I don’t require a lot of or very deep reasons to sneak north to my hometown, what is called amongst the chosen, a Thunder Run. Yesterday, however, I had a very valid excuse. Keene Friend had asked me on a prior thunder run if I would help him install a new stair tread on the front steps of his house where the old one had split in half. He had to make this request over a couple thunder runs because I’m finding memory banks are now routinely scrubbed after (or maybe during) the runs. Originally my Favorite Panamanian was not going to accompany me but we have granddaughters inbound in a couple weeks so shopping was required.
She gave me a hard time about all the
tools I loaded into the car for the trip but I’ve learned a very hard lesson.
It’s okay to have tools you don’t need but it’s a stone-cold bitch to need a
tool and not have it. We arrived at Keene Friend’s house, dumped all the tools
and she disappeared until the evening. Keene Friend and I tackled the initial
step which was removing the tread. That was fairly easy although it was evident
this was an old set of stairs, more than the thirty years Keene Friend has
owned the house. The bottom step of the riser cracked on one side so we had to
cut a piece of the old tread to latch onto the intact part of the stringer and create
a new bed to nail the tread into. After dry fitting the new tread in place, we
learned that back in ancient times (when these stairs were first built) a 2” by
12” was just that. Two inches by twelve inches. In the intervening years the
standard size of lumber has shrunken and the new tread would leave a gap if we
moved it forward enough to take the bottom on the banister footing. 
The Penuche's Quorum
This is where we got creative and ripped
an inch wide strip of the old tread to fill that gap. It actually turned out looking
okay and the banister was bolted into the new tread. Success. This meant we
were ready for a garden variety thunder run. We walked down the street to
Penuche’s Ale House where the bar was full of locals just getting off work and
debating baseball rules (Keene can get weird). In short order my Kindergarten
Friend joined us to provide a quorum. We tried to place a call to the PCR (a thunder
run prerequisite) but he was obviously ducking the call. Luckily his much more conscientious
wife noticed we had called and forced him to call us back which led to the
usual hilarity. This was followed by a trip across Keene so the Keene Friend
could feed a cat he was babysitting for and then a Margarita’s dinner. We
stayed over so Keene Friend and I could watch the first Patriots’ preseason
game but that turned out to be a dud so we switched over to the Sox game. A
great day, not because of the successful project but because I got to hang with
my friends all day long.
The Original Damaged Tread
Wednesday night was date night and we
went see my Favorite Panamanian’s boyfriend’s latest movie, Meg 2, The Trench.
This is a direct sequel to the first one with some of the main characters
returning although they killed off the romantic lead for Statham’s character in
between the movies which was a mistake as she was one of the truly watchable parts
of the first one. She’s replaced by her now teenaged daughter whom Statham’s character
is raising. She’s every bit as annoying as most teenage girls are expected to
be however, in this case, her hijinks inevitably lead her straight into a Meg’s
jaws which, of course, requires Statham to save her, repeatedly. While there
are plot holes you could swim a megalodon through, the action sequences are well
done with significant tension. That’s really what this movie is, a two-hour
long action sequence with the plucky heroes standing off mercenaries and 80
foot sharks. What the hell, it’s a summer popcorn movie. I liked it. 
Our Replacement
One movie fell in my A-Z watch, a keeper, Furious 7, maybe the best of the bunch with Kurt Russell chewing up some scenery and that car jump between Abu Dhabi buildings and saying goodbye to Paul Walker.
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 3rd 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
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