Moonshine Still

            On Saturday I finished working out the chords for “Vie, mort et resurrection d’un amour passion” (Life, Death and Resurrection of Passionate Love) by Serge Gainsbourg and uploaded it to Christian’s Translations to begin editing the document in preparation for blog publication. 

            In the late morning I went to No Frills. The grapes were cheap but the red ones were mostly soft so I only got one bag but the green grapes were firm so I got six bags, although some of them didn’t have very many grapes inside. I also bought mouthwash, toilet paper, salsa, saltines and Greek yogourt.

            I worked on fine tuning my Brit Lit 2 paragraph assignment. I think it’s almost done. 

            I had saltines and five year old cheddar for lunch. 

            I think that I’ve finished my assignment. By 17:00 I couldn’t think of anything that would improve it. It’s not due until Sunday at midnight and so I’ll go over it a few times before then, but I’m satisfied with it at this moment. 

            I re-read chapters 13-17 of Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen. 

            I returned to my paragraph assignment a couple of times and made some adjustments. 

            I made four ground beef burgers and had one in a sandwich with barbecue sauce, mustard and piripiri. I ate it with a beer while watching Andy Griffith. 

            In this story the nearby town of Greendale is looking for someone to finish their former sheriff’s term. They see a picture in the paper of Andy receiving an award for being the best sheriff in the state and read a quote from Andy that he couldn’t have done it without his deputy Barney Fife. The city counsel votes to invite Fife to be their new sheriff. Andy doesn’t think Barney would be a good sheriff and tells him that sheriffing and deputying are two different jobs. But Barney sees this as a big opportunity and wants to take the job. When Opie suggests that his father and Barney take turns being sheriff so Barney will stay, it gives Andy the idea to let Barney practice being sheriff in Mayberry before leaving for Greendale. Barney’s first dilemma is when two neighbours come in with a dispute. One of them built a fence to keep the other’s chickens off his property but the fence blocks the sunlight from the other’s land. The men are arguing so loudly that Barney puts them both in jail. When Andy comes in he solves the problem immediately when he suggests that the fence be made of chicken wire. That makes sense to the neighbours and they leave amicably. Barney turns in his sheriff’s badge and storms out. Later Rafe Hollister, the bootlegger whose still Andy and Barney have been trying to track down for months, walks into the sheriff’s office to turn himself in. Andy gets an idea and promises that he’ll be served in jail chicken and dumplings and sweet potato pie from Aunt Bee if he would just go out and turn himself in to Barney. He does so and Barney is so thrilled to have tracked down Hollister that he calls the Greendale mayor and turns down the job, saying Mayberry needs him. 

            It was revealed in this episode by Otis the drunk that Barney’s address is 411 Elm Street. This is coincidentally the address in Dallas from which John F Kennedy was shot and killed. 

            Rafe Hollister the bootlegger was played by Jack Prince. He would return to the role a few more times in the series and Andy Griffith wanted him to be a regular character but he turned it down because he felt it would cut into his singing career. 

            It was strikingly quiet outside for a Saturday night. Perhaps it was because of a combination of the low temperature and the pandemic.