Cementech

We are beginning to realize that when the neighbors decamp with their RV there is going to be noise. It arrived at 7:30 this morning in the form of a phalanx of these trucks parked in front of our driveway. The first one backed up the driveway next door and a 4inch diameter hose was fed through the house to the site for the swimming pool precariously perched at the top of the cliff. As soon as one truck was empty, the next one in line backed up to take its place. 

But these are not ordinary cement trucks which arrive with the wet concrete spinning around in a huge turning cylinder. These appear to mix the concrete in situ making a whining, fluctuating drone that begins to impinge on conscious thought after a few hours. It is still going on as I write at about 4 pm with earbuds  and a playlist successfully blocking out the drone. Unfortunately, it tends to distract conscious thought with the desire to sing along....

I chose this picture partly to add to my collection of unusual construction vehicles, and partly to demonstrate the condition of the road, which has never been repaved since it was originally put in in about 1960.

We were nonplussed to find that the cafe/bar at Trail House has closed indefinitely. The bicycle shop in the back was sold to Specialized a couple of months ago, but the original owner said he was going to keep the cafe. When the good people who had worked there since it opened began to leave, we began to suspect that changes were coming. 
After talking to a guy from the bicycle shop our theory is that the original owner was getting cold feet because the cafe isn't really profitable on its own. Perhaps they are looking for someone else. We went to an old haunt further down the road but there was a queue out the door and all the outdoor tables were taken. We were looking for a place for our group of six to meet on Fridays, so we moved on to a third place downtown where Danielle from Trail House said she would be working. It's really too small to be a reliable place for six places to meet and we didn't see Danielle, but we had a pleasant conversation with a woman opposite us in the tiny patio with her dog, Oscar. "People think he's a doodle, but he's actually a Portuguese water dog." 
"Oh", I said, "you mean a real dog."...

We'll probably go back to CafeFrida which is all the way across town but has a very pleasant patio.