Getting a slight look into the mysteries in the book of Elena

     I have said it several times and I'll say it again, my daughter, Elena is a tightly closed book and only on rare occasions do you get a slight glimpse inside, even for something suspected and not really a big deal in this day and age, it can be surprising. It's like when Elena lets the curtain drop a little, let's the book open

up, it's leather spine creaking as it opens just enough to give you a glimpse.
     A little background ground first. A few days ago Elena complained that she was not allowed to stay out as late as her sister. I didn't want to mention the fact her sister is fifteen months older than her. I listened and I don't think I said anything one way or the other. So on Thursday she asks her mom if she can stay out to ten-thirty. Teri calls me and I say, "yes, ok". Teri is feeling the same way so Elena is allowed to stay out until ten-thirty. She is also very good at coming home when she says she will. She has been hanging out with Matt, a boy she used to date when she was younger, you know that kind of

dating. They hung out together and maybe there was kissing and hand holding in a movie. When she comes in she comes over to where Teri and I are sitting watching TV. She starts talking about her night. Somehow her friend Jasmine comes up. Elena talks about how she was always there for Jasmine and how they did things. That little statement or words to that effect made me feel special. I always thought something was going on with the two of them, but her saying that made me feel special. I think she still doesn't know which way she wants to go. Either way I hope she finds joy and comfort in the company of another person. And joy in expressing that love to another person. 

 

I guess this one is crash, boom , bang*

* Again Steve Miller R O C K in the U S A


I've been against letting the girls go out in the evening, but there is only so much staying home that they can take and I understand. So Teri and I have been letting the girls go out to socialize at night
      Saturday Nastia gets called into work early and she had told me she was going out to hang out with a friend named Elijah. I haven't met him yet and she insists he is just a friend, he is also younger then her, just like Taj. Sometime before she goes out she asks me if she can stay out until  10:30. I know she is twenty-one and is too old for a curfew, but as long as I can get away with it I will. And also she is still living under Teri's and my roof. I am trying to be reasonable and understanding so I say yes, 10:30. I also tell her to please come back alive. She laughs and assures me she will.
Around quarter to ten at night, I am getting ready to take a shower when my phone rings. It's Nastia and she says something happened and she doesn't know how, but she hit a car. I tell her I'll be there. She gives me the address of 2 Parker Drive in Garnerville. It sounded familiar and when I looked it up on my phone (of course, I'm in a hurry and Google maps doesn't come up, some Lyft Uber crap App does and wants me to download their App.) I finally get a map where Parker is and it looks even more familiar. I have time to think as I am driving up 9W and I'm sure that is where Taj lives.
So I know where I'm going. I get behind someone who is out sightseeing of course, so at my first chance on Rt 210, I pass them. I get up to the top of the hill near the ShopRite and a little ways down the road I make the right onto Parker. At first I see nothing. Then I see a group of people, so I pull behind a car and park I notice Nastia and her car. It doesn't look too bad in the dark. She rushes over to meet me and I notice no mask. I tell her nice social distancing as I go back to get my mask (opps) The back end of the car is a mess. The window is gone and the lift gate has seen better days. There is

a big dent in the middle and the bumper has a large divot in it. I go over to the other car to see how bad it is. The bumper is pushed down on the outside corner and the quarter panel is cracked near the bumper. I'm guessing about three thousand dollars in damage. I apologize to the wife of the car's owner, saying usually Nastia is a better driver then this. Probably that was not a good idea to do , but Nastia hit a parked car. The Police Officer was very nice and explained how to get hold of the report and when it would be ready. I thanked him for his time I told Nastia home after the Officer said the car was drivable and all the lights still worked. I do a K turn (now they call it a broken U turn, idiots couldn't leave well enough alone) and I notice in my lights a guy standing on the other side of the road. He moves out of my lights as I do my turn. I swear it is Taj. Not that it really matters. He was a nice enough kid, he just had some screwed up priorities. A personal trainer and a brokerage account, but no car or job. Brokerage account, yes, personal trainer, no.

