Abuela Time

Life seeped back into geographic bachelorhood for me yesterday as I reverted to my usual winter behavior when my wife is decidedly south. Thankfully this will only be for two weeks as she lends a hand to the newly re-parented Favorite Son and ABFA. The weather is also much better so Deckzilla is open for business. I accidentally thawed out too much hamburger (which raises the interesting question – Can you have too much hamburger?) so I fired up the grill and cooked it all. I’m sure the neighbors thought I was preparing for some major party since no one cooks thirty hamburgers for themselves, do they?

Sleepy High Five

This will be an interesting test to see if my Favorite Panamanian appointed some neighborhood watch agents to keep an eye on me in her absence. If she receives reports of excessive dead animal roasting then I will know. For her part she was incredibly happy to be spending time with two granddaughters. She received a rousing welcome from the BRS on Sunday but yesterday she slipped back in more mundane status  for the two year old. They still explored some crafts together but the big event of the day was the arrival of her new back yard playground.

Craft Time with Abuela

My Favorite Son, ever the engineer, had planned on restricting BRS access until he could survey the new backyard addition for safety considerations. Of course, the BRS was having none of that and quickly assumed control of the site. She’s nothing if not a little feisty. She’s showing signs of competing for parental attention with BR3, which is natural. The newest addition to the clan is proving to be a real eater and seems more alert each day. In the photo above, even though sound asleep she raised her hand when the photo was taken. Somnambulatory high fives, precocious indeed.

Play Dough Creations

Speaking of precocious I had a lively conversation with the FBR last night. Usually she’ll look into the screen and demand to be entertained, normally finding me unworthy of her full attention. Yesterday she was very talkative to the point she got into trouble for not eating her dinner. This endangered her planned dessert of birthday cake from a weekend socially distanced party. We made it to the finish line and her interest in talking to me immediately waned upon the arrival of the birthday cake.

The Artiste in Residence

Using  One of my Wife's Workout Weights as a Microphone
Marching Around the House Repeatedly saying "No"
Such a Two Year Old

Geographic bachelorhood mandates even more time in the Man Cave which meant jigsaw puzzles and movies. I polished off the LOTR series last night and thoroughly enjoyed the experience, yet again. It brought back great memories of the times my son and I would camp out for an entire Saturday to watch the original trilogy back to back, much to the consternation of the wife. In my opinion the Return of the King is one of the best movies ever made and there wasn’t a bad movie in other five either. I’ve included my rating below. The original trilogy is significantly better than the Hobbit series as there is less reliance of CGI but it was a great ride nevertheless with plenty of heart. I’ve reached out to my fellow cinephile children to get recommendations for the next movie series to pandemically watch.

1 – Return of the King

2 – The Two Towers

3 – Fellowship of the Ring

4 – Battle of Five Armies

5 – An Unexpected Journey

6 – The Desolation of Smaug

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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