This was a weekend full of birthday parties. Saturday we drove across the bridge to attend Zachary’s 5th birthday bowling party, which was full of kids and heavy balls and Transformers and classic rock and friends. I still can’t believe he’s 5. After the party broke up we drove back to the Morrises for hors d’oeuvres and catching up with folks we haven’t seen in years, which was great.
Sunday we noodled around the house until 2, when we took in another party in Columbia at a playground warehouse showroom. This, a business model, is genius: They actually charge you a fee to bring your kids in and let them run around, and rent out the space for parties. The kids ran around and climbed on the playsets while we adults marveled at both the list and sale prices of each model; when I say that there were swingsets priced comparably to a well-optioned European sedan, I’m not kidding. But, whatever; the kids had a great time, we parents had a great time chasing them around, and everyone left happy.
I’m listening to Signs Under Test by John Tejada, a very interesting electronica album that makes me think a little of In Sides-era Orbital. I think it’s the sound and approach of the melodies: fluttering around the beat, layered in echo, and often paired with a more dissonant counter-melody. It’s also refreshing because I’ve had various selections from Steely Dan’s Gaucho running on endless repeat in my head for the past week (seriously, since last Thursday) after watching the making of Aja on YouTube. GOD DAMN YOU, STEELY DAN.
Well, the Ravens lost to the Patriots on Saturday afternoon, which is kind of a bummer. I think I’m more surprised they made it this far and played as well as they did based on their regular season performance, but it was a great game and they didn’t fold up and blow away. Events kept me from the rest of the divisional playoff games, but I read the highlights from the Packers/Cowboys game and wish I’d seen it.
We took in the game in our neighbors’ basement media room with the kids being watched by a babysitter upstairs. That was a very comfortable arrangement. The girl who watched them is the daughter of a woman who will be giving Finn piano lessons shortly. We know her from the church across the street; she was one of Finn’s counselors during summer camp a couple of years ago. Our hope is that Finn finds the piano interesting and takes to the lessons. This is a child who is always humming bits of music to herself, something I think she gets from her old man (the earworm bug). She can listen to the score of a movie playing over the end credits and identify its sections by scene (“this is the part where Toothless meets Hiccup”) so her musical retention and comprehension is as strong as her reading comprehension.
So, remember when my sister contacted me about missingmoney.com? I sent my information in a few weeks before Thanksgiving and everything went silent for a while. Last week I got a check from Maryland with no explanation, no note, or idea of what happened. But hey, free money!
Last week, while we were enjoying our vacation, we suffered from a clogged toilet. I went downstairs to grab the plunger, and Finn asked if I would teach her how to fix it. Once I’d gotten things sorted out, she disappeared for a couple of minutes. When I came back up from the basement, this is what she’d made me.
(I’m the guy on the right, holding the plunger).
After a sleepy morning, Renie and I returned to Grampy’s barn to go back through the available wood, and we wound up filling the CR-V until the springs compressed. After gearing up for a 20° decrease in temperature and battle with burrdocks, we waded into the weeds with saws and clippers. We made some surgical cuts with an arbor bow saw and walked out with about five 8′ lengths of siding board. Then we dug into a pile leaning up against the silo and found a door and about five more lengths of siding still painted red, with hinges, latch, and striker intact. SCORE. Then we grabbed another 30 or so dry lengths of tongue and groove flooring from under the stack. I pulled the CR-V around through the mud in the cornfield and got it as close to the barn as I could, and we loaded it full in a gentle flurry of snow. AWD for the win!
The 5×5″ beams are still there, so we’re headed back in the spring to grab those, as well as anything else worth taking before Uncle Brian bulldozes it up to the treeline. Renie’s car is loaded tight with flooring and the CR-V is strapped with boards inside and out.
And speaking of Brian, he invited Finn up to his barn for another tractor ride! She got her fill of dogs while waiting for Renie and me (a poodle, a shepherd, and a boxer) and then climbed into a big Deere dually for a spin around the yard. Then she asked to see the combines and he gleefully took her back through the shop to climb around on the equipment. He’s the best, and I don’t know who enjoys those visits more–he or Finn.
…I still can’t get photos off my camera so I’ll dump them all when I get home.
How happy am I that a date I took a pretty blonde on fourteen years ago has turned into a family tradition?
