My
Favorite Panamanian likes to do her rosary on Deckzilla each evening and
usually brings along some fruit to assist in concentration. She is invariably
social though and yesterday wandered off to converse with the uphill neighbor.
I came out to say hi and found one of our resident squirrels was in the process
of gnawing through the back of the wicker swing to get at the remnants of a forgotten
banana. The first my wife was aware of this was when I came careening out onto Deckzilla
discharging the bb gun at this criminal (I tagged him twice). She always elicits
sympathy for the “poor animals” during my attacks but she declared open season
on squirrels after seeing the damage done.
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| My Muddy Fashion Statement |
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| Project Lake This Morning |
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| Squirrel Damage |
We
finally had some serious rain last night after a prolonged dry spell. This was
great except my backyard project site looked like a lake this morning since I
had dug down to the clay layer which doesn’t drain well. I took the
accompanying picture after it had drained a little bit but today was definitely
a mudder day. I’m an old infantryman and there is very few things we hate worse
than having to dig in mud. There is nothing to recommend it. It made the dirt I
had to dig into a little softer. I didn’t have to use the pickaxe at all today.
It just about doubled, however, the weight of the buckets of dirt/mud I had to carry
up the hill. My Favorite Panamanian came out to take some pictures while I was cavorting
in the mud. It looks like I’m going to have to do a laundry tonight as I’m down
to wearing my Star Wars sweat pants. Luckily this project is in the back yard
and not many neighbors were blessed with this fashion statement.
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| Playing in the Mud |
I’ve
finally got the bottom layer of the future patio down to approximate level.
That happened faster than I thought and I’m going to start attacking the uphill
portion tomorrow. I had a very cool moment during this morning’s exertions which
lifted all the weariness from my spirits. I had just dumped a bucket into the second
level terrace and was catching my breath (something that seems to happen with
increasing frequency). This was adjacent to the bird feeder which is usually
deserted if I am anywhere near it. Some sort of red headed bird came into the feeder,
took out some seeds, and then flew over to land on my gloved hand. I guess I
looked like a convenient post. It was so cool.
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| Day 9 Progress |
Two
more movies have fallen in my A-Z effort, both keepers, 50 First Dates and 300,
now there’s a rapid change of direction.
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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 3rd 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
No doubt, the early, pre-infantry, training paid off.
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