Patchwork

Taking Some Eating Cues from Grampa

The whole moving across the street scenario seems poised for a final week of non-stop action. Every time I think I’m getting ahead of the game I encounter another task that needs to be added to the list. Last night I took down all the picture frames and started patching holes. I remembered back to the times when I warned my wife she was getting a little too enthusiastic with the hammer and nails. That bird came home to roost last night. Her cogent comment upon viewing the destruction she had wrought was, “Whoops!”. I ended the night with my hands covered in spackle.

Savoring the Latest Tie Yesterday

While this has been an additional aspect to the move, having my daughter and granddaughter around during this period of high stress has been nothing short of a Godsend. It’s impossible to feel overburdened when I get to eat breakfast and share the morning paper with them. My granddaughter and I explored breaking eggs together this morning – she was fascinated. Coming home after a demanding day of work is immediately ameliorated when I see my wife and granddaughter out on the front lawn waiting for me. My granddaughter has taken it upon herself to personally taste each tie I wear to work.

Deck Progress

Deck construction is also headed for the final stages. The contractor added the overhead framework yesterday and has just two more days of work left. I volunteered to dig the footing for the base for the stairs so this evening I’ll get reacquainted with the farming experience of early New Englanders and why there are so many rock walls here. I asked that the contractor leave his heavy pry bar which is a critical implement in negotiating through the rocks.

Back View

Buddy’s had a hard pull of it lately with his demotion to lower tier celebrity with the arrival on site of the First Blog Reader. He resents not being able to join us in the living room for his nightly sojourns but that area has been converted to my granddaughter’s play area where his omnipresent black fur is not welcome. My granddaughter, for her part, is intensely interested in him now that he’s gotten over the urge to summarily devour her. He had a bad episode early this morning when a thunder storm blew through. I woke up to the thunder and leaped (well as close as I come to that nowadays) out of bed after I realized I still had another couch in the basement. After shelling out the bucks to repair the other, now safely across the street, I feared what I would find down the stairs. Luckily, for both of us, the couch survived although a carpet remnant was not so fortunate. Buddy had tried burrowing through it.

Happy Birthday Tio!!

There was a major family celebration down Panama way this past weekend. One of my wife's favorite uncles (and a truly nice guy) celebrated his 80th birthday with the entire family gathered around to celebrate. If I know anything about the worthies assembled to celebrate - it was a very good time. He even got a rum bottle shaped pinata to hit. I'm told there's a story behind that selection. Feliz Cumpleanos Tio!

Wingman was in Cleveland Last Night

I snuck back into science fiction with my latest read and finished off They Shall Not Pass by Christopher Nuttall. It was the 12^th book in his excellent Empire Corps series that envisions the aftermath of the fall of a galaxy spanning human empire. In this one the ongoing successor wars between the Commonwealth (good guys) and Wolfbane (bad guys) reaches a fever pitch. The overmatched Commonwealth lures the megalomaniacal leader of Wolfbane to commit to a costly land battle of attrition which is the only way she can lose the war. As always Nuttall excels in the close combat scenes which this book is almost entirely composed of.