Dick Wesson

            On Thursday morning I finished editing "Sans blague" (No Joke) by Boris Vian on my Christian's Translations blog. Tomorrow I'll find a video to place at the top and then publish it. 

            I memorized the first verse of "Partie perdue" (Losing Leaving) by Serge Gainsbourg, and reworked my translation. 

            It was very foggy during song practice and the usual people I see walking to the streetcar were made mysterious as they came through the mist. 

            I weighed 85.6 kilos before breakfast, which is the heaviest I've been in the morning in a week.

            I spent about an hour making notes for my essay on Grendel: 

            The treasures of the Danes are not treasure to Grendel. There is a sword in his mother's cave that is ancient and finely crafted. The Danes treasures were probably the equivalent of plastic garbage in Grendel's mind with no history, taken as booty in Viking raids, dirty money, dirty gold. He rejects and despises the capitalism of the Danes. Hrothgar sent people to Geatland in advance to find and pay for a mercenary of Beowulf's mettle. It was capitalism that Grendel fought and capitalism that killed him. 

            I weighed 85.4 kilos before lunch. 

            In the afternoon I took a bike ride downtown and stopped at Freshco. The only grapes they had that weren't too soft were the black ones, so I got five bags. I also bought a pack of strawberries, a pack of blueberries, bananas, four-year-old cheddar, a pork sirloin roast, a container of skyr, a bag of kettle chips, salsa, Basilica sauce, shampoo-conditioner, conditioner, and a pack of toilet paper. 

            This was the first day of their new Scenes card. That's what the cashier called it but I think it's just called "Scene", singular. It's a general points card that's good at various places including Cineplex. It seems to be replacing Airmiles at a lot of locations. I didn't bother to get one. 

            I weighed 85 kilos at 17:45. 

            I got graded on my short practice essay and I got 90%, so that's an A+. 

            I was caught up on my journal at 18:40. 

            I worked some more on my essay. It seems that Grendel and his mother were the last of their race. If his people had been slaughtered Grendel had reason to take revenge. 

            I roasted a pork sirloin and had a slice with a potato and gravy while watching episode 34 of The Beverly Hillbillies. 

            The story opens with Jane Hathaway trying to flirt with Jethro but he is oblivious. She tells him he is like a magnificent skyscraper with an uncompleted penthouse. 

            Jethro still needs a doctor's certificate so he can graduate and move on to the 6th Grade. He still thinks that the psychiatrist Dr. Twombly is qualified to give him one. The Clampetts think that "psychiatrist" is the condition that Twombly suffers from and which caused him to try to put Pearl on a couch. They think his desire to psychoanalyze her was an attempt to take advantage of her. Pearl is interested in having him court her but she wants control of the field. Jethro goes back to Twombly and is put back on the couch. He learns that Granny beats Jethro often and the doctor expects him to say he hates her for it but he says she's the sweetest woman in the world. Finally Twombly writes a note for Jethro to take to the physician across the hall so that he can get his certificate. 

            Then Milburn Drysdale comes to see Twombly to tell him that his wife Mildred is at the beauty parlour and can't make her appointment. Twombly talks about his interest in the Clampetts and he particularly wants to pick Granny's brain about her knowledge of folk medicine. Drysdale takes him over there. Meanwhile Granny makes a love potion for Pearl to attract Twombly. Pearl says she doesn't know how to use it and so Granny demonstrates it for her. Suddenly Twombly walks in and heads enthusiastically towards Granny. Jed takes Twombly into the parlour while Granny tries to reverse the spell, but it doesn't work because the doctor still wants to see Granny. 

            Finally Granny concludes that it's mostly her own personal charms that are attracting Twombly and so she changes into a courting dress and gives in. He tells her he wants to take her out in his car so they can talk without being interrupted, but Twombly drives a convertible and Granny says it's going to rain. The idea that the weather bureau has predicted clear skies has come up throughout the episode while Granny keeps insisting she knows better. Jed says Granny knows because of her twinges and how the ants and owls behave. At the end it suddenly starts raining and Twombly rushes to his car. 

            This story was co-written by Dick Wesson, who started out with his brother Gene Wesson in The Wesson Brothers comedy team, which had a few hit records, such as "Oodles of Boodle". 

            His screen debut was in "Destination Moon". 

            He performed "Hive Full of Honey" in drag in the movie "Calamity Jane". 

            He co-starred in "The Man Behind the Gun", and "The Charge at Feather River". He played Hex on "The People's Choice", and Jack Reardon on the Paul Sand Show. He produced the sitcom "My Sister Eileen". 

            I searched for bedbugs and found none.