      We get home and tell Teri about the car. Later after Teri
has gone to bed Nastia and I have a wide ranging talk about lots of things, but the one most important thing was she gave me more details about the accident. She had said the brakes didn't work as she rolled down the hill ,but on the way home they were fine. She thinks she put the car in gear, but didn't start it.  So that when it rolled backwards down that steep hill the brakes didn't work easily. It does make sense. You can take a car out of park was long as you put your foot on the brake.
     We're talking now of either fixing the car or her getting a new one. I like the idea of her driving a SUV. She is higher up in the air and I think she can see better. Plus they offer a little more protection.
Oh and it turns out that Taj lives right next door to Elijah, the 'friend' she was visiting on Parker. Taj wasn't home Nastia thinks.



























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Do you really want to piss me off??

I found this photo from a few years ago and I couldn't help myself, I need to share it. She was such a happy child. She is now too, just a whole bunch secretive, a closed book. If the time is taken and you put in the work to let her feel comfortable and open up to you it will be well worth the effort.


Now Nastia, is what you see is what you get. She said she made a decision to be happy when she was in Russia and she has somehow become that person.

Ease on down the road*

* Yes, it's from the Wiz, a remake of the Wizard of OZ with an all black cast.

It's Sunday, July 12, 2020 and my daughters are joining the rest of the 19 to 49 year olds who seem to think we have conquered COVID-19 in the northeast or maybe they're just tired of wearing masks and staying cooped up at home. I can commiserate. When I was their age I'd want to spend as much time with my girlfriend and my friends as I could, but it's not over and I keep telling them this.
     Nastia has a 'friend' who is involved with this group of people who get together every so often and rehearse a play. They meet in the back of a building in New City that has a hair salon in the front. She swears that they all practice social distancing and wear masks. There are so many things  wrong with this that I should stop her from going. I hope I don't  regret it. Why are they rehearsing a play when Broadway is closed and  they don't expect to reopen until 2021. They can't perform a play anywhere. Ok, so let's say they are doing it for the fun of it. Wearing masks while doing it? practicing projecting their voices, throwing minute drops of spit into the air? AND in an enclosed space? if one got it they all get it. God watch out for my daughter please.
       Now Elena came home late from work yesterday. When asked why, she said she felt bad for her friend, Dakota. It's been pouring cats and dogs on and off for the last few days and they were both leaving at the same time and like all of my daughter's friends, Dakota doesn't have a car. So Elena offered to take her home, saying that they both wore their masks during the trip, I hope so. I thank her for telling the truth. She knows how we don't like either of them being a taxis for their friends and with the COVID-19 even more so. Earlier in the year Elena was driving Dakota home most nights, even waiting an hour sometime until she finished to drive her home. I hope this doesn't lead to that returning.
      My big fear in all of this is they will catch the disease from someone, by just hanging around someone that has done something stupid, like go to Florida (sorry Ruth, you have a dumb governor) for a quick trip to soak up some sun or whatever all those other idiots that have done that did. No one knows they are infected, it takes 10 days to show up, but you can spread it during that time if you remember. Then spread it to one of our girls, who spreads it to me and I visit my 86 year old mom every week day (I hear the clock ticking) and I kill her. I'd never forgive myself.
     And now for something completely different It's.....(music starts to play Monty Python's Flying Circus) yeah I've used it before but I just couldn't end on such a dark note. Speaking of Dark, it's a series on Netflix dubbed from German and it is good. There are three seasons and it is so confusing, but good that you'll need to watch each season twice to understand what is going on and when you finally do you'll get the reward of this truly weird show.
     I'll give you a quick run down of the show. It is set in this small town in Germany (still feels weird leaving out east or west) that has a nuclear reactor. There are caves near the reactor and the town has a history of kids disappearing. Last time it happened was thirty-three years ago, in 1985 and it has started to happen again. In episode one a man hangs himself. One of the kids enters the caves and somehow when he comes out he has gone back in time to 1985. I'm going to give a little away here, it'll help in your understanding of future episodes. The kid, Mikhil who disappears from the present is the man who hangs himself in the present also. That is how this show works. You'll see people in the present and also in the past as kids(and also in the future?!!). It will get so confusing that you will have to watch the season twice to completely understand who is who at what time and how they relate to other characters. It is all well worth it in the end, which I haven't gotten to yet at this point. I'm rewatching the last three episodes of season two before braving the final season. Take the time and you will enjoy it.
I guess that is a bit less dark, just a bit. 





















