Mid-Week Thunder

I am back in the Man Cave undergoing the rest and recuperation phase of my latest thunder run to my home town. My Favorite Panamanian, in her first-floor redecoration mode, declared she needed to buy curtain rods. Trying to be ever helpful (my story, I’m sticking to it), I mentioned that they sell curtain rods in Keene. I will admit to ulterior motivations in this declaration. I had already checked to see if Keene Friend and the Cantankerous One were available. While the price of the gas spent on reaching Keene more than offsets any savings on sales tax, somethings don’t have a price, such as time spent hanging with my oldest friends.

Lab 'N Lager Think Tank Gathering

We swung by Keene Friend’s house to see his recently remodeled bathroom. He then made a rookie mistake that had me cringing when I heard him utter it. He asked my Favorite Panamanian her opinion on what color he should paint the bathroom walls. Anyone who read last week’s blogs understands this an avenue fraught with deep cogitation by my wife. We were already a little late to rendezvousing with the always punctual Cantankerous Friend (something he would not fail to point out if it was longer than a minute). Eventually she decided on a color but cautioned Keene Friend that she would have to see the room at night and in morning light to be definitive. I just shook my head. I wasn’t asked for my opinion for all the obvious reasons.

Dinner at Margarita's

We set up camp in the Lab ‘n Lager which is quickly becoming the go to place for weekday thunder runs. We were joined in short order by Kindergarten Friend. As we now had a quorum, we set about solving the major political, social, and cultural issues of our time. It was a glorious summer day as Keene’s denizens strolled by outside. Cantankerous had just returned from a week-long bike tour through the northern Rockies and is setting out tomorrow for another one on the Michigan Upper Peninsula. He does present a moving target. After concluding our high brow discussions, we adjourned down Main Street to sit outside Margarita’s for dinner.

View of Downtown Keene from our Table

Downtown Keene has survived as a true downtown and social center for the city when so many others have been eroded. That’s what makes the time I get to spend there so special. This was the same downtown at least six generations of my family have walked down. We received a message from the PCR asking why he hadn’t received his usual drunken phone call from us after I posted on Facebook that we were at the Lab. We rectified that when we got back to Keene Friend’s house but the PCR had trouble staying awake. It was, after all, after 8pm; luckily his stalwart wife was around to insist he talk with us. Mission accomplished.

Our benighted former president was indicted, again, earlier this week for his role in trying to remain in power after the last presidential election. This is, by far, the most serious charge of the many he faces and he is, of course, using this as a method to raise more money from his misled followers to pay his legal bills (despite still claiming to be a billionaire). I’ve written before that I just cannot understand why people cannot see through him. I’ve prided myself on being a lifelong Republican and conservative but the party has been hijacked by his minions, much as in the democratic party has by the far left. Why can’t people see Trump for the fraud that he is? He cares only for himself and could very well be an undeclared agent for a foreign power. How does he get away with it? It’s a form of group think that I just cannot rationally explain. People I know and respect actually, and in some cases fervently, support this bloated scam artist. He doesn’t have a leadership bone in his body. He attacked and continues to attack the basic foundations of the republic he claims to love. How has this happened?

BRS and BR3 Remain in Beach Mode

The New Tattoo

In happier news, another big event happened out in Missouri this past weekend during the FBR and Wingman’s epic trip to St Louis. Wingman is justifiably proud of his many tattoos (even though he tried to disguise them from me when we first met). He somehow added another one while on the trip and it’s a tribute to the FBR featuring her favorite stuffed animal, a teddy bear we gifted her with. She was suitably impressed and delighted to see the new artwork. While my son is back to work this week, the rest of the fam remains at the beach house while he commutes daily from there. The BRS and BR3 appear to be browning up nicely from their beach time, especially the BRS who is a bona fide beach nut. I scared myself earlier this week in my A-Z movie watch progress when I thought I had to watch The Exorcist. The scariest movie ever made. I texted my son that I had to figure out a way to watch it during the day. He rightfully called out my wimpiness and said I had to watch it at night with the lights out (damn it). I didn’t think I owned a copy and it turned out that I didn’t, it was The Exorcist III (the one with George C. Scott). When I relayed this crisis averted information to my son he, with a bit of relish, said that he an extra copy of the original and would gift it to me (double damn it!).

For date night this week we took in the Barbie Movie. I think I’m a victim of over anticipation. I expected too much form this movie and it didn’t deliver. It was cute, with some funny lines (mostly by the narrator) but it felt kind of flat to me. I mean, I get it. This is supposed to be a movie aimed at attacking the patriarchy and raising up womankind but it was a bit too silly to be taken seriously. Men, in the true tradition of the Lifetime channel, were portrayed as inept, boorish, and idiotic; cleverly trying to cast them in the same light women are all too often. I get it. When a film with a message tries to beat you about the head and shoulders with that message the message gets lost. The actors were uniformly good, especially Margot Robbie in the title role and Gosling as a hapless/evil Ken. Again, I think I know what the filmmakers were aiming for, but they missed, not badly, but clearly. Maybe I should have worn pink to the movie.

Three movies fell in my A-Z watch, all keepers, Exorcist III, not as scary as original but it has its moments; Expendables, Stallone returning to his 80s action roots; and Expendables 2, goofy fun as more and more 80s action stars cameo. Guess what’s next?

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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; CRC - Connecticut Riverboat Captain – another close friend from high school, renowned sailor of the big river; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during him 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 named 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; PCR - Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; PCR+1 - Pittsburgh College Roommate’s wife; 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