I forgot my mom's 90th Birthday!!

It was my mom’s 90th birthday, the other day. It’s not often someone reaches 90 and I forgot to write about it. It was a small affair, just like last years party, except Eric and Lynn did everything. The scheduled it for Saturday the 22 of June about a week after my mom’s birthday. THey didn’t tell her and neither did they tell anyone else, so When I saw her on Friday the 21st and she asked me what I was doing on Saturday, I said I’m going over Eric’s. She asks why. Not being overly sharp, I just smile and leave as quickly as possible knowing she is not so quick these days and it would take her a few moments to get off the couch. I have to admit, it would take me just as long, if I’d been sitting.

On the day of the party the weather forecast said to expect late showers. Sean and Elena were working at Caliper tire until 4PM and they’d get there about 4:30. The party started about 2:00 Eric cooking up burgers and Ballpark Hot Dogs. I usually eat Nathans, but these were very tasty and it made me consider buying a bag. Everyone ate and sat around because it was too hot to do much else.Billy played water guns with Matt and Luke. My mom remembering how I used to play water guns with Cory and Ryan years ago encouraged me to get involved. I warned my mom anything that happened after this point was her fault. As luck would have it (for Nastia because all I wanted to do was squirt ice cold water on her) all the guns were taken.

Sean and Elena arrived and bought the rain with them. Soft of like God and Jesus arriving at a party. It started to rain lightly for about a minute or two then the heavens opened and everyone did a mental checklist of the supplies in their ark. It rained for a good half hour to forty minutes. About then God and Jesus decided to leave and took the rain with them.

Nastia had wanted to go swimming over at Harriet’s pool almost since she’d gotten there. She pushed me to go over because she didn’t remember how to get there. She and Wlwna went swimming over at Harriet’s in 2008, their first time and again when Leonhard and Annya were here. Leonhard and Annya were a second pair of Russian kids we were going to adopt a few years after the girl. They decided to stay in Russia. I wish they’d decided to stay because Leonhard is probably dead on some battlefield in Ukraine now.

We went over and I had to push Nastia into the water, it’s some kind of tradition or something. Sean, and Elena jumped in shortly afterwards and I took my time getting in. Maybe I was tempting Nastia to take revenge on me and try to push me. The water was like bath water after all of those 90+ degree days. I mostly lounged on the stairs at the opposite end of the pool while Sean leaned against the opposite side and the girls acted like they were eight and ten ago going into this exact same pool almost exactly 16 years ago when they came over. It was like a replay of their greatest hit from that time. Elena was the entertainment and Nastia the audience both being overly un-self conscious of what they were doing and just having a good time. Nastia notices me lounging over on the stairs and asks me if everything is alright. Now you can’t tell her what you just saw, it would ruin it all. Maybe I’m over-stating how they acted, but it was at least reminiscent of that time, all those years ago. There was a chicken fight with Nastia and Sean against Elena and I. They won both contests. At times like this I realize I’m not the man I was sixteen years ago when I could walk up the stairs in the house with both in my arms and put them to bed. In the game of chicken, my legs failed me when I tried to straighten up as Nastia got a hold of her sister and pulled her toward her. Sixteen years ago I would have straightened up and then moved back in and gone back on attack. This time I face planted into the water. For those of you future people who don’t know what chicken fights are, it’s an ancient game from back in the 1950’s or 60’s where people, usually teenagers, pair off and the girlfriend of just a female gets up on the boyfriend or male's shoulders. They square off and the girls usually get to go a little batshit pulling the other one off the shoulders of the other, it's empowering. The person on the bottom usually is just the legs moving around, you know just the horse in a joust. For the boyfriend it’s a time to do things together. For a 66 year old who doesn’t feel that old, it’s a blast, no wait, it’s a face first in the water of reality. When we got out of the water, most people had left the party. Those who remained sat around for a while talking and we were hom, I think before 6PM. It was nice to get together like that. Since COVID, I don’t get to see many people. Karl, Madeline, Kristen, Matt and their two kids. It was nice.

The Girls went to the beach and oh yes fireworks on the 27th of June.

The Girls went to the beach on Tuesday June 25th. Elena still working Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday was free Tuesday. Sean normally has off Tuesday and Nastia is on her two week hiatus before she goes back to work.

A couple of weeks earlier or maybe it was a long time ago, I’m not sure. I wanted Nastia to take some pictures of where she went. She crabbed about it, so I told her she doesn’t have to any more. She said she would, but she didn’t like doing it. So since then there have been no pictures of their trips to the beach and even less information about what they did and if

they had fun. I’ve even stopped asking Elena for pictures. I could recycle past pictures I guess, would anyone notice? I also use the pictures as a reminder of what happened. Like I’ve titled this piece, soon to be changed with the very original,

‘The girls go to the Beach’. Now I’ll change it to the equally original, ‘The Girls go to the beach, then we freeze at the fireworks’. A bit wordy, but to the point. And the only reason I remembered the fireworks is because I looked at the pictures I took that night on my phone. I know the girls obeyed rule number 1 and came back home alive. I know they ate something somewhere because they weren't hungry when they got home. Teri requested they not stay too late and they also did that. Beyond that..oh, wait they said the water was very cold. I tried to tell them just because it’s over 90 degrees, it doesn’t mean the water is going to be that warm. And that is all I know about their trip to the beach. I’ve added some pictures to make it seem like they took some pictures for me.

Now onto the freezing 27th of June fireworks. It was a very hot week up until Thursday the 27th. A storm blew through, I think the 26th, I don’t know, I didn’t take pictures. So it was a comfortable Thursday and I thought it was going to be a comfortable night.

In the back of my mind I remember that fishing trip I took with a friend, Jim, nephew Cory and myself one May evening, back about 18 years ago. It was another of those warm days when we decided to go fishing, I think it was for Blue Fish. We got down there in our short sleeve shirts with no jacket. We stepped out of the car and the cool wind hit us in the face. We knew it would only be worse on the water so we bought three sweatshirts. I gave Cory one that was three sizes too big on him. During our trip he quit trying to catch fish and went around the boat asking people if he could help them with their catch and he would hold the fish against the sweatshirt.. Needless to say I never wore that sweatshirt after that night. I have a picture in my head of him holding a fish. I hope I have it somewhere and I haven’t imagined it. It is a great picture of a great time.

