Finish Line Stumbles

Oh Boy - It's Daddy-Daughter Day!

The FBR had an extra special Daddy-Daughter Day on Friday that involved zoo animals and later a first ever sprinkler session. I know Wingman looks forward to Fridays and not for the same reasons that I do. While he doesn’t have a First Friday celebration beckoning in his afternoons he’s arranged his work schedule to have at least one full day where it’s just he and the FBR – adventures usually ensue.

Impossibly Cute

Yon Wolf has a Lean and Hungry Look

Bobcats!

I love these days also which I experience vicariously through the photos and videos Wingman provides. What is clear from these photos is how much fun the FBR is having. The goats were an early (I’m sure TB12 influenced) favorite but the FBR was firmly in the giraffe camp by the end of the day. One of her earliest favorite toys was a giraffe named Sophie so that kind of follows. She also got a mini-train ride in before adjourning to one of those seemingly constant neighborhood get togethers.

Hangtime With One of her Best Buds

Wingman was amazed that she immediately took to the sprinkler because she’d never been in one before but this child loves to splash. I also believe it is part of every child’s DNA to embrace running through a sprinkler. She also acquired hose nozzle which was immediately weaponized and given her tendencies with snowballs I’m sure was turned on Wingman at the first opportunity.

Danger Wingman!

Daddy's Little Sleeper

Further north the BRS continued her conquest of the night extending her streak of sleeping through the entire night for the second night in a row. I know my Favorite Son is exceedingly pleased for this development. Since his earliest days he’s been a firm believer in a full night’s sleep which is, of course, diametrically opposed to life with a new born. I think the BRS having fully bonded with her daddy realized how important this was. At least, that’s my theory.

Future Front Lawn (Hopefully) Hyrdo-Seeded

After a fairly rowdy celebration of the First Friday of the Week I was faced with an open Saturday, fantastic weather, and a wife determined to begin her annual garden explosion. She also decided the exterior of the house required washing (I know – don’t ask). We descended on the local Home Depot along with a hefty percentage of the entire population of Worcester. That’s something I love about New England – as soon as the weather turns New Englanders burst out of their houses to spend time outside. I think we’re genetically tied to the emergence of leaves on the trees. Virtually every neighbor was outside yesterday working on their yards – it had a reunion feel after the winter of isolation of hurried muffled hellos.

The Joke was on Me - Wife's Plans Loaded Up

It took two journeys through the register to properly address my wife’s flora needs. As we embarked on the second go around I jokingly pulled a large loading cart over to highlight how much she’d already bought. Big mistake. Forty-five minutes later my joke was fully laden with another set of plants that I had to figure how to fit into an already full Highlander while still properly respecting the viability of the plant branches – not an easy task. We returned home and I launched on some tasks I wanted to accomplish. I fixed the garage door which had been sticking during its descent. The magic formula that is WD40 solved that issue rather too quickly and I was summoned for the house washing. I’m not complaining because said house washing involves the use of my power washer which I will fully admit to an almost unnatural enjoyment of. I’ll use the thing to power wash anything firmly attached enough to withstand the force (and a few things that aren’t – don’t ask about the missing neighborhood cat).

Deckzilla - All Cleaned Up

Once I got the house washed I shifted focus to Deckzilla. Each year I power wash the entire beast and then use a transparent sealer because I like the look of the natural color of the wood versus stain or paint. Either I’m getting old (yes Cantankerous Friend – I know which side of this argument you’ll come down on) or I forgot just how damned big Deckzilla is. I started with the power washing around 1 in the afternoon and finished seven hours later. My back was barking like a squirrel-infuriated Buddy and both of my arms were at muscle failure point. Deckzilla looked pretty good though and almost sneered at me for my exposed weakness.

My wife had spent my power washing time planting her wide assortment of newly acquired plants so she was every bit as exhausted as I was. We were a pretty sad picture as we stumbled across the finish line of the day’s chores. The only problem I faced was the inability to fall asleep despite the tiredness. My wife brightly opined that I was too tired to fall asleep. I’m not sure I followed the logic but eventually slumber of the deepest variety arrived on the scene. Thank God it’s raining today which will keep me inside.

Granddaughter Duty

BRS and Abuela Happy to be Together Again

Since both the ABFA and my Favorite Son had required attendance events yesterday my wife and I were activated off the retired roles and stuck onto the major league parenting roster. I snuck out of work a couple hours early to journey north with my Favorite Panamanian. The usual hour and a quarter drive took more than two hours since I-495 seems to be getting itself riled up for summer traffic already. That was much easier to take because we had the BRS waiting for us at the end of the frustrating drive.

We’d seen her just this past weekend but I swear she seemed to have grown again. My wife immediately assumed control of the BRS as they continued their bonding exercises. The BRS seems to really enjoy my wife’s distinctive palaver. I was consigned to mostly Riggins duty which wasn’t a bad thing and he seemed to be delighted to have a guest focus on him instead of the BRS. I spent a lot of the evening with his head firmly in my lap.

I Did Get a Little Time with Her

 

I did get an extended time with my granddaughter when my wife relinquished her long enough to eat dinner. I took a page out of my son’s book and started an around the house walk while rocking the BRS. She’d been getting a little fussy but settled down as soon as we started out. I don’t think there’s a better feeling in the world (at least spiritually) than to have a granddaughter looking up into your eyes the way she was. We had a long talk (I handled most of the words involved). At some point and I still don’t understand why I said “Ooo-rah” which she seemed to take particular pleasure in. I was somewhat troubled since “Ooo-rah” is more USMC than Army but I’m sure I’ll be able to sneak in a few “Hoo-ahs” in the future. My time with the BRS was extended when she fell asleep in my arms but I could see that my wife was getting antsy.

Heads Up

And Seemingly Ready to Walk

She re-established primacy as soon as the BRS awoke which was fine with me since it involved a diaper change. The BRS seems to already want to stand and shows remarkable strength in her neck. My wife had her in her lap (of course) with a pillow and the BRS lifted her head up and seemed to take in every aspect of the surrounding room, very alert for a not quite three month old. She followed this up with an epic dinner. The BRS polished off the bottle of milk left for her but my wife was sure she was still hungry so another bottle was sent downrange as well. At least she’s picked up the family trait of eating well.

My Favorite Son returned around this time to handle the bed time chores as we hit the road back to Worcester. I-495 had divested itself of its earlier summer like affliction and the drive was just a little over an hour. We learned this morning that the BRS slept through the night for the first time ever so our visit will have some historical relevance. All new parents remember that blessed first time their child sleeps through the night.

FBR Out with Mommy Last Night

And Daddy Today - At the Zoo!

The FBR was out and about enjoying the summer like weather in New Jersey yesterday. She was dining out last night (I think with her parents) so there wasn’t a FBR-BRS cousin talk possible. Today is the weekly “Daddy-Daughter Day” that has Wingman and the FBR at the zoo. Wingman reports the goats are they biggest hit so far; probably from our promoting of Tom Brady all of her young life.

Happy About That!

I dashed through the latest John Sandford thriller, Twisted Prey, featuring his long time hero (and first member of my literary pantheon of heroes) Lucas Davenport. Sandford’s books are so damned good that I literally cannot put them down. Davenport now working as a federal marshal is pulled into an attempted assassination of a US senator by another senator that Davenport was unable to pin a murder on in an earlier book. He’s confronted by a team of former military special operators who have never been up against as thorough and tough an adversary as Davenport. They then make the serious blunder of going after someone close to Davenport to distract him. Big mistake. An historical body count level for a prey novel ensues. Sandford and Davenport have not lost anything off their fastball despite all the years we share.

Front Lawn ready for Some Seed

Curmudgeon Status

I remember looking askance as a young man when older folk started waxing philosophical about the way things used to be. When you’re young there’s very little reflection on that subject because there’s no reference point. I can understand that now because I’m one of those older people I used to scoff at. I know both of my children would wholeheartedly endorse that assessment. I guess that makes my transition to old curmudgeon status started if not totally complete. I can still look back at photos from the 70s and ask myself “what was I thinking?” at some of my fashion choices.

On the other hand a lot of things come up that I haven’t consciously engaged with for a long time and I’m reminded how much has changed. A case in point would be during the recent visit by the FBR. We both got up early on Saturday morning and assisted each other with breakfast prep. I was going to reward her with a cartoon and figured since it was Saturday morning that would be easy. It turns out that Saturday morning cartoons are no longer a big deal.

When I was growing up Saturday morning cartoons were a social event, something every kid knew about and cereal advertisers counted on. I know baby boomer parents counted on it because their kids, like me, would spend at least a couple hours glued to the TV with Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, or Spaceghost (a personal favorite). Those days are gone apparently. I don’t know if it’s because cartoons are readily available 24/7 on certain channels but I was a little disappointed. It’s probably a good thing because for some reason all the Saturday morning programming now seems aimed at educating kids – what a concept! So maybe I’m not a complete curmudgeon yet. I haven’t yelled at anybody to get off my lawn recently.

Ex-Front Lawn

Of course that would be problematic right now because my lawn has disappeared. I returned home last night to find a couple pieces of heavy equipment perched where the front lawn used to be. I was mildly impressed. My wife even got them to repair the blocks of granite that sit on the uphill side of the side lawn. They used the heavy equipment to reposition the sliding blocks which had made me a little nervous each time I mowed the grass there. Mowing grass would not seem to be a concern for me for the foreseeable future anyways. It will interesting to see how it comes out.

From This

To this in Just A Few hours

Side Wall Repair and New Dirt

Lawn Demise

The FBR - Friend of Daniel 

The FBR bounced back last night during our nightly video call. I’m guessing her parents coached her a little bit after reading yesterday’s blog. I hope not but the change was remarkable. She was fully engaged with us and even corrected me when I tried to play peek a boo. She sternly warned me, “Grandpa I can’t do that while I’m eating”. She then took us on a tour of her toy collection and we were treated to the musings (all of them) of her Daniel Tiger doll. It was too much fun. Earlier in the evening we also had the BRS and her dad on line. When the BRS heard my wife’s distinctive voice she let out what we interpreted as a delighted squawk. I’m not sure there was a causal relationship but we will take full grandparent credit.

Beloved Squawker

This will be our third summer in our house and despite some determined efforts from both a lawn company and my uninformed contributions the front lawn remains a weed choked mess. My wife waylaid a local contractor she saw working on another house down the hill a week or so ago and they came up with a plan to remedy the problem. The front lawn will be removed today along with the “bad dirt” that is the source of the problem and replaced with good soil and some hydroseed. So this will be fun.

My Soon to be Ex-Front Yard

Keene Friend accompanied us to the movies last night and we retired to the Man Cave upon our return to see the Red Sox blow a 9^th inning lead. My wife was paying scant attention though because she had figured out how to live stream Panamanian television which had the championship game for their major league baseball. Baseball is huge in Panama, much more popular than here in baseball’s birthplace. Each province fields a team with the capitol fielding two. My wife’s home province of Chiriquí was in that championship game last night so she was on pins and needles watching both games. The Chiricanos won, much to her delight, so there’ll be a lot of red and green hats circulating amongst the Panamanian Mafia, and lot of enthusiastic, “Chiricano Meto” thrown around.

Campeones!!!

The movie we took in was Rampage. This movie would not have worked, such as it does, without the Rock. He’s one of those rare, generational actors who make something like this worth watching. It is a little bit of sneaky fun as well. Rock plays an ape specialist, granted – a bit of a stretch, who has an almost too familiar relationship with an albino gorilla. When that gorilla along with a wolf and an alligator are accidently mutated into gigantic killing machines by the inevitable evil corporation the fun begins. Miss Moneypenny shows up to help the Rock emote as they trail their friend across the country after an ape induced plane crash. He and his two buddies are doing their best to level Chicago with the help of the US military until the Rock shows up to put things right. He finds a very interesting way to introduce an antidote into his gorilla bud and they team up to take on the other two creatures. Best line in the movie, “Of course the wolf has wings!”. So……it’s that kind of movie, harmless escapist fun with just the right leavening of humor and, of course, the Rock.

Geek Heaven and Duck Pursuit

Granddaughters - FBR (l) & the BRS

We’re in the middle of one of those phases where the FBR does not feel inclined to communicate with my wife and I. I’m guessing her extended stay with us has diluted our box office appeal but it creates a lot of fun trying to get her to talk during our nightly calls. I feel bad for her parents as they charge around trying to get dinner and otherwise administer to the almost constant demands of a two year old while still making the effort to get us some screen time with the FBR.

Duck Spotting

She did emerge from her self-imposed cocoon as our daughter tried to get her to talk with us when the subject of ducks came up. The FBR was tooling around one of the neighborhood parks on her new tricycle when she spied some ducks in a nearby pond and they made a big impression upon her. Maybe I should invest in a duck costume to regain some of my lost status. Since the weather has finally turned spring like in New Jersey the fantastic neighborhood is starting to rev up the get togethers which make it such a great place.

Wingman Wagon Service

Snack time

The BRS continue in her efforts to establish herself as one of the most charming three month olds around. My son was finally able to capture one of her energetic smiles on camera. The smiles were the nicest development for the new parents after the first challenging weeks of the BRS’ arrival. I clearly remember my own time as a first time parent when I was asking myself what had I done to myself by welcoming this screaming poop machine into the world who so skewed my existence. It was at this point, a couple months into the skewering, when the real bonding began and has yet to abate for either of the two poop machines I was able to go through this with.

That Smile!!!

Mom Time with the ABFA

Not All Smiles

I finished up my latest foray into life in Caesar’s legions with the next in RW Peake’s excellent Marching with Caesar books, with Marching With Caesar: Antony and Cleopatra Part 2. Our hero Titus Pullo, leading centurion of the 10^th Legion, finds himself embroiled in the final conflict between Antony and Octavian and also a target of the deadly Cleopatra. Pullo manages to survive by sheer Roman stubbornness and provides a fascinating behind the scenes viewpoint on the well-traveled road of the star crossed Egyptian queen. Pullo is also getting up in years and the hard life as a Roman legionary is taking its toll.

I couldn’t wait any longer and abducted my wife from her annual, and overly dedicated, spring cleaning so we could see Avengers Infinity War. We had to travel to the Solomon Pond Mall theater since the local one seems to withhold MoviePass from new releases. This would be problematic if the mall wasn’t so close as an alternative. I loved the movie which is a glorious send up of geekdom in general. It’s absolutely relentless as the Marvel characters I and fellow geeks have invested so heavily in over the past eighteen Marvel movies are brought together for dizzying confrontation with Thanos. Thanos plays the ultimate environmentalist as he plans of solving the universe’s population problems by eliminating half of said population. This doesn’t sit well with our heroes but Thanos is not your garden variety tree hugger. The death toll is constant and at times troubling as the big stars with contracts running out fall by the wayside in increasing numbers. I do find it strange that despite both sides having galaxy spanning technology the final confrontation always seems to come down to a fist fight and spears but with Marvel there’s an undeniable need to suspend disbelief. It was magnificent and too much fun. Marvel also smartly put out this was the first of a two movie arc so we don’t have to worry too much about all the dead heroes. In the immortal words of Miracle Max, I’m sure most of them are only “mostly dead”. Go see it, total popcorn escapism at its very best.