Getting my daughter drunk and a hole in the pool.

Yes I guess I really didn't get her drunk, but I didn't stop her either. She is twenty-one and I thought it was safest for her to do it at home.

Earlier in the day or maybe it was last week, I ask Teri to pick up some Turkey Hill lemonade. It has to be Turkey Hill. This stuff goes real well with raspberry vodka. It is tasty and dangerous. You'll be drinking it sitting down. When you finish it and get up, suddenly you realize just how drunk you are.

Well, the grocery was out of lemonade, so she gets some pink lemonade. I'm thinking OK, it's different so it can't be as good (yeah, I know, but that's just the way I think,) Friday night I open the refrigerator after a long week and I'm not in the mood for a beer. I see the pink lemonade, so I grab it and I pull the vodka, regular not raspberry out of the freezer and gurgle (yes, it's a technical term for about two-three shot) a short gurgle (about two shots) into my glass and then add the pink lemonade to mix it. I'm thinking pink lemonade, like pink grapefruit for some reason and I am surprised and pleased by the taste, it's sweet and smooth. Nastia either asks for or takes my drink and samples it. She likes it and says

she is going to finish it. She has said it before and not followed through, so I am not concerned. She sucks this tall cup of about 20 oz down in a few moments and asks for a second. I warn her that alcohol sneaks up on you, but she wants more. So I gurgle some more vodka into her cup, add pink lemonade and hand it to her. She finishes it over pizza dinner. 

The first sign she is feeling the alcohol is she starts to laugh more then usual. She is asked if she is OK. She says yes and stands up when I ask her to and almost falls into the wall, I half catch her with the help of the wall.

After finishing her food she asks her sister for the crust off her pizza, Elena being Elena says no and offers it to the dogs. Nastia maybe acting a little bit more drunk then she is asks her sister for the crust again. Watch the video it show it better.

Elena decides to go to the store to get some graham cracker for  Teri, Nastia wants to go, I say no, she asks why and I tell her she is drunk and needs to stay home.

She spends some time watching TV with her head in my lap, but can't get comfortable. She tosses and turns until she finally gives up and goes upstairs.When I finally go to bed I walk into her room to check on her. I figured she had about four shots of vodka, but she is maybe 100 pounds when she is soaking wet.So I get to feeling bad and want to check to make sure she is ok. She is asleep so I leave. The next morning  I wake her up half hoping she is hungover, she isn't. She gets up and goes to work. Later in the day I send her the video of her drunk. She comments she sounds and looks retarded, I say no. just drunk. She says never again. I am happy, but didn't we all say that at one time or another?

The pool has been leaking almost since I emptied it and cleaned it up this spring. We have been losing about an inch of water every twenty-four hours, so it was a large hole. I looked over the liner from outside of the pool, but it was no good, I'd have to get it. So this past weekend, the afternoon before Nastia decided to get drunk I decided to get into the beautiful cold clear pool to look for the hole. And of course it only got just barely into the seventies after a cool June night where it was in the upper fifties. Great weather for living, not walking in a pool looking for a hole. About the time I start Nastia gets home from work and joins me. It takes a while, you know first a toe, then the foot until you get to the point your hanging off the side of the pool and your mid thigh and you have to just drop. I finally just drop into the water. It's not too bad I can still feel my toes. So I walk around for a while find a couple of possible spots, but none of them feels like what I'm looking for. I move the ladder, a big thing with wide steps that cover a portion of the liner. I look down to see a clump of leaves and debris. I wave it away with my foot and there it is about a one inch hole in the liner. It most of been put there when we put in the steps. I can even feel the suction from it with my foot. I ask Nastia to give me the patch kit. I cut a large patch slather (another technical term) glue on it and after a moment or two hesitation I dive under and immediately get panicky. I can't breath, I'm struggling to stay under water where I don't want to be

and I am cold. I surface, and Nastia asks what's wrong. I tell her  I can't do it. She immediately volunteers to go in. I ask her if she is sure and she says yes. She strips down and I give her my T shirt. She works her way into the water and finally she just dives under the water. I cut an new patch again and slather (there's that technical term again) a good amount of glue on it. I give her final instructions about making sure to push the patch down around the edges and she dives under. A moment or two later she is up and the pool is patched. She gets out and say she is freezing and her skin is turning blue. I look and I swear her skin is a light shade of white and blue. She has always had issues with temperature. I wrap her in two towels  and she is still cold. She says she need to slip out of the soaking wet T shirt to get warm. I hold the towels one in front, the other in back and she leans down below the tops of the towels to take it off. As she is doing it she somehow slips under one towel. When I see she in not between the towels any more I try to put them over her head, put I'm pushing them against her face. So for a few moments Nastia is flashing the neighborhood. Teri see this and says, "Nastia!", I get her wrapped back in the towels again and she runs up stairs to take a long hot shower. 

It's been several days and the pool seems to be fine. Now if we could just get some warm weather so the pool is swimmable.   

