STOP

This stretch of road, which we take to get into town, or just about anywhere, is now frequently but temporarily closed for the complex operation known as 'Vortex Rehabilitation'. Although construction is in the creek, the creek goes under the road. This morning, we waited while the earth mover on the left crossed the road, extended it's bucket out as far as it would reach, and a second one in the creek bed shoveled something, probably dirt, into it for removal back to the other side where a dump truck awaited.

We've gotten used to the sight of earth movers and bulldozers as they figured heavily in site clearing after the Glass fire. Those operations have been completed on all the sites around us, but there is no sign of construction, probably because the cost of materials has skyrocketed if they can be gotten at all. It may be months before our bathroom renovations can take place, dependent as they are on the availability of bathtubs and European style wall mounted toilets.

I always think of Will when I watch these machines at work. Dana and Jim moved here when Will was 6 months old, and there was a lot of new construction going on in their development. When he was about two, he was fascinated by construction vehicles of all kinds and we would walk him up the street to look at enormous CATs with wheels that were so big that he could sit in the middle of the tire. Construction videos, which were popular at the time with the toddler set, kept him riveted to the television screen so that we could all eat dinner together in relative peace. 

I found those videos rather fascinating myself, which is probably why I wasn't too annoyed by having to sit in the car and watch from a distance for ten minutes. Just releasing my inner toddler....