The Dentist

Not too many folks are fond of dental visits, unless you are the Bill Murray character in Little Shop of Horrors. My dentist isn’t like Orin Scrivello, actually he is a pleasant young man, but I still don’t like the visits.

My first day in Northern Virginia last week, I broke my left maxillary cuspid. The back of the tooth and the old metal filling stayed in place, the entire front of the tooth broke off. I wasn’t even eating something hard. I called my dentist and since I wasn’t getting home until very late Thursday night and since it was a holiday weekend, I couldn’t get an appointment until this morning. I called my son’s dentist in Vienna, but they suggested that if the tooth wasn’t bothering me, that it would be best for me to wait to see my own dentist as I would have to follow up with him anyway and that would incur double cost. I waited. Bright and early this morning I had my visit, left with a numb top lip, a hefty bill, a tooth that has had the metal filling removed, a tooth colored filling applied and built up to approximate a tooth and an appointment in August to have a crown, my 6th.

I was not blessed with hard tooth genes and unfortunately have passed the soft enamel on to all three of my children. Hubby on the other hand has granite teeth, but none of the our children got his tooth gene.

Since I didn’t eat breakfast due to morning farm chores and the early hour of the appointment, I could eat the couch right now, but I’m afraid I will have to wait a bit more time for the numbing to wear off so I don’t bite myself. I’m not a cannibal afterall.

On a more positive note, our first full day with grandson was full and rewarding. We got him a library card, signed him up for the summer reading club (he is a voracious reader at a level well above his 9 years, going in 4th grade level), we did his summer writing and math practice assignments, he practiced his guitar and kung fu without a fuss. His granddad let him watch part of a movie, they played baseball in the front yard, and they shot off some of the fireworks that were purchased prior to the 4th.

Today’s practices have been completed and we are going to go do some errands. We need a basketball for him to play with, a book in the Seven Wonders series is not in the local library chain so we will buy it for him and the pups need some supplies.

At some point soon, the fencing for the meat chicken run needs to be completed, the chicken tractor repaired from the dog damage and the electric fence extended around all of that. Today it is going up to 90ºf, too hot for outdoor labor.  I will tackle some of it after it cools off this evening and work on it some in the morning before it gets too hot.  Brown Dog hasn’t been back for more free chicken in a few days, or hasn’t been seen.  Either they have him secured or our reinforcements, gates, and taller fence have discouraged him.