Quarantine Tales

The eerie solitude of the coronavirus era was brought home to me on Saturday morning when I opened the blinds to see a huge turkey strolling down the middle of our street. He obviously got the word on social distancing because instead of the usual flock you see these birds operating in he was all by himself and apparently felt very free to just stroll around with all the humans bunkering down in quarantine. The explosion of turkeys over the past few decades points to the lack of hunters.

Hunkering Down for Movie Night with Pee Wee

Our food supply was depleted so I was given the mission of venturing forth out of the quarantine zone to the grocery store. My Favorite Panamanian is increasingly adamant about counter-measures and I knew I’d have to strip down as soon as I returned from the infected zone. I may be exaggerating a bit. Anyways I returned home from a fairly well stocked grocery store to find a strong disinfectant smell in the garage. My wife’s newest weapon was a shoe disinfection station on the steps from the garage. I asked her what was in it and she blithely responded with vinegar and bleach. I asked her if she realized that this combination produces toxic chlorine gas and could be highly flammable. She said not to worry, that it was out in the garage. I then pointed out the garage is directly below the master bedroom now. Luckily we had a feisty rainstorm which allowed me to dispose of the the mixture and air out the garage.

Saturday was a better day, weather wise, and I decided to get a jump on the usual seasonal mandates for my wife’s vast garden complex. An annual ritual is the removal of the preceding year’s mulch. I was so happy to get out of the  house that I didn’t take into account that this would not be a lot of fun because I had to  lug it all up the hill into the woods behind the house. The wheelbarrow is more trouble than it’s worth getting up the  hill so I transported everything in a couple of large pails. Again, not fun. At all. I’m too stubborn to admit I was overmatched physically and completed the task by sundown. That hill got progressively taller throughout the day. I’m still feeling the effects two days later. It was a lot of mulch.

Our Newest Neighbor

I opened up the grill on Deckzilla only to find something had created a nest in it over the winter. I don’t know if it was chipmunks or a mouse. After removing the nest I decided to fire up the grill to help sanitize it. I turned it up and let it go for a while. I came back outside to see the entire grill encompassed in a raging inferno as last year’s grease was still present and caught fire. I rushed back inside for a bottle of water to quench the flames. At least any resident contamination was thoroughly eradicated. My spring chores are off to an ignominious start.

This Weekend's Final Marvel Movies

I finished off my march through the Marvel universe over the weekend as I tried to recover from my Saturday exertions with my couch potato act in the Man Cave. Since I’m receiving the last Star Wars movie today I think my next endeavor will be to watch all eleven of those movies in order. I loved all the Marvel movies but after this exercise I decided to rate the movies in my perceived order to quality. Again I loved all of them but this is where I think they rate:

1 - Avengers: Endgame

2 - Thor: Ragnarok

3 - Avengers: Infinity War

4 - Guardians of the Galaxy

5 - The Avengers

6 - Captain America: The First Avenger

7 - Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2

8 - Captain America: Winter Soldier

9 - Iron Man

10 - Captain Marvel

11 - Iron Man 2

12 – Captain America: Civil War

13 - Doctor Strange

14 - Ant-Man

15 - Ant-Man and The Wasp

16 - Black Panther

17 – Thor

18 - Spider-Man: Homecoming

19 - Spider-Man: Far From Home

20 - Thor: Dark World

21 - Iron Man 3

22 - Avengers: Age of Ultron

23 - The Incredible Hulk

I wasn’t the only one watching movies this weekend either. The FBR organized a movie night with her parents which has become a major family event weekly. As noted in the picture above, one of the strangest recent developments has been the bonding of Pee Wee the cat and the FBR. Pee Wee has heretofore employed his default reaction to the FBR which was to run as swiftly as his girth allowed as far away as possible. As she does with everything the FBR has apparently won him over. Up in New Hampshire the BRS has decreed at least a daily viewing of Frozen 2 and my son succumbed to pressure and signed up for the Disney+ channel.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS                                           

BR3 – inbound granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; 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 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; 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; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn