Immersed

View Out Front This Morning

The old phrase “one legged man in an ass kicking contest” seeps into mind when I consider yesterday morning. After the events of Sunday I spent two hours bounding between real estate agents, USAA, and lawyers on either the phone or internet. It’s comment on just how connected the world has become. In that two hours I obtained representation from a lawyer, secured a home loan, and arranged a home inspection of the new house. This would have taken days before the internet. On top of this my wife was after me to secure Broadway tickets and hotel reservations next week for her and the musqueteras.

The Back Deck

When I asked my wife how her day was on this strangely snowy April day she said she was frustrated by her lack of activity. However as I walk around the house I’m amazed at all the little, subtle changes she’s made since her arrival home; small changes that only I would notice, like moving items around and setting the house aright. She’s been anything but inactive. It’s so good to have her back riding herd on me, although the time spent on the receiving end of educational discussions has increased geometrically.  

Wife Took This Of Me Last Evening

It struck me as patently unfair to be out with the snow blower yesterday with wind chills in the single digits. We got six inches of snow but Worcester kind of shrugged it off; they didn’t even cancel school. As the snow tapered off late in the day the entire neighborhood went outside to clear driveways and sidewalks, despite the cold. It was almost as if we were collectively thumbing our nose at winter’s last gasp.

A great thing on a cold night (or day for that matter) is a good book. I finished Nowhere to Run by CJ Box, my latest Joe Pickett novel. Joe is riding the high country of Wyoming when he is waylaid by two very scary survivalist types and barely escapes with his life. Joe feels like he’s been robbed of part of himself with this turn of events and inevitably returns to the mountains to bring his brand of justice. He’s accompanied by his Reacher-like friend Nate for the thrilling final confrontation. I really enjoyed the read, as usual with Box, as he doesn’t paint the plot with a lot of blacks and whites; an extremely talented story teller.

Here are some of his words from Nowhere to Run, as Joe heads for that climatic confrontation:  “When Joe was growing up, he’d read everything he could about Old West outlaws and gunfights. He’d found himself disappointed. In real life, showdowns like the ones portrayed in movies and myths were almost non-existent. Men rarely faced off against each other on a dusty cow town street at high noon, with the fastest gun winning. Much more likely was an ambush, with one man firing a rifle or a shotgun at his enemy before the victim could draw his weapon, or a gunman sneaking up on someone and putting a bullet in the back of his head from a foot away. Men didn’t face off if they could help it. He remembered what Nate had told him:  It’s about who can look up without any mist in their eyes or doubts in their heart, aim, and pull the trigger without thinking twice. It’s about killing. It’s always worked that way.”

Hasty Conclusions

So that restful weekend was sacrificed at the altar of our future. Somehow, and I’m still trying to figure this out, we bought a house over the weekend. This is the danger when I go shopping with my wife! Actually we’re both kind of shell shocked by the rapid turn of events. I wrote yesterday that we had submitted one of several offers for a house just down the street. As Sunday dragged on and we hadn’t heard back from the real estate agent I figured we’d lost out. We were okay with that albeit a little disappointed.

Our Future Home

In the middle of some binge watching of Better Call Saul the missing agent called and led off her call with the word “congratulations”! I heard a distinct squawk from the phone as my wife had picked up the upstairs phone. After getting the ball rolling with the whole “your next step is” process, we made serial calls to friends and family letting them know about this unforeseen development. Both of our kids just shook their heads in amusement at the impetuousness of their parents.

Living Room - Room to Party!

While I was making those calls I kept saying how excited I was and I realized I really am. We love the convenience of the neighborhood almost as much as we love the neighbors so this gives us a chance to finally put down some roots. I know I’ve said that before but this feels real. This new house has a separate TV room in the basement and room to host parties again which was kind of restricted in our current abode. If you’re a regular reader of Frail Deeds consider yourself invited to the house warming party. We close in late May which gives us the entire month of June to move across the street since our lease runs out at the end of June. Partay!!!!!

Dining Room

Kitchen

Basement TV Room

Renting for the past year has kind of chafed on me at times and it looks like out mortgage payments are going to be less than our monthly rental payment. I’ve spent a lot of the past few hours on the phone with real estate agents, lawyers, home inspectors, and USAA. I’ve got to say it again – I just love USAA, they are so easy to work with. We’re going to finance the home through them again. I guess we officially Worcesterites now, couldn’t be happier.

Saturday Shenanigans

A supposedly calm Saturday took a serious left turn at some point during the day. I had no plans other than taking my wife out dancing last night. I’d noted a house almost across the street was put up for sale this week and as a lark we decided to stop in at the open house. Twenty minutes later we were sitting in a parking lot discussing if we should offer on the house since it was located in the neighborhood we’ve come to love and was nearly perfect. It even has a very short driveway and almost no backyard (important considerations in the snow removal and lawn mowing arenas).

Wife and I at Maxwell's Last Night

I’m trying to catch my wife up on the movies she missed so we decided to think about it while watching Deadpool. I’m glad she got a lot of the jokes amidst all the head shots. We got home and the real estate agent, who sensed our fascination with the house, called to ask us what we thought. An hour or so later we signed all the paperwork for an official offer on the house. I have no idea if we’re going to be successful but we both felt energized by the decision to do it. Stay tuned.

The House we Offered on

We went out to Maxwell Silverman’s last night for a delayed celebration of our anniversary. My wife thought she might have forgotten how to dance since it had been so long. Not to worry, that certainly didn’t happen. We held our own on a very crowded dance floor. The availability of a place like Maxwell’s where middle aged dancing is not only tolerated but encouraged is part of the reason we’ve decided to stay in Worcester, that and the pack of friends we’ve acquired over the past ten years.

ABFA at the Puppy Party Yesterday

We weren’t the only ones on an adventure yesterday and my Favorite Son and the ABFA went to a puppy party where they met their future adoptive son, Riggins, a golden retriever pup. My son had been on a serious PR campaign with the ABFA since their marriage to get a puppy and that campaign culminate yesterday when they saw Riggins for the first time. They’ll take possession in a couple weeks – very excited for them, every house should have a dog.  

Looking out Front Door This Morning
House We Offered on is 2nd From left (with truck parked in driveway)

I woke up this morning to a snow storm that eventually dumped four inches on us. A lot of unexpected turns of fate this weekend. It’ll be interesting to see how it all turns out.

Fridayed

Last night was a true celebration of the returned Favorite Panamanian. She joined us at Brew City to celebrate the first Friday of the week and immediately took the operations manager to task for his poor attendance record at First Friday. She was the hit of the party and put a lie to the belief that First Friday could get any more fun. It’s amusing that I can be surprised at her ability to create fun. We were having so much of that, the bar staff asked us to quiet down a couple times – pretty impressive for the oldest group in the place. It didn’t hurt that the most excellent boss picked up the tab for the entire group at the end of the day – as stated – most excellent.

The First Friday Group Yesterday at Brew City

To further celebrate her return I took my wife out to dinner again. We went to Val’s in nearby Holden, the place my wife hosted my daughter’s baby shower in August. While we waited for a table I received a text from Keene Friend 2 who was summoning us to join them at Margarita’s in Keene. While severely tempted for an off the cuff thunder run north I’m luckily married to a saner individual. Once we reached our table the Next Door Mafioso appeared as they were eating across the room. She took us to imagined task for eating at “her” restaurant. It was a very good time.

Wife at Val's Last Night Curbing Thunder Runs

Now fully lubricated, upon our return home I took to the airwaves, well at least the telephone. I contacted Keene Friend 1 to ascertain why he wasn’t in firmer control of the social scene in Keene that required the Keene Friend 2 to summon help from Worcester. He agreed to an inspection of affairs in Keene in a couple weeks. I also left one of my patented Friday night messages for my sister and we also shared some time with a certain young lady (see photos below) in California. We made an appointment for today  to tour the house down the street that went for sale this week.

