The Dentist

           Did I tell you that I won a pie contest at my church back in October?

All of the pies were so good! At least all of the ones I tried. I didn’t have room to try them all.

Most of us put what we could fit on our plate, then went back for more. This gal tickled me when she’d gone to the kitchen and came back to make herself a sampler platter. She only had to make one trip. We should all have been so clever.

It was a blind taste test. The pies were assigned a number and unless you knew what someone’s pie plate looked like, you didn’t know who made what. 

“What did you make?” I know you wanna know.

I made one of Momma’s favorite pies. I made a walnut pie from a recipe booklet I’d gotten from the walnut company.

“I like this better than pecan pie,” she told me.

I was surprised that my pie won.

“Why were you surprised?” you ask.

I was surprised because it got really brown. I mean really really brown! Too brown! If there’d’ve been time, I’d’ve baked a new one. I took that over-baked walnut pie along with an apple crumb pie, but I honestly had no aspirations of winning. That I might win never crossed my mind. I’ve just not been very lucky when it comes to contests. Nonetheless, it was an excuse to get together with my church peeps for a fun night and that was my only goal.

One of the gifts I received, along with a gift card, was a container of caramels. I love caramels! Unfortunately, there was one caramel that didn’t love my crown and pulled it out. I was left with an empty spot in my smile. Fortunately, it was off to the side a little, not a front tooth, and not all that visible.

          Dental visits, for me, didn’t start on a regular basis until I was in my early twenties. By then it was too late for some of my molars. I ended up with two partial plates.

          The whole time my kids were growing up, I strictly enforced six-month dental visits. My kids wouldn’t end up like me if I could help it. And Mike and I went twice a year for many years, too. When we moved out here it just didn’t seem like a priority — until that caramel booted my crown from the lineup!

I had to call around to find a dentist. The one I wanted to go to couldn’t get me in for five months! Requesting an emergency appointment shortened it by three months. The problem was that there was only one dentist in that particular office.

I didn’t want to wait two months. I kept calling around until I found a dentist who could see me the same week. This office has two dentists and two hygienists.

“I can’t put it back on,” Doc told me. “The post is broken at the gum line. I have to pull it.”

He looked at my old partials and declared that I was a grinder. That’s news to me, but I guess teeth don’t lie. From there it was decided that I would get two new partials.

I kept my appointments. First to get the broken tooth out, then to have three cavities filled. Once the hole in my gum healed, they took impressions and made test dentures. Two weeks after the test fit, this past Wednesday, I got my new partials.

These things were not cheap! “What happens if I drop them in the sink and break them?” I asked Robbie, the assistant.

“They’re flexible,” he said and twisted one a little to show me. “But I wouldn’t do that too much.” Then he went over to the counter and dropped it from a height of about six or eight inches. It bounced!

 After 30 years, I’ve got new partial dentures. The lifespan of dentures, if you Google it, says it’s seven years. My old partials are made with dental silver and acrylic. My new ones are made from Valplast and I love them. They disappear in my mouth and don’t hurt where they attach to my teeth. My old ones did, or should I say would. Every time they adjusted them so they’d stay put, it hurt the teeth they were anchored to. So I’d get home and loosen them. That allowed food under my partials and I was forever cleaning them. There’s nothing worse than to be chewing and a seed gets between your plate and you. It hurt or in the very least was uncomfortable. My new ones fit snugly, stay put, and don’t allow food under.

“Make sure you put them in water at night,” Robbie told me. “Especially in the summer or they’ll shrink.”

How about that!

>>>*<<<

We had snow this past week. About seven, maybe eight inches. Not as much as they thought we would get.

          The sunrise was beautiful.

When it was light enough, Mike went out to throw the snow.         

Then I got a phone call.

“Can you bring me down a shear pin and a hammer?” Mike asked.

I pushed my chair away from my desk, already on my way to get the things he requested. “Where are you?”

“The back driveway.”

I took Raini with me. I was a little worried about being so close to the road. When she did go out onto the road, I called her back and she came. However, if a car would happen to drive by, I didn’t know what she would do. Would she go to the side of the road and sit, like I taught her when she was a pup, or would she chase it?

Mike had a stone caught under the thingies that chop the snow. Blades, maybe? Augers? After trying for several minutes to get the hammer in there and knock it out, he asked, “Would you go back up to the garage and get me a chisel and another shear pin?” He thought he’d only broken one.

“What’s a shear pin?” you ask.

It’s a pin that’s made from a softer metal and it’ll break, or shear off before you ruin the drive shaft.

Raini and I went back to the house. She seemed to be having fun bounding through the snow.

I got the chisel and another shear pin and left Raini at home. I was lucky the first time I took her and no cars passed, but I didn’t want to push my luck.

Mike took the chisel and went to work on the rock. He still couldn’t get it out.

“I’m going to have to break it,” he said.

Mike had to hit the chisel as hard as he could several times before the rock broke. He replaced the broken pins and was back in business.