We arrived at Felix Festa and parked across the street at BOCES. We’ve parked there every time we’ve gone to these fireworks and we’ve always gone to the left around the building. This time we follow people ahead of us to the right. I’m thinking, my first mistake, the people ahead of us know more than us, my second mistake. And of course I make this mistake walking to the fireworks with my freshly 90 year old mother walking beside me, my third mistake. I don’t know if you know the school, but we walk three quarters around the school to get to the fireworks. I’ve got three fold up chairs, my mom, Teri and Nancy following me. To everyone’s credit, no one complained about the trip and for some reason no one blamed me. I should have known better. Sean and Nastia take a separate car and park near us, but go the correct way. We meet up with Kimmy and some of her friends, who were also with Amanda and her son, KJ. Amanda and KJ would have to leave before the fireworks because KJ got overly tired. They had all managed to find Sean and Nastia. Elena stayed home, couldn't bother going, wanted to play more xbox. I bought two sweaters, one I gave my mom, a loose blue one that I felt was more comfortable, but didn’t zip up. I kept the green one that would have been tight I felt on her, but it zipped up. I didn’t think we’d need them and felt stupid for bringing them. Music started after eight, and it was pretty good.The warm slight breeze turned cool, then cold as the temperature dropped. It might have not gotten below 68, but with the 90+ degree days the previous it felt cold. My mom said her teeth were chattering at one point. Nastia gave her sweater to Nancy who forgot to bring one. Fireworks started about 9:20 and in the beginning they were boring, a pop here, a pop there. The grand finale was almost worth the wait. If it wasn’t so cold I would have called it a real fun night. At this point I couldn’t wait for it to end. Once off the field after it ended, it was warmer. And yes we went the right way to the car.

Revolations from the book of Elena and what was that latin phrase again...oh yes, et sic porro*

* I guess I didn't learn anything from my birthday post. et sic porro-and other things.

We were having a family dinner, you know that fabled state of existence all you future people hear your parents and grandparents talk about, you know the Camelot of their childhood. (Don’t tell me you don’t get the reference? We can go with the John F. Kennedy administration or the play or even the movie with Richard Harris, you know Dumbledor from Harry Potter’s early films.) Sitting around eating and talking. (At this table if you’re on your phone Teri will let you know to put it away.) This is the table where revelations are revealed or harebrained schemes are reviled. It is a place of love sometimes lacking in

respect. It is also the place Elena announced to all assembled that when she and Matt were in Atlantic City he was going to take her to Sunset Beach and propose to her. Back in a world several lifetimes away, someone getting engaged at 22 or 23 was normal. Children grow up at a slower pace these days. I’ve told both girls not to be in such a hurry to grow up. Life with few responsibilities is like the old song, ‘Toyland’ . There is a line in the song Once you pass it borders you can never return. Since I left it and several people will argue that point, you can only go back for short visits and those visits will just remind you this is not the place you want to remain and it’s not what it once was. A movie with Kevin Spacey, American Beauty where he is fired and decides to live life as he did when he was a teenager sounds like a dream, but I at least couldn’t do it. Elena in her typical cryptic manner didn’t elaborate on what happened that night. She said something about having a choice to go to Sunset Beach or this restaurant, I think. They ended up at the restaurant. Now the thought that they went to Atlantic City last year and they broke up in the spring and we are only hearing about it now. She didn’t even tell anyone they’d broken up for weeks.

It’s been really hot this last week, like in the 90’s. My blueberries are ripening two to three weeks early and after working outside for a little while tonight I came inside to help Teri make meatballs for dinner. She didn’t want to make them and we were debating what to do when Sean and Nastia walked in. I’m in the kitchen debating what to do and Nastia walks into the kitchen and asks what's for dinner? Without skipping a beat I tell her she is cooking and whatever she wants. She takes the bull by the horns, and goes downstairs. She came back with Pierogies and vegetables. Teri hears me tell Nastia she can make something with the chop meat Teri just bought. Teri says not to open the meat yet, she’ll make the meatballs. Nastia and her work together adding spices, while I watch from the door. I hear Teri say something and laugh. I think that is my cue to leave. While I’m writing this I hear Nasti say they don’t need to make test meatballs because they’re probably fine. A major mistake by Nastia, Teri allows to pass. Nastia makes the meatballs small like I do, this Teri can not let pass and tells Nastia so. You makea the meataballs big, nota like your fathers! I know, not funny.

Matching tattoos

Now matching Tattoos. I grew up listening to different celebrities professing their most undying love to one another and to prove it, got matching tattoos. A couple come to mind: Roseanne Barr and her ex, Angelina Jolie and her ex Billy Bob Thorton, Sly Stallone and one of his ex’s. Stallone’s tattoo was actually a picture of his wife on his chest. He changed it to the face of his dog from Rocky 1. None of them lasted. Nastia talked about her and Sean getting matching tattoos. Maybe by not being famous they’ll break the curse. Or maybe Sean, as he said, is not a tattoo guy so no worry. In place of that my wife and both of my daughters are all getting matching tattoos. They way Nastia and Teri are together, if they were getting married, they wouldn’t have to bother getting matching tattoos, they wouldn’t make it to the altar. I'm told they fight only because they love each other. Yeah, I'm sure they love each other a whole bunch. They just should have to fight to show it.

Last week Elena and Teri got their matching tattoos. Elena also got a dragon for no good reason other then she wanted one and her mother didn't object.This week Nastia is going to join them. If you’ve seen the video of Nastia getting her first, you’d be asking is it really that painful to get a tattoo. Well I couldn’t tell you, I’m not a tattoo type of guy, like Sean. Teri and Nastia went yesterday and the appointment is for today, not yesterday. Which made it possible for Elena to join in. They’ve been gone several hours and I haven’t heard any cop cars or ambulances rumble by going to a tattoo emergency. Nastia wanted me to join the circus, but I don’t approve of tattoos, so I couldn’t or is it I’m relieved not to be at that circus.

Great Car Restoration Pt 4

The Great car restoration Pt4 I’m beginning to feel that nobody in Clarkstown remembers how this town lived before the most recent wave of my s… doesn’t stink immigrants arrived in the county.