We ended up going to sleep fairly early – a distressing trend with the increase of years. It had the predictable effect of waking up at 3am. Instead of turning over repeatedly in frustration I came downstairs and turned on late night television. I was switching between the movie channels and caught several of my favorite movies’ most poignant scenes. The Lance Henrickson/wife scene from Powder and shipwrecked Tom Hanks seeing the moon rise in Joe Versus the Volcano never fail to impress and I even caught the Bo Derek scene from “10”. None of this helped with insomnia, of course, but it did kill some time, which was the point.

Dated Again

A beautiful spring day yesterday (pay no attention to the predicted snow on Sunday) saw my returned wife’s first full day back at the helm. It was so cool to have someone to share meals with. One of the first things we discussed was the future and I mentioned that a house just down the street had gone up for sale. That sent her into a Zillow spiral that didn’t abate for the entire day. I think we’ve pretty much decided we like living in Worcester (who’d a thunk that!) so much we’re considering staying put – a novel concept in our marriage.

The return of my Favorite Panamanian also meant I had a date for date night. I think the ticket vendors at the local cinema were actually starting to categorize me as that lonely, old guy who goes to all these movies by himself. Those illusions were dashed last night as we went to see My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2. Some things are better left alone. The first movie was so funny as a frumpy Greek spinster finds love and fulfillment with a non-Greek escaping the trap of her very Greek family. The funniest moments in that movie were the reactions of the two cultures clashing. This one stays almost entirely in the family and is nowhere near as funny, except when Andrea Martin is on the screen.

Nia Vardolos’ script is painfully awkward at times, as if no one had the guts to tell her that some lines just didn’t work. While the father, Gus, was a great comic foil in the first go around, the increased focus on him this time makes him seem just like an unrepentant A-Hole. There are some laughs but it seemed there was a lot of comic fodder left unrealized. I’m still trying to understand the absurd John Stamos/Rita Wilson cameo shoe horned in for no apparent reason. I may too hard on this because I liked the first movie so much. I expected more.

On a much more positive note I finished yet another Joe Pickett novel yesterday, Below Zero by C.J. Box. Box continues his trend of getting better with each succeeding book. Joe is on the trail of a gangster, mid killing spree, who may or may not have Joe’s adopted daughter along for the ride. The daughter was thought dead in an earlier book and Joe fights personal recrimination until the truth is exposed. In a very neat move Box teams Joe up with his eldest daughter, Sheridan.

One of the very cool things about the Pickett series is the passage of time is not ignored. I first met Sheridan as a precocious seven year old and here she’s a seventeen year old woman. She’s along because the missing daughter will only text with her. It provides a very interesting backdrop as Joe confronts the march of instant media with the younger generation. That certainly hit a note with me. A thrilling conclusion, as always, with Reacher clone Nate Romanowski brought in at just the right time to reap murder and mayhem to keep Joe’s spirit clean. A great read.

Here are some of Box’s words from the novel as Joe observes Sheridan at a crime scene: “Joe assessed his daughter, who leaned against the door of the pickup pretending she wasn’t listening to every word. What he saw was a young woman who was lucid, calm, but worried. She’d never been out in the field on an investigation with him. All she knew were the results. She’d never been in the middle of a chaotic crime scene like this one with uniformed men cursing at each other and running around, the jockeying for status and position, the clash of jurisdictions among personnel from different agencies, the baseless speculation thrown around in regard to what might have happened. He wondered if she was questioning his acumen and clearly seeing his fallibility. Lord knows he was fallible. But he was her dad. He knew she always thought he had special abilities. Now, he thought, she’d know that he didn’t. That he could run around and speculate with the best of them.”