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As things change, they remain the same*

* I think I've used that title before.
Another July 4th has passed, only this one has been weird, granted it's COVID-19 weird. What I mean by that is there were no parades, no carnivals, and no fireworks. Macy's spread their fireworks around and over three, four days. They didn't tell anyone where they'd  be so no crowds would gather. So now we have covert COVID fireworks.
Elena bought fireworks. They are the fountain type that are allowed by the state of New York. I'm  glad the state changed their mind. For years you couldn't have fireworks, yet everyone did. After watching Elena shoot off her box of fireworks I wanted to go to Pennsylvania and get some roman candles. They are like the fountain style fireworks. The fountains shoot sprays of different colored sparks from their tops, while roman candles shoot balls from long sticks. Maybe the girls and myself will go to Pennsylvania one day. I just don't want Elena to know what other fireworks are out there. She is cautious lighting the fuse to the point I have to chuckle. She'll put the lighter near the fuse and quickly move it away before it is lit. I taught her to rub the thick fuses on a rough surface to make them easier to light. She let me light a couple, but for the most part I just watched. On the forth as she set off the fireworks, in the background someone, maybe a fire department was having covert COVID-19 fireworks. There were at least three places that were shooting them off. They were very impressive, better than last years Conger's FD fireworks.
                 New York City seems to be devolving back to the bad old days of the 70's and the 80's. Several headline stories about young kids killed by gun fire.Gun deaths are up over 60% to levels from the 1990's.The death of George Floyd has prompted calls to defund the police. I guess they weren't alive in the 70's when you'd drive the Cross Bronx Expressway and see road after road of empty burned out buildings. I thought they'd never be able to solve that problem. Then somehow they did. Are we heading back in that direction?
     Teri and I worked hard leading up to the fourth to get the pool in a swimmable shape. It had started to go green a week earlier and I kept putting clarifier in it and had vacuumed it twice thinking I was getting the problem under control. Teri said I needed to use something for the algae. So I followed her directions (You do that after being married for twenty-five years or you don't get to that point)  I put the chemical in for algae and I also shocked the pool with a large dose of chlorine. The next day I vacuumed the pool and it looked great. Everyone swam in it over the weekend. Come Monday the sixth I look out at the pool and the level of the water had dropped at least six inches. I couldn't do anything about it then, I had work. When I got home I was told Nastia went in to try and find the leak. She checked out the patch, it was fine. She walked around, nothing. So when I get home I get into shorts and slide into the water. It is perfect. not too hot, not too cold, just right for Goldilocks. I walk around, check out the patch, feel for a suction of water leaking from the pool, nothing. I walk around feeling for areas where the sand under the liner has caused a divot, nothing. I notice the height of the water has not changed from the morning. We lost six+ inches over night and since then nothing, it was odd. I walk around and feel the liner at the water line. Everything is fine. I then notice the connection for the filter. The return is just above the water line. I start to think maybe something is wrong with the filter, but no that would be too easy. I pull up the axcess plate and look. I see nothing obvious. I do see or maybe I am hoping to see a place where water might have flowed from a tube. I grab the hose and stick it in the intake and begin to fill the filter. I watch the hose and it starts to dribble water from part of the return hose. I pick it up. The hose is so broken it is being held together by a thread of plastic. Not wanting to wait until I purchase a new hose, I move the filter as close as I can get it to the pool. The broken hose is two shorter hoses connected together. I remove the broken one and use the remaining hose to reconnect the pool. Success, now to refill and brace for another Untied Water water bill with summer rates. Well at least we get some of that back in Teri's pension check.



















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Rock in the road*

* I was going to call this 'Crash, boom, bang...R O C K, in the USA, R O C K, in the USA- a line from a Steve Miller song, but that made it sound more serious then it is.

