Backhoe action on Chenery

The backhoe job at Diamond and Chenery was the big event of the day. We watched as the working men filled a big hole in the road with cement, smoothed it down with a broom, and then had the backhoe cover it with three large metal plates. Then the backhoe drove back to Chenery Street to pulverize some chunks of asphalt to use to cushion the edges of the steel plates. Tamp, tamp, tamp. Then the backhoe used a clamshell bucket to pick up the asphalt and dump it on the steel plates.

We spent a long time at the library, listening to story time, choosing our books, and playing with the wooden toys in the green container. Jenny had called earlier to say that Emma has a cold and so they stayed home today. Jack made friends with another little girl whose name we couldn’t learn. Jack moved right in to kiss her. I tried to explain that he should ask her first and he did, but she seemed incapable of saying yes, so Jack said yes for her. It’s a start.

Sharon announced that she is cutting back to part time and moving to a different library! She will be there for two more storytimes. As Jack said, “Oh, no”! There will be a new temporary children’s librarian until March and then some other arrangement. Let’s talk to Jenny about presenting Sharon with some flowers or something on the last storytime day.

After the library, I snuck past the hardware store with no objection from Jack and we saw that the working men were gone from the intersection. Jack suggested looking for the backhoe up Diamond Street. Sure enough, the working men were sitting back on a doorstep eating their lunch. We could see a jackhammer in a truck on the other side of the street, so we went over there and examined it carefully. There were additional bits for it in the truck and another jackhammer. One of the workingmen came over and showed us where they are breaking up the sidewalk. He gave Jack a high-five and explained that we should be very careful of their triangular signs because they are sharp. When we got home, Jack warned me to be careful in the living room of some imaginary signs. Every working man we ever meet tells Jack to stay in school.

He ate two bowls of oatmeal with milk and syrup for breakfast. For lunch I offered some of that ravioli, but he didn’t really eat any. He did eat a whole container of the baby yogurt. No poop today. Lots of juice. He napped from 2:00 to 4:00 when he woke up; however, when I took him out to the living room, he fell asleep again on the couch for another half an hour.

Jack showed me the tiny chicken statue in the wardrobe! Then he took it out to the living room and announced he was putting it in the garbage truck. That's where you will find it.