Eighteen Alright and Yet Another Wall

I owe a debt to my son. That’s a bit of an understatement because I owe so much to both of my “kids” as I’ll never be able to recompense them for what they’ve brought into my life. This is a more specific matter of gratitude though. I’ve been a long-standing critic of the style of basketball played in the NBA. I used to love the game passionately until seeing the likes of Lebron and the latest round of superstars ruin it, for me. The no calls for traveling, the constant carrying of the ball, no passing, flopping, and superstars getting different calls than others. I used to a fanatic Celtics fan, even got to sit on the bench with Sam Jones and Bill Russel during a preseason scrimmage, as well, but they fell into the same type of basketball as the rest of the league and I left them behind years ago. My son encouraged me to watch this current Celtics team over the past couple years, claiming they actually passed the ball and played defense. As I am wont to do, I resisted, not wanting to learn what a Euro-step was.

Shortly after returning from Panama this year, I finally succumbed a watched one of the first Celtics playoff games with him. I saw evidence of what he and several other friends had been trying to convince me of. This was a fun team to watch. Basketball should be the ultimate team sport and here I found a team that was willing to involve everyone and play defense. This all is a way to lead in to what I’ve been doing over the past few weeks. I’ve watched every Celtics playoff game since that first one with my son. That was all rewarded Monday night when they squashed a team that played the aforementioned style of “superstar” basketball. In doing so they won their 18^th world championship and brought an old curmudgeon who thought he’d watched his last NBA game ever, back into the fold. The Lakers can suck it.

Project Area

Day 1 - Grass Removed

Since we’re undergoing the first heat wave of the year it’s almost predictable that I had to start the latest back yard construction project, the expansion yet again of my Favorite Panamanian’s vast garden complex. There was a narrow strip of lawn behind the fireplace and in front of a terrace wall. My wife finally understood I couldn’t dig out the dirt underneath the terrace wall to level the space without having the terrace collapse. I could raise the lower wall next to the fireplace and then fill that in. I removed all the turf from the location on Monday which is nowhere near as much fun as it sounds. The heat hit yesterday which also called for some extensive digging and carrying of buckets of dirt up the hill for disposal, again, not a lot of fun. In a major surprise I didn’t hit any huge rocks. A first in my extensive experience excavating that hillside. Not to say there wasn’t the usual thousand or so of the smaller rocks jarring the shoulders when the shovel hit them.

Day 2 Progress

The Personal Fan

Once the digging was done, I started in with the bricks. I only had a few going into the actual hillside so that part wasn’t as tough as earlier walls. I ran into a conundrum where the wall on the left runs into the right side of the fireplace. I’m going to have to use some cement and rocks to mate that section, so that’ll be fun. I finished the left side yesterday and started on the right side of the hill but eventually figured I’d donated sufficient gallons of sweat to call it a day. I’ll be going out after the peak sun hours today to finish the walls. Tomorrow will hopefully see the emplacement of the garden dirt (spousal approval pending) and the cement work mentioned above. I was surprised I got as much done yesterday as I did, considering the heat. I was helped immensely by a Father’s Day gift from my Favorite Panamanian. When I opened it, I laughed to myself, my inner voice saying I would never use something like this. It was a rechargeable personal fan worn around your neck. Considering the heat yesterday, I gave it a shot and it worked for the entire three hours I was out there and helped immeasurably because I only took one water break. Amazing what a difference having a constant breeze on your head makes.

FBR and I in 2016

Finally, Facebook was after my heart again today when this picture showed up in memories. It was taken in 2016 when the FBR was visiting. It shows us on Deckzilla as it was being constructed. This was when the FBR was still young enough to think I was supercool. Those days have sadly passed as she is now much more firmly based in reality. My daughter and the FBR just Facetimed me. She only had a half day of school today as her time in second grade winds down and she would only talk with me when her mother coaxed her to. She’s practicing to be a teenager I guess and while I miss being “supercool” (not that I ever was). I still loved seeing her today in all her indifferent superiority and remembering those earlier days of connection.

In my A-Z watch, two fell since I last posted, both keepers: Jurassic Park 3, a much better sequel and I’ll love anything with Tea in it; Jurassic World, Chris Pratt evolved into a true leading man, still trying to figure out how Howard ran so far in those high heels, having a T-Rex chasing you probably helps.

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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; Seis Amigos - two couples from our condo complex and my wife and I; Soxfather – my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course