Back in the 60’s most everybody on Klein Ave was a blue collar worker. It’s a shame that now fifty, sixty years ago all of those jobs are gone or don’t pay enough to support a family. On Klein Ave there was a TV repairman who parked his truck in his driveway, a guy who commuted into the city to conduct city tours. A guy who bought his oil truck home from his job, two plus milk trucks parked around 17 and 19 Klein . A Mr. Chips truck, a guy who sold ice cream, his truck was parked in the back of his lot and we used to play in it when that didn’t work out for him. What I'm getting to after all of the above is Elena and I had to move the Corvette again. I tried to work it out through Sean Sr talking to Jeff, but the day I was going to talk to Sr, he went home not feeling well. At that point I gave up and Elena and I made plans to move the car. I talked with my brother Eric, my mom and at one point I was going to move it to Klein Ave. but there have been complaints about unregistered vehicles and blah, blah, blah… Nobody remembers where they came from or what it was like to do stuff like this. I understand you can’t have a yard full of junk cars. Even back then I hated that, but one car discreetly worked on in a driveway. It finally happened on a Thursday. I was at work and Elena texts me telling me the car is now in the driveway. The only problem is the doors to the garage were opened. Everyone figured the car would go into the garage. Problem with that is the garage is a bit too small to work on a car in. So with the garage doors open you can’t get in the fence through the gate, you have to go through the garage. Teri doesn’t like it that way.

Friday she comes home with groceries and doesn’t even pull into the driveway. We talk and all she wants is the garage doors closed. Fine easy, she says get Sean and Elena and the three of you can move it and close the doors. Can anyone guess what happened the next morning? Well I'll tell you. I rarely plan anything, so that morning after Nastia and Teri had gone to their tattoo appointment I decided to put air in the car tires so it would be easy to push and close the garage doors. Each tire had almost zero air in each. I filled them to about 32lbs and after I finished I leaned against the rear bumper of the car. You know how these things happen. I’m leaning there and I begin to wonder if I push against the car will it move. Never in my wildest dreams did I expect it to move and move so easily. It even started to move so easily I went around the front of the car to make sure it wouldn’t miss the wood wheel stop and roll all the way down the driveway into the guard rail across the street. When Teri noticed what I’d done, I knew not to expect a, “Oh, thank you, my charming strong husband” and I didn’t get that I got a, “What the hell are you doing moving that car by yourself, you old man!” So now Elena is going to experience what my two brothers, myself and the vast majority of kids in the past did and that is she is going to work on a car in a gravel driveway without a lift and it’s summer! She’ll be fine and as soon as it is running we’ll bring it back to Caliper and she can do all of the fine points it needs.

The Great Car Restoration hits a speed bump.

The Great car restoration started with such lofty goals and expectations. Take a broken down 1986 Corvette Convertible (only 7315 were ever made and with all the assholes on the road there are a lot less now) and restor it to something resembling what it was a long time ago. I’m a rag top guy. I’ve alway been one. That started back in 1979 when I bought a Jeep CJ5 and put a rag top on it.

I knew the Corvette was going to be a tough haul, I just didn’t plan on all of the non-auto distractions. One of the owners at Elena’s job was unhappy to have it there. I thought we worked that out and everything was going to be good. Elena got the tire locks off, I found a set of four rims and tires. THe rims are in excellent shape, and the tires are old. Progress has been slow, but I was hopeful…until today.

Elena texts me saying one of the guys at the shop says the car has to leave in a week. I thought it was the same issue as before and I was going to the shop to find out what we did and to see if I could fix it. Teri gets a clarification of the text. It was the landlord who said it had to go. I go to My brother Eric’s house and talk with him. I was going to ask him if he had space, but when I told him what happened he went into a story talking about all the problems people are having around town with the unregistered cars and putting in cement pads and even cutting down trees. It’s not the West Nyack I grew up in. When I was a kid, on Klein Ave. between West Street and West Nyack Rd there was a gas truck, a couple of milk trucks, cars people worked on and even an ice cream truck. They're all gone and so are the type of blue collar people who owned those houses. It’s a different type of person and I don’t recognise that type of person.

I’m sure the landlord at Caliper has the same issues with how his property look as my brother and mother would have if I tried to park my car there. So that leaves two options.The first is to try and convince Sean Sr. to talk to the landlord and if I put plates four wheels and a car cover on it could it stay. Slim chance at best. The second one is to put it in our garage. The problem with that is the garage is small and Elena will be away from people with the knowledge to assist her. I know very little about cars built after sometime around 1979. Give me a Triumph TR6 and I can do just about anything with that car, almost. I open up the hood of the Corvette, even though it is a 1986 and I might be able to identify a handful of items.

On a different subject, yes I still have another daughter. Her name is either Nastia or Anna. It all depends on when you met her. I met her in 2008, so she is Nastia to Teri and I. Sean, her boyfriend who met her in 2000 something or other, he calls her Anna. She is still alive and well. I haven’t talked about her lately because she is doing the same old thing every day more or less. She goes to work. She comes home. She either goes out to eat with Sean or stays home and eats. After dinner, or if she does the dishes, after the dishes, she goes upstairs, not to be seen again until morning,or if it is the weekend, until the next afternoon. She's been basically boring recently. She did get a letter in the mail saying she owes $15,000.00 in student loans.She keeps saying, "what loans, I thought they were grants." It’s a shame she didn’t finish her degree. I remember all the checks she kept receiving. She’d get more money than she needed. For a while she had $5,000.00 extra in her savings. I called Access VR about the money and I don’t remember what they said. I didn’t know they were a loan either. So of course the $5,000.00 is gone and she has to pay money back each month that she might have. Fun times definitely!! Nastia told me earlier today (Saturday) that she and Sean were trying to move out and this will set them back. She says he feels they don’t get any privacy. I understand, but I also don’t. Teri and I don’t go up there after they have gone up until we go to bed around three hours later, but we're always there, so even if Teri and I go out for the evening. They are not really alone. One day they will move out to Orange County because they can not afford Rockland. If Teri and I were buying today, neither could we. It’s another sad reality of the day. My question is who are all of these people who can afford houses priced at half a million or more. Zillow, a house pricing app has us at something like $576,000.00. And rents start mostly around $1,500.00 The two of them went to a house warming party in Orange County for one of Sean's friends. They are staying over and there is plans to head to the beach for the day. Ah, I remember the days I was trying to save money to move out and I went to the beach.Yeah, I didn't make it out either, at least at that time. I don’t want to think about it. I’ll go to my quiet place and drive my black 1986 Corvette convertible with the standard shift ( again go ask your grandmother what it is, I most likely tried to teach her to drive one) up an empty Thruway with all cops on a lunch break, shift, Ahhhh, feel the breeze!! Shift to third!! I don’t even know if it is a four speed.

