Wednesday, July 27th, 1977-in which we learn that old biases never die.

Pete and I went to the movies tonight.  We saw "The Rescuers" based on Margery Sharp's "Miss Bianca" books.  Petey thought it was pretty scary, with the villainous Madam Medusa and two ugly crocodiles.  It was a double feature so we also saw Walt Disney's "Two Critters" starring a racoon and a bear.  Petey liked that best.  We also saw Dr. Baskerville with Matthew, and nobly refrained from asking her any professional questions.  We had to take a cab both ways, and promised Paul we'd come and dispatch for him again if Vi wanted some time off.  We slept as long as we wanted to this morning then dawdled around the house till I gave Pete his bath at 11:30am.  Dad came in about 2:00pm and took us first to the bank so I could get the money to go to the show with.  Then we went to the library.  I got two books by Arthur Goldstein starring a 72 year old Jewish detective, and read one of them, You're Never Too Old To Die tonight.  Pete and Dad sat under the Mulberry Tree on the front lawn while I was inside getting books.  Then we stopped at Safeway.  I'd planned to spend $10.00 for groceries and actually spent $11.11-including cigarettes.  There was a column in today's Argus (part of "The Doctor's Advice") about a boy who bought tomatoes at 89 cents per pound with food stamps, and the clerk said she couldn't afford them at that price, how could he?!  And the doctor printed a lot of letters from people who thought the clerks should be able to say what you have to buy just because you have stamps (Funny that nearly 40 years later, I hear the same spew related to the work I do-PL).  We have to buy stamps too-they're not free (noting the structure of the program at the time was very different from SNAP resources as we know them today-PL)-and in our case we're really restricted by Pete's diets (no carbohydrates, low salt).  The letters upset me because they seemed to say "if you're poor, you have no rights" (The more things change...-PL).

I turned on the TV for Pete when we got home and I lay down to take a nap.  Pete woke me at the beginning of "Mr. Rogers" because Vicky was at the door.  They watched that and "Electric Company" together.  Then Pete watched "Brady Bunch" while I cooked dinner; cube steak (on sale), cantaloupe, strawberries, and green pepper slices.  I tried to cook Dad's beets, but they didn't get done in time to have with dinner, so I'll have them tomorrow.  Cleaned out Hermit's bowl yesterday-the detergent apparently didn't affect him.  I rinsed it out thoroughly.  Called the bank and found out the check to Safeway I forgot to enter was $6.69.  My pictures hadn't come back today so I'll have to wait (saw Jason Devore, Bob Devore, the Safeway Manager's son,at the movie tonight.  Jason helped in Bible School and Pete's very taken with him).  MSTI called to change our appointment to 2:40 pm August 10th since Dr. Holt will be in a meeting earlier.  Stripped the beds today and Pete played under the sheets in the laundry basket.  Read him The Surprise Party (an animal version of the game "Gossip") tonight