A Quiet Day

Except for first thing in the morning. We heard a noise and saw a backhoe chugging up Compass Close. Jack stopped eating breakfast and we had to hurry into his clothes. Out on the driveway, a dump truck stopped at our drive and the driver waved and blew his horn for us. We drove in Nana's car to Peter and Scott's house where we found the dump truck and the backhoe at work. Craig, the workingman, was transporting dirt from the new garage site around to the slide below the Bowman's house. We had a long talk with Peter and watched Craig work. Jack got to stand in the backhoe cab. When Craig drove the dump truck away, I put Jack into his car seat. Then Craig returned and started up the backhoe. He changed from a big bucket to a smaller bucket, which was an elaborate operation. Then he drove the backhoe up onto Crows Nest and started off. Jack cried "chase him." So we did. Craig went to another work site on the Sea Ranch where he told us he was early. So he talked to us again about the backhoe. We learned that he has another backhoe with a crawler track and that the tracks are now made of rubber. They cost $1000.00 apiece and wear out quickly. Craig works with a crew of six and they are very busy.

Jack and I went down to the Lodge to buy a newspaper and to retrieve the shingle that was blown off by the wind. We took it to the receptionist and told her to call the carpenter to replace it on the roof. She said she would and that he would need to use a new shingle. Jack remembered this and repeated it later.

When we got home, we settled in for a quiet day. Jack played with his trucks and workingmen. He explained the outlets in the upstairs guest room. The photos show some of his gestures. Here's a little of what he said:

"I gonna the ectricity. Comes out at night time. You can hear when you're sleeping. That machine and this machine can wake you up. Can make loud noises. Urrrrrrr. Urrrrrrr. Sleep on your bed downstairs. Go downstairs and sleep in your bedroom. Loud noise Urrrrrr. It's ony this generator woke you up. I can put this in there. No ant in your shoe either.

"That's fire truck. These guys are making noise. Watch them. Keep out of my job. There's a sign down there. Says "Keep out of my job." This 'tricity gets power. The smoke can come down this curtain line. Come out this piece. Can go "shhhhh". Steam can come out this power thing. Can go "whoops, can fall down the curtain. We are almost done cleaning up this job."