I left work early with a headache. At home I was busy thinking dinner while Teri continued to work when Elena calls me. She starts out a little hesitantly, dancing around a little bit before she gets to the fact she has a flat tire. She says she was driving, saw a rock in the road, swerved to avoid it and still hit it.  I ask her where is she and she says over near Snake Hill road, you know like when I'm going to work. I have a vague idea where she is. The first thing I do is get the floor jake out of the garage. Last time I used it I jacked up Elena's car and got it out of the mud on the north side of the house. It was not fun and I never clean it off so when I put it into my car besides not fitting I get mud all over the back seat, oh I also tear the seat with a sharp corner of the jack.
    Nastia and Elena had gone to pick up Nastia's car from Alexander Brothers at the corner of West Nyack road and Strawtown Road near the West Nyack Inn, now the 1840 Tavern. Her car having gone in for a battery light on the dash which turned out to be an alternator and relieving the pressure in the air conditioning system to stop the fans from going all the time cost her $686.00.
I find them together sort of off to the side of the road, Elena trying to jack the car up. I take the floor jack out, it hits the pavement leaving a small cloud of red dust and a few chunks of clay. It rolls noisily down the road. I tell Elena to stop fiddling with the car jack as I slide the floor jack under the front of the car and begin to pump. I'm expecting to have to change the tire myself, but Elena wants to do it. Thank God, I think, my head still is pounding. I advise her on the best way to remove a tire,going cross wise to remove the nuts, she sort of follows my advise. The tire comes off and on the other side of the rim is a large dent. Whatever she hit didn't go down without a fight. I hope Alexander Brothers can pound it back and save the rim. Elena sees the rim and begins to kick it, oh seeing myself as a twenty year brings a slight smile to my face. I would of done the same thing. I let her finish. She then seems happy or maybe it's just a front. She then tells me about after she got the flat how she got out of the car and began kicking her car. I ask her if it made her feel better, She says yes, I then ask if she damaged her car. She say no.

Elena grabs the donut. I still hate these little poor excuses for a spare tire and goes to put it on. She has problems aligning the wheel with the studs. I start to show her who to lift the tire up with the lug wrench, but it isn't working so I grab the tire and line it up with the top lug, it's light enough, not like a real tire. She begins to put the lug nuts back on. She put them on in a crosswise pattern and loosely tightening them with the lug wrench.
       Of course this flat tire adventure won't go down without a last fight. I tell Elena how to bring the jack down gently and when she does the jack gets caught under the car. The spare isn't high enough. As car continue to pass us in either direction I look for a flat rock. Elena jacks the car back up and I stick it under the tire. We bring the jack back down, slide the jack away. Before Elena slides the jack away she says it would be cool to have a jack like this in the car. I tell her it isn't practical. She then moves it and realizes how heavy it is. I put the jack in Nastia's car with the tire. Elena drives backwards off the rock and I toss it to the side of the road. Elena leaves first, then Nastia. I follow the two of them.
    I get into the car. I rarely use the air, but with my headache and the humidity, I think it's time, I click it on and go to switch the vents so the air will blow in my face when the knob comes off in my hand. It was just one of those days.
The next morning we bring the car to Alexander Brothers. I tell him what is going on with it. A day later it turns out that she needs a new rim, an alignment and a new tire because it had a bubble in it. Her rock in the road cost her about $368.00, an expensive rock.

















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A Good Summer Day even with COVID-19

COVID-19 is ravishing the south. I remember the governor of Texas saying he agreed with the president that the cure shouldn't be worse than the disease. He's gotten his wish. The disease is out of control in Texas.
I have friends and relatives down south, I hope they all wear masks seriously. Don't be stupid like a lot of twenty somethings I saw in Nyack when I went to pick up burritos at Harry's Burritos very few masks and little social distancing. Nastia went with me. We walked past an unmasked guy who coughed. On our way back we walked on the opposite side of the street. I am so concerned about COVID coming back that when Nastia asked to take off her mask before we got to the car, I said no, even though we were alone. At the car, I squired hand sanitizer into both of our hand even though she'd touched nothing.
      On Sunday Sally Ann came over with Katie, her daughter. Kenny, her husband is working at Nyack Water, a job he tried to get me. Salary around $90,000.00 a year. Would have been different, maybe nice. If I worked there I would possibly, probably be missing out on days like Sunday. It was warm and humid, not stifling. Thunder showers were in the forecast for late in the day. Teri had worked on Saturday and needed this day.

Early afternoon Teri and Nancy went to Costco to pick up some needed items and got back about an hour before Sally Ann got here. The three life long friend and Katie splashed around in the pool for an hour or two. In the distance the rumble of thunder could be heard. Nancy wanted to get out of the pool. I told her that the thunder was safe as long as there was no lighting. I'm sitting on the deck watching the three of them being silly and seeing Teri laugh like I'd not seen her laugh in a long time. For a few hours Covid-19 didn't exist, Teri's job wasn't calling her and everything was good in their world. I'm looking down at my phone and I think I see out of the corner of my eye a flash. I say everyone out of the pool. Everyone gets out and I now feel sorry that it had to end so quickly. Not long after they're out of the pool the rains come and Sally Ann and Katie pack up and go home.
       I really didn't want to get in the pool with all the good friends in the pool. So that night I ask Elena if she'd like to go swimming. She says if I go she will. She goes up and tells Nastia and I go into see if Teri wants to go. SHe is comfortable in the chair and not interested in going in.
I go out to the pool and put a toe in. The surface feels cold, but under that it's not bad. I take a step in and it's nice. I look up at Nastia's window and see a light on, but no one moving. I step in a little deeper. I want to be in the water before Elena gets out. I'm up to my waist when the girls finally come out. Elena gets to the ladder where I'm still waist deep and she tries to push me off the steps. After a few tries I let her push me off. For a moment the water is cold, then it turns warm. Elena gets in pretty quickly and starts splashing me. It's going to be that type of night.

