As I wrote about in my last post, I had
a fairly sedentary week thanks to combat involving yet another BR3 donated
cold. On Friday I was finally feeling better and yesterday I decided I need to
make up for lost time. That may have been a mistake. One of the things I love
about New England is the first warm, sunny weekend day people just explode out
of their houses to begin the cleanup from winter. While I am little better tanned
than some of my compatriots, that’s where I was yesterday. I don’t mean to brag (okay, maybe just a
little) but yesterday I set up Deckzilla furniture, including the sun shade,
mowed the lawn, cleaned out the garage, set up the grill, and added a layer of
stones to one of my wife’s vast garden complexes. That last one was the kicker.
A certifiable swarm of those emerging New Englanders also chose to be at Home Depot.
That meant I had to park in the back forty which wouldn’t be a problem normally
except for times when I’m pushing/pulling a push cart dolly loaded with thirty
large wall stones and ten bags of top soil. Like yesterday. Oh, and just to
make sure I got an adequate workout I had to drag it up a slight hill that I wouldn’t
even have noticed except for, well, the five hundred pounds of product involved.
 |
| Side Garden |
The stones were headed to the side
garden facility of my wife’s vast complex. She’s always complained that it was located
on a hill and wanted me to fix it. I added a retaining wall but there was still
an incline so I had to add another level. After my Home Depot parking lot experience,
I parked the car on the street closest to the garden to reduce the distance of
moving them to the work site. I developed a technique to drop the soil bags out
of the wheelbarrow without stopping. That happened by accident when I hit a rut
but since it landed where I wanted it to, I kept doing it for the remainder. I
was proud of the outcome and sent a photo to surprise my wife with the accomplishment.
Her first comment was that I needed to add more dirt. That brought me back to
earth (get it?) but she did eventually thank me.
 |
| Deckzilla Restored |
The biggest adventure I had was the Deckzilla
sunshade. We stored it for the winter because, well, snow. I knew if I stored
the connecting hardware in the garage I would forget where that was when I
needed them in the spring. I left them connected to the mounting brackets which
are screwed into Deckzilla. I discovered the major problem with that decision when
it came time to mount the sunscreen. Over the winter the nearly constant hilltop
winds had unscrewed the brackets into its component three pieces which had
fallen to the ground. I desperately looked through the winter accumulated
debris and found three of the four missing pieces. I was nervous because one of
the hooks was missing and I had just mowed the grass in the likely landing
spot. I had visions of having to dig through the pile of grass clippings when I
spotted the missing hook, unlikely caught around a clump of grass which kept it
away from the mower. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than smart. Thank God. This all consumed about five hours and
while I felt a certain sense of accomplishment, I knew I was pretty beat. I
then made my biggest mistake of the day. I sat down. For thirty minutes.
Feeling refreshed after this short break I went to stand up. Big mistake. My
body decided to point out it was sixty-six years old and hadn’t appreciated the
day’s efforts. Everything hurt as I shambled over to the drug drawer and fished
out some ibuprofen. Therein lies the save mentioned in the title.
 |
| Front Yard, Tree is Starting to Bloom |
There are a couple things left in the house
to do that requires two people. It brought home to me as the least of the hundreds
of reasons I feel so lonely. I’ve been basically by myself since I left the ABFA’s
parents house last Sunday. While these solitary times are good in small doses I’ve
come to discover that humans are basically social animals. The gaping hole in
my social status is the absence of my Favorite Panamanian. In our previous
winter long separations I always had a job to assuage the loneliness and need
for social interaction. There’s only so
much movies, sports, and jigsaw puzzles can do. I get her back in a little over
week and I can’t wait. I guess I’m pretty married.
 |
| Latest Puzzle |
Speaking of jigsaw puzzles I completed
my latest effort yesterday. I know there are friends who will say this should
have been a bunny considering the motivation involved. It was a lot of fun and discovered
there were six bottles depicted that I had never tried. My son and Wingman will
be surprised by that statement as they are beer connoisseurs within the family
while I keep to my more pedestrian Coors Lite (which was not represented in
this puzzle – a grave error). It turns out I have tried a lot of different beers,
all but six. I attribute this to a penurious youth where I would drink whatever
beer was presented. Come to think of it, that hasn’t really changed. It’s just
that I can buy my own. I also achieved something of legendary status in my War
College Class when I participated in a worldwide tour of beers the pub
sponsored, no less than five times. Hey, I got a t-shirt and a hat out of it.
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RECURRING CHARACTERS:
ABFA – Amazing Best Family
Athlete - my daughter
in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter
#3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel -
second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue
about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Curbside Girls – close friends of my
daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions
once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite
Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR
- First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since
high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited
with after many years; Maine and
Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my
wife is the 3rd musquetera (musketeer); Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia
member; 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; Pittsburgh
College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in
Pittsburgh; Riggins - also known as
the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather
- my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my
son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s
mom, of course
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