Disassembling Garage Time

Today is the start of marking the anniversary of the Best Two Weekends ever. On this date, an unbelievable 13 years ago, Wingman was officially brought into the family when he tied the knot with my Favorite Daughter. I say Best Weekend Ever because, well, it was. A weekend of non-stop fun and memories to last a lifetime. My son, ever the competitor, had this high standard to meet when he and the ABFA married a few years and one calendar day later, but they rose to the occasion. Therefore tomorrow will mark the anniversary of the other Best Weekend Ever. Happy anniversary to two of the coolest people around, and not just because they produced the FBR. So fun remembering that weekend at our old house in Charlton. 

So, as part of my penance for having way, way too much fun back in hometown over the weekend, I attacked the backyard project with a little more zeal and reached an important milestone. I have leveled the entire patio area which was confirmed by a vigorous thunderstorm yesterday which pointed out the low spots and loosened up the clay to make shaving off the high points easier. Once that was accomplished, I placed the paving stones that will serve as part of the future patio for my Favorite Panamanian’s seal of approval (she gets all the style decisions). She loved it but said we needed four more to complete the look. That will be the next step as I make my first of what promises to be a lot of concrete purchases this afternoon. I’ll first pour beneath the stones to raise them to the level of the future patio and then pour around them. I’m going to consult with my son to see if he has any tips and a way to calculate the amount of concrete needed. I can see the end in sight but this final part will require some expertise which is in decidedly short supply.

Today's (Day 29) Progress

I had to dispose of an old window air conditioner that finally bit the dust a couple months back. We inherited it from the former house owner and it developed a coolant leak which rendered it useless. Due to its age, I didn’t want to repair it and after checking online learned I could take it apart as long as the gas was gone, which is why is stopped working. I’ve always weirdly enjoyed disassembling machines. I treat it as another puzzle and find it fascinating trying to figure out how the thing was put together. So that was my Sunday afternoon in the garage. There was only one screw that stripped out which required brute force and ignorance to overcome. I was left with a pile of components which was easy to dispose of. I also learned what made the thing so damn heavy. One piece, some sort of pump, must have constituted more than fifty per cent of the total weight. Such are Sundays in my retired life when I am in the recovery zone.

Starting Point

The Ex-AC Unit

Two movies fell in my A-Z effort, both keepers, with the same guilty feeling, but keepers: American Wedding (ring recovery gagging) and American Reunion (babysitter club).

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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); Namesake Nephew – son of Great Aunt and Soxfather namad after me; 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