Vanishing Saturday

Some of the Party Gang - My Wife in Center Rear

Where the hell did yesterday go?  It seems like I was just writing in this blog about five minutes ago.  Yesterday was a truly full day and days like that seem to fly by, is that a good thing?  Since it was going to be incredibly humid yesterday I decided to get going on the yard tasks right away in the morning.  The most physically challenging job was moving a large pile of rocks.  When they built this house seven years ago they piled a bunch of small rocks in one corner of the driveway.  The rocks were used to line the sides of the driveway and prevent erosion.  They did the job and grass has overgrown most of the rocks, as planned.  The extra rocks were piled in the corner of the driveway and left.  It’s always bothered me and I decided earlier in the week to remove them.  I’m sure the neighbors appreciated my efforts since it was right beneath their bed room window.  Rocks, even little ones, are harder to move than you think and make a lot of noise going into a metal wheelbarrow.  Once I had the first wheel barrow loaded I discovered the tire was flat so I had to blow that up.  Seven wheel barrow loads later the rocks were moved and I now had a gaping hole at the top of the driveway.  My wife innocently asked what my plan was to cover up this newly created eyesore.  I remembered that we discussed increasing the size of one of her gardens so I removed the turf from there and covered the hole.  When she saw the repaired eyesore she was impressed until I directed her attention to the bare earth that represented her new garden and told her she now had some work to do.  Buddy and I repaired to the deck to assemble my wife’s new deck swing and umbrella.  The humidity was so bad that Buddy decided he would rather supervise me from inside the air conditioned house – that never happens.  I was once again pleasantly surprised to find all the nuts and bolts preassembled and the assembly was actually fairly easy.  I’m hoping with these additions that my wife’s deck renovation project is complete.  After a quick clean-up we headed out to a nearby friend’s house for their annual 4^th of July party.  Since they have a pool I went garbed in a bathing suit and after perfunctory greetings I was cooling off in the pool.  There was an interesting mix of nationalities and of young and old.  On the way to the party while picking up beverages I accidently bought 16 ounce cans of Coors Light.  I didn’t even know they made them in that size but it sure cut down on trips to the cooler.  It was a weird day weather-wise, with light rain falling every now and then which led to mild panic among the Panamanian based hairdos present.  It was an extremely enjoyable afternoon spent with friends and a great deal of food, I did pass on the flan, to the surprise of absolutely nobody.  We came back in time for the second Red Sox game of the day to find them losing to the Yankees again so decided we should watch a movie.  We were looking through the cable channels when we passed by a preview for one of my favorite movies of all times – Cinema Paradiso.  This preview caught my wife’s eye and I proudly confirmed that I did own it and shortly thereafter we were transported back to share the evening with Toto and Alfredo.  Some of our neighbors at a nearby lake were saluting Independence Day with fireworks which sent Buddy into a frenzied search for sanctuary.  I ended up putting him in the cage as he was literally shaking from fear and could not be consoled.  We checked back on the Red Sox and discovered they had pulled ahead so we watched the end of the game – their first win over the Yanks this year.  I can’t believe a day that full went by so quickly, not quickly enough for a certain black lab.

The New Driveway Corner, Sans Rocks

New Deck Swing - Too Easy!

New Umbrella and Chairs - Project Complete?

I Jumped Right into the Pool

Party Location

Enjoying the Food with Members of the
Worcester Chapter of the Panamanian Mafia

Discovery Revealed

Toto and Alfredo - Great Way to End the Day