Nastia self portrait after swimming

      Now Nastia thinks the water is a little cold and for her with her sensitivity to temperature, I'm sure it is. I tell her we can do the raft thing again and I slide a raft over to the ladder. She works her way onto it so she is on her knees and her hands are holding the raft, so she is on all four. I float her around and yes I have vague evil intentions. Last time I tried to keep her in the sun to keep her warm. So as I joke I maneuver her toward the light from the house and tell her I'm keeping her in the sun. She gives me a snide remark about it being dark out, so I let go of the raft. She starts to lose her balance and I tell Elena to leave it along. At the worst possible moment, for her, I help the raft and she fall off it into the water. The truck driver in her comes out and she calls me a bad name or two. So now we are all in the water. I'm trying to float on the raft, body in the water, arms over the raft to hold on. Elena is swimming under water and popping up in front of me. Every once in a while I walk up behind her and she'll turn around and be surprised and the truck driver in her comes out too. She says
all she see when she turns around is a dark figure.
Nastia wraps her arms and legs around me and we float together.Elena tries to splash us so I use Nastia as a shield and splash back at her. It gets to be about ten and we are getting a little noisy. Teri lets the dogs out and we decide it is time to go in. It's been a fun day for everyone. 








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A Stupid Fight*

* In hindsight aren't they all

As I've said several times Teri and I are working a lot. Teri works during the company's busy time about twelve hour days. I'm not working those long hours, but all the stress that comes with working a lot takes its toll.
    The fight had nothing to do with Teri. I came home around seven and no one wanted to cook. Elena wanted burritos from Harry's in Nyack. Teri tells me it is getting late (isn't it always getting late, if it doesn't get late,would it get earlier?), so I should order now. So I sit down to order them on their website. I turn to ask Elena what she wants and she has gone into the kitchen, I call her name, no answer, I call a second time, no answer. I get up and walk into the kitchen, a short walk but one I really didn't want to make, I'm tired and my legs have hurt since I took that spill about a week ago. I get her attention and ask her what she wants at Harry's. I bring up the website, I put Teri's order in and then I go ty Elena's. I put it in and now there is a choice of what type of beans. I call to her, no answer. I get up again walk around the corner and see she has her headphones on again. So I hit the table, I've done it before, but this time I'm tired and pissed and Teri is tired and now pissed, While Elena is a little surprised and upset. I say what type of beans? but no one is listening. Teri is asking me why I had to do that. Elena doesn't say anything. I immediately go to I'm done here. I close the computer and go outside to sit by the pool. I out there a while. Long enough for Elena to get McDonald's and eat it without me knowing. When I come back in Teri is having soup and Nastia is asking what is for dinner? Teri says you're on your own. I cook two hot dogs and watch repeats of The Big Bang Theory in the kitchen. Teri watches some TV in the living room, the girls upstairs. Around 9 or so, after I shower. I go to Elena to apologise. I shouldn't of hit the table like that. Elena is the type of person who doesn't apologise, so me going to apologise to her is a good thing, I tell myself. I head up the stairs and of course she closes the bathroom door as I touch the first step. I go sit with Teri and I tell her I'm sorry about dinner, She says I  should be talking with Elena. I tell her she's in the bathroom. I go up a little while later. Ask to see her and tell her I'm sorry about banging on the table, I was tired and I hug her and give her a kiss on the cheek. It's over, except I always feel as if it isn't. There always seems to an unhappiness that settles down on me after. Teri goes to bed early, so Nastia and I watch Star Wars The force awakens.