/

COVID-19 update 6/11/2020

It's June 11, 202 it looks like Texas has opened up too early and too quickly. All that Texas talk about the cure being worse then the sickness might be put to the test. All those sick people who follow Trump and believe all his bullshit are going to see it hit the fan I fear. I really don't like Cuomo, but he has been the rock that the federal government, the president should have been, but wasn't.
New York deaths are way down and different parts of the state are entering stage one or two, with the following stage set for two weeks down the road. This is all going on while the orange racoon is inspecting the bunker at the White House and tweeting how awful Twitter is. So detached, so unfit to be president. He's only president because a bigger thief ran against him. yes, I am drinking on an empty stomach.
Time to get off the soap box. I love that expression, soap box.
Soapboxes were literally used for political rallies in order to raise the speaker above the crowd - he stood on one. If the speaker went on too long for the assembled people, there would come shouts of 'get off your soapbox'! The expression was soon used to try to get anyone to shut up.
This COVID-19 crap has gone on so long that I would have to look up when I started blogging about it. It just doesn't seem like it will ever end and if it does, what will be left. There will be the rich and the poor. Oh and the fortunate ones like Teri and I who happen to have retirement accounts in place. I pity our kids and their future. I keep telling Nastia one day she might tell her grandkids that she was able to pick blueberries from a blueberry patch her father had at the house. Her grandkids asking what are blueberries and her kids vaguely remembering them after global warming caused a parasite that killed them all. Yeah, I'm hitting all the high points tonight. Beer and melancholy will do that.
It is the busy season for Teri at her job, so she is working most of the time twelve hour days. I'm just happy and I hope she is too that during the COVID-19 we all still have our jobs. She works twelve hours a day until Labor day. Occasionally she goes into work. This week she is training or helping out her temporary summer help at the office.
 I am working from ten in the morning until six-thirty at night. and even though I want to work until I'm seventy, I don't think I'll make it. Teri wants to retire in about a year or so, as soon as possible. 
         Now the girls. Elena is working five, sometimes six days a week noon to eight. She is a cheap replacement for an official full timer. At least I hope so I  thought that a grocery store job would at least let you live comfortably, What Elena is bring home is great for an almost twenty year old, not someone who is making a career there. She still hopes to go to auto mechanic school at BOCES this fall COVID-19 willing. She talked about wanting to get an Apartment and what would it take. Teri was encouraged that at least she was talking about it,even if she couldn't afford it right now. Elena kept saying when she gets a good job.
Now Nastia. She didn't prosper doing college at home. She hated it so much that she wanted to quit college. She is looking at different occupations that will require less education. Only time will tell.
Compared to everyone else we are doing fine. I am able to save money for the new siding and roof on the house, when other people are waiting in line for food handouts at Westchester feeds across from my job. I hope things get better or at least no worse.
















/

Dying Hair and Nastia cooking

Dying Hair sounds like a title to a Bugs Bunny cartoon.

Yes Nastia let me dye her hair a second time. The results were a lot better. This time I got 99% of the
hair. There were a few small spots at the hairline that I thought I got, but I kept wiping the dye away so it wouldn't stain her skin. Being the only guy in a house of women after Teri did Elena's hair and the timers went off I stepped out of the bathroom and the girls showered the excess dye out of their hair. I guess this will become a monthly thing. Elena really likes the way her hair looks. To the point that she was willing to do it a second time.

During this COVID-19 time, Teri and I are working longer than ever. I am not complaining, there are several million people who have been laid off that would switch places with either of us in a second. It has made getting dinner on the table a bit of a challenge lately. We have had dinner several times at 8:30. Everytime we eat that late I remember we told the adoption people that we ate usually around 6:30 at night and there was never a issue with that. Even back then we didn't eat at 6:30. I wonder if they knew we were lying and when we left they laughed that we thought they believed us.
When I cook and there is no time limits to worry about I like to take my time and enjoy myself.
The other night I got home late, it was about seven and Nastia had started by taking out the beginning of dinner. She had the vegetables up and she wanted fried pierogies.
There was no meat out, I go down stairs and pull out a packet of frozen chicken breast. I love what we have set up down stairs. We have shelves of boxes and can food and a mostly full freezer. The freezer was full until the COVID-19. We have only had to worry about toilet paper and that was only because it was running a little low in a house full of women that I went out to buy some at BJ's.
As I defrost the chicken I tell Nastia what pans to get out and why I use one oil over another and why I add butter to the oil I am cooking the chicken in (Butter for the taste, oil for the higher burning point) Nastia cooks the pierogies. She has major issues with temperature since we knew her. She is afraid of getting burned so she cooks the pierogies at a distance with gloves on to avoid the splatter of the oil when she puts  a damp pierogi in the hot oil and it splatters.
  I cut, flour and dip the chicken in egg. Coat in breadcrumbs then  put them in the oil and butter. Yes dinner was 8:30 that night. Teri worked until almost 10 at the office that night, so it was just Nastia, Elena, who got home at 8:30 and myself. We ate in front of the TV and watched two movies staying up until almost one in the morning. We started with the new Scooby Do movies and when Elena left to go to bed, we said as a joke we were going to watch Sonic, the movie she wanted to watch originally, so surprisingly she came back. For me it was special. Rarely does Elena spend time outside of eating with the family with us. She'll eat dinner, go to her room and spend it on her computer or on her phone.





















/

Amanda's birthday party for her mother and finally Grub

Friday night (5/22)  I was asked to come home early for a party of six (legal under the governor's new rules of 10 or less) so Amanda could celebrate her mom's birthday. She purchased a tray of food from Gilliam's in Mt Ivy. Usually their food is excellent. Maybe it was because we left the tray under the heat lamp until everybody got there the shrimp were like leather, awful. Nastia loved the dish, had seconds, I think. Elena on the other hand is not much on any seafood. She had some of the pasta and maybe some leftovers.

After a long week and a long day at work for everybody, even the homebound workers were exhausted, everyone made it an early night. Nastia and Elena took Nancy home, then they went for a walk. For the next few days they go out for a walk. Both are getting home from work mostly early enough to go, if you consider not getting home from the walk until 10 early. I remember doing the same with my friend, Mike. We'd just walk around the neighborhood and talk, staying out of mischief. Back then it seemed safer. We make them both take flashlights, they use their phones and we get a little concerned if they are gone too long. You need to remember maybe just last year we wouldn't of let them go after dark and the year before they wouldn't have been allowed to go at all. We are overprotective, but are trying. They seem like such babes in the woods, even though they think they are so street smart. I guess we all do, until we walk into Boots and Saddle in the Village....
OK, a quick story about that last statement. Teri and I on an early dating going to see a play called Tony and Tina's Wedding in the Village in the city (for all you future people who don't know where it is) It's January or maybe February. We are both dressed up to the nines which mean we look nice, but are ill prepared for the cold snowy weather for that time of year. My feet are frozen and the play doesn't open for a while. So I say why don't we get a drink in this bar called Boots and Saddle. We walk in, get a stand up table and I head for the bathroom. I go into the mens room there is a trough to pee in. While I'm there a guy is looking over at me in a way like he wants something, I ignore him, guys don't talk while going, at least I don't. When I come out Teri has our drinks and I begin to tell her about the bathroom. She points out a picture over the bar. She says look at it real close. It is a picture of an orgy, but with just guys in it. She then points out that we are in a gay bar. I think I was surprised, but I don't remember rush out of the place. I wanted to warm my feet and drink my drink.
We finally ordered from Grub, in West Nyack. It is an Asian Fusion place and from the dumb name I thought it would be run by a couple of preppy so and so's running the place. It was not. Teri asked to eat from there early on Saturday, so I ordered from the place sometime around 10. Definitely before noon. I figured I owed it to her. It is her busy time at work and she is putting in ten plus hours a day working from home. I told the person who answered the phone I'd pick it up at 5:15. Nastia works until 4:30 and she likes to take these trips with me. We ordered drunken noodles and beef buns.
At about five, Nastia and I go to get the food. We walk into the former hair salon and everyone waiting for food is spread around the small opening. Everyone is waiting on this one person who seems to be taking forever. After he is done a woman speaks up saying she has an order in, I take her que and say so do I and tell them it's under Joe. I think the cashier doesn't hear me. A few minutes later two trays are up on the social distancing tables (tables set up to keep people away from the cashier) I pay, Nastia grabs the food and we are out.
The beef in the buns was sweet and different. The noodle dish were good. It was a little pricey at $60.00, but it did feed four with leftovers, so I guess it was not too expensive. Would I go again, yeah, if Teri wanted to go I would.
