The snow only lasted a couple of days. It didn’t stand a chance against the warmer temps and heavy rains that fell. I know some places flooded but here, at our little mountain sanctuary, it wasn’t bad.

Something else that didn’t stand a chance against the changing weather was the trees. Between the soggy ground and high winds, a lot of ‘em came down. About a thousand people in our area were without power for several hours, maybe overnight, but not us.

That next day, I went to get my new teeth. We could see where trees had fallen and roads had been flooded but most of it was cleaned up. This was the only puddle we encountered on our drive.

>>>*<<<

I don’t have everything put away yet after our kitchen remodel. There’s still one basket, one box, and six drawers of stuff that need to be sorted and rehomed. I sat here this week and thought about everything I should do and I couldn’t make myself do it. I was in front of my computer wondering why I was feeling so glum when why struck me. I needed a recharge, a reboot. I was stagnating and needed to do something creative instead of something responsible. My glumness disappeared and was replaced with joy when I started a new project. One that had been rattling around in my head for a couple of months.

“What, Peg?” you ask. “What are you doing?”

I can’t tell you. It’s a gift for my best old West Virginia gal and I don’t want to ruin the surprise for her. But I can tell you this. It involves a new medium for me.

“I'm having a hard time believing that there’s anything that you haven't tried yet!” one of my morning peeps said.

I know, right! I love all things creative. I don’t want to do them all, but I love them just the same.

I have leftover printer ink. I used to buy bulk ink and refillable cartridges. When I got a new printer I couldn’t make myself throw the leftover ink away and since then I’ve been looking for a way to use it. So far I’ve tried to make alcohol inks with it but it wouldn’t dry on the surfaces I tried it on. I put it away until this week when I got it back out again.

I couldn’t work from the juice jars that held my bulk inks. I took the inks, a syringe, and some small leak-proof containers and set about transferring one into the other. The first color I transferred went smoothly. The second one, not so much. Do you think it might’ve worked better if I’d’ve taken the lid off before I tried to fill it with ink?

I got the mess cleaned up and, in the process, got ink all over my fingers. Do you think I should’ve gotten the disposable gloves out and worn a pair? I would’ve but I didn’t plan on getting it all over myself!

“Nothing like closing the barn door after the horse gets out,” I told Mike as I went through the living room to get the gloves from under the bathroom sink.

I wore gloves for the rest of the transfer process. But I think there’s still a little blue under my pinky nail all these days (and hand-washings) later.

I am so in love with the art piece I made for Trish. I couldn’t wait to share it so I shared it with all of my morning peeps except her. Everyone who replied said they liked it or loved it or it was beautiful. That assuaged my anxiousness but I still can’t wait for her to get it. I’ll get it in the mail Tuesday (Monday is a holiday) and I’ll let you know how she likes it.

I’m all hyped up with creative juices now and felt a little let down when it was done.

“What on earth are you bummed about??? I think it’s absolutely beautiful!!!!” my best Missouri gal replied.

“I'm bummed because now I have to do the dishes! The fun is over!” I told her.

But I was wrong. The fun wasn’t over. Yes, I did the dishes, but I still couldn’t make myself sort that basket or box or the six drawers that were waiting. I started another project that had been rattling around in my head for a while.

“What now‽” you query.

I can’t tell you. It’s another gift for someone who may or may not read my letter blogs so I don’t dare show you — yet. But I can tell you this. It involves another new medium for me.

“What this time?” you wanna know.

I love watercolors. Especially since my beautifulest and much-adored older sister bought the most beautiful watercolor painting I’ve ever seen. The amount of detail, the depth of color, the emotion I felt when I looked at it was overwhelming. I was in awe (and envy) of the talent it took to make such a beautiful piece of art. I’ll never have that kind of talent, only the desire.

I was at the thrift store and in the craft section was a set of watercolor paints. I think I paid fifty cents or maybe a dollar for them. I brought them home and put them on the shelf, until this week. I got them out and went to work on my new project. I messed up the piece with the very first stroke but I didn’t stop there. I used the piece as a learning piece and finished it anyway.

The watercolors I bought had no mixing tray. I used my oatmeal lid-turned-palette but it didn’t work all that well. I had a fidget bubble popper in my craft stuff. I use it to make air-dry clay bubbles. I dug it out of the mold box and cut a section off. It worked pretty good for mixing watercolors. Maybe I’ll look for a small paint palette the next time I go to the dollar store, maybe I won’t.

Then I had an occasion to go into my old craft room and look for something, exactly what, I can’t remember. But what I did find was a set of watercolors. The more I looked, the more watercolor sets I found and I had to laugh. Four in all!

I knew I had this one. It belonged to Clara, my ex-mother-in-law. When she died, I was given this along with a couple of books and a bunch of paintbrushes. But I didn’t know if I wanted to use it.

The next day I recreated my project and was happy with the end result. You’ll get to see both of those projects the next time we get together.

I did a little glass work this week, too.