The Great Car Restoration, Teri's retirement and sometimes I say to much

After the set back with when the Corvette can get worked on and the negative talk bothering Elena, we set to work on the car. What I mean by that is Elena works on the car and I supply money as often as I can. I do want to work on it, but I don’t want to cause more issues with people who have a negative attitude toward the car, so I stay away.

We’ve been dealing with the tire locks for the last couple of weeks. How to get the locks off without damage to the rims.The lock nuts are recessed into the rim making it difficult to get anything except the proper key on them. Brand new tires for the car retail over $500.00 per tire, if you go with the 255 50RV16 the car has on it. I wanted to pay about that for all four tires. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. The budget I made up in my head isn’t nearly enough to put this car back together

and there is no way it will be profitable. And your right, but remember it is the first Corvette in I think they said 14 years, at the time to be a convertible, and oh yeah, it’s a Corvette convertible with a stick shift.For all of you future people who think old cars are smelly and what the hell is a stick, ya got to drive one to understand. Electric cars might have better pick up and you can sneak up on people in an electric, but in its time, which is how you judge something, it was an awesome car and if restored properly it will be again. Who knows, it might even appreciate in value to the point it can be sold, long after I’m dead for a profit. Elena got the spare tire off the car and her and Sean Sr. went over the particulars of the damage to that end of the car. The tie rod is bent, something to do with a knuckle and I don’t remember what else. I’ll remember when I get the parts bill. It’s not going very quickly, but that is okay, because I don’t know how I’ll pay for it. I’ll figure it out.We are still short a tire, so I have searched Facebook Market Place and I have searched for rims. I found a guy selling two and I get him to drop his price and we ried to meet up. He said 279 South Little Tor Rd at 6PM. I got there early and he went to the Shell station across the street and we never met up.

On Friday night I locate a guy selling four beautiful rims for $300.00. The only problem is he is in Sandy Hook CT about an hour and fifteen minutes away. I email him make an offer he accepts. I borroe Elena's car about 12:30 and head out. I meet Anthony at the Blue Colony Diner a place just up from where Marcus Dairy used to be. I haven't up ther since I quit. We talk some about what I'm doing with the tires and he tells me about a GM 2 year school for $8,000.00 a year. Car companies are short workers and if they become world class rated GM will play them $1,000.00 a month to stay that way. His son is making 6 figues he said. I thought of Elena.I arrive back at Caliper. It is 3:30 and they are still busy. I leave Elena her car and switch back to mine and leave. Teri decided to retire the other day. Not because she didn’t want to work, but because no one wants to hire a 65 year old. She's put in her dues and it is enough. She was hired by United Water after leaving the Phone Company, yes, that phone company, ATT, the original, not the remake that was purchased by Pacific Bell and renamed ATT. She was an operator, yes in the real old movies from like the thirties and forties (1930’s and 1940’s) when the receiver is or was picked up a voice said number, please. That was her. She joined United Water, which was then known as Spring Valley Water. It went through several name changes during her time there. Sometime in the 2010’s after we’d adopted the girls and before it was renamed Veolia Water a public service commission person told management they needed to cut expenses and she is pushed into retirement. She had a pension and they gave her a very generous severance, that we lived off of for the year it took her to get another job. She worked for a light bulb company for a while, until they decided to relocate back to Canada. She got another job at Jamatech or something like that where she managed half a dozen or so people. After a time, that company decided to relocate to Georgia. I was willing to make the move with her, but she was not willing to leave everything. To add insult to injury, they hired a guy and paid him $10,000.00 more a year. He didn’t last a year. She collected unemployment in March of last year. Between that time and now she has been on quite a few interviews, some as far away as Poughkeepsie, yes Poughkeepsie, way up near where the Dutch County Fair is. All of them looked promising, but the call never came. The reason again is no one wants to hire an older person. All of this drive and knowledge we have is not valued. Up until recently there has been a shortage of workers. And since Covid a lot of people want to work from home. Teri was willing to work and to go to the office every day. She put in days at her last company that if she was paid by the hour, they could afford her. Every night she left, her work was completed. So despite her willingness to continue to work, she has retired. Now what to do with the rest of your life? That’s my big fear when I retire in about 1400 days (April 1st 2028, who wants to retire in January anyway.). What to do when you don’t have to get up and go to work? In the past,if the people I write about read my blog, they’d say I reveal too much, and in retrospect, I have to agree. I’ve gone into corners of people's lives and written about what is hidden in the dark. Up until recently it didn’t matter, I had three rabid readers. I Lately it seems my readership has exploded to as high as 11 people, checking out each blog entry. The average has come down,but is still a very high seven. So with this vast readership I need to become vague or to dance around certain subjects, only hinting at some things I used to write about openly. Back in the past I felt I was writing for myself and I wrote to entertain myself. The girls have become more than just interesting kids from another country who do interesting things. So with that in mind someone stopped doing something that I considered a bad idea. I yelled at two people asking them if they were fucking morons and they are only 98% affective. I heard Teri tell me to calm down, It took me some time to, but I did.. Elena,Miss Closed book herself told someone that is why you don’t say anything. I thought the beginning of this conversation hurt the worst, I was wrong, Elena thinking not telling anyone was the best way to go ended up concerning and hurting me the most. After the way I yelled, I couldn’t blame her though. I did apologize to one of them. I was told I can’t be yelling at him.

KJ's first birthday and Mother's Day 2024

Mother’s Day and KJ’s 1st birthday.