/

Nancy's birthday, Dairy Queen and Hugh

Everytime I hear the name Hugh, I think of that scene from the movie "What's Up Doc" with Barbara Streisand. It was made in the 60's and I think Peter Bogdanovich wrote and or directed it. The scene goes something like a man with a heavy accent introduces himself as Hugh and it sounds like he is saying you. It goes back and forth. Great scene, great movie even though I don't really like Barbara Streisand.
 It was Nancy's birthday and the five of us got together on Sunday to celebrate it. Amanda couldn't make it, she is working at Good Sam Hospital around people who have the COVID-19 virus.
And yes it was another family dinner and yes the conversation went places that a normal family's conversation doesn't usually go. I'm sorry it is Wednesday (now Thursday) and we had the dinner on

Teri taking a picture of her work. Video is too long to post

Sunday and I really don't remember what was said. I do remember telling Nastia and Elena that I now had a couple of good lines to add to my blog and I made like I was typing on the table and told them what I was going to write, but I've been suffering from C.R.S. for years (OK, everyone together and all you wives say it loudly C.R.S. stands for Can't Remember Shit and yes, it's a husband's disease brought on by marriage) 
Dinner was planned for five and when Teri told me we should order early (she's still not letting me live down Grub, at least not until we successfully order from it) So at two I call and order a tray of Chicken Parm for five PM pick up down the street at Sangria's. I thought about the quart of margaritas again, but it dangerous and I needed to go to work on Monday.
Nancy is picked up and a little before five Nastia and I go to pick up dinner. We pull up in front of the old Conger's Deli across from the Dickman building and after a short wait bring home the food. It comes with a salad, macaroni and the chicken parm. The five of us sit down and proceed to eat another very good meal from Sangria's.
After dinner, Teri wants to put makeup on Nastia's face, but do it from behind so it looks like her arms are Nastia's. Nastia is always game for  stuff like this, so Teri laughing tries to put makeup on Nastia. Lipstick goes in her mouth, other stuff (you can tell I know makeup, right?) goes all over her face. I took a video. I'll try to put it up, it might be too long.

A little later it's time for Dairy Queen. In normal times we'd all pile into the car and get our ice cream and sit outside and eat it. During COVID-19 it is a little different. We still all pile into Teri's Highlander and drive down to Dairy Queen. The store is open and a few people are outside. There are signs up and barriers to stop people from sitting outside on the seats. Nancy and Elena lean against a store front waiting for the rest of us. Another sign at the door says there is a ten person limit inside the store. I count two people so we go in. One of the people inside is a red headed kid that Nastia and Elena both look at and one of them say, "What are you doing here?" I held the door for everybody so I'm last in and I get there just as Elena introduces her boyfriend Hugh." (He doesn't say I am Hugh because we all know I am not you*  I'm sorry I do love that movie, I'll have to watch it tonight and see if it has aged as poorly as Ryan O'Neal) . Hugh is gracious, but he quickly leaves after the introductions, smart move, I'd of done the same.

We wait ten feet away from the people in front of us, everyone wears masks. I approach the counter and stare through clear plexiglass that has become very common around town, ah to have owned a plexiglass store six months ago. I wonder if the plexiglass now up will remain a new feature of all stores. It is difficult to talk to someone behind it. We order our ice cream and go to eat it in the car. No one getting tops. When people decide it's time to leave, that is when everyone notices tops are missing. Me, I just go on eating my ice cream. Nastia volunteers to go get tops since she has barely touched her ice cream. She eats it very slowly because it is soo cold, really that's the reason. While we were eating a crowd decided that it was time for ice cream and Nastia is stuck waiting outside. Elena goes to encourage her to go inside to get the tops. I just go on eating my ice cream. Nastia's starts melting down the sides a little. Teri moves the car a little closer to the store. I continue to eat my ice cream. When Nastia returns with tops she picks up her ice cream which has changed to a smoothie now and tries to drink it down so it is not so messy. I finish my ice cream and give her all my extra napkins. The four girls top their ice creams, I put  my empty in the cup holder remembering to throw it out when I get home. It was a fun dinner and a nice time with everybody.





*What's Up, Doc? (1972 film) - Wikipedia

Warner Bros. What's Up, Doc? is a 1972 American romantic screwball comedy film released by Warner Bros., directed by Peter Bogdanovich and starring Barbra Streisand, Ryan O'Neal, and Madeline Kahn. It is intended to pay homage to comedy films of the 1930s, especially Bringing Up Baby, and Warner Bros.

