Pandemic Holiday Weekend

Usually holiday weekends are entirely too short, wafting by without a regard to how much fun they are for participants. They are immediately missed. As with most things the pandemic changes heretofore norms. This past Memorial Day weekend seeped by as the in house confinement continued with no prospect of driving to visit either sets of granddaughters. I found myself actually looking forward to escape the house and go to work. The Man Cave, my quarantine refuge, is starting to lose its luster after so much time there over the past weeks.

My Sunday Dinner Date

Of course I was back down there working on another jigsaw puzzle as well as the next in the series of movies but with the weather turned I was ready to get out and wander. I miss being able to make the granddaughter visits as well as my regular thunder runs up to my hometown to hang with high school friends. I’ve found my designation as an essential worker a Godsend because it gets me out of the house.

The Neighborhood Block Party
House Being Sold is on Left

There was some entertainment this weekend. On Sunday the neighbor across the street held another open house. There wasn’t as much traffic as the day prior. My Favorite Panamanian and I burned some dead animal flesh on the grill and had dinner out on Deckzilla for the first time in 2020. This was followed by a socially distanced neighborhood block party in our front yard.

FBR Armed with a Power Washer

The neighbors selling their house fired up their grill and hosted the event. We set up chairs on our side of the street and were able to easily converse with other sets of neighbors as they gathered. It’s lucky there is virtually no traffic on our street and it was an indicators how everybody else is aching to become social again. I was able to talk with the Neighborhood Mafioso’s husband for the first time in months which I really enjoyed. It was a farewell event for the hosts who accepted a very generous offer for their house late in the event. Apparently home sales are skyrocketing. I’m guessing quarantining in an apartment must be even worse.

Very Trusting Parents

Just some hurried calls with the granddaughters this weekend. The BRS is starting to emote which my Favorite Son ties to the arrival of BR3. The BRS will melt down immediately upon being thwarted in any endeavor; something that only started when her sister arrived. She remains completely devoted to the BR3 but where before she would accept scolding or being told she couldn’t do something with grace, those days are gone. My son warned my wife who will be heading up there on Saturday to assume grandma (abuela) role for a couple weeks. My wife’s eyes actually glittered with the possibility of spending time with two granddaughters.

Into Wingman's Arms to Dry Off

Hard Work requires Food

I was back out on Deckzilla, applying a second coat of sealer, because well, there was nothing else to do. I wasn’t the only one on deck patrol. We received these photos which showed the FBR, armed with both a leaf blower and a power washer (two of my favorite implements), at work down in New Jersey. My daughter and Wingman are brave indeed to trust her with the power washer. I’m still making strides about trusting my Favorite Panamanian with that tool. Decks are great, we spend so much time out on ours in the summer, but they’re like owning a boat – consistent and required maintenance if they going to endure.  

Finished Hobbit on to LOTR

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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 3^rd 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