Knee News, Spending, and Animal Kingdoms

Another few days of granddaughter residency have fallen. Even though we have only one, the FBR, in house, the time has not lacked entertainment. Monday was supposed to be an off day from events since my Favorite Panamanian had her orthopedic appointment. Since the morning was free, I made the tactical mistake of taking the FBR to a book store. This is something I loved to do with her mother at a similar age. I had forgotten, however, that my wife’s shopping genes (incredibly virulent) had been passed on to the FBR. I was helpless in the face of this ability. She is an expert, at the tender age of 8, especially in bookstores since her mom still frequents those with her.

FBR and I on the Sky Safari

A second mistake was walking by the Harry Potter section which resulted in several additional purchases. I thought I was done, the damage sustainable, until the FBR mentioned she had spied a Claire’s Store just a couple doors down from the bookstore. Again, I have to plead naivety, I thought it was a kids store. Apparently, not. The FBR once again perused the aisles with seasoned confidence and locked on a target of glue-on fingernails. I thought they were kid sized because, again, I thought it was a kids store. Upon returning home I was apprised of my mistake by the Favorite Panamanian who was not pleased with my purchasing the fingernails. I then did what I should have done at the store and questioned the FBR. She said she had wanted to buy them for a long time but her mother always said “no”! Now I found myself firmly on the proverbial horns of a dilemma. Obviously, I had been “schooled” by the FBR despite my 60-year age advantage. A compromise was eventually reached where my wife trimmed the nails down to kid size.

FBR and I Made a Cake Together

FBR on the Loose in Claire's

Out to lunch Before Doc's Appointment

My Favorite Panamanian’s doctor’s visit had been hugely anticipated since she had been on crutches for ten days at that point. The knee wasn’t getting better. When the doctor saw her and she admitted she had been hurting for nearly a year and only recently had it gotten truly bad, he was a bit dumbfounded as to why she had waited so long. The good news was she doesn’t need a knee replacement but she will need an arthroscopic procedure to trim the meniscus that is torn. We were lucky enough to meet with the scheduler who quickly became good friends with my wife (she has that effect). Since you can’t fly until six weeks after the procedure, this put our late October trip to Italy and Croatia in peril. The two new friends solved that by squeezing in another procedure on the doctor’s schedule for next Tuesday. So, she’ll go under the knife the day after Labor Day which will hopefully get her off crutches in a couple weeks.

Fingernail Trimming

And Application

Meanwhile, the granddaughter visit rolled on unabated, with me as the lone tour guide for the most part. Tuesday saw our annual trek to Southwick’s Zoo. This was the first time it would be only the FBR and me, but I felt confident I could handle the challenge. My only concern was rest room breaks since hanging around outside the girls’ room isn’t advised in today’s hypervigilant society. I didn’t have anything to worry about since there was usually a group of dads and granddads outside with me awaiting their kids. The FBR is an old pro at this zoo and was leading me around to her favorite activities, which, of course, included the goat petting experience. Since school has already started in Massachusetts, the crowds weren’t as pervasive in past years. As with all places aimed at our young, the zoo administration latched a firm vacuum to my credit card upon walking through the front gate, but it was money well spent seeing the obvious joy on the granddaughter’s face.

Goat Petting

FBR Was Popular

Happy Granddaughter

A Bit of a Ham

Flamingo Pose

One of the priciest deposits was the zip line ride at $12 each for the entire 1-minute experience but the FBR was hooked on it. I did aver making a second ride. We did make two rides on the sky safari which is a really cool aerial tour of the entire zoo. There was a new carousel ride which the FBR had to test ride, well, because. It was a very fun day as we headed for the exit which meant we had to walk through the gift shop (that vacuum again). I had given Great Aunt a good ribbing about her gift shop adventures with the granddaughters last week. I have a better understanding after my own experience yesterday. The FBR is just flat impossible to refuse. It was easier with my son and daughter, when they were at that age, because money was a bigger concern. I now can afford giving her anything she wants which makes it harder to resist. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. Please, though, don’t tell her.

Sky Safari

New Carousel

Deer Feeding

Lazy Cheetahs

Mountain Goats

Loose in the Gift Shop

We were on the ride home when I received a call from my Favorite Panamanian. Because things haven’t been sufficiently challenging these past couple weeks, the garage door was on the fritz. When the new one was installed in 2020, the installer had put the sensor light on one side into some sort of solidifying foam. I didn’t notice until after he left, but it worked so I let it go. I’m impressed it lasted four years but last week it failed and despite some very enthusiastic and creative use of duct tape, the door wouldn’t close. The installing company agreed to send a tech the next day and after 4pm so I had time to get back from the zoo and not bother the invalid wife. The call I got as I drove home was from that wife saying the tech arrived two hours early (when does that ever happen?!). He was gone by the time I arrived home and I expected to find more foam since I wasn’t there to object. I was pleasantly surprised to see it correctly installed on the rail and learned my wife was so incensed at the standard cost for any site visit, that she insisted the tech make several other minor improvements that I wouldn’t have even thought of. So. Cool.

Sea Lion Show

Ray Petting

With Great Aunt

Balugas

Dino Time

Today was another devoted to my animal loving granddaughter. I had been thinking about taking her to the Boston Sea Aquarium when Great Aunt reminded me about the Mystic Aquarium. The advantage being not to have to navigate the chaos of Boston traffic and it would be about the same travel time. Since it was her idea, I invited her along. I hadn’t been to the aquarium since I had been a chaperone for my son’s first grade class when we lived in Rhode Island. It had certainly changed and now included the aforementioned vacuum cleaner on the wallet. A nice departure from that vacuum was the free entry I finagled as a veteran. The FBR charged from one exhibit to another. She’s a recent fan of Shark Week which meant the shark petting tank was a required stop. She also was fully enraptured with the beluga whales.

Outside the Penguin Exhibit

Hurricane Booth

FBR in Megalodon Mouth

FBR in Dino Land Playground

Stalked by Dinosaur

Inside the Fish Tank

We moved through the many exhibits fairly quickly, had lunch, and then visited the penguins which is always a requisite stop for the FBR. She convinced Great Aunt that they should partake of the Hurricane Experience which has you pay $6 to stand in a booth and have hurricane force winds pummel you. Okay. Great Aunt then paid for us to experience the Dino Exhibit which included a bunch on animatronic dinosaurs, a 4D movie short, and a playground. We then faced the inevitable challenge of passing through the gift shop to exit the facility. Great Aunt and I girded our respective loins while the FBR immediately set about testing our limits. My sister and I eventually split the damage between us and counted ourselves lucky it wasn’t worse. Despite the pecuniary liabilities involved, I’m going to truly miss having granddaughters around next week. The trip also allowed Great Aunt and I some time to converse on the drive down and back which I treasured, because there never seems like there’s enough of that.

Four movies fell in the A-Z watch, all keepers with significant attendant explosions: Leon the Professional, awesome action flick with very young Portman, when Luc Besson burst on scene; Lethal Weapon, Gibson and Glover, team made in heaven; Lethal Weapon 2, whatever happened to Patsy Kensit, white hot; and Lethal Weapon 3, Pesci becomes very annoying but still solid action with welcome addition of Russo.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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 (whom I miss more than I can ever explain); Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course