Life in the Infected Zone

One of the scary things about life in our Covid saturated home is that it isn’t radically different than normal. We have a lot less (zero) guests dropping in on the Favorite Panamanian. I never have drop ins. I’m just not that popular. Other than that, it’s been pretty much like the past year of retired life. There is the small matter of being confined to the house, so no movies or errands to be run. Based on the intense pressure from my wife and Great Aunt, I reported my positive Covid test to my doctor. He then referred me to the Covid treatment center where they issued me some Paxlovid today. I just enjoyed getting out of the house for a bit. I’m so glad I’ve got the back yard project to keep me “entertained”.

My Son Beaching it with the BRS
He May Supplant me as the Whitest Man in Panama if he Visits

I made the turn in front of the fireplace today; an area I was a little worried about. I was concerned about the bottom of the fireplace meshing with the wall. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky rather than good because it went in with almost no problem. I did have to chip a bit of an edge of one of the fireplace’s stones (my forte – brute force and ignorance) but now that edge is resting directly on top of the wall. I’m glad that retaining wall is now up on the downhill side since that was where I was most concerned about the fireplace falling once I removed the hill. We’re finally going to get some rain tonight so that bracing was timely. The wall progress will come to a halt tomorrow when I use up the last of my bricks. I’ll have to wait out quarantine until I can get some more. No problem though, there will still be plenty of dirt to move. My growing hill of dirt carried up the hill is approaching impressive.

Day 19 Progress

We had fun conversations with the grandkids yesterday. The New Hampshire bunch is still enjoying their beach house vacation. The BRS wanted to demonstrate her improved ability to catch a ball. While she as doing that with my Favorite Son, BR3 insisted on participating in the activity (the BRS was not happy about this development). BR3 didn’t quite get the concept of playing catch since my son had to pry the ball out of her hands each time. I really miss being there with them in that fantastic house.

FBR Shoe Modeling

A Concentrated Effort

Certainly Got her Abuela's Shoe Gene

Switching to the New Jersey crowd, the FBR was all over my daughter’s new shoe purchases. The company my daughter works for occasionally offers amazing discounts of their high end products for employees and yesterday she scored some shoes. She knew talking about shoes and discounts would definitely cheer up her mom and my Favorite Panamanian certainly appreciated talking shoes with her. The funniest part of the conversation was the arrival of the FBR who immediately began modeling the new shoes in a mirror. She always makes a bee line for her abuela’s prodigious shoe collection when she visits. It’s something they share and I’m glad my long-suffering wife finally has another gal in the family who truly appreciates shoes and shopping.

Two movies fell in my A-Z effort, one keeper while the other didn’t make it: A.I. Artificial Intelligence (kid robot was kind of creepy but Spielberg knows how to make a movie) and Alexander (Oliver Stone should be summarily executed for denigration of the greatest military leader of the ancient world). Guess which one was the keeper.

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RECURRING CHARACTERS:                                        

ABFA – Amazing Best Family Athlete - my daughter in law; BR3 – Blog Reader #3 – granddaughter #3; BRS - Blog Reader the Sequel - second granddaughter; Cantankerous Friend – friend since grade school who likes to argue about everything, poses as radical leftist to attract women; Curbside Girls – close friends of my daughter acquired during her single days in Brooklyn; Deckzilla – our backyard deck which grew to monstrous dimensions once my wife got involved in planning; Favorite Panamanian - the wife (of course); FBR - First Blog Reader - first granddaughter; First Friday – celebrations to mark the First Friday of the Week; Great Aunt - my elder sister; Keene Friends 1 & 2 – friends since high school from my home town of Keene, NH; Kindergarten Friend – friend since kindergarten whom I reunited with after many years; Maine and Virginia Musqueteras – two close friends of my wife – her US sisters, my wife is the 3^rd musquetera (musketeer); Neighborhood Mafioso - wife's close friend and Panamanian mafia member; 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; Pittsburgh College Roommate– high school friend, also a “Minor Celebrity” in Pittsburgh; Riggins - also known as the Grandpuppy, son's dog; Soxfather - my brother in law; Tia Loca – wife’s younger sister; Wingman – my son in law; Wingmom – Wingman’s mom, of course