An Odd April Week

(https://www.someecards.com)

The week of April 15th began with what seems like the 96th day of January. That's one of the latest meme going around the Internet. It's quite humorous BECAUSE IT'S TRUE! We had one nice day of almost 80 degree weather on Saturday and then the temperature plummeted back down to the 30s with fierce winds pounding our region through the beginning of the week.

The wind chime hanging from the corner of the house is now known as the Devil's Harp. During the winter Nor'Easters it had become pure evil! It kept me up once again all night. I should just take it down but I'm too lazy to drag out the ladder.

I woke to a coating of snow on the ground. The yard was once again in shambles with more branches down. I had just spent the better part of Saturday cleaning up those which had previously fallen. It seemed like it had become the winter which would never end. Fingers were crossed though that this would be the last week of inclement cold weather.

I stopped over at the supermarket on Wednesday to pick up dinner. Walking through the parking lot, I passed an SUV with two kids sitting on the passenger door "window sills" talking back and forth excitedly across the  roof top. They reminded me of my brother and I when we were about 7 and I chuckled to myself as I walked by. One of them was staring at me as I looked back. He shouted out "Old man!" I was in shock and kept walking.

Was he talking to me? I looked back and that little brat was still staring at me! I didn't say anything and kept going, still in shock a kid spoke like that. I mean, granted I'm 40 years older than him but I never thought I'd be considered old. I laugh at the ridiculousness of it now but I think I was actually in shock.

After coming home, I hit the ATM for some cash before hitting the Firehouse Social Club for a couple beers. I had a huge monster truck on my ass while making my way up Summer Hill. He roared passed me and upon coming around the blind corner, slammed on his brakes, skidding towards a creeping tanker truck crossing the street. I gasped as he skidded closer and closer, stopping just in time. I never wanna see an accident but couldn't help thinking, "That guy's an idiot and he's gonna have to change his shorts!"

I cleaned up the deck late Wednesday evening. It was a mess from the winds. The grill had been moved to the center of the deck. Pillows and cushions were everywhere. A ceramic planter had fallen over, the pottery shards scattered about. Deck chairs knocked over. I then realized one of the larger cushions was missing. I combed the yard, my neighbor Charlotte's yard, and the roadside swales across the street. Nothing! I decided to look again tomorrow and call my neighbors to see if it was picked up.

Wednesday into Thursday remained blustery with flurries here and there. I just started laughing every time I saw flurries.

Thursday rolled around and after getting home from work with my dear neighbor Charlotte immediately calling over from her back deck. "Come over! I have cheesy asparagus soup!" So after I changed, I went over for a bowl of soup. You never pass up Charlotte's home cooking!

Miss Moxie claims the Rutgers sweatshirt.

In exchange, I offered up some duck eggs which had been given to me by my co-worker's aunt. Charlotte was a little suspicious but agreed to take four off my hands. I retreated to my house to get the duck eggs and made my way back to her home. Stepping up her deck stairs, my foot when through the bottom stair and cracked it right through. I felt awful. Charlotte assured me it had rotted from last year and she had been meaning to get it replaced anyway. After repeated apologies from yours truly, she kicked me out laughing.

Oh yes, Charlotte didn't have my cushion. I called over to Rich across the street and he excitedly stated that he had grabbed it out of the swale Monday morning. After cleaning it up, he put it out by the roadside to see if anyone would claim it but no one did. Heck, I didn't even know it was missing until Wednesday. He brought it back into his workshop until I had called over. So thankfully I got my cushion back!

Friday was a fun evening bartending at the Lodge. The usual suspects came up to hang out. I love my Lodge friends and that made it a fun evening. Two "snowbirds" from South Jersey, Becky and Ted, came up again for their weekend visits so that made me happy. I even quite literally scored "the shirt off of Ted's back"! (in this case, a vintage Rutgers sweatshirt) Ted and I both went to Rutgers University in NJ. I admired it and he gave it to me at the end of the night. How lucky am I!?

On Saturday evening, I helped put together a surprise birthday party for my good friend Heather. She's like a little sister to me. And since my big sis Sheryl is in Philly, I need someone to annoy and tease (yes, I still do that at 47). Heather is lucky enough (ha-ha) to be that gal. The party was great fun. A lot of good people came out to celebrate her birthday.

Our other good friend Michele purchased an incredible cake. Just the sight of Michele and I trying to navigate a large fully lit birthday cake through the dark dining room was ridiculously funny. Me backing up into tables left and right and Michele in high heels. I think she navigated much better than me. Although we both need to relearn how to safely light a dozen cake candles. Thankfully we emerged unscathed.

The two left shoes... 😕

And finally to cap off the week, I threw out a pair of black dress shoes on Saturday because they didn't fit well due to my old man bone spur. These shoes put me in more pain than they were worth! I grabbed them out of my dark bedroom and tossed them into the garbage which was picked up on Monday. I then realized Tuesday evening that I threw out just the right foot of each set of my black shoes! I was left with two LEFT shoes with no RIGHT matches. Guess which now ended up in the garbage. Yep, the left shoes. Guess where I'm going on Saturday whether I want to or not! Yep, shoe shopping. UGH. My life. LOL

Well  at least the weather is finally warmer. It feels like Spring is finally here. Now I just need to get motivated and spend time each night getting some yard work done. Grrrrr. Hope you enjoyed the week in the Life of Marc.  As my friend Jack says, "You can't make this shit up!"