/

Oh, Mother.....s day

For Teri's birthday, I have to admit I got a ten out of ten. For our COVID-19 anniversary I punted, in all honesty I shot it all for her birthday and I figured I could just give her a card for it and I maybe got a half a point for that. It was not well received, but she was still glowing from her birthday, so I was safe.
Around 3pm last weeknd Teri wants to order from this place called GRUB. She volunteers me to call and I put it off until 6pm, because I don't want to eat that early. When I call, they tell me they don't take orders after 4pm. Teri is not a happy camper. So this weekend, Mother's Day, COVID-19 edition I'd been told already Teri wants to order from them for Mother's Day. I'd been warned.
I started Saturday, May 9th a cold and windy day with snow showers doing some work at home for The Crystal Spoon. Sunday, a warm and sunny day in the low 60s, I went out and did yard work. Afterwards some more work for The Crystal Spoon. My job at The Crystal Spoon is not difficult. Once you learn what to do and then prioritize most everything runs smooth. It can get mind numbing, so after working for a while I go to take a nap. Just as I am dozing off Teri comes home and wakes me up wanting me to make the call to GRUB. I, having learned I need to respond to her needs, roll over and tell her I'll do it in a little while (yeah, I know, men, but the only other choice is women and boy they always seem to wake you up at the worst time) I get my phone and look up GRUB's website. I ask Teri what am I ordering. She sighs and says the same order from the other night and yes, I ask what is that? As she is telling me I see the website says it closed. This is not going to work. We spend the rest of my nap time trying to determine what we are going to order and from where. It's Sangria's, but we just had it, what about this place, no I'm (her) not in the mood for it. This goes on and on and we keep circling back to either Banchettos Feast in Nanuet or to Sangria's. Banchettos has an offer I don't really thing much of. It's got wine, I'll drink because no one else will drink wine and the selection is too limited. It say four and I forget the word they use, but it makes it sound like your

getting four dinners when you are getting two dinners and two sides. I'm turned off by deceptive advertising. We end up ordering from Sangrias, the shrimp and chicken scampi. I make a pretty good one thanks to Fred, a long gone friend's help. But it was Teri's day so I agreed to order it. When we get it home and I take off the top I think this is not going to feed five people. It does and it seems not one left hungry. There were also no left overs. Teri had me order a quart of  Strawberry Margaritas. She takes a sip and says, "Oh. it's strong, you want mine." and pours it into my glass. Nastia does the same and I am already on my second or was it my third. Just before dessert I am telling a story about what I don't remember, but I get interrupted and I restart where I left off, saying something like, "And your mother said..." but I get interrupted again. So again I restart, "and your mother said..." Elena the wise ass makes a comment about being stuck or getting old and forgetful, so I start again, but this time I laughing and have to start again which only makes it worse. So after that every few minutes I tap Elena on the arm and say,"and your mother said..." and every time I do I laugh some more. I was having too much fun and I thought it would be a good idea to stop drinking the Margaritas. If I was younger, I'd have finished the quart. And yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks, but a wife? At this point Teri, god love her goes into all the times I drank and ruined things. It was a short list and she had to throw a few sick days into it. I manage to refute each one and the others like that time in Vegas, but you know what they say about what happens in Vegas and all. Maybe I wrote about it on my other blog What About Me, under sex, drugs and Rock and Roll.
     When I was planning a brunch, I bought cookies and challah bread. When they come home, Nasta has bought a marble cake, Elena a carrot cake. So for dessert there are three cakes, cookies and just too much. Each cake gets sampled and the rest will most likely get thrown out. I hate waste, but no one eats dessert here too much. The conversation is great and it is nice to get together and just do something like this. Even if the girls don't remember their hopefully only pandemic Mother's Day, they'll come away with the warm feeling of memories that getting together always bring up. I don't remember many specific holidays, but I still get that warm feeling that spending time with important people brings.
Things wrap up early. Nasta and Elena drive Nancy home and Teri and I clean up. It's a nice evening.


















/ 

Another fun family dinner

Family dinners as I've said many times are an important part of how we wanted to raise our daughters. They have sadly become a rarity with each of them having a job and working during the dinner hour. Considering we are under a COVID-19 stay at home/ work from home lock down it is surprising more family dinners have not been possible. Even when Elena can make it home in time she seems to always say she has eaten on her break and is not hungry. Sometimes though she will join us any way and have something to eat. How ever you want to slice it family dinners are rare.
So yesterday, Wednesday May 6th, 2020 the stars all aligned and both girls were off and we were going to have dinner as a family. Yes, I am writing about it because it was not a peaceful happening. Teri made chicken thighs with a potato chip crust. There was mac and cheese and two vegetables. A wonderful COVID-19 feast. I got home from Elmsford a little after seven and helped a little with dinner. Meaning I sat at the kitchen table and drank beer. The girls popped in and out as dinner got closer to being ready. With the table set, the girls were called down to eat dinner. We all sat in our traditional places at the table. Teri years ago sat me at the head of the table, with Nastia on my right and Elena on my left. Teri sat next to Elena.
The girls have never been big meat eaters. Nastia loves seafood and will always look for the smallest piece of meat. She will take a pile of starch and some vegetables, always eating the starch first and the meat last. Elena will eat lots of steak, but doesn't really like much else. She doesn't eat fish, will have some chicken if it is fried, you know how it is. Well we are all sitting, most of us are eating when Elena notices Misha is having issues in the living room.
Misha can't reach her tail, if you know what I mean and I think she sometimes has an anal gland problem. When that happens she'll scoot around in a circle trying to solve it. She'll then scratch her butt on the rug. Elena is watching this from the table. She makes a comment about Misha being horny and not being able to reach her coochie, "oh and now she's twerking on the rug." I start laughing as everybody else looks at the dog. This has come out of the mouth of a girl that doesn't talking about sex openly, at least with me around. Yeah, I know what girl talks about her sex life with her father. I've tried to be open with both of them and not be judgemental. They both hopefully will have happy sex lives. Yeah, I also know they are both 21 and 19 and may have sex lives I don't know about. During COVID-19 they don't and both right now are lacking boyfriends, or soon will. Taj seems to be heading into the friend zone with Nastia. And Elena might have a new boyfriend Hugh I'm not supposed to know about yet. Ahh, to be that age again, never!!

















