Toby Is Not a Vegetarian, Neither Am I

I thought that last time

when I posted "Now What?"

that I'd have an answer by this time.

But, I still don't.

Instead, I tried for a couple of days

to become a vegetarian.

I told Toby about it.

He wretched and gagged--

sort of a cat Bleccchhh!

Then, he laid down again.

Hairball, he said, but I doubt it.

He went on

 

You know I’m a carnivore 

But I don’t have anything against

vegetarians 

I ate one this morning 

Bit its head off neatly 

Completely 

His tail flipped a lazy wave.

It was my turn to say Bleccchhh!

Then he asked

How'd your vegetarianism work out?

Well, I replied, not so hot.

I have to combine a legume

and a grain

to make a whole protein.

I don't like legumes very much--

maybe green beans

or if I'm really cold

pea soup is okay

Can't stand peanut butter

more than once a week

I like all the veggie

and fruit and nuts

and grains and seeds and such

Oh, I'm forgetting, I like refried beans!

I haven't had a good helping

of refried beans yet

in this Pennsylvania Dutch Country. 

We're not in Tucson anymore, old buddy!

You can say that again, he replied.

All there was to catch

in that Tucson condo

were cockroaches!

Still, I said, you didn't have

to live outside!

He was silent for awhile

Then he said

it was soooooo boring

and I didn't know how good 

field mice tasted

Did you forget about those

first Pennsylvania winters?

I asked.

No! he said

But I liked my own

back porch blanket igloo

with the heater

Let's be honest

it was a lot to get used to

He rolled over on his back

then said

I have perks here

What do you mean by "perks"

I asked, feeling guilty

and a little sad that

he has had to live outdoors

ever since.

He licked a paw

and rubbed his face

then said, I run my own 

show out here

rule the rodents

sleep in the barn

and sometimes for fun

I rule the dogs too

Toby rolled back onto his stomach

eyed the chickens 

scratching and pecking their

findings a few yards away.

Say, what about eggs?

Do you eat eggs? he asked

One of the roosters

looking back at Toby

stretched up tall

and flapped his wings

Toby's tail flipped up and down

in a wide arc

I replied yes, I eat eggs,

fish, too. And in a whisper

I said I like a piece of

chicken now and then

I sighed and said

to be honest

I gave up on 

the legume-grain thing--

A couple of days and it was over

Toby's attention shifted

He stood and stretched his

whole orange long length

Protein is running around out there

were his parting words as

he sauntered over

to the pasture fence and

leaped to a fence post top

He paused to survey

the field ahead

jumped down

and disappeared

into the tall grass

*

As it happens Tucson is on my mind as I take note of friends Paula and Carl's news this week that they just went solar. They provided Carl's wonderful photo of their new solar array...

...including a real rainbow! and the Catalina Mountains, too.
What's not to love!

Paula provided info for how it works and their setup, which I quote...

• ...the backup battery [that will arrive this fall will go] in the storage room off our garage, where we had some of the rest of the solar-related equipment installed.
• Some of this other solar-related equipment includes an inverter, which converts the electric field from direct current (DC) (which is what the solar panels produce) to alternating current (AC) (which is what our household appliances and the electric grid use).
• The battery is a Tesla Powerwall and is 4' high x 2.5' wide x 6" deep and weighs about 250 lbs.
• We won't be entirely independent from the electric utility with only 1 battery; we'd need 2 batteries to also cover the "power hogs" of the A/C, stove & dryer. But even with 1 battery, if the power goes out, we'll have electricity to run everything else (including fans, fridges, lights etc.) for a few days at least.
• We have 18 solar panels mounted on our roof; each panel is about 5.5’ tall x 3.5’ wide and weighs 41 lbs. They're mounted in 3 groups of six panels each (you can see these 3 groups in the photo).
• We should save at least $1500/year on electricity (but obviously every house's savings is different) and we were able to take advantage of both federal and state income tax credits.
• Our investment should break even in about 8 years.

I hope that many others will join them to counter our global warming emergency with whatever sustainable method possible. Thank you many times over, Paula and Carl! 

*

And speaking of our vast, global concerns, despite the overheated, 117 degree Las Vegas venue, Sonja, Jeff, Elijah, Kingston, Valerie, Tim, Duane and Simone all met there for another of Elijah's basketball tournaments. The team made it all the way through to the finals but didn't capture the title. Kudos to Elijah! that was a good show however it came out.

Here's a smattering of pictures texted from their trip...

Time out for lunch...

Big brother reading the bedtime story.

Sonja.

Sonja, Jeff & Kingston.

While all that basketball practice was going on between games, there was plenty else to do...

Kingston and Simone.

And then, the trip back home...

*

Aidan gathered ingredients to bake a pound cake--and make rockets for my birthday...

Rocket supplies.

Assembly.

Launch pad.

From Aidan...

By the next day on my birthday, he had assembled 17 rockets. After a beautiful birthday supper that included delicious bounty from Wendy's garden...

The beautiful pound cake.
The bowl and contents on the left and the eggs were for me from Wendy.

...the evening cooled nicely for rocket launching. We all took turns setting them off. Here's a couple of them. It was a mistake to think my slo-mo ones would upload so the video with the highest, longest rocket arc will have to be imagined...

Thank you, Aidan! It was fun to be in on the construction, even getting to light up a couple of them, then seeing them actually working so well!

The evening included a quick Facetime from Keoni and a video he made with none other than the Takács Quartet with whom he's been rehearsing...

Thank you, Takács Quartet!.

Thank you, Keoni!

On top of that wonderful special moment came dessert...

What an evening! What a birthday!!! I can taste, smell, see and hear it all over again. Made me not mind it happened in my ninth decade.

Still more was to come. The following Saturday, Pat and Marge got takeout from Giacomos, the new, beautiful deli in Quakertown with wonderfully good everything Italian. We had a lovely back porch birthday and visit at Marge's. 

Thank you, everyone. I've had a great time. I'm glad we can be together a bit no matter how it takes place; electronically, face-to-face, postal, smoke signals...every bit means a lot. I love it that you are there.

Well, it's late again, so I'd better wrap this up. I hope you are well, vaccinated, and safe from harm.

From a visit to the Philadelphia Art Museum.