The BR3 returned home Friday afternoon and was immediately greeted by the
BRS as if she was the answer to innumerable prayers. The BRS wanted to hold her
new sister as much as possible. My son and the ABFA were a little concerned
based on the BRS’ documented treatment of some of her baby dolls. The BRS
however was totally in love with her sister and vey emotional if asked to
relinquish being near her. The weekend saw the BR3’s first nights as home be as
challenging as one would expect for someone brand new to breathing air. She
doesn’t like sleeping on flat surfaces and has what my son described as banshee
level cries when she’s displeased. She did however grant them a 4.5 hour long
sleep on Saturday night that has to be counted as a win. Riggins looked completely
miserable, having weathered the BRS growth to someone he could basically handle
only to have yet another baby deposited in his realm.
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| BRS Meeting BR3 |
The New Jersey bunch had a busy weekend outside as well. The Wingman had
a crew in to grind down the major tree stumps in the backyard. He then had the
unenviable task of tracking down and removing the remaining large roots. This
is all in preparation for the installation of both irrigation system as well as
a backyard playground. The FBR was out there helping with her plastic shovel
and wheelbarrow. She followed this up with a spirited run through the front
yard sprinkler.
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| Modeling a New Dress |
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| FBR Helping Wingman in Back Yard |
If nothing else this damnable quarantine allows way too much free time to
accomplish yard chores now that the weather has finally turned. After another completely
awesome First Friday group Facetime call with the family I entered Saturday
knowing I faced the morning delivery of a truckload of mulch to cover my Favorite
Panamanian’s vast garden complex. It was the same amount as we got last year
but somehow just looked a lot bigger. I think that was my back talking to my
brain anticipating the pain of loading it into the wheelbarrow and transporting
up the backyard hill. I figured it would take me both days of the weekend to
finish it off.
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| Front Yard Sprinkler Time |
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| Exhausted After a Spirited Fight with her Toy Story Figures |
I started in and noticed my work pants kept slipping down. I never needed
a belt to keep them up before but with the recent weight loss that was now
required. Since I was already fairly coated with mulch I knew the Favorite Panamanian
would look askance at my entry into the living quarters. I grabbed a bungee
cord from the garage and that worked fine for the rest of the day although I
ended up with a welt around my waist. Six hours later the pile was gone and I was
semi-astounded I got it done in one day. My back was making noises about an imminent
work stoppage if I didn’t stop on my own.
 |
| Mulch Mountain Saturday Morning |
 |
| Six Hours Later |
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| Field Expedient Belt |
While I was doing this my wife was transforming the yard with her annual
spring planting of flowers. I was called upon to move flower pots and transplant
perennials that no longer worked with her new vision of the complex. This continued
into Sunday where I was knocked out a couple of other chores, including an epic
crawl for the first time under Deckzilla. I was installing a fifty foot long drainage
pipe for the rain spout on the uphill side of the house running underneath
Deckzilla al the way to the other end of the house.
 |
| Mulch in Place and Deckzilla Re-Flowered |
I was expecting to come face to face with the yard rabbits who always
seem to emerge from underneath the deck but there was nothing other than a lot of
mud and a stray Amazon package. I found it near the downhill side of Deckzilla addressed
to the next door neighbors. It looked like it had been under there since January
when it must have been deposited there by the hilltop winds. I completed the
delivery while explaining to them where I found it. I emerged from the chore
coated in mud which had my Favorite Panamanian extremely pleased we were
socially distancing ahead of her term as BR3 assistant gramma. It was a very
productive weekend but I was informed by my supervisor that two more garden
walls are needed along with a lattice skirt for Deckzilla and the transplanting
of a backyard tree. The summer really is approaching. It wasn’t all work this weekend
as I finished off another 1000 piece puzzle and the first two of the Bourne quarantine
movie marathon.
 |
| Puzzle Completed |
 |
| Bourne Start |
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RECURRING
CHARACTERS
BR3
– granddaughter #3, BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel
- second granddaughter; FBR - First Blog
Reader - first granddaughter, ABFA –
Amazing Best Family Athlete = my daughter in law; Wingman – my son in law; Keene
Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene,
NH; Soxfather - my brother in law; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Cantankerous Friend – friend since
grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to
attract women; Pittsburgh College
Roommate – high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which
grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two
close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3rd musquetera
(musketeer); Riggins - also known as
the Grandpuppy, son's dog; 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; Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia
member, Favorite Panamanian - the
wife (of course); First Friday –
celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her
single days in Brooklyn
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