Hello Folks,

Yet another rainy day in Todd.  Even the locals say it is one of the rainiest springs in memory.  I am glad I had a chance to float down the river with brothers-in-law Tony and Dan and their boys and nephew Robbie, Jacob and Nick when the visited.  No floating today with floods covering the low water bridges.

The day after my treatment at Duke was a busy one.  After checking out of Chez Wilson (thanks again Karen and Rick) we stopped for some yummy bagels at Bruegers in Chapel Hill and headed out for the mountains.

My sister Nancy had covered The Mercantile while we were away.  I have mentioned the many blessings I have received in previous blogs; how about this one?  On less than one days notice Nancy jumped in her care and drove 8 1/2 hours to Todd to help us out for a couple of days then jumped back in her car to drive 8 1/2 hours back to Indiana and her regular job.  Thank you sister!

When we got back to Todd it was time to set up for the first free Summer Concert Series in the park featuring the Kingbees, a great blues band that has played all over the world but live in Todd (as I tell everyone, Todd is not a zip code, it is a state of mind).  I helped to set up the sound system and cook the burgers that we sell.

The Kingbees on stage in Todd

 By the way, the "we" there is the Todd Community Preservation Organization aka TCPO.  The TCPO owns and maintains two parks in Todd and puts on various events like the Summer Music Series.  Helen and I are both board members of the TCPO.  You can check the TCPO out at www.toddnc.org

I was feeling pretty good the day after my treatment but paid for it on Sunday when I was totally spent.  I tried to rest as much as I could and I feel much better today and hope I will continue to do so until my next trip to Duke.

I wanted to be sure to add to this blog a little something about our government.  If you know me you know that I frequently jump on my soap box and rant about the folks running our state and federal government, and rightly so I think in many cases.   However, I must say that without the help of some wonderful people at the Wilkes Social Security Office and the Ashe County Social Services Department I would not be in my current treatment program at Duke and my heartfelt thanks go out to them.   It seems that there are some really good, hard working people in government jobs "where the rubber meets the road" - it is the morons that we elect that are the problem :-)