Enjoying Life

OAFS Photo

As I sit and look out the window of The Nuke's dining room I can't help but feel rather content. It's a sunny day, we're finally out of the deep freeze for a few days, and I'm getting to spend time with people I care about.

What more could one ask for?

The world continues to be insane (nothing has changed since Cain slew Abel, only the scale really) but the pockets of sanity far outnumber the pockets of insanity. But the pockets of sanity don't make the news, do they?

On the drive down to Maryland last Friday we saw snow on the ground the entire way. Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland. Seven states in 420 miles.

Uh Sarge, I though you said the distance from where you live to where The Nuke and her tribe live is 400 miles, give or take.

And yes, it is, usually.

But if you take the path that does not pass through the Bronx, i.e. travel up and over the Tappan Zee, then it's around 420 miles.

Was it worth the extra 20 miles? Why yes, yes it was.

I use Google Maps as my navigator (used to use Waze but Google bought that so there isn't much to choose between the two any more) and on Friday she (female voice, so she) directed me off I-95 and over to I-287. Ah ha! She wants me to take the Tappan Zee¹ route.

After getting off I-95 we drive a couple of miles and the navigator now wants me to get off this road and follow another. This, not being my first rodeo, was not done. It was just a different path to get to the George Washington Bridge. Now if I wanted to go that route I would have stayed on I-95. Sure, that part of the route can be slow. But am I in a hurry? No, I'm not.

An extra 20 miles but well worth it, the scenery going over that bridge is very nice. First time I've seen the surrounding hills with snow on them. Very picturesque, very lovely.

Even with all that, we still made really good time. (Though it should be noted, the folks who maintain the Garden State Parkway really, really need to repaint the lines. Couldn't tell in some spots if there were three lanes or five!)

We celebrated Finnegan's birthday on Saturday in fine style. Watched some football on Sunday, the games turning out the way I expected but not the way I wanted. One thing, with today's technology, why is the NFL still allowing the officials to determine the outcome of games. The Chiefs/Bills game was an effing embarrassment to the league, at least in my not-so-humble-opinion. It was a well played close game, decided (at least in my estimation) but a couple of really bad calls by the officiating crew.

Anyhoo.

Now we're just chilling while everyone else goes back to school/work. Finnegan though, has opted to skip daycare and do "grandma-care" this week. I mean can you blame him?

He's only two but he's a blast to hang out with. He and his big brother Roberto are big Star Wars fans, though they haven't really watched more than snippets of those movies. They both have toy light sabers and when Finnegan deploys his, he even does his version of this -

Mostly the "da-da-da-da da-da-da-da-da-DAAA" part and he really gets into it. He pitches his wee voice a little lower and even takes up a fighting stance with his light saber. Kid is a cutie, with a combative streak a mile wide. Gotta love it.

So we're chillin' and livin' large. Life is good.

I was going to go back through the first part of the Prequel/Prelude story while down in Maryland, only to discover that it's on my other computer. Sure, I could recreate it from blog posts and I still might ...

But that sounds far too much like work.

And I avoid that like the plague these days. 😎

I wonder why?

Be seeing you.

¹ The Tappan Zee is a broad expanse of the Hudson River, looks a lot like a big lake. I don't use the new name for the bridge.