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quintuple amputee
Thursday, August 20 2020
[REDACTED]
I noticed today when tapping one of the tiles on the tub platform that it had a hollow sound that the other tiles did not have. This was a tile I'd moved a little too late, perhaps after its thinset had set. Later I experimentally tried prying it up and it came up easily, confirming my suspicions that I should mix up thinset and set it again. This sort of thing happened several times today, mostly with pieces of blue tile I'd begun setting on the Durock just above the platform. I'd set it and then be dissatisfied with it (usually because of the grout line I'd left) and I'd rip it out and try again.
This evening, Gretchen, Powerful and I all drove out to a little socially-distanced snack & drink gathering at Jeff & Alana's new house out on Murray Road (off Sawkill in the Town, as opposed to City, of Kingston). I was doing the driving and accidentally took a turn onto Miggins Road, passing a dramatic and (as it turns out) abandoned radio antenna installation at 41.989412N, 74.018357W. By the time I took another wrong turn on Dogwood Lane, I'd been joined in my errant navigation by Nancy and Ray in their Subaru. While making a U-turn on Dogwood, I saw a beautful coopers hawk land on a tree in the forest a couple dozen feet away.
Jeff & Alana's new house is surprisingly big and practical, in the way that our house is, and, also similarly, it's surrounded by nature. It features a big two-car garage attached via a breezeway and a long deck off the back, which was perfect for socially-distanced gatherings. It turned out that a PVC pipe with in-built fan I'd noticed coming from the basement had been installed to deal with radon gas. [This had me wondering if the rock there was granite, but based on the maps I'd later look at, it seems we were decidedly in a shale/bluestone region similar to the one near our place in Hurley.]
We'd brought our dogs, who soon went off on their own to sniff along Murray Road and answer the peemails left by other dogs. (When Neville does this, his means of hitting "send" is to dramatically kick dirt with his legs, showering anyone downrange with stones and debris.) At a few occasions later in the evening, we'd call them back whenever we saw them wandering close to a neighbor known to have outdoor cats.
For most of the evening, we sat around a lavish assemblage of snack foods (there was no actual dinner). I made several contributions to the conversation. One included the tale of my recent bout with diarrhea (which, Ray thought, was probably from the tofu tacos at the Woodstock Yum Yum). Later Alana brought up Suzy Fauber, and it occurred to Gretchen that I'd never told Powerful about "her." A discussion of Steve Bannon's arrest today aboard a grift-funded yacht led to a mention of one of his collaborators, a triple-amputee. This led me to wonder about quintuple amputees. Is that even a thing? I had to Google the term then and there, and found I wasn't the first to put those two words together.
In the late phase of our gathering, Jeff mixed up a batch of mai tais for Alana, Nancy, me, and himself. They were strong and delicious. The strongest note seemed to be bitters, but Jeff insisted they did not contain those.
I should note that there weather was cool enough for everyone but Powerful to be wearing long-sleeved shirts. Ray was wearing a light jacket. There were a few mosquitoes, though, based on the shady nature of the environment, I expected more.
From left: Jeff, Nancy, Ramona the Dog, and Gordon on the back deck at Jeff & Alana's new place this evening.
From left: Gretchen, Ray, Neville, and Alana on the back deck at Jeff & Alana's new place this evening.
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