A new family

 I got some good practice in last night, and went to sleep. Before that I'd taken some big ugly piece of equipment apart so I had 15 things to list but since that was a fair amount of work I didn't list them. 

I woke up at 5, having slept all I wanted, and took off at 6 for Dai Thanh Market. I got a couple of things there, then stopped at H Mart for a couple more things, then went over to Tom's to visit and catch up on the latest. 

I dropped off a bag of fancy pancake mix I'd found, telling Tom "You can cook up pancakes for your crew in the morning". The pancake mix was expired in 2021 but I know suburbian culture well enough to know that there are no expiration dates on things like flour, spices, mixes, etc. A proper suburbian house will have jars of spices that are 15 or 20 years old. 

We talked about things, while his latest dependent, James, futzed around with one of his Mad Max vehicles. James' dog barked at me at first when I'd ridden up but I said "whuff!" a couple of times which is a way to make peace with dogs, and now the dog was just wandering around inside Tom's place. 

Tom and I caught up on gossip and I said he's got it made now - got a dependent, a dog, it's like a happy family. Americans don't consider it a family without a dog to piss and shit on everything and to get into things, give you fleas, etc., so Tom's doing it right, in American terms. 

Tom told me how he has to fee James on nothing but junk food, that he can't even digest anything that doesn't come from a major hamburger chain. At one point, Tom was munching away on one of the rock-candy-on-a-stick things I'd brought by a few days back, with purple crystals of sugar on it. Americans don't savor sugar, they wolf it down like it's beans or mashed potatoes, and this Tom was doing, breaking the sugar off of the stick and shoveling it into his mouth while talking. At one point he smiled a bit and I lost it, laughing. His teeth were purple! We had a good laugh about that. 

Tom's wife was still there, wandering around, trying to spread her covid. She went out for a short walk but returned saying she was short of breath (no surprise). I just kept a polite distance and upwind, and didn't go inside Tom's place. I don't think I'll get it but James probably will - his fast-food diet will protect him, though, I'm sure he's sure of it. 

It got dark and I said I have to go, and rode back here. It's actually cool out there tonight.