Is Summer Coming?

We had some really hot days last week ( 3 of 'em!) in the land of North J...but overall it's been a pretty cool May. Forecast for the foreseeable future features temps in the 60's and 70's and rain...awesome.

Memorial Day is this weekend so we've got that to look forward to.

OSSS is back from college, and his truck (my Tahoe) has been AWOL as a pal is working on brakejob. He does work on the side and apparently replacing the brakelines on a 2005 Chevy Tahoe is a bear. So I've been letting the kid use my Lincoln MKX during the day, after he drops me off at the J-O-B. I'm a good guy.

HS Baseball season done for YSSS. It was a struggle this year, mostly due to HC and his use of the player. But he soldiered it as best as he could, and seems like a new kid now. Thanks for that because he was rough living with for 6 weeks or so.

I deadlifted 385 lbs. last week. I'm a beast.

Wow.

RIP.

We Got AC!

Now the House of SoulSlam is about 117 years old. It's an old house. Nice house, but every project is a major project. The bedrooms upstairs have plaster walls. We've done over the bathrooms (2.5), the kitchen, added a deck, hardwood floors, new basement (thanks random hurricane), etc. The one thing we never had was central AC.

So every year I would put 5 or so window units in various rooms. One is about 12,000 BTU and H-E-A-V-Y. It would usually be a half day project to get them in, shore them up so they were level and stable, and get them going. And I would never put them in in April or early May, it would typically just be 88 degrees one day so here we go.

Anyway, it was pretty hot. We didn't have units for the some of the upstairs bedrooms or main bath, so that would be sweltering in the North J summer. Rough livin".

We had looked at central AC many years ago, but remember, the house is 117 years old. So there is no ductwork. So that was gonna be a challenge. A big one. So this year we decided to check it again. And the AC guy and our regular contractor came up with a plan. A semi-expensive plan, but the house would be 1) cool and 2) increase in overall value. So we went with it. Nice.

It's All Relative

Basically from where SoulSlam is standing there's some HS Daddyball going on at YSSS' school. Which makes me terribly sad/mad. All gets even in the end I say.

Opening Day!

Like Christmas in April!
YSSS aka Rizzo and SoulSlam made the sojourn to Citifield yesterday for the NY Mets home opener. Decent weather, big crowd, lots of fun. And the Mets are the studs of opening day! Even in the miserable years when the won about 50 games a season (well it seemed like it), they would usually win the opener.

From NorthJersey.com:
The New York Mets have one of the best records in baseball history on Opening Day, winning 62 percent of their initial games. The team has managed to do that despite losing eight of its first nine opening contests..

Now let's see where the rest of the ride takes us!

Lions and Lambs and Devils

We've had a March that features absolutely terrible weather. Not all that unique, but colder than normal and last week's mid-March blizzard has certainly thrown spring sports (HS & youth) into a turmoil. Not too many scrimmages available with snow everywhere. Finally some sunshine and temps around 50 degrees will help, but fields will be sloppy for a few days after. So HS baseball in particular may start with most teams never having been on field in at least one scrimmage.

YSSS' team is in that boat. Supposed to have three scrimmage games this week, but that's gonna be a no-go. Might get one in next week if all goes well, or else it's an away game on April 1 for the start of the season.

Right now he's not sure whether he'll start in OF or at 3B. The coach did say he was gonna catch some, so I have to go out and get him some catching gear (he's grown out of stuff I had). Cha-ching. He's a beast. On the Devils!

Blog Me A River

Haven't been in this neck of the woods in some time. Twitter and I'gram are my choices these days. But this is where SoulSlam started so I come back around when I can.

OSSS is a collge frosh. Pledging a frat. Bodybuilding. Doing pretty well. Coming home for spring break in a couple of days so it will be nice to see him home. I do miss him.

YSSS aka Rizzo is a soph now in HS. Playing baseball. Started on varsity as a frosh, now I'm telling him to step up and be a leader. Kid's lifting weights like a madman. He's awesome.

SoulSlam? he likes to go to gym and get his swole on. Married to the Beautiful Wife of SoulSlam or BWSS for short. As I said in last post, #IAMBLESSED!