Weird doggie news from North Carolina....

... though not involving our little lummox, thankfully. The news is weird, not the dog, who seems to have been doing what comes natural. For a dog. In Apex NC little Augie ate his owners savings - $400 worth. The owner is trying to, uh, "retrieve" the consumed bills if you know what I mean. She insists they are in pretty good shape considering, but I don't want to be that bank teller. Anyway, here is the picture that ran with the story.

Carmen said it was all over for her ...

... this morning as she read over her receipt from Dunkin' Donuts. About the middle of the receipt it reads:

1 Senior 10% ............... (-0.22)

And she had not even asked for the discount!

Unlike Mother ... who demanded the senior discount the moment she turned 60 and was quite happy to do so.

yes, we have a Dunkin' Donuts - it is inside the Super Wal-Mart and is absolutely charmless.

.

By special request of Maeraed ...

... just her her mom and dad and little brother Mr Miggs can see it.
Some Spanish guy interviews a VERY cranky goat.

well, ibex, actually.

The LLama farm we visited ...
... last Saturday was a huge amount of fun. Here is the web page for the place. They bill themselves as an Alpaca Farm, or Alpacos, as Máeráed called them. We were going to take Máeráed and Mr Miggs but by the time we had lunch with her family little Mr Miggs was clearly in need of a nap. So we left him.

But Mulan wanted to come along so we picked her up and headed off for the farm, way up on the ridge overlooking Valle Crucis past a little community called Matney. Here is a blurb from the farm's web page:

Apple Hill Farm started in 2002 with 2 pregnant female alpacas and one young female alpaca. In 2008, we are now home to 22 alpacas. In addition to alpacas, we have added horses (some of ours, and some who board), llamas, goats, donkeys, chickens, dogs and cats. We strongly believe that animals need a purpose, so every animal on the farm has a stated job or position. Our animals are treated with great care, respect and love.

Carmen and I, plus Máeráed and her virtual cousin Mulan arrived to meet - a whole bunch of dogs. One was a little runty Jack Russel (we think the little lummox may be part Jack Russel) and a pitt bull called Gunnar who had the most beautiful steel grey coat I have ever seen. There were a few more but I don't remember them.

With all the exotic alpacas and llamas around Máeráed immediately zoned in on her favorites: the new born kittens kept in one of the unused horse stalls! She kept looking at them and telling us all how much she would like to keep them. And I think she really meant 'them,' as in 'all of them.'

We spent over an hour there, hiking around the farm with Ann Marie our guide. Mulan had a good time and liked the animals. It was only later that we realized that Lee, the owner of the farm, is a good friend of her mothers (everybody in two counties is a good friend of Mulan's mother, and for good reason).

We barely managed to get out of the little store without buying something, but we had had a great time. I hope we go back soon. Maybe next time Mr Miggs can go along too.

Although we saw no ninja goats.

It is now official ...

... the Mellow Mushroom, sometimes known as Máeráed's Parlor, is going away. Via Máire, who I thought was enjoying her vacation in the wilds of Virginia, here is the official announcement from the Mellow Mushroom Facebook page:

mellow mushroom- boone

It will indeed be the end of an era. The corporation squelched our efforts to relocate and we will be closing our doors by Aug. 31. Doubtless there will be another Mellow Mushroom opening in Boone eventually by a different franchisee.

I am not sure which corporation is responsible for this, Mellow Mushroom or Templeton. Either way, we have to find a new place.

However, English Will and I have been doing some field work to find a replacement and I will report on it directly.

Late report ...

... yesterday (Wed), the lummox and I went for a walk under the trees at the spillway of the dam. It was already getting hot and that part of the Greenway is quite cool in the morning. As we were walking we came across two old men walking their little hound, Brownie. No offense, but Brownie was a little bitch. My worthless beast immediately went into his 'noble dog' pose, standing bolt upright to his full 11 inches, gazing manfully off into the distant sunlit uplands, thinking noble doggie thoughts, I presume.

He holds that pose for about 35 seconds and then turns around to touch noses and other parts. The older men are very chatty and since I am trying to brake into garrulous geezerdom gracefully I chat back. They are locals by their accent. "Hit doe-en' matter what hit does." You don't hear that type of accent anymore except from some of the older folks. But very nice men just wanting to talk about dogs. For a few minutes we have something in common to talk about. Brownie had been in a terrible accident when an SUV ran over her. It really messed her up but she survived and in fact looked fine. After a bit we are all restless and the dogs take us off in opposite directions. The lummox pays no attention as little Brownie trots off.

Almost as soon as my cleaning crew left Murty, Máire and Mischief all showed up. We went over to Chile Verde for lunch. Mischief is his Amslan name. I usually call him Mr Miggs. He has had a fever for several days and was still showing the effects of it. His sister Clever (Amslan) or Máeráed, was at Invention Camp where she is constructing a robot. Apparently what she really wants to invent is a beam across her room that will prevent her little brother from ever stepping foot into again. I assume that this will escalate until she eventually wants a Death Ray up there.

I work a bit at home and later go off to the Episcopal Church to show some videos about early Christianity. It's a good group. One of the members had made lemonade with the perfect mix of sugar so we slurped down a lot of that. It was mainly just the seven or eight people of the book club but at the beginning I had a chance to talk to the new priest and his wife who is from Venezuela. Carmen will have to make her some picadillo or tachinos or something. Maybe Olga Barnes' Sangria.

Slept later than I'd intended. Even with the new CPAP (get your eyes fixed Old Man) I still have been very sleepy lately. Still, it is a great relief to not need nine hours of sleep every night PLUS a two hour nap every afternoon. But I got up, walked the lummox, met Commandante Cinco at the McDonald's and headed down to our favorite neighborhood in Winston: The Throughfare District. Or as I like to think of it, the Borders, Nawab, Whole Foods Triangle. I told Cinco about my ambition to retire right there, within walking distance of everything worthwhile (except that Winston moved the branch library). Cinco agreed. Now he wants to retire there too. But for the same reason I will retire in Central Florida, he will retire in Mexico City.

So I had a fun day. Bought a few things, mainly at Total Wine and Target, including a cheap fountain pen (I sure hope Maire is not reading this). And a timer to time my writing periods (when I use the fountain pens). Also bought several bottles of nice wine to drink while writing with said fountain pen.

Everything is circular.