Multi-Station Weekend

BRS Learning Hair Pulling from Abuela

I’m still trying to wrap my mind around all that’s passed since I last scribbled in Frail Deeds. We had a new wall, a new knee, a Latin Mafia blow out, a significant birthday, duck races, and I-95 on a holiday weekend. That’s a lot of action to summarize and while I will fail in capturing the entirety of the activities and the truly excellent people involved – let it be said that the weekend was epic by any reasonable standard.

Wall Work on Saturday

With my Son

After an appropriate waiting period following the First Friday celebration my wife and I entered the traffic flow heading north to my Favorite Son’s house where the wall project awaited us. The wait was productive as we didn’t hit any significant traffic. My son and I jumped on the wall first thing in the morning because we had another one of those pesky thunderstorms predicted for the afternoon, exactly as last week. The weather certainly had turned with temps in the high 80s along with some depressing humidity. We hit our stride though and by the end of the day we had completed the entire bottom row of the wall. We were encased in dirt but I truly reveled in the time spent with my son. Riggins once again volunteered to supervise but his sole contribution was defecating in a spot close enough to guarantee to add to the olfactory pleasure of the work.

Dirty Pair at End of Saturday Work

Out of Bricks on Sunday

My wife immediately immersed herself in the abuela zone and squired the BRS around at every opportunity. The ABFA’s folks came up for the afternoon and it was great hanging out with them again. The ABFA put her dad to work cleaning out the garage while my son and I were tasked with hanging a garage shelf after the wall work was done for the day. As the storm bore down we returned inside. I was allowed some granddaughter time after a well-earned and decidedly necessary shower to cleanse the grime off.

BRS Proclaiming she is a Red Sox Fan

As if there was Any Doubt

Beer tastes so much better after a day of physical labor on a hot humid day. My son provided an excellent after work environment and the BRS learned how to pull out hunks of her daddy’s hair assisted by her abuela. We ended up watching several episodes of the first season of Cheers which remains my favorite TV show ever. While it is obviously dated it still produced a lot of laughs from the assembled family.

Great Aunt Getting Discharged with New Knee

We checked in with Great Aunt who was discharged home from the hospital after receiving yet another new knee on Friday. Soxfather was performing duties as an ad hoc orthopedic nurse, most of which involved insuring Remy, their overly enthusiastic lab, didn’t damage the new knee. My sister reported a lot more pain this time around than she remembered. For her to admit pain is something that would fell a much larger, younger man. We caught up with her on Sunday and she got through the worst of it through chemical assistance and was progressing at her usual, hasty recovery rate.

Cordoned Off from Remy (l) at Home

Sunday morning had both my son and I back out on the wall. I told him once the bottom row was in and level that the wall would fly up. His doubts were eradicated as it did just that. In less than two hours we had exhausted his complete supply of wall bricks – two huge pallets. It will take at least two additional pallets to complete the wall but you can now get a sense of what it will look like and the reviews (critically from the project originator – the ABFA) were uniformly positive. It really will look nice and as my son said it will be a constant and very nice reminder each time we pull into the driveway of the time we spent together putting it up.

We left shortly after noon for our trek into Maine, but not before my wife acquainted herself with a local garden center. I slept off some of the day’s physical labor while my Favorite Panamanian acquired yet another rose bush which spent the rest of the weekend in the back of the car. I hadn’t really wanted to see what was behind us while driving anyways. We were journeying deep into Maine to reach the house of the Maine Musquetera. Those of you who’ve driven a couple hundred miles on I-95 in Maine will share my misery of endless pine trees flashing by.

Maine Musquetera with one of her Famous Cakes

We were driving up to take part in a celebration of the Maine’s Musquetera’s daughter’s college graduation. We’ve always had a great time hanging with the very nice group of friends the Maine Musquetera and her husband have acquired in Waterville and Saturday was no exception. There was an added benefit of the Musquetera’s sister and her family joining us from Virginia. It was a typical Musquetera gathering which meant way too much food and constant chatter as the crowd ebbed and flowed over the evening.

Very Proud Momma with her Graduate

I find it hard to credit that the daughter is now the elegant, sophisticated young lady who presided over the celebration. Just after I retired from the military we spent a few days up in Maine for a shared lake vacation with the Musqueteras. I remembered a precocious little girl hanging around my neck as we swam around a raft. To see her transformed into the aforementioned college grad was more than a little disconcerting.

Wife (c) at the Party

Monday dawned a trifle early which may be a result of serial beer consumption over the weekend. My sole goal was to achieve a departure in the morning that would get us south of the infamous Maine-New Hampshire border traffic snarl before the final day of the holiday weekend could jam it up significantly. I faced a severe challenge in getting the musqueteras to separate from each other. They are truly sisters of the heart and never have enough time to talk. I dimly remember hearing four ladies talking animatedly in the bathroom in the early morning hours (for example) of Sunday.

Daddy Daughter Day!

FBR Off to her Next Adventure

Abuela's Shopping Gene is Strong in this One

I was finally able to get my wife to properly recognize the challenge we faced if we delayed. I was assisted by the Virginia contingent who had even further to travel, including the dreaded Connecticut. My wife, I, and her rose bush successfully navigated the endless pine trees again and snuck out of Maine just ahead of the jam. You could feel the holiday weekend just rising to its chore of jamming close the border as I-95 was reduced to forty miles an hour for the last seven miles but I counted ourselves fortunate to break free. I could feel the jaws about to snap shut.

Dining with FBR Friends

Sprinkler Time - Not Sure why the Helmet was Required

We arrived home in time to engage in some additional planting. My back seat driving rose bush was consigned to the ground along with some climbing plants my wife wants clambering over the side of Deckzilla. Yesterday was also a momentous event as it marked the birthday of the previously noted temporary ortho-nurse – the Soxfather. My sister’s incapacity mitigated against proper celebration but I’m assured that will happen in the not too distant future. He’s one of my favorite people on the world and has been a brother in all the important aspects for more than three decades now. I remember each time I’m in terminal E at Logan International meeting him for the first time as I stepped off the plane from Germany for Christmas in 1979. All thoughts of having to dodge assassination squads from an ex-fiancé fled my mind as I quickly surmised, after growing up with three sisters, that I had finally found my brother. He’s a noted snake charmer of young children, in a very positive way. Both of my children adored him while growing up and the FBR has already acquired him as well. The BRS will not be far behind. He’s the kind of guy it’s just fun being around.

Soxfather Charming Another GEneration

Speaking of the FBR, she spent the holiday weekend squiring her mother around northern New Jersey. Since Wingman had to work all three days it was a solid mommy-daughter weekend after Friday’s daddy-daughter day. There were sprinklers deployed, a neighborhood cookout, and domination of a beer tent once Wingman was freed up. The FBR was most excited however after viewing the Maplewood Memorial Day parade with some duck races. I’m still trying to figure out what was involved as she was too excited to talk about it when we finally did catch up with her.

Duck Race with one of her Besties

Back with Dad on Sunday Night

So. That has to constitute a very well spent weekend and my heartfelt thanks to the people who made it so.