That’s Penny there. You can hardly see her because the picture is bad and that light thing is in front of her face and she is wearing her dental hygienist mask. Penny has been cleaning my teeth for maybe 15 years and I don’t know her last name. Probably I do know her last name, but I have forgotten it, so it works out pretty much the same. Before Penny cleaned my teeth Marsha Cecil did. I remember her name only because she lived in the apartment next to ours when Carol and I lived in downtown SB on Bath Street.
Marsha had a husband name David and a daughter named Mary. Marsha talked openly about her deep love for Mel Gibson. Later they moved up north, I think, maybe to where David’s father ran a successful rice farm. California is a major rice producer.
As soon as I got dental insurance, the dentists starting insisting that I came in not twice a year, as is more or less customary, to have teeth cleaned, but three times I year because I had developed back then in my early to mid forties “gingivitis” or gum disease. I expect a 100 years ago anybody who managed to live to 40 had gingivitis, chronic inflammation of the gums. That’s why people back then when they reach 60 frequently had few, if any teeth; gingivitis, if not controlled, can cause your teeth to fall out. So going to have my teeth cleaned 3 times a year suggests I am making a long term investment in my teeth. I hope I die smiling so people will appreciate my high quality teeth and my responsible investment in them.
I floss regularly and have one of those electric tooth brushes. They really do a better job than the manual ones.
Having my teeth cleaned always tires me out.
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Brother Dan writes:
Puccini!
That is the name of our dog.
My brother is not a lover of opera, so I expect the name Puccini had more to do with a penchant for word play as in, “Where is that pooch? Pooch! Pooch! Puccini!” –Like that, I mean.