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| Overlooking WPI With Cantankerous Friend |
Another weekend, another memorable
social experience as Cantankerous Friend came down for a couple days to help
quell any suspicions of loneliness. It was great to have some quality hang time
with a guy who was my best friend dating back to the third grade. We grew up
four houses from each other and followed similar tracks in our professional lives,
mine in the Army and he in the Navy. We usually
get together as part of a larger group and this was the first time in a long
time that it was just the two of us for an extended time. Part of that time was reminiscing about
memories of our respective families and growing up on Valley Street. He’s the
only resident remaining on that street from our era and with the recent passing
of his father that may end as well. He made it down on Friday in time to make
the First Friday of the Week celebrations which included Keene Friend so there was
an opportunity for the usual cantankerousness between the two of them.
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| The Stop & Shop Robot |
Saturday saw some errands and we ran into a robot running around the grocery store. It was really strange as I guessed it's supposed to note any spills or other issues. In reality its primary function seemed to be to cause shopping cart traffic jams. Friend helped me out with a couple minor home repair projects. We’ve have one of those
folding double doors in the laundry room that needed the track runners replaced
for a long time. With his assistance I was able to finally get that knocked out
and then it was out into Worcester for the day. Cantankerous spent his initial
college years at Worcester Poly-Tech so we tried to find something he remembered
but there’s been a lot of changes over the past forty years. We finally declared
victory and returned to Brew City for lunch followed by a mini-pub crawl down Shrewsbury
Street. My Assistant GM was wandering through Worcester during the final stop
and we vectored him in for a couple beers. He was fully indoctrinated into the
Cantankerous Friend experience. It was such a good time.
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| Saturday Crawl |
We returned home to get diner ready as
no less auspicious guests than Great Aunt and Soxfather journeyed up from Rhode
Island for a viewing of Bohemian Rhapsody. I’d told them they needed to see the
movie for the first time on an appropriate sized screen and a sound system that
could remove eyebrows. Since the Man Cave is thus equipped it was a date. The
dinner was another journey through Valley Street memories as 3 out of the 4
people there grew up there and the 4th, Soxfather, had his own
bundle of memories from the times spent there while my mother was still alive.Sunday brought snow followed by ice
and the Cantankerous Friend left following breakfast in order to beat the ice
back to Keene.
I was left to my own supervision which is always ripe for sloth
which was the predictable result due to the excuse provided by the ice storm. I
did relearn a valuable lesson on removing hot pans from the oven. I broiled up
some burgers and instead of putting the oven mitt on I used it like a holder
and my thumb inadvertently slipped between two of the mitt fingers so I was
using bare skin to lift the pan from the over up to the stove.
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| Burned thumb |
I found myself on the horns of a dilemma.
My initial reaction was to immediately drop the pan but this had some very
apparent drawbacks. I’d cleared the oven so dropping meant ten burgers and the
associated grease would be spilled across the kitchen floor as well as my legs,
so not a good option. As quickly as possible I completed the lift and then
blistered some paint off the wall with some truly remarkable profanity (even I
was impressed). I was very glad my granddaughters weren’t around to hear it. I spent
the rest of the day with my thumb packed in ice but at least the burgers were saved.
So another great weekend where a
lifelong buddy once again proved that the “Friend” part of the nickname I have bequeathed
him for Frail Deeds is the dominant feature.
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RECURRING
CHARACTERS
BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR
- First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing
Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law, formerly known both as MEF – Most Excellent Fiancé
& MEG – Most Excellent Girlfriend; Wingman – my son
in law; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school
from my home town of Keene, NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great
Aunt = my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since
grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to
attract women; Pittsburgh College Roommate – high school
friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla
– our backyard deck which
grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine
and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US
sisters, my wife is the 3rdmusquetera (musketeer); Buddy – AKA
the Wonder Pooch – family dog, a black lab – hates squirrels, died
in 2017; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy,
son's dog, surrogate grandchild while awaiting arrival of the BRS; PanaGals –
female relatives/friends of my wife from Panama; Panamanian/Latin Mafia –
inevitable group of Latino friends my wife accumulates wherever we have lived
& their spouses; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close
friend and Panamanian mafia member, Favorite Panamanian - the wife
(of course); First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday
of the Week; Excellent Boss – my former direct boss at
work; Deckzilla Dude – senior
citizen carpenter/contractor; Voices of Inappropriate Worth -
members of public who come to every Worcester public meeting to complain, all
are on public assistance along with demeanor issues
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