/

What's Going On*

It's Sunday morning. Nastia has gotten her COVID-19 test results back and she is negative, so she went back to work yesterday. Nasti was at work yesterday along with Elena. Teri went grocery shopping and I went to get gas and collect some sandstone from the side of the road on Rt 59 near Crossfield Road, for my sandstone wall, so much for sheltering in place. It was the first nice day in a while and only one of a handful of warm days this year. It is weird, it doesn't seem like Spring, but Mother Nature hasn't stopped. All the flowers are in bloom, trees are getting their leaves, but it doesn't really seem real. It's like a movie I'm watching because I'm not allowed to participate in it.
  This morning Nastia and Elena got into a fight over a mask. Nastia wanted to borrow one of Elena's

and she didn't want to let her, dystopian? They need to invent a word that is like dystopian, but it should mean more like what is going on today. You know we've got a government that is sitting around and doesn't want to take the political risk of actually being a war time president and coordinating everything with the states and the companies producing the needed goods. Wait one minute, I have to get off my soap box. Sometimes I step up onto it and I don't realize I have until I've expressed a political opinion about that asshole, oops, did it again.
Teri went shopping yesterday and bought home two bags of groceries and two boxes of canned dog food. She spent $135.00. To you future people that may seen like the cost of a meal at McDonalds, but it seems she continues to bring home less and less food, but the price is higher. Is it COVID-19 related or just general inflation? They are dumping food at farms and pouring milk down the drain because they were set up to service restaurants and schools that are now closed. Slaughter houses are closing because the virus is spreading through them like wildfire. Trump, the wartime president has used the defense act to save his happy meal from McDonalds while states bid against each other for needed medical protection gear, oops, I did it again,(Sorry Britney Spears for swiping one of your album titles and not being a fan) I need tp get off that soap box again.
Now for something completely different(borrowed that from Monty Python, oh by the way it's not a guy, it's a group of guys, future people) a new item I'm calling how freaking old am I getten, yes getten. I've had aches and pains for the last several years and I've accepted that I'm getten older. Yesterday I mowed the other half of the lawn I didn't mow last week, I took some bags of construction debris bags from Elena's room (yea, I'll talk about it soon) that have sat out front of the house for a while over to Nyack. Our garbage guys are awful. They used to pick up anything, now there are a lot of only so much of this a little of that, oh and none of your house debris. I also got the water off the pool cover. I woke up this morning after a poor night's sleep hurting in places I've never hurt. These hurts were different, all joint related. My left elbow, both knees hurt, never happened before, both sides of my hips, never before. I guess I've sat around too much this winter or maybe I'm just getten old.

* Marvin Gaye - What's Going On - YouTube

www.youtube.com › watch

Lyrics

Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today, eh eh

Father, father
We don't need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today, oh oh oh

Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what's going on
What's going on
Yeah, what's going on
Ah, what's going on

In the mean time
Right on, baby
Right on brother
Right on babe

Mother, mother, everybody thinks we're wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Simply 'cause our hair is long
Oh, you know we've got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today
Oh oh oh

Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
C'mon talk to me
So you can see
What's going on
Yeah, what's going on
Tell me what's going on
I'll tell you what's going on, ooh ooh ooh ooh
Right on baby
Right on baby

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Alfred W Cleveland / Marvin P Gaye / Renaldo Benson

What's Going On lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

Nastia arts and crafting it for school

Nastia had wanted to be a teacher of kindergarten children. I don't know what happened, I'll have to ask her. before she changed her mind she was advised to get into this class called child development or something like that. I most likely are wrong, but the point is the other night Nastia had to do some arts and crafts that as a young kid, some I remember doing. The first one was make a snowflake. I didn't remember how it was done, so in this amazing day and age I told Nastia to go on the internet. o, yes I then went on the internet and found a video on how to make a snowflake. You get a piece of paper, cut it into a square, fold it into a triangle twice and then fold it bringing both corners to the middle to make it look like a badge of the Federation from Star Trek. Cut off those the ends. Now at this point in the video they start to do some fancy cuts and Nastia says she can't do them. I go "Nastia look just cut it like this " and a proceed to put different shapes into the edges making sure not to cut too much out of the spine. I start to open it up. I stop and hand it to Nastia and when she opens it up I get a wow, A simple piece of paper became something more.
She then goes to work on making maracas using towel paper rolls and different stones and buttons to

make noise. I am disappointed in her effort. I ask her if she is done with the snow flakes and suggest she glue it onto the tube, I get a no and she then lightly colors in part of the tubes.
   She also has to make a rubbing and has trouble doing it. I take some time rubbing a pencil on a piece of paper placed on top of a metal butterfly. Nastia is amazed at how beautiful parts of  it are. She then does her own, but doesn't take the time needed to make the detail come out in it.
All of her lack of effort on something so simple so reminds me of how I was and it make me sad. Here she was learning to do crafts that should have been fun and easy. But she was so caught up in just getting it done that she didn't enjoy doing any of it. I think I had more fun then her. I guess maybe a little age and distance will cure her like it did some for me.
      Last night I come up stairs and look into the room that used to be the office, before it was Elena's bedroom and then was storage for working on herr bedroom (yes, I am still working on it, sorta. more on that later) I see a red light flooding out of her room and any fan of the rock group 'The Police' know what I'm about to say...."ROXANNE! You don't have to put on the red light. ROXANNE!"                                       

I look into the room and modern kids are having fun together. I miss kids coming to the door and asking if someone is home and can they come out and play. There I go again going all Mayberry on you. What you future people don't know what I'm talking about? Well I don't really want to ruin the fun of you looking it up. Say Hey to Opie  Andy and Aunt Bee when you get there.























