud POP of electrical equipment blowing out. This has happened several times before (most memorably the last time our niece Mulan was down). I have to assume it is because Duke Power just hasn't installed proper equipment, but maybe not.

I thought it would take about 2 hours to get the crews out here and have it fixed, but I forgot to reckon with the wind storm. Trees, branches, and power lines were out all over the state, so all the Wilkes county crews had a backlog. At first Duke told us it would be 48 hours before it could be fixed, which seemed a bit excessive.

In fact the power came back on about 25 hours after it blew out. Thank goodness - Carmen and I were all set to go over the the 'Y' to take our showers. The food in our fridge ought to be OK, and I won't have to write any more letters by candlelight.

Well, so much for the Apple Festival...

... that Wilkes county has every year. Due to the unusually cold weather we have had - it went down to 20 degrees two nights in a row - nearly all of the apple crop at the local orchards have been wiped out. This is a nasty shock for the industry, and consequently for the local economy. Apparently we will have to go outside the area and buy apples for the great Apple Festival.

Thank goodness we can look forward to the Merlefest dropping nearly $20 million in Wilkes at the end of the month.

Blaine the Groundhog is dead ....

... I am afraid. But honestly, the lummox had nothing to do with it. Much to his regret.

It was about 10 tonight when I decided to take the lummox for a walk. It's supposed to go down to 20 tonight so I thought it would be fun. He thought so too.

He was full of vim and vigor and took off down the steep hill in front of the house, down to where Blaine's hole is. He snuck up on it very quietly and then stuck his head in the hole. Taking his time he inserted nearly his whole body into the lair. Blaine did not appear to be at home, so I pulled the lummox out and we headed on through the field into the UPS depot by Moravian Creek. Lummox loves to pee on the UPS trucks, which he hates for some reason.

As we came out of the depot lummox went into his killer crouch and approached something dark in the road. It was the carcass of a groundhog laying in a pool of blood. He must have been struck by one of the trucks. Lummox rushed forward and grabbed the carcass and began to shake it with surprising force (he is a killer you know). I got him to drop it and pulled him away.

I can't be sure, but Blaine was the only groundhog in our neighborhood, so I assume that was him. Killed while coming home late in the evening.

A rabid raccoon...?

Possibly not, but I wasn't going to take any chances. The other day with the little lummox I had found a good walking trail from the playground at the top of the reservoir dam down to the new bridge over the creek for the Wilkes Greenway. I decided to go back and walk along the new portion of the Greenway by myself yesterday. As I started down the road I saw a strange looking animal loping up the side of the road towards me. It kept coming and I assumed it was a dog - but as it got closer I realized it was a raccoon.

Now raccoons are wild creatures and are supposed to be afraid of humans, and this one didn't seem to mind heading straight into me at all. And one of the signs of a rabid animal is that they lose their fear of humans.

I turned aside and walked away at right angels as fast as I could. The raccoon sat down and watched me for a bit, then picked himself up and loped on down the road.

Here it is! The sleep mask...




I haven't gotten the results yet from the Sleep Doctor, but if it turns out I have apnea this is one of the mask styles I can wear. Hope Carmen can get used to it. Hope it scares the beejeezus out of Ben.

So Nurse Tech Cindy wakes me up at 5 am...

.... and by 5:30 I am out the door. It's still full night and I have nothing to do until I meet my friend Tim for breakfast. I go over to the Boone Greenway for a walk. It is remarkably peaceful that early in the morning waiting for sunrise. In the mountains there is no real moment of the sun popping up but simply an increase in light. The Greenway is a paved walking/biking path along the New River Valley as it cuts through the mountains around Boone. You walk along the flat valley floor surrounded by low ridges on every side. At that hour all I could hear was a faint hum of traffic nearly drowned out by the chirping of birds and the rippling of the river. Walked all the way out to the ruins of the old electric dam power house. It looks like an old medieval keep and lends a suitably romantic air to the place.

It makes up a bit for the cement man hole emplacements for the sewer system that erupt out of the valley floor here and there. They look like turrets of old Renault battle tanks abandoned from some forgotten war amid the cow pastures.

I don't think I will see the sun come up at the Greenway again, but it was a nice way to start the day. After breakfast I went to my office and took a nap.

And another one when I got home this afternoon.

I took the sleep test and ...

... I passed with flying colors as far as falling asleep went.

For a few years now I have been having troubling bouts of sleepiness when driving. That is, I would almost fall asleep at the wheel and wouldn't realize it until I was heading into the other lane. So I went to Nurse Leanne (I don't see a doctor) and asked her what was up. She scheduled a sleep exam to make sure it isn't sleep apnea which would account for my symptoms.

At 9:30 last night I drive up to Boone and checked into The Sleep Clinic with Nurse Cindy. She was very pleasant, showed me to what looked like a nice guest room in some one's home, and hooked me up to dozens of little wires and sensors on my chest, my back, my leg, my head, up my nose, and a cute little click on for my finger that made me look like ET. Then she hooked me up to a couple of machines, one named ALICE-5 and said good night. Apparently I fell asleep a lot quicker than most people do with all those wires pasted on to them. She was impressed. Carmen was reminded of Li'l Abner and his job testing out mattresses at the mattress factory. We both have the talent.

I thought I slept pretty well, except for that one little trip to the bathroom at about 3 am which has become almost obligatory for me lately. Cindy has to monitor the machines all night and listen on the intercom for any requests since I could not get out of bed unless she came in and unhooked all the wires!

She said two significant things in the morning. Since she is a nurse technician and not a doctor she couldn't discuss the results, but said that "This test will answer a lot of questions." She also said that 'the Sleep Doctor (what a great title!) would probably want me to come in for another night to test my sleeping with one of the sleep masks.

So I think I probably do have apnea and it may be correctable if I wear one of those masks. They look goofy as hell, like a scuba mask with a snorkel running up the front, but if it keeps me from falling asleep at 60 mph, I'll wear it and be happy.

Besides, when I go to bed with it strapped on my face it might scare Ben bad enough to keep her from wailing and bumping heads all night.