I should have kept my
big mouth shut last week when I was listing the various household appliances
and sundry other items that required repair in 2020. I opined at the time that
there wasn’t anything left to break. As I said, I have a very big mouth (insert
sarcastic comment from Cantankerous Friend here). As we were waiting with high anticipation
for my son’s family to arrive on Saturday the kitchen sink backed up and began
spewing green spinach from the garbage disposal (a real exorcist moment). I
quickly donned my plumber hat and insured the wife I would be able to remedy
the situation.
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One Seriously Happy Grandpa
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I cleared out underneath
the sink and removed all the pipe attachments available. Eventually I had the entire
structure separated and was jamming a coat hanger down the pipe hoping to clear
whatever blockage was causing the backup. I reassembled the structure only to
find it wasn’t fixed. Since this was the limit of my abilities I was in a
quandary. I had very few illusions about the ability to get a same day plumber to
the house on a Saturday morning. I then reverted to my childhood listening to
commercials for Roto-Rooter. This sounded like a job for them. A quick check on
google and I was talking to a customer rep who asked if 11am would be okay. The
guy arrived and went through the same steps I did before he called in the big
guns and started the rooter machine down the pipe.
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Favorite Panamanian and BRS Devouring Mandarins
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BR3 Experimenting with Solid Food with ABFA
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She Wears Her Food Well
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It was shortly after
drilling operations commenced that my son and his family arrived. I was therefore
deprived of the joyous reception I had planned in my head because we had to get
all masked up due to a stranger in our midst. I was able to finally pick up my granddaughters
again after the post-surgery prohibition. We bundled them all upstairs while
drilling maneuvers were underway. In short order the drain was opened and under
sink superstructure re-installed. The bill was as painful as you could imagine
but I was grateful for such a timely resolution. The Roto-Rooter guy also had
some good advice about what not to put down the garbage disposal. Apparently,
any starch (potatoes, rice, pasta), coffee, or egg shells contribute
significantly to blockages. I also got a monthly treatment liquid to pour down
the drain.
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BRS and FBR Conspiring Together
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While my Son Induces Nap Time with BR3
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With all this
nonsense out of the way we settled down to the primary mission of the weekend –
enjoy our time with my Favorite Son, the ABFA and, of course, the BRS and BR3.
My Favorite Panamanian ferried up the granddaughter toy cache we keep in the basement
and the BRS and I were soon building a tower together. After my experience with
the FBR I expected the towers to be short lived as that agent of destruction sees
towers as simply something that cannot be left standing. The BRS was more
interested in seeing the marble travel down through all the passages we set up together.
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Dinner Time!
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A Very Happy Abuela
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It was so fun to
finally have someone other than my wife and I under our roof again (I don’t count
the various repair guys as noted above). BR3 continues to grow like the
proverbial weed. She’s in the 98th percentile for size based on her Friday 6 month
checkup. How can she possibly be six months old already?! We also had Riggins
flitting around making his welcome canine presence notable. We scorched some
dead animal flesh and toped the meal off with a resurrection of my birthday
cake from the freezer. The Maine Musquetera’s confection maintained its
excellent taste and the BRS assisted me with some re-ignited candles.
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| Tower Construction |
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BR3 Wants to Help
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Fire Time
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That wasn’t our only combustible
experience. Shortly thereafter were outside with my style challenged fireplace toasting
marshmallows. I say “we” with the notable exception of my Favorite Panamanian.
It is, after all, late November, and she graciously volunteered to stay inside
and warm with BR3. My wife ventures outside when it is below 60 degrees in only
dire emergencies. While we were toasting I noticed the jacket the BRS was wearing
was a hand down from the FBR and the last time I was out there to share a fire
with a granddaughter, the FBR was wearing the same garment.
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| Birthday Cake Resurrection |
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BR3 is in the House!
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Melting Steel Again
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After we satisfied that
pyromaniacal need we returned inside where, somehow, against all odds, my son
and I ended up down in the Man Cave watching the end of some entertaining
college football games. We followed this up with a serial watch of some
episodes of the Norsemen. My son and I share similar comic sensibilities and this
Norwegian show filmed in English reminded both of us as a toned down Monty
Python effort. It revolves around a Viking village in the eighth century and had
us both laughing together which is never a bad thing.
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Hojaldra Breakfast
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Helping with Baby Sister
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Sunday morning was a
delight to have some early morning company when I descended the stairs. The BRS
volunteered to help me put up the flags. We then awaited the arrival of my Favorite
Panamanian and the obligatory hojaldra breakfast which the BRS is a huge fan
of. BR3 remains a bright addition to the family she seems very interested in
everything that goes on around her and offers a ready smile that could melt
steel. She realized she had to develop some sort of defense against her abuela’s
repeated neck kisses which are usually accompanied by energetic expressions of love
for her granddaughter. By the end of the visit BR3 would warily put up her
hands and smile as she readied for another attack.
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Helping me with the Flags
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The BRS and I monitored
the birds of the backyard and I told her about my running battle with the squirrels.
We decided we should take a walk around the backyard woods to demonstrate where
they sit in the food chain. We were having a such a good time that we decided
to take a walk around the neighborhood. The BRS hasn’t met a wall that she doesn’t
want to walk across the top of. With that in mind we set out to test the tops
of every wall we came across. We had a rare (damned quarantine) siting of the neighborhood
mafiosos who came to the door to say hi while the BRS was mounted on their front
yard wall.
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FBR Facetimeing
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One of the funniest activities
of the weekend were the Facetime calls with the FBR. You could tell how much
she wanted to be with us, despite having a fun weekend at home with her
friends. She and the BRS figured out how to conduct a game of hide and seek
with the adults responsible for carrying the iPad around during the search
phase. I can’t wait for future Christmases when all these granddaughters are together
– my vision of heaven on earth.
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The Cursed Puzzle
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Speaking of my New Jersey
based daughter and granddaughter I am seriously considering disowning both of
them based on the devious birthday gift they gave me. They’ve noted how fast I’ve
been moving through jigsaw puzzles and decided they had to do something to slow
me down. They gave me a puzzle, titled Night, which is a picture of the night
sky. It has had me swearing and otherwise cursing their evil intentions as I try
to put it together. All the pieces are the same type and fit where they’re not
supposed to so the frustration level is off the charts. Of course, after
enduring their laughs when I voiced these sentiments I now have to finish it. Their
evil plan has succeeded.
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FBR Showing Serious Attitude This Morning
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The preceding
paragraph was written with my tongue firmly in cheek as I look forward to the challenge,
at least a little bit. The FBR will return to the Wingman school experience as
one of her teachers was possibly exposed to the virus and school has been shut
down for two weeks. 2020 just keeps coming, but at least their kitchen sink (and
ours!) work. What a truly fantastic way to end my birthday celebrations – as I
told my weekend visitors their presence
was the best birthday gift I could have possible wished for.
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RECURRING CHARACTERS
BR3 – 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; Kindergarten
Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; 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 3rd 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