/

Dating during the Covid-19 virus

I have looked back and it has been about five weeks since we have been on lock down/ stay at home. Everyone has gotten into a routine and it has started to seem like this is normal and it will never change.But as we all know forever is a long time and nothing stays the same forever. Every night I leave work in Elmsford at 6:30 and get on the Thruway I am able to do eighty on the road. When I realize I am going so fast I ease off the gas and let the car coast until I get down closer to the speed limit. It is a weird time. I still don't long for the traffic jam trips home that turn my now fifteen minute commute at 6:30 into anywhere from a half hour to ninety minutes on a traffic filled Friday in the Spring or the Fall. Those could remain a relic of the pre Covid-19 time.
     Now to dating during the COVID-19. Well it just doesn't happen, but try to tell Nastia that. Back a few days ago I woke Nastia up to find when she worked and had online school. She said she had classes at ten and twelve. I asked her how she was going to manage that when she had work from noon to eight. She didn't know. The next day I am transfering money to Nastia's account when I notice some charges from Garnerville. I march upstairs and wake Nastia up. Asking her in an agitated voice what was she doing in Garnerville? She very calmly says, "I was in ShopRite in Garnerville looking for soup for mommy and I had lunch at the pizza parlor. Nastia can lie so smoothly sometimes that even when I have the facts I have to stop and question myself. So I leave half believing she did nothing wrong. That is until I am driving home that night and I begin to think about things and again become convinced that she lied and by the time I get home I am really pissed off. Luckily the house is empty. Strangely too, because we are supposed to be sheltering in place. It turns out Nastia and Elena are at work and Teri had to go into work and just left. She calls and I tell her how angry I am and that she will have to talk to Nastia when both are home. Teri gets home before Nastia and when Nastia is settled in Teri begins to talk to her about what happened. I promise myself to say nothing and if I insist on it I should leave. Nastia quickly confesses she'd gone to Garnerville to see Taj. I complement Teri on her restraint. She doesn't yell at Nastia's confession. She does say in a pleading slightly demanding voice that she can't go see him. She doesn't know where he's been and who he's been exposed to and he doesn't know what she's been exposed to. One could be giving the other Covid-19. I do say something and Teri asks me to stop. I realize it is a good idea and stop. The talk is short and feels inconclusive, but Nastia has stayed home since then because she went to work the next day and told her boss she didn't feel good, she had a headache. Her boss sent her home until she comes back with a doctors note. For the last few days she has had her period, a headache and a belly ache. She bought some Sunny Delight last week at Costco. Somewhere in all of that is the truth above what is wrong with her.The Sunny Delight might be giving her headaches, her period might be giving her the belly aches or maybe just not drinking any water and I don't think any of it is caused by COVID-19.
Last night I tried to have a little celebration for just the four of us. I have been working a lot of overtime because of COVID-19, and I got a raise which together almost doubled my normal take home pay. The check, still less then Teri's, is finally in the same neighborhood. So I thought it might be nice to have some Bailey's BBQ. Their restaurant is on Erie Street in Blauvelt. They are also the ones who bought and ruined Nanuet Restaurant.
Under COVID-19 there is pick up only, which does ruin the food a little. What happened last night made it a waste of fifty dollars. We, Teri and I debated back and forth what to order. We settled on a variety platter for two and a kids chicken fingers and fries for Nastia. Teri thought about an onion soup, but at eight dollars decided not to. She tries to order from her ipad and has difficulty. So she asks me to order but I always have problems doing online ordering. I wanted to order directly from the Bailey's website and kept getting doordash or menu, trip advisor, yelp or whatever. I have had experiences with yelp, all bad (they listed The Crystal Spoon as closed because we wouldn't advertise with them) (Doordash delivered cold food and is or was very expensive) I get so frustrated that I bring my laptop to Teri and she figures it out in just a moment. Now it is late, about 7 PM. Teri had wanted to order around 5. and I said let's wait and anyone who's been married knows where this is going. We order the food and the web site says an email will arrive telling us when to pick up our food. There was also a place where we could tell them when we wanted to pick up the food. The first available time is 8:15, an hour and change later. I wait watching my email for the Baileys email while I continue to work entering new client for the Crystal Spoon. At 8:15 I finally call Baileys asking if I missed the email. The guys running the service say our food is ready. Nastia and I head out to Bailey's twenty minutes away and on the trip I tell Nastia the food is going to be ice cold when we get there and it is.
We arrive at Bailey and see a half open door with a note on it we can't read. I get out and read it. It says all catering orders and take out are next door, across the street. I cross the street and in my hurry I drive off the end of the parking into the grass. There is no drive around from there. I finally get to in front of Baileys take out and a kid without a mask asks for our name. He grabs the bag with ungloved hands,. I stretch out my arm past Nastia to keep him as far away as possible. He hands me a bag of luke warm food that had not been kept warm while it waited to be picked up. Twenty minutes later, at almost nine Nastia and I arrive at home with cold BBQ. Of course I start a fight with Teri. I don't remember what started it but when I see Teri throw a plate, a light toss of only several inches I see another issue that she always get on my case for. So I complain to her about throwing plates like she does to me. Oh, and what started the fight, I yelled at the dogs to shut up and she complained. So I say why is it ok for you to yell at the dogs and not me. So it dovetails very well with her throwing, really tossing a plate on the table and not placing it. All you ladies take note, this is what happens when you piss guys off for doing something minor like dropping a plate on the table from a couple of inches away. IT WILL COME BACK AND BIT YOU! You do it to us so why can't we occasionally give it back to you.
The food was lousy and cold. If it was hot it might have been it's usual excellent. I did have the oven on to warm the food before I left, but it was late. I did warm the corn souffle in the microwave and ruined it. It became a tasteless mussy mess.
If I can find the web site again, I'll leave a review.









/

What the future might look like

What the future might look like, I don't know. Will more people work from home? Only the future people reading this will know.
    Right now I feel like I'm living a Bizarro World* version of Father Knows Best**. Before I head to

The Bridge at 6 PM on a past Friday

work in the morning, I go visit my mother. I don't come within ten feet of her and yes I know that sounds very WASP of me, but it really isn't normal. I go to work and after punching in I go to my desk, grab an antibacterial wipe and wipe down everything in the office I might have to touch during the day. I then go to the bathroom and wash my hands with extra soap for what I think is twenty seconds. In between the finger, over the backs of the hands, up to the wrists. Then I wash them off, grab a paper towel, dry my hands and before I toss it in the garbage I use it to open the door. Here is where I get fancy. In one swift motion I push the lever handle down and pull the door open and push it the rest of the way open with my foot as I do a behind the back with the paper towel hitting the garbage with just net. Now I am ready to attack the papers that have piled up on my desk over the last twelve hours. On a recent morning the pile of papers only got deeper and the phone calls kept coming so that by the end of the day I only had just cleared my desk of the days work. forget all the stuff that was on it before I got there. This past Monday, after working the whole weekend putting in clients and orders I walked in and declared to my boss Ted, "I'm all caught up" Ah, what hubris***. I sat down to my disinfected desk to the sound of the fax machine. It would continue for the next three days. At the end of each day I'd laugh and say "I'll catch up" By the end of the week I had almost

