En Fuego

Since we’ve finally started getting some rain over the past two weeks my attractiveness challenged fireplace has been getting some work in. Last night my Favorite Panamanian and I were out back after dark to enjoy another conflagration. I was in a tee shirt while my wife was garbed as if a polar vortex was descended. This is a direct reflection of where each of us grew up. My New England versus the deep tropics. It was a beautiful fall night and the neighbors didn’t call the fire department on me, so, win. This is still my favorite time of the year even though I haven’t been able to get and immerse myself in the changing colors. I was almost startled when I drove by a lake on my way to Home Depot yesterday and was saw the incredibly beautiful colors surrounding the lake.

Fire Time Last Night
Quick, Pick Out the New Englander

I was headed to the Depot because I’ve started another home improvement job. I’m replacing the guts of the two of the toilets upstairs. At least that what my plan was. I started off poorly getting the wrong part but even after I got the right one today, I ran into an uncooperative plastic nut trying to remove the old one. I learned early in life doing these type projects for my mother that not having the right tool can be catastrophically frustrating. Unlike my formative years I can now choose to delay the project until I buy the right tool. That will have to wait until tomorrow because, well, NFL Red Zone!!!! I pledge not to call in a plumber unless something untoward develops which is certainly not out of the realm of possibility.

FBR Hosting a Buddy on her Brand New Lawn

She Finally Got Pee Wee to Sit on Her Lap

It's Been a Lifelong Effort

I am fighting what may be a losing battle against whom I have chosen to name the “Dog Team”. I am a lifelong lover of the canine species and would dearly like to have a dog again, but our plans to live four months out of the year in a third floor beach condo mitigates against that. I refuse to have small, yipping, ankle biting dog and here’s where we get to the team arrayed against me. The FBR heard my wife wanted one of these small dogs and despite growing up in a cats only house the FBR loves dogs (in the genes). She and my wife were soon tag teaming me in an over the top campaign to convince me to buy one of the annoying beasts. It flipped the script totally during Facetime calls. Now the FBR only wants to talk to my Favorite Panamanian and I am an afterthought.

FBR With Yet Another Sprinkle Laden Cake

Wingman's Oogie Boogie Mask

Today's Improvements

That’s not the only thing going on in New Jersey. As I mentioned earlier this week the FBR wants to celebrate Halloween as Oogie Boogie, a character out of one of her favorite movies, A Nightmare Before Christmas. Wingman has done an impressive job turning a hockey mask into a professional level mask using some modeler’s clay. Her abuela was actually scared by the FBR when she put it one. My wife fondly remembers when she wanted to be a princess.

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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