One of my pet peeves is first birthday parties. The honoree will not remember it. Yes I guess it isn’t for him or her to begin with and is more for the parents. A reason to celebrate what they have created before thechild can grow big enough, like a certain daughter I know and tell their mother to shut the fuck up or was it fuck off. Maybe it was both. When I get angry and stop myself from putting her through a wall and damaging my relationship with her and her mother, I don’t remember the insult as much as just feel it and it wasn’t even directed at me. KJ’s party was scheduled for 1-4 on Sunday afternoon in a park along the Hudson in Haverstraw. I’d never been there and thought it was a beautiful park. Teri wanted to get there early to help set up. We arrived a little later than she wanted to, but it was still early. KJ’.s father was there along with Amanda and the birthday boy. KJ’s father was preparint to cook the food and it was on charcoal. It’s been years since I had food cooked on charcoal. I don’t know if it tastes better or even different. There is just something about the smell of charcoal burning that makes a BBQ better. I sat around with the rest of my family. Kenny started cooking around 1:30 and he kept cooking. I counted about a dozen people around 2 in the afternoon. Only Kenny from his family was present. I wondered if they were coming.

Like only Nastia can do, Teri asks where is Nastia? Sean says she is playing baseball with those kids. I look where someone is pointing and Nastia is pitching to a kid while a few kids are in the field, only Nastia can do that. Some time after 3 Kenny’s family came. Earlier, I’d asked Teri if jeans and a collared shirt was enough because Kenny’s family would be coming from Church. She just looked at me, as if I’d just said something stupid. As I thought about it, I guess it was a little racist, but it was not intended as anything bad. I just have watched too many films where black folk go to church on Sunday. The food Kenny cooked was not excessive. By the end of the event, it was all gone. It was a gorgeous day and Kenny’s family was polite to us. Now mother’s day, even though it was not planned in advance, was nice and I hope Teri liked it. I asked her several weeks before what she wanted to do for mother’s day. I offered to plan a brunch and cook everything, she didn’t like that. I asked if she wanted to go to ‘The Pancake Place’ in Nanuet, she didn’t want to do that. I did ask several times and every time it was I don’t know. Finally she said,”Ok, let's just go to ‘The Pancake Place’ in Nanuet. I tell everyone we are going early and everyone needs to get up so we can beat most of the crowd. Of course Nastia and Sean had planned a no-tell motel get away for the day before, but they promised they would get there on time. On Mother’s Day, everyone, even Elena, got up without much growling. We picked up Nancy and made it to the Pancake place about 9:15. Nastia andSean got there so early, they had time to text and ask where we are. We waited only a few minutes and were seated. It was a good meal and a good time.

The Great Car restoration project

The great Car restoration project

I’ve always wanted to restore cars. There is something inside of me that wants to take something that is worn down and seen better days. Take it apart and bring it back to its former glory, or at least make it usable. I rebuilt my TR6 back in the late 70’s not knowing what I was doing, but that has never stopped me before. At one point I had the engine hanging from a tree in my parents backyard. I replaced a bad engine with one from another TR6 that was a mess. In the 90’s a friend said I needed to buy a 1957 TR3. I thought he was going to help me restore it. It sat for years until it was just a worthless hunk of rusted junk. The same thing eventually happened to my TR6 when I had an issue with the clutch. It also sat for years and was sold to a TR6 collector as almost junk.

After destroying several Tr’s I promised myself I’d never touch a classic car again. Recently that all changed. Back in 2000 I purchased a brand new Ford Mustang Convertible. It was a great car. Over the following 24 years it sat sometimes because it needed work and I didn’t have the money or because my wife thought it was a bad idea to drive in the snow. When the top started to leak, it sat on rainy days. In the summer of 2018, just before COVID I was driving it home when the overdrive shut down and I limped home parking it in the garage. It was one of those times I didn’t have money. My brother, Eric back then said it was a sensor thing in the transmission. He’d fix it, but I needed to get the soft top fixed so it could stay outside. Jump to 2024, Covid is a memory, I’ve another job and my daughter Elena (some call her El, a nickname I love for some reason) has become interested in auto mechanics and she comes to me one bright sunny early spring day and says, “I’m going to fix the Mustang”. I politely smile and continue on with my day. She comes to me again and says, “Dad, I’m going to fix the Mustang.” Something inside me says I need to have faith in my daughter and show confidence in her abilities, so I took a deep breath and said yes she could.

THe car goes to Caliper Tire in New City, where she works. She removes the gas tank, and replaces the fuel pump back there. When and why did they ever put the fuel pump there? Real dumb place. I thought she was crazy to even think it was there. It’s alway been on the engine, like you know! She gets the engine running and she tells me I have to get the car registered so she can road test it and find out what is wrong with the transmission. Hemmings Insurance for classic cars is willing to insure the Mustang, but not my Grand Am for some reason. They are both the same age. Elena determines the transmission is shot. I don’t believe her. Your Uncle Eric said it was sensors back six years ago. I talk to Eric and he says he doesn’t remember it and he doesn’t have a device for the transmission computer. I brought it to a transmission shop and $6,000.00 later the Mustang is back. Of course the soft top still has holes in it and I only drive it on sunny days and what has it done since the car runs? Come on now let's say it all together, It’s rained.

So after all of that fun I ask Elena if she’d like to do a project car? She’s all gung ho for one, so I look at TR6’s, Jeeps and Corvettes. Elena doesn’t like Jeeps, so the idea of doing a 1980’s CJ7 like my brother is doing is off the table. TR6’s, I know inside and out, but The Roadster Factory in Pennsylvania burned down recently and I can’t find a suitable car to rebuild. My wife, Teri, sends me an ad from The MarketPlace on Facebook for a 1978 Corvette for about $1,900.00 saying this is a good one or maybe I imagined she said that. She did send me the picture, I’m sure of that. It’s important for the ‘discussion’* that will come later. I like the car and I like another 78 Corvette in New Jersey. I look at the one

in Jersey. The owner has lost the keys and the car is locked up. One of the doors is slightly ajar and I’m worried there is rot in what is called the ‘bird cage’. The birdcage is the metal frame of the car that keeps the doors and windshield square on the car. That goes bad and it’s a major repair I can’t do. The other 78 has no title and the paint on the fiberglass is gone, the fiberglass seems to be loose and in need of something I can’t do. I play with the idea of purchasing both for a moment, then I remember Teri is my wife and I don’t want another ‘discussion’* right before she leaves me. I pass on both cars. I find a 1986 Corvette in Boonton, New Jersey. It’s a faded black convertible with a stick shift. It was in an accident about eight years ago and the present owner has gotten a little too old to continue doing car restoration. Elena and I take a mid week trip to go see it. I tell Don we’ll be there about 6:30. When we arrive at the location, it looks different from the picture on Google Maps. I recheck the address and in my haste to leave I choose the wrong town and we are about thirty minutes away still. I called Don and we rescheduled for a Sunday afternoon. This time Elena navigates and we get there. We drive up a shady street toward the house. It’s April, still early in the Spring. The house is set off the street and to the right, down a hill is a large garage. I find out later Don can store up to eight of his cars in it. Don meets us outside. The Corvette is nothing to talk about. You need imagination to envision what it could look like once some care is given to it. The car has sat for eight years and

