After posting my Diary entry and feeding and watering the chicks, I got down to the Grub Shack yesterday for a late lunch. Only Eva, Jerry, and John Wells were there. No chocolate ice cream, though. Eva had made strawberry, my second-favorite.
So I started off a usual “bookend” meal with ice cream, followed by a sandwich (Swiss-American grilled cheese on Fieldlab sun-baked bread—a special thing only because John was there), followed by ice cream again. I stayed much longer than I’d intended because everyone was in such good spirits and there was plenty of iced tea and peanuts to “oil” the conversation. Plus, it was so cool in the shade and so, so hot out in the sun. Procrastination is our main pastime out here, anyway. Just doing my part to help.
Yet I did have to get into town to buy some provisions and gas up the car. Val is coming over tonight for what has turned into a regular Sunday night meal followed by film. All we had in our cooler was German beer and Val (a German) prefers American. Go figure.
John gave me a loaf of Fieldlab bread to take home, and made a couple suggestions of films Val and I might enjoy. “Who knows, if you show one of these, maybe I’ll join you,” he said. Jerry gave me a tub of iced tea he’d otherwise have to had throw away. “A nice bonus,” I thought to myself as I drove away, pleased to have the bread and tea.
I stopped by the health food store to buy coffee and visited with John Parker, a senior river guide who runs the store sometimes. I bought John a soft drink and we sat outside talking. One of the high points of our conversation was when John under-guessed my age by 20 years (it happens more often than you’d think, and I never tire of it). John loaned me a couple videos that he had in his car for our consideration for Movie Night. Another nice bonus.
I wrapped up my town visit with a stop at the Study Butte Store where the owner Ringo allows me to throw our household trash into his dumpster (another bonus), gassed up the car and spare gas tank, and bought chicken scratch, dog food, and provisions for tonight’s meal.
I hope I haven’t created the impression that this “bonus day” was anything special or unusual, because it wasn’t. Every day is bonus day here—the people who surround us and fill our lives are just that kind.
Wandervogel Diary 