Plotting

I’m back after a sojourn away from Frail Deeds while enjoyed some spectacular, if breezy, spring weather. That meant some outdoor chores and at this time of year that means work to reestablish my Favorite Panamanian’s vast garden complex; rescuing it from the ravages of winter. She’s actually run out of space in her existing gardens so she has been casting about for additional space, usually at the expense of my lawn. She also bemoans the fact that most of her gardens are in the shade for part of the day. The only place on our property that stays in the sun all day is the lawn between our downhill neighbor and us.

BR3 & her Rudolf Nose

She decided I needed to create a garden box for her to grow herbs in. I place the blame for this squarely on Wingman who created a couple beautiful garden boxes for Wingmom in New Jersey. She assured me it didn’t have to be large but I immediately was taken back to the moment she said the deck we were going to build didn’t have to be that big. The result was of course, Deckzilla. Since yesterday was a perfect day outside, I told her I was headed to Home Depot to pick up the needed materials. Big mistake. I waited an hour for my newly appointed co-pilot to prepare herself for the trip to Home Depot. I wisely refrained from commenting on the fact we were going to Home Depot and not a date. You see, I can learn, only took forty years.

The Future Garden Box and my Un-retired Hand Saw

I set up shop on Deckzilla and went looking for my table saw. It wasn’t where it was supposed to be and I then remembered I had leant it to my Favorite Son with whom I started a basement renovation project back in July. I confirmed it through a text and then hunted down my old hand saw and prepared for an unplanned arm workout. That didn’t turn out so bad but I’m here to tell you that sawing treated lumber is not for the faint of heart compared to regular wood.

Created

I quickly created the garden box under the suspicious but supportive eye of my Favorite Panamanian who was working in her garden complex. I was sneakily proud of how it went, I even measured for the slope of the hill and it came out perfectly level. My only amateur mistake was not reinforcing the downhill side. I was loading dirt into the box when I, or more correctly my supervisor, noticed the boards were separating due to the additional weight of the soil. My wife told me I would have to empty it of all the dirt before I could reinforce it. I was extremely pissed at this point and told her I would handle it without any real plan in mind.

In Its Final Place

I ended up using an old two by four and some garden bricks to create lever which I used to lift the sagging board into place where I then inserted a lot of screws. It should take a small tactical nuclear device to unseat the thing now. My wife was begrudgingly impressed at my solution. While were out there for the final inspection the FBR called in, or more correctly, my daughter called in. The FBR was busy writing thank you letters for her teachers as the school year is somehow winding down. Time has certainly flown as she finishes up her kindergarten year. Meanwhile in New Hampshire BR3 found a Christmas gift, a Rudolf nose that lights up, and was fascinated by it. She required the ABFA to wear it and then donned it herself to impress us on a call. She’s too funny.

FBR Laughing During Our Call

Finished Another Puzzle

No date night this week as none of the movies were enticing enough to pull us out of the man cave. That didn’t stop us though as I acquired a new movie that we enjoyed down there last night. Infinite has a terrible reputation, its release a victim of the covid epidemic. It never made it to the theaters here in the US. I hadn’t heard anything about it until it appeared on a list of recent releases on Blu-ray. I really enjoyed the film which kept it’s high priced CGI effects intact. Mark Wahlberg was very effective as the central character being sought by two groups of competing immortals. They are immortal only because they retain perfect memories of prior lives. It was an interesting concept that  could have been fleshed out more but this was a nicely paced action movie that moved around the globe with interesting confrontations and action sequences. I heard it was nominated for a bunch of raspberries but this will go down as one of the movies critics dismiss but can be enjoyed by garden variety movie goers. Guilty. Good flick.

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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 3^rd 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