Don has health issues, so he is getting rid of projects. Elena asks a few questions to Don as I climb all over the car. Underneath to look at the frame, the driver's door doesn’t open, so over to the passenger’s door. It opens easily and closes firmly. That side of the ‘bird cage’ seems fine. I trust the other side is okay. I notice a belt sitting on the engine, but I don’t put two and two together until after we get the car to Caliper Tire. The air pump, which I thought was the alternator, looks like it is broken. We don’t make an offer on the car. I told Teri we take our time with this. We’d seen three Corvettes. The black 86 in Boonton, the first 78 in Jersey and the other 78 Corvette with no paint on it in Orangeburg. I waited a week looking for other cars. I watch videos on repairs and become a little more informed about Corvettes. During the week I notice Don has lowered the price to $1775.00. Around the end of the week after Teri and I have our ‘discussion’ about the car and how I’m going to pay for it (sell more stocks) and afford parts (I have no idea) I make an offer of $1500.00 and agreed on $1600.00.Everything comes together quickly and the car is flat bedded to Caliper Tires on a late Saturday afternoon, Sean jr and sr are still there. Senior seemed to get a kick looking it over. When Nastia see it she says, "Dad, you paid how much for this piece of shit??" Her reaction to the car is the high light of owning the car so far. I have to leave, Teri and I have plans for the night.

On Monday, I heard from Elena one of the owners has a problem with the car being at the shop. I was a little surprised about it. I thought everyone who needed to know about it had agreed to it. Someone tells her the frame is bent and the engine looks seized and it’ll cost $40,000.00 to repair. I.ve listened to people all my life say things like that and it’s always taken the fun out of doing projects. When I hear her say these things I have to fight that feeling I’ve make a $2,000.00 mistake. I tell her I’ve listened to people all my life say stuff like that. Sometimes they’re right, most times they’re not. I ask her, is this something she still wants to do? Will she have fun doing it? She answers yes to both questions and we talk a little more and she is reassured. Sometimes it’s easier to have two people, one older to put those doubts and fears to rest.

The car has been at Caliper Tire a week today. She was told it is a distraction so she can’t work on it during shop hours. That is understandable, but a disappointment. She can work on it afterwork on Wednesday and all day Sunday. She tried to move the car back into the shop on Wednesday, but it wouldn’t move. Our first project is tires and brakes because of that. A super surprise, the first of many, I’m sure happened when Sean priced tires for the car. They are 225/50r16 tires and are obsolete. A good name brand will cost $514.00 a tire. I thought I could get four for that price. We’re looking around.

Teri's Birthday, Easter and Our Anniversary, April 1st, April fools day!!

Talk about the end of days, wow when all three of these come back to back to back strange things like total eclipses (April 8th) are happening.

Teri didn’t want me to invite any of her friends over for her birthday. She didn’t want me to invite them to go out to dinner either. She wasn’t even sure she wanted to celebrate her birthday.

About a month ago she talked about how she’d like to have a stone bath mat in the bathroom. So after years of not knowing what to get her for any holiday, I took it as a direct hint that I should get her one. I found it on Amazon and got her one of I hoped average size. A few weeks later she talked about how she loves Roy Kent on Ted Lasso and the T-shirts that have whistle printed on them. To the Bat-azon, Robin, Yes I cleverly paraphrased an original Batman series saying and paired it with Amazon which is where I went and found two different T-Shirts I liked for her. One with the outline of a face, another with just whistle on it. One came in on time, the other a day late, two points for best effort.

A few hours before we went to dinner Teri had second thoughts about spending so much money. Maggiano’s family style dinners are now up to $41.00 a person and the variety has been reduced. I’m leaning against the door jam between the dining room and the family room, Teri is in the chair off to my left. I look down at her and say, “I’m going to tell you what some of your birthday presents are going to be. Everyone has purchased a gift certificate for dinner tonight, plus the two we have in the china closet should come close to covering dinner. No one will order alcohol and that will keep the bill to its barest minimum. She agreed to go. Dinner for six was reserved. Amanda didn’t want to go because KJ might have gotten cranky and ruined the night. It was Teri, Me, Nancy, Nastia, Elena and Sean. We ate family style and when we ran low on a dish they bought us more. I tried to make sure we left with a large amount of the Chicken Picatta. We left with enough food for leftovers for two meals. I guess $41.00 a person wasn’t that bad. To top of the evening after the gift cards were taken off, the balance was $52.00 or so. Nastia, that crazy spendthrift kid paid for the balance. Nancy gave me cash for her meal and it was enough to cover an okay tip. So the night only cost birthday present money I spent.

Teri’s birthday was on Monday. Easter was the next Sunday and Teri and my anniversary was the first. Easter was the same crew as Teri’s birthday. We had Hama nd a very tasty pineapple casserole.

Sean woke up early on Sunday. Drove to his mom’s house in Orange County, had dinner there, drove back to Rockland to pick up Nastia and then drove three hours to the Poconos to an indoor water park. Teri and I used to go to the Poconos to the hotels with the heart shaped pools and saunas to go see acts like George Carlin and have a good time. That was BC, you know before children. They had a great time. They ate one night at an Italian food buffet. They left in the early evening on Tuesday and were home before it was too late that night, around 9-10 PM.It was good Sean and Nastia got home when they did, Cassie came to sleep with Teri and I and assumed Athena’s position up against Teri to the point I had three quarters of the bed.