Father's Day 2020

Life has settled into a pattern here beyond the Palisades (stolen from a Billy Joel Song sorta). The four of us work more than we did before COVID ( with an unemployment rate between 15% and 20%?). I still thank God that we all have our jobs even though some of us really despise their's. I'd say who, but with my vast readership I don't want the company to find out.  ( yes, it's a joke, I have two loyal readers, thank you and one of them isn't even my mother.)
The other day was father's day. I felt bad for doing a really poor mother's day. I'd planned a brunch, but didn't think to tell the girls to be free that morning so it never came off. When Nastia comes to me and said her ex-boyfriend's Aunt had asked her to babysit on Saturday and Sunday I said nothing was going on, it was OK. I planned to have tacos for dinner, but I thought she'd be home in time. Elena would get out of work early in the day, about two and Nastia worked until five. On Sunday morning when I realized what I'd done, I get angry at myself, so Nastia volunteers to tell David's Aunt she couldn't make it. The Grandparents were there so it should be no big deal.
During a hot (85-90 degree) and humid day I work outside off and on. I'd taken a fall a few days earlier going down the small wet grassy hill on the north side lot of our house my left foot goes out forward, while my right stayed in place. I go down and sat on my heel. I tried to roll off it because it just doesn't feel like that it is a good thing. So now my left knee formly the bad knee is the good knee and also suddenly I feel really old when I get up out of a chair and walk around or go up and down stairs. It's gotten better but on Sunday my legs get tired quickly.
Teri and Nancy get back home to going swimming. I go and sit up on the deck to watch.

Elena gets home around two and goes in also. After she is wet she decides she needs to push me in. We wrestle on the deck, I'm just barely holding my own. After a while of this Teri says someone is going to get hurt. She also suggests I go put on my bathing suit. I leave to put on my suit. When I  came back I climb the ladder and start down the steps slowly, it's early in the year and the water is still cold. I've gotten to the point of sitting on the ladder when Elena decides I've taken enough time to get in and gets behind me and starts pushing. I'm fighting a losing battle, so I let go. It cold, but live able. I lean on a float my arms wrapped around it, my feet and body in the water and float around dodging Elena's attempts to push me off. She is in high spirits this day and it is nice too see her so free and happy. Finally I grab her when she swims toward me. I get her around the waist and flip her legs into the air. I don't want her to panic, so I go to flip her over. Those damn long legs of her's go and smack down on the side of the pool. I hate it when Teri's right. Elena comes up quickly limping in the water. I ask her if she is ok, She'd say she is fine. Even if her leg is hanging by a string she'd say that. I ask to look at her ankle. She brings the hurt one to the surface and my heart sinks The ankle bone on the side is pointing out real sharply. I'm thinking what Teri says, it's broken. I ask to see the other one. It's exactly the same as the first, she's just got sharp ankle bones, thank god. She says she'll just walk it off. Teri mockingly walks around with her head held high because all day long she has been warning us to be careful  because someone could get hurt and now that I hurt Elena I've proven her right again.
After all the excitement people start to get out and eventually it is just Teri and I. Elena has volunteered to take Nancy home so Teri is on the deck and I'm still floating in the water. It's near five when Nastia is to finish work. I feel bad that she has missed out on swimming. I wait in the water. When the sun goes behind a cloud, it get chilly, it warms a few chilly minutes later when it reappears. About quarter after five she gets home and comes and sits on the deck. I ask her if she wants to come swimming, she says no, so I start to get out. She quickly changes her mind and runs off to put on her bathing suit. She comes back, dips a toe in the water and says it is freezing. She takes a step down the ladder and motions for the raft. I slide a spare dry raft to her. She kneels on it, giving a slight gasp as the cold water flows around her calves. She adjusts to the water and I float her around the pool while I'm leaning on my raft and try to keep us both in the late afternoon sun. Every so often I can't resist the temptation to float her over near the filter where water splashes slightly up onto the raft. When it is time to get out I get bad and instead of letting her get out dry I pick her up in my arms and drop her into the pool keeping her hair dry as she requested. I know I'm so mean sometimes, but it's a pool. She calls me mean in good humor as she walks around the pool warming up. Elena comes back from taking Nancy home and earlier in the day I'd warned Elena about Karma, so I ask her if she remembers karma as I splash her. It is a good day all around.
The four of us go inside to have tacos. The three most important people in the world to me have reminded me just how important they are to me.















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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.   

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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.
















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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.





















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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.
















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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.

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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.


















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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!!

















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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.























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