Today's Testimonies

-Extreme excitement over a bagful of beef: one of the gifts PC service has given me.

I hear a cow was slaughtered; my senses perk up, I'm on high alert - BEEF! I've turned utter carnivore in the past year and a half. Stews, salted, fried, you name it, I eat it - and cook it - as often as possible. So, I go by Shamir's, and hover. Get the first pound or two, a generous gift from Hamzad, greatly relished. He asks if I'd like to buy more, I say yes and he tells me i'm gonna buy whatever he cuts; a huge chunk cut, 5 pounds - sure, why not? Good to go. Pay for it, turn to leave, and am given a nice chunk of liver, another kind gesture from Aunt Orcilla, Ivy's sister. A Wal-Mart sized bag filled to the brim with cow parts and I am smiling. Fried liver, beef stew and tasso for the next month or so.

-Only a true friend would, with no hesitation, grab your foot and dig around for and extract a sac of tiny worms bigger than a BB, aka a chigga, out of your toe.

So, around New Year's time, as I was trekking around down South, I felt a minor irritation on my toe and the next day saw a black spot. Figured it was a pimp-le, no biggie, and since it didn't hurt, I figured I'd get to it later. Never bothered me, but I'd look at it from time to time. The black spot spread white around it and I'd idly try to burst it, but not too hard. As I was trying just that this afternoon, Franzea looks at it and exclaims I have a chigga. A chigga! I've heard of them, I've seen the after-effects (gaping holes) and I've even dug a small one out of Shamir, but I've yet to have my own! (They're little worms you get from playing in the sand down here. They'll grow and grow in a sac until you pick them out.) "Want me to pick it out?" Frannie asks. Sure! She gets a needle and starts digging and tearing, quite efficiently. "I want to take it out whole," she says. Sure, that's cool, whatever. I'm gaffing around, not really paying attention as my foot rests in her lap and she works. She gets my attention and I look down and see this huge white ball protruding from my toe! "DUDE! OMG." Seriously, it's bigger than a BB. Frannie works it out and there it is, one black spot --- on a globe of white. I have a crater on the top of my toe. How weirdly cool.

-Juno or Kai?

Names for the new puppy. Yep, spur of the moment thing. Lucy got one, and I decided I wanted one, too. These are from one of Junita's dogs. They're probably around 5 weeks old; I have a girl and Lucy has a boy. Adorable. I'm hoping this goes better than Ari (may she RIP). The gal already has a brother for company and the mothering attention of Lucy working for her; I'm cautiously optimistic. Gotta love puppies. <3