On Monday to celebrate our anniversary, Elena was cranky to her mom. I’ve talked about her moods often and my response to her bad moods has transformed from anger to indifference to being overly affectionate. When she is a bitch and mouthy to her mother I will calmly ask her to do what her mother asked her to do and God help me I don’t know why she listens to me. I do get angry when she refused to feed the dogs for a week. I told Teri, “This can’t continue.” I march off to her room and tell her in a calm voice that she needs to feed the dogs. I was prepared that if she didn’t come feed the dogs to be at a complete loss as to what to do from there. At dinner for Teri’s birthday, she sat next to me and I thought there is meaning to that. A big factor in all of this might be that I’ve let her work on the Mustang without constraint.

The Mustang, cars and a reluctant owner

Elena is a foot loose and fancy free girl officially these days. I do not know what happened between them. One day when she is drunk maybe she’ll tell me. You know loose lips and all. She works part time at Caliper Tire because business is slow there. She has convinced me to let her work on the Mustang that has sat in the garage for the last five or so years.

Back in 2017 or so I was driving home from Elmsford when the transmission O/D overdrive light went on, the car slowed down. I managed to get it home. I parked it in the garage because we didn’t have the money to fix it at the time. Now all these years later we still don’t have the money, but it is also a 24 year old car, so I get classic car insurance, it’s really cheap. We got the car towed to Caliper. We tried to use triple A, you know that membership I told Teri was a waste of money several months before I called them to tow my car, the Pontiac Grand Am when I blew a hose on the Thruway. I managed to get it off the Thruway onto the Palisades onto Route 59 before I decided I’d pressed my luck far enough.

The Mustang wouldn’t start so I tried to push it out of the garage. Teri finds out and yells at me,”Your old you stupid old fool!” She didn’t say that, but that was what I heard and ignored. After that she did say, “Get Sean and Elena to help you!!” I didn’t, I don't ask for help ask Nastia about that time in Home Depot. I tried to push it out a second time. I have to admit my heart wasn’t into it. I was scared to let Elena work on the car. When I tried to push it out on a Sunday Sean and Elena magically appeared. I feel the brakes have rusted and the car won’t move. After a few attempts I’m about to give up when I remember I used to do things like this all the time when I was younger. We needed to rock the car to get it going. We rock it, it moves a foot, then we do it again and it moves a little further. I move to the driver's door to straighten the wheel. The last thing I want is to take the mirror off the car. We get the car moving and I realize the driveway is pitched down a hill and the car is moving slowly, but at a good pace and I need to stop it before it rolls down the hill across the street into the guardrail. God is watching all of this and between giggles and out right belly laughs he decides I don't deserve that fate and I manage to stop the car before it got going too fast. The roof has holes in it (a later project) and we put a tarp over it. Use pool clips I got last fall for the pool cover. Opened the door and put the tarp between the door and the frame. Yes, that night is one of the windiest nights in several weeks. The next morning the tarp was held on only by the doors of the car.

Triple A wouldn’t tow an unregistered car, but he’d do it for $150.00. The first unanticipated expense. At Caliper Tire, Elena replaces the fuel pump, you know that thing above the gas tank, when you remove the gas tank it’s easy to see. Who the hell thought to put it there! She takes it for a test drive confirming the car has some problems,it backfires, sputtersand the O/D light comes on. She can’t road test it until I get it registered and insured. Did someone say triple A? Yes again that Triple A membership I didn’t want comes through again. I scheduled an appointment for Saturday. The place is empty, on a Saturday! I’m helped and I receive my plates in around 10 minutes. I drop them off at Caliper Tire and Elena puts them on the car. I think it got an inspection. She does work on it iver the next week or so. Everyone at the shop says the transmission is shot. I can’t believe it. Eric, my brother said it was a group of sensors that one of them had gone bad. I ask him about it, but it has been five or more years, so he doesn’t remember. He doesn’t have a machine to test the transmission and no one knows what happened all those years ago.

I make an appointment to bring it to a transmission shop. I’m almost confident that they’ll tell me it is a sensor that is blocked or is bad or it is an electrical something or other, easy to fix. I don’t expect them to say that the transmission is from a time when Ford made bad transmissions and even though it only has 58,000 miles on it it needs to be replaced. In for a penny, in for a pound, I love saying, but not this one at this time. I love this car, when did it suddenly become a classic? I guess when I went on Medicare, it should have been a hint. When I went through my first midlife crisis and I called it my midlife crisis, like the first World War was originally The Great War, Classic Rock was originally Rock and Roll and was cool! My car and I stood still and suddenly it’s a cool classic and I’m just old, not fair. The real fun thing is Elena has driven the Mustang more in the last five, seven years than I have. She road tested it, she drove it up to the transmission place in Stony Point. They will have it done in about another week. I asked them if they could store it inside because of the top. They could only at night. And yes it poured the past two days like a mother…Thank God Elena went up and put a tarp over the top and rear window. I don’t need a soft top car with a pool. Fun Times!!

April 4th, Jobs and the future happiness of my daughters

It’s been a little while since the last time I wrote here. Life for Teri and I is a lot of the same. I go to work where I have developed a routine that varies very little. I’m in before 8AM, I wait for an owner, usually Chris, to open the door. I go to my desk, I read emails, and answer whatever needs to be and then I read until I feel it’s late enough to start calling customers. Around 11 AM or so I get sleepy and sometimes around well, I think you get it, it’s not a difficult job. I seem to be OK at it and everyone seems to like me.

Now Teri has reached the end point of frustration. She has put off applying for Social Security with the hope of going back to work. She has faced age discrimination, which is very difficult to prove. Just like at her last job she faced sex discrimination. The guy who took over her job down in Georgia, supposedly a cheaper place to work, was paid $10,000.00 more than she made and he didn’t last a year. She continues to sit at the dining room table applying for jobs, getting a phone interview, maybe a second interview in person, asked to sit in for an interview for another position, is willing to drive all the way to Poughkeepsie about an hour and a half away to interview for a job and nothing. I don’t know what it could be except for age discrimination. When I first got my current job and I was bored, Teri said I should look for another one. I felt lucky to have this one paying almost a decent salary. Since my move to another position, it’s a good salary. It’s still a third less than I made twenty years ago.