When I asked Trish, my WV gal, what she wanted for Christmas, she said a stained-glass Christmas tree. I’m sorry I didn’t get it done for her before Christmas but she’ll have it for next year, unless she’s like me. I’ve been known to leave my Christmas stuff out all year.

I used a piece of chain to hang it by. If I’d’ve used a jump ring at the top, the weight of the tree might pull it off. I attached the chain lower, in the solder seam, where it’ll be nice and strong.

I did a little creating in the kitchen, too!

I had a butternut squash I needed to use. With the cold winter winds blowing, I thought a pot of soup would be nice.

For the first time ever, I made squash soup.

The recipe called for heavy cream and I didn’t have any heavy cream. I do, of course, know how to make a substitute by adding butter to milk, but in talking with my Miss Rosie, she said she used coconut milk in hers. I had a can of that in the pantry.

The soup was good. The only problem was I had about a cup of coconut milk left over. What was I going to do with that?

It’s amazing what you can find on the internet. I Googled “what to do with leftover coconut milk” and one of the suggestions that came up was chia pudding. I have chia seeds. I always add them to our oatmeal when I make oatmeal for breakfast. Chia seeds are very good for you. They have a massive amount of nutrients with very few calories. They’re loaded with antioxidants and all of the carbs are fiber. They’re high in a quality protein. They’re also easy to add to your diet as they don’t need to be pre-soaked. They don’t have much flavor so you can put them on cereal, or in a smoothie. Sprinkle them on a salad, yogurt, vegetables, or rice dishes. You can also use them to thicken sauces and as an egg substitute.

I made chia pudding with the leftover coconut milk.

“How do you make it?” I know you wanna know.

Easy. A half cup of chia seeds to two cups of milk, and you can use any kind of milk. Add a little sweetener like honey or maple syrup or Stevia. 1 1/2 tablespoons more or less according to your taste.

I only had a cup of milk so I used a quarter cup of chia seeds and a squirt of honey.

Stir it up and let it sit for a few hours or overnight and you’ve got a good-for-you pudding. I eat it just like that or you can add some fresh fruit.

>>>*<<<

Saturday was recycling day. The Boy Scouts offer it once a month but I usually only go every other month.

Can you say road pictures? 

This part of the road has been rebuilt after the bad flood a few years ago. The devastation that flood created was... was... dare I say it? was devastating! Besides taking out roads it took out houses and buildings of all kinds. The two-story library in New Albany collapsed into one story and ended up out on the road. I know I wrote about it and showed pictures of it, too.

“That’s a skinny house,” I said as we passed it.

“Yes, it is,” Mike agreed.

The sign on the front calls it The River House. The Susquehanna is just across the road from it.

Our internet here is not good. It’s like the old days of dial-up where you had to wait forever and a day for your web pages to load. It did teach us patience, though. But in this case, the waiting is because the infrastructure here is so old, we have a very low transfer rate. Once the new fiber optic lines are installed, we should have much better internet.

We’re looking forward to being able to stream movies. In the meantime, we’ve been buying DVDs. Everyone else in the world is getting rid of their DVD collections because they can stream movies and don’t need them anymore. That means there’s a glut of DVDs on the market and I can pick them up for a dollar each.

We watched a movie this past week that was very hard to watch. The 2013 movie with Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey called The Butler. It’s based on a true story. The way black people were treated is depicted and deplorable.

On a lighter note, we also saw Cactus Flower. It was made in 1969, starred Walter Matthau, Ingrid Bergman, and introduced us to Goldie Hawn. It was much lighter than The Butler.

Goldie Hawn also starred in Bird on a Wire with Mel Gibbson.

And speaking of birds on a wire, I tend to take pictures of birds on a wire.

How’s that for a segue?

 I believe these are a herd of pigeons. Okay! Okay! Flock.

Do you think the one on the pole is the boss, overseeing or keeping law and order?

Speaking of birds...

My handsome brother David sent me a picture of a whole herd of eagles! Okay! Okay! A group of eagles is called an aerie, convocation, or jubilee.

I’d talked about the guy who killed a bunch of eagles and David reached back in his memory to 1982, a time when he was in the Coast Guard. They were in Alaska and the eagles were hunting for rats at the dump. 42 years ago, David was using a 110 camera. I bet seeing all those eagles in one spot was just a fantastic sight!

Speaking of David, he didn’t get a love note from me on Friday morning.

Our stupid internet. It’s not only slow, it stops and starts all day long. That’s what makes it hard to do a lot of things — like watch movies! I’m guessing that on Friday the internet dropped out just as I’d sent the morning love note and instead of sending it, my computer filed it away in my draft folder. I found it later.

David called me. He was worried. And Patti texted. No doubt if I hadn’t’ve responded to her text, she’d’ve been calling the neighbors. It’s nice to know that should something happen to us we won’t lay here more than a couple of hours before someone comes looking.

It gives me warm fuzzies.

Let’s call this one done!