I'm fashionably ready to work

sixty new customers. Management was talking about shutting off new customers. Over the week the tension in my neck and shoulders had caused me to have headaches and started my left eye to hurt. Sometime around mid afternoon on Wednesday I decided that I would worry about only what is at the top of my pile. The rest didn't exist. For some reason I was able to do that. That was also the day I was told along with the only other guy who didn't wear a mask we had to now wear a mask along with a hair net anytime we went into the kitchen or came near a crowd. The governor had declared all people needed to cover their faces if they were to be anywhere in a crowd. For a governor I hated two months ago, he has really been on top of this COVID-19 virus.
     So now it is Sunday, after that week where I got about sixty new customers in. I worked last week eleven hour to catch up. Then on Saturday I worked eight and a quarter hours and today I have thirty-two customers to finish up. And yes I'm delaying doing it by writing this. I'm tired of working, but I want to come in and tell my boss Monday, it is done.
      Teri works from home and I wonder if she will miss the commute she has now. She stays up a little later at night, sleeps in a little later in the morning, puts on sweats and heads to the dining room table or up to the attic to work. The girls at home sleep in each morning and Nastia has online classes that she is finding very difficult to do. She now has to depend on herself and can't go running to a teacher to get help. She occasionally goes to work during the day or in the evening.
     Elena, is working almost full time at ShopRite and maybe for the short term or who knows maybe longer she will continue there. With BOCES closed and most likely not to reopen until the fall this is her future.
      Everybody's life is sort of in a holding pattern. All our worlds revolve around this house mostly. Will the future look something like this? People working from home more. Radio and TV new anchors host their programs from home and I'm sure they are getting acquainted with family members and what it is like to have time around the house. Future people what is it like out there now?



*Bizarro World: The imperfect duplicate of Superman, the chalk faced hero lives on the cube-shaped world of Bizarro where everything is the opposite of life on Earth. Beauty is hated, ugliness is revered, and it is a crime to make anything perfect.


** Father Knows Best. From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English ˌFather ˌKnows ˈBest a US television programme made in the 1950s, whose characters were considered to be a perfect happy family with typical American values.





*** Hubris | Definition of Hubris by Merriam-Webster

To the Greeks, hubris referred to extreme pride, especially pride and ambition so great that they offend the gods and lead to one's downfall. Hubris was a character flaw often seen in the heroes of classical Greek tragedy, including Oedipus and Achilles

Easter during the COVID-19

Holidays during the COVID-19 are muted.
With everyone sheltering in place not a word was said when both girls had to work on Easter Sunday. It has been a few years since we colored eggs and this year Easter just wasn't Easter.
Teri did her usual very nice job cooking the meal. We had ham, pineapple casserole, mixed vegetables, and a non-traditional dish pierogies. We'd just had mac and cheese which goes real well with ham and no one was in the mood for potatoes, so we went with pierogies, boiled, not fried. Fried are excellent, try them one day.
     We ate dinner around six. Nancy was our only guest. I didn't ask my mom because the girls are
always exposed to alot of people who might have the virus. I haven't been within ten feet of my mom in about a month. But for WASPs like me isn't that just standard? yes, that's a joke, a WASP joke.
      The family dinner was the first one we'd had in a while. The girls were wound up a little and I inspired them in their lunacy.
      The conversation at the table was not very Easterish. It started with an innocent question for Nancy, asking Elena what happened to her nose piercing. If I haven't told it I will now. Elena was thunking Nastia. Thunking is when you take your first finger and put it inside the first joint of the thumb and get close to someone and push the first finger off and hit someone usually in the head. Elena was doing this and had
been warned to stop by Nastia, well she didn't and Nastia struck back hitting Elena in the nose causing it to bleed. So Elena takes the nose ring out.
    So We start talking about piercings. I was on the side of
Elena where I could hear all the mumblings Teri couldn't. Elena as always can be very funny and I've known she also can have a dirty mouth. In this house it isn't anything unusual. So as the conversation goes on I am hearing all the little asides from Elena about different piercings. Nastia hears her mention nipple piercing and of course she says out loud she is not going to get one, they are painful and she talks about Nich, an ex boyfriend of Amanda's who had a nipple pierced and how he was a boy and so on. That was how our Easter conversations went. It was inappropriate and everyone was suffering for cabin fever. And it was fun and nice to have everyone together having fun and laughing in the middle of this awful time. Teri tried to rein it in once and I told her to let them go. Everyone needed it.

Flow it, show it, long as God can grow it, my hair*

*From the musical....Hair, go figure

Lambs to the slaughter?

For just about ever Nastia has wanted to color her hair, or wear a wig. She even bought a wig once, strange child. So the other day she comes home with a bottle of hair color. She and Teri start arguing. No I guess it would be better described as Teri yelling she can't color her hair and Nastia changing
her story from coloring her hair to just tips. I think at one point after Nastia said for the thousandth time, "I'm twenty-one and you can't stop me" and Teri yelling, "Not in my house." Teri just gave up.
Teri's thought is both girls have such beautiful hair and it should be left alone. I also noticed Nastia has very thin hair and it is not very thick on top of her head. She's going to have to watch out that she doesn't abuse her hair or she may end up needing that wig.
     During the COVID-19 lock down, after I come home from working in Elmsford and yes my job has been declared important or whatever that word is that they use, I like to drink. I'm tired and stressed. So when Nastia asks me if I want to help her color her hair, I said yes. Not a big mistake for me.
    Before we start, Elena comes home from ShopRite and Nastia asks her if she would like to color

And now we wait

her hair too. I go down stairs to the basement and remove anything that might be in the way or could get stained. Teri and I go over how to mix each separate chemical. What it boils down to is you mix all the small packets that don't say shampoo or conditioner into the big bottle, then you shake it to mix. For some odd reason they said to snip the top off the big bottle before mixing. Of course the first thing I do is spill a small dot of the dye on the sink. I stop take a wet paper towel and proceed to spread it all over as I try to clean it up.
     Nastia goes first. She tells me several times to watch out that I don't get it in her eyes. I work slowly squirting the dye mixture here and there working it into her long hair. I'm being very careful to not get it in her eyes or make her hair wet and

So much for social distancing

it run down her face or onto something that'll stain. I forget the reason Teri finally joins us. She takes over when she sees how I'm doing Elena's hair. I'd squirt some on top and rub it in. She'd tell me, "No, you have to comb it in using the nozzle as the the comb. I try it several time and Teri is still not satisfied how I am doing it. She tells me the hair has to be wet. I look at Nastia's and it is definitely not wet. I watch Teri comb the nozzle through Elena's hair I see her scalp wet with dye.
      After the timer goes off Nastia is instructed to shower the dye out and I leave. About forty minutes later after she blow drys her hair I get a look at my first hair job, oh, boy.
Both of the girls need touch ups, Nastia more then Elena, so the next night the three of them trek down to the basement bathroom, which I again emptied and they re color their hair. I stay away

It was fixed the next day

because I strangely feel this is somewhere I don't belong. I had fun last time, but this time it's the mother-daughters experience it should have been all along.
     After she's done Elena runs upstairs in just a towel because she is so excited and happy about her hair. She quickly shows me her hair, than races off to get dressed. Nastia too show me her hair. It is all one color now and both look very pretty with the color. I've been wondering have Teri with her naturally colored hair would know so much about hair coloring, I'll have to ask her one day.

















