Stoned

Sporting a New Elmo Hat - to her Delight

I’ve learned that my back yard construction efforts have made me something of a rock star for our uphill next door neighbors. They’ve taken to giving tours to visiting relatives. My wife and her mother had lunch with them yesterday where they learned of my unexpected fame. I think they’re just happy to no longer have to look at the ugly hillside which is the same reason I launched on this effort in the first place. Since Buddy behaved and there were no thunder storms (mutually dependent variables) I finally got the last of the sod removed from the future patio in front of the future fire pit (it’s a process). Note to self, I learned during this last step that Buddy apparently likes to pee on pieces of sod (it just never ends).

The Cleared Area - Buddy Inspecting as Far as Stones Reached

Once I had all the resulting debris policed up and carried uphill behind the tree line I started throwing bags of stone I’d purchased as the underlayment. I noticed a flurry of activity next door as the neighbors took up station to see what was coming next. I think they were disappointed when I just opened the bags and poured and leveled the stone. I wrote a couple days ago about the weight limitations since I now have to use my poor old Camry for Home Depot trips instead of the pristine new Highlander and its larger capacity. Last night was the first impact as I’ll need to make another trip this evening for more stone.

I was wandering through Amazon a couple days ago and found that Brad Thor had published another in his excellent Scot Horvath series – Use of Force which I immediately purchased and began devouring. This time out Horvath is straddling the line between the CIA and his contractor as he tries to track down and foil an impending ISIS attack in Europe. There’s also an insidious internal attack within the CIA aimed as him. As usual Thor provides a superb page turner as his hero meets and overcomes obstacles thrown in his way. He fights terrorist cells from the Burning Man concert in California to the Libyan Coast and finally Italy, barely passing to take a breath along the way. My only complaint (and it’s not really a complaint) is Thor cramming so much action in that we don’t learn much about his character’s private life arc until the very end. Like I said, not a complaint, just a great read, a book I finished too quickly, as usual.

I’d heard good things about The Big Sick and its been a  while since you could say that about a rom-com which I’m invariably a sucker for, so we were back at the movies last night. Based on the real-life romance between the lead actor, Kumail Nanjiani, and his future wife, the film tells the story of the aspiring Muslim comedian who meets a grad student after one of his standup sets. Their one-night stand grows into true love, which is unacceptable to his traditional Muslim family. They’re brought back together when she falls seriously ill and he meets her parents, hilariously played by Ray Romano and a top of her game Holly Hunter. Those two steal every scene they’re in. The funniest bits are the clash between the two cultures and the people caught up in it. The center of the story though remains the love story and against all odds you end up rooting for them. Best rom-com I’ve seen in a long time.
Here are some more photos of Favorite Son's recent visit to Cali - these of Lake Tahoe hiking and of course more of my granddaughter and Elmo: