Father's Day Weekend
So many dads in just one post!
Friday the 13th!
Father's Day weekend started off with... a bang, I guess.
I woke up to an extra-long version of the routine 'good morning' text Kitten sends me to let me know she got to work in one piece...
1. It's Friday the 13th
2. I'm at work and not in bed, lol
3. I was on Woolston and was driving towards the on-ramp. There was a stupid robin on the street that took flight as I was approaching. The only problem was it flew to the wrong side of the street and so I hit the stupid thing. I didn't want to be any later than I was, so I kept on driving. I got to work and clocked in, then came back outside to look at my car. The dead bird was STUCK IN my car...ugh... So I got some gloves and pulled it out. It felt, looked, and sounded like it had been instant. But upon further inspection, I saw that it still had its prize in its mouth... a dead, dried-up worm!! All that for a mummified worm!! I guess the early bird catches the actual live wiggly worm, and the stupid bird catches the mummified dried-up dead worm... and then gets hit and dies itself!! Sad stupid bird!!
Anyway, happy Friday the 13th, my love. Have a not-stupid day and be safe! I love you.
So, off to an interesting start for sure... with my wife leaving a trail of bodies in her wake.
—probably someone
I'm not much of a hybristophile, so I don't know for sure; but I'd venture that Gacy, Gein, and Dahmer all started small, too.
But the Molerat skinned a Furby one time. And now Kitten has mowed down an innocent robin. They'll graduate to bigger things; just give it time. It'll be Friday the 13th again someday, and none of the neighborhood pets will be safe.
Visiting Joe's Dad
On a far more serious note, Kitten and I had dinner plans with Joe and his mom later in the evening; but Joe and I had our afternoons free in the meantime; so I asked about tagging along with him to visit his dad.
Joe's dad (also named Joe) has been in hospice at the veterans' home near their house after having battled advanced cancer for the past few years; and I had wanted to stop by and see him, but the idea of just popping in unannounced felt kind of weird after not having talked to Joe and his family for so long. Luckily, Joe and I were able to go together.
It was a bittersweet visit: Apparently Joe was having an exceptionally bad day; and at first he couldn't even place me for a minute or two; and then he was struggling to speak more than a word or two at a time.
I can't begin to imagine what it must be like trying to find your way through the haze of that trifecta!
But I realized that he was hearing and making sense of our words just fine; so I told him a little bit about our various misadventures looking for property over the last two years. (Joe was a building engineer before he retired; so he's naturally into a lot of the stuff I dabbled in back when I was heavily researching various plots of land.)
I also showed him a picture of Athennia and Riley from Memorial Day last month. He studied it for a moment, then looked back up at me and summoned the strength to comment...
We stayed a little more than an hour—with Paula (Joe's mom) joining us a short time after we got there as well. And when we finally got up to say our goodbyes, Joe extended his hand and gave me a super-long, super-firm handshake.
Dinner with Joe and Paula
Then Joe and I headed back to his place and killed a bit of time until Athennia arrived from work. Then Paula came from the veterans' home and we headed out to dinner at Don Mezcal in Feasterville.
The margaritas were awesome.
The food was awesome.
And Joe deciding to play the role of Rich Uncle Pennybags and take care of the check was awesome.
One McDonald's dollar-menu run on us, comin' right up.
Plus everyone who works there (at least at the one by us) has a mouth full of marbles and insists on fellating the drive-thru mic when they talk; so you can't make out a damn word of their ghetto-speak anyway.
After dinner we went back to Joe's and hung out. It was great watching Athennia and Paula hit it off so well :)
And we got to meet Stevie for the first time!
And the ever-elusive T.T. made an appearance too!
...But T.T.'s like a mirage—a cata morgana, if you will—so you can never actually physically touch him: By the time you close half the initial distance between yourself and him, he'll have completely disappeared to leave you wondering whether he existed at all.
Having probably consumed two full days' worth of calories at dinner, we took Joe up on his offer of ice cream and cookies for dessert.
Then we sat around the table, talking about whatever and catching up on the last five years. And finally at 1:00 A.M. Athennia and I decided to tap out and head home to crash :)
An Early Father's Day
Then on Saturday we headed to my parents' house for an early Father's Day dinner in the form of takeout from Taormina's.
Then it was time for gifts!
Steve isn't 'Dad' to any of us; so he got nothing (except a card)...
We gave Ron a four-pack of security cameras so he can keep an eye on the wildlife that comes and goes...
My parents don't get many thugs and hoodlums 'round their neck of the woods; so they'll just have to settle for watching deer, foxes, skunks, and raccoons.
Kitten and the Molerat got me a "quilling"-style hedgehog card...
...and a software-engineering T-shirt defining a Coder class...
This particular coder's coffee strength seems to incrementally increase forever...
...And he eats for four hours straight...
...And he spends a third of his work-day debugging?
You think I'm a fat slob who writes crappy code that's full of bugs, and my caffeine addiction is out of control?
And as always, happy Father's Day to my biological father as well!
...And hopefully if you're looking down at us, you're not looking at our garden.
Garden Update
Our garden is... meh.
Personally I think our plants could stand to up their caffeine intake a bit. (That's what the C in C++ stands for, I think.) And they could probably try eating for four hours a day, or maybe even for nine.
But then, we're hardly ever here to de-bug them; so perhaps that may have something to do with why some of them seem stunted.
At any rate, pay no attention to the fact that you have to walk the plank to get out to the pool now. That's out of my jurisdiction. I'm only responsible for what's inside the fence...
To the tomato plants' credit, they've grown substantially since we were last here...
But our cilantro bolted. Though our garlic is probably ready to harvest anytime, though I like to wait until the end of the month or the Fourth of July...
This fern and these clover-looking things that nobody planted are seeing stellar growth...
And our basil, rosemary, oregano, and lemon verbena have done... well, let's run the numbers and see...
\[0 + 0 - 0 - 0 * 0 + 0 * 0 * 0 + 0 - 0 = 0\]
Ah yes, of course: They've done nothing.
Speaking of doing nothing, Sunday was actual Father's Day and we did absolutely nothing.