/

So what's normal?

I miss normal. I don't really know what normal is, but I know I miss it. Everyone's lives right now are off and muted. It's close to Easter and I wish they would just cancel it. Governor Cuomo says Covid-19 will peak in about a week around here, but that doesn't mean normal will magically reappear the next day. This could easily drag on until the fall. Hot spots appearing here or there with the accompanying lockdowns or shelter in place as it's popularly called now.
     The girls seem oblivious to everything going on, or maybe they are hiding it well. I know they are lax about washing their hands when they come home and when asked if they are using masks or gloves, we are told they (Elena) are washing their hands often. Nasta comments a little about all the changes that have gone on at the grocery store, social distancing and all. Another one of those popular phrases. I hope by fall I will have forgotten ever saying it. I went to the ShopRite grocery store in New City yesterday for the first time since I went to Costco and they have blue tape all over the floor with arrows showing which way to travel down isles so traffic goes only one way. There are very few registers open and each has a large piece of plexiglass 30" square between the cashier and the customer. It's all very dystopian* and a bit scary. I've saved that phrase for just this point in my piece. The world and specifically what we are going through reminds me of many science fiction films I've seen over the years. I keep waiting for the dead to start walking among us or Terry Gilliam, the director of the film Brazil** to yell 'cut'. I went to Home Depot today. I park in the parking lot and it is full of cars like it's a normal Saturday in the spring. I get out intending to buy a rake. I notice a family of four standing off to the right of me about twenty safe yards away. It's a nice family outing to the  local Home Depot, family outing, Home Depot, weird, but cute. That is until you notice all of them are wearing surgical masks. I shake my head wondering what color will be fashionable next year. Curse the thought. I head into Home Depot. I've noticed when I'm out I don't make any eye contact and keep my face away from others. I also keep as far away from other people as possible and I hold most in contempt. On that last thought, I'm trying to figure out why now more than normal. I walk to the first set of doors and a couple of dip-shits are fussing with something, a cart, I guess, I'm not looking there way, but they are blocking the door. So there is a little back up there and of course I barrel onward. A scruffy individual coming out seems to want to come my way, but I give no ground and he changes course going to his left. I pass the dip-shits and get through the first set of doors. I approach the inside set only to be asked to go into another set of doors on the other corner of the building because this is exit only. I spin around without complaint or comment. Only my actions declare my acquiesce (to comply without protest, I looked it up to be sure how to spell it). I go in the correct door, the store seems dark and too many people have masks on for me to be comfortable. I view a Costco length line to the registers and decide I don't need a rake that badly and I head for the exit. As I pass back into the overcast of the day I feel as if I've again stepped off the stage of a movie. I shake my head as a voice behind me echos, "have a nice day" A memory of watching Total Recall, the good one, if dated film with Arnold in it. Just like in that dystopian film people are acting like it's all normal. Masks and gloves have become the new fashion statement, health care workers be damned. But hey I wore gloves to the grocery store the day before. So I shouldn't talk.
     Now our darling daughters get to sleep in most morning. Nasia has an online class from RCC. I occasionally see her working on projects for it. Last night she put in a few good hours on it. She worked on it first with her mother. She had asked me to help, but I was dealing with stuff I bought home for work. It seems Top Chef Meals/ The Crystal Spoon has gotten about one hundred new customers from insurance companies because all the adult day care centers are closed and I needed to get them set up as soon as possible. So Nastia and Teri who have fights over just about everything these days. It's just your typical mother- daughter stuff. They did mostly manage to work quietly together. Then Nastia went to work on some other questions. Occasionally she'd let a couple of curses fly. After the tirade I let fly about someone who is bothering us about a bill we paid and the money going somewhere else and the bank is researching it, I didn't say much.
     I got in Elena's car to move it earlier in the day. She had it smelling of perfume. Now the only reason she might do that is..... Well I sat in the car inhaling deeply to see if I was correct. A slight smell of pot/weed/grass filled the air. You had to think about it to really know it was there, but it was.
      Before she went to work she offered to drop me off at the gas station to get my car. After a few miles, she asks me if I like the smell of her car. I wasn't going to say anything, but you know, it happens. So I tell her it smells nice , but it poorly covers up the smell of pot/weed/grass. I then as is my wont (one's customary behavior in a particular situation. I like this word) I launch into what I have declared as my dead horse speech. I told her I will continue to beat this dead horse. I know I can't stop you from smoking pot/weed/grass. I want you to be safe and careful. I need to remind you that it is still not legal and if a cop wanted to hassle you about it he could (with her attitude, no he'd never, yes that is sarcasm) I don't want her to hide it from me and I don't remember if I told her not to smoke in the house. I don't know if it all registered because she asked if she could make pot brownies again. I said yes and I won't be having any most likely. Still not sure I recovered from that last batch.



* dystopian. "Utopian" describes a society that's conceived to be perfect. Dystopian is the exact opposite — it describes an imaginary society that is as dehumanizing and as unpleasant as possible. ... famous dystopian authors include Aldous Huxley, Kurt Vonnegut, and Ray Bradbury. And a famous dystopian in his time Joe Muller.

** Brazil (1985 film) - Wikipedia

)

Brazil is a 1985 dystopian science fiction film directed by Terry Gilliam and written by Gilliam, Charles McKeown, and Tom Stoppard.

The film centres on Sam Lowry, a man trying to find a woman who appears in his dreams while he is working in a mind-numbing job and living in a small apartment, set in a dystopian world in which there is an over-reliance on poorly maintained (and rather whimsical) machines. Brazil's satire of bureaucratic, totalitarian government is reminiscent of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four^[11][12][13] and has been called Kafkaesque^[14] and absurdist.^[13]

Box office‎: ‎$9.9 million (North America)

Budget‎: ‎$15 million

Music by‎: ‎Michael Kamen

Directed by‎: ‎Terry Gilliam

‎Cast · ‎Production · ‎Release · ‎Reception