All of the above brings me to Sean and Nastia. Nastia works with kids, she gets a lot of time off and doesn’t make much money. Sean works with his father and his Uncle at Caliper Tire along with Elena. Caliper Tire does work on internal combustion engines as well as replace tires and all related items. The current state of the industry reminds me of what the milk business was in the early 1960’s in Rockland where there were around 60 milk companies chasing all of the new customers who built the new houses delivering milk to the milk boxes at almost everyone's front door. It also reminds me of the village black smith at the turn of the 20th century. Like the black smith and the milkman dropping milk at your door in the morning, repair shops may go the way of the dodo bird to add another extinct creature to the conversation. And the way I see it Sean will be at the same age as Teri and I were when we first started seeing career disturbing storms on the horizon. And like me he might just say,”ah, they won’t upset my business, I have lots of loyal customers and they won’t go anywhere. That is a statement that is so funny to me because that is what I felt when I owned a video store in West Nyack and Blockbuster opened in Nanuet. Overnight I lost 30% of my loyal business. Sean won’t lose his business, they will just be less of it from each customer. An electric car has less moving parts. (The UAW, United Auto Workers in Detroit understands this too, less parts, less jobs) An electric car has a motor like a motor in a fan, a battery to run it, something called regressive brakes which make the brakes last longer and tires, that’s it. Replacing batteries might be a niche. They won’t need the7-8 bays or however many they have, much less all the workers, my daughter, Elena that they currently have. Not a good future to look at for the three of them.

The rain, the dogs and other things.

Today's title reminded me of The Crowsill's song The Rain,The Park and other things. If no one remembers them, it's OK because when I was growing up they were part of the family band era and I really hated the idea of family bands. It all started with the TV show 'The Partridge Family'. I really dismissed The Cowsills until I watched a documentary about their rise to semi fame and their abusive father slash manager. It was a lot like what The Beach Boys went through.

The dogs are almost getting along. Misha will remind Cassie every so often she just rents her space in this house, while Misha owns it. It will stay that way until they come to a better understanding. Misha is still the insecure bully she has always been and I don’t see that changing anytime. She’ll go up to Cassie and start sniffing her. Cassie will lay on her back and be completely submissive. There will be a tense few seconds until Misha decides she is through and she’ll walk away.

Then there are times she’ll just come up and attack her for no reason at all. She won’t hurt Cassie, just shake her up. If Misha is on the couch in the family room and Cassie is in the kitchen heading toward the hallway and the stairs to go upstairs. Misha will run through the parlor as Cassie runs through the dining room into the hallway and does a 180 to get up the stairs and safety. Most times Misha is too slow, plus I’m trying to keep the doors between the parlor and the hallway cutting off Misha’s line of attack. These attacks are Misha teasing Cassie, reminding her who the boss is and like all bully’s these attacks come from a place of insecurity. We adopted Misha at eight weeks and we’ve been told that was too young and she needed to spend more time with her mother. Either way, we are working to manage it. From Teri telling Misha, “Misha, that’s not being a good girl.” That’s only a slight exaggeration of her form of dog training. She’ll alway ask, “If my way is so wrong, why are they always so much more than dogs.” and she is right, but a bully needs different handling, like closing off her attack route. Last night, Saturday night, in a bit of a surprise I was asked if we could play cards again. I enjoyed last week playing Texas Hold Em and Black Jack, but at the end of the night I bought the chips back up into the attic. Partly because I didn’t want Teri to yell at the mess that was left and partly because I thought they’d do something more like people in their twenties would like to do, like spend more time without their parents.

Last night the predicted rain storms finally came in and I was glad the three of them were here. We played five card draw poker to start. You ante, then are delt five cards, you bet, then can ask to exchange some of your hand for other cards, you bet again and everyone who’s left shows there cards. It is the card game you see all the cowboys playing in all those westerns that no one watches any more. We don’t play for money, so when someone ran short of money a bank loan was quickly arranged. After a couple of hours we switched to Black Jack, Vegas rules and I ran the table as the dealer. I introduced them to splitting a hand (Two of the same card dealt to you, like two sixes) , how to split the pair and gamble on each card. Nastia did an all in bet near the end of the evening, it amounted to something like thirty dollars. I told her it wasn’t a good idea. She didn’t care because it was close to the end of the evening. I dealt her a black jack hand and she received a pay off of one and a half times her bet. She won like $63.00 make believe dollars. The night ended early, it is the end of eastern standard time (spring ahead, fall back) and everyone who is female is going to a bridal shower for Allysa tomorrow at noon.

Poker on a Saturday night (Texas Hold em)

Sean and Nastia were only eating dinner out, then going to the 'Last Chance Salon'. Sean didn't want to go, so they ended up home. Elena, now the officially single girl in town, had plans of drinking and playing XBox. Teri and I weren't going to the movies. Her sister, Nancy has an abscess in her finger and went to the emergency room. She was supposed to take care of KJ, while the recently moved in Amanda went to work. With Nancy out of the picture,Teri stepped in.

Around 7-8 PM I’m doing nothing and start thinking about the poker night I’ve wanted to hold at work and talked about through the last few years. I thought a dry run with the girls and Sean might be fun. I’d invite ATeri, but she’s not into that much. To my surprise Nastia, Sean and Elena were all up for the idea. None of them had ever played Texas hold 'em so we started with several open hands. I’d explain as we went along. During the game Nastia and Elena drank,while Sean less so did. It took several rounds for them to get an idea of how it went and the more they drank and the more they knew ow to play the more fun they had. We played for several hours and I ended it around 10:30 or so. I then asked if they wanted to try Black Jack, Vegas style. It’s very simple, everyone plays against the house and I was the house. A few minute demonstration game went for almost another hour. The whole night was loud and fun. In Texas Hold em Sean won the first several rounds and I had to steal from the bank to keep going. After a while I added in Nastia and Elena. It wasn’t real money, so some of our bets were really dumb. I tried to bluff a couple of time and everytime Nastia got a good card she’d make a sound. Elena asked me several times how her hand is and I’d tell her and Nastia and Sean would tell her they heard me. I don’t have a church whisper, I guess. It was a really fun night and they want to do it again sometime. My next step is to take the game to work and run a tournament. Oh, boy!