Update from the frontage

It’s been almost two weeks since I started my campaign against the kids loitering in front of our house. It seems to be going well. Monday, only two kids waited to catch the bus on our corner, the rest gathered across the street. My triumph was premature, on Tuesday, a full dozen sat down on the sidewalk, more or less quietly however. The groups seem to be trying out new places, the last couple of days it seems like they have settled on waiting for their chariot to arrive. I’m good with that. The bulk of the kids arrive around 7:15 and leave by 7:45 which means a half hour of reading for me.

Friday evening the weather was rather brisk. I bundled up in my Uggs, long sleeve tee, jeans and fleece vest. A couple of my neighbors stopped to chat on their way to La Poderosa for a bowl of their wonderful turkey soup. They teased me about my attire. I protested, “It’s the constant breeze and sitting still that makes me cold!” and as we talked I noticed that the missus was holding her sweater tighter as if the wind blowing down the street was trying to take it away. 

The wind chill factor worked in my favor. For the second evening in a row, all the children eschewed my company, choosing the next corner to congregate. I barely got into my book before they flagged down a bus and left in a record ten minutes. I am beginning to really appreciate those nortes we get during the winter months.

All my time hasn’t been spent channeling my inner Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood’s grumpy old man role in Gran Torino). I have been working on the dining room redo. The china cabinet is ready to go. I would like to install one of those hanging wine glass holders, but haven’t done any research yet on how to make one. I guess that is what I will do today, I may even try my hand at building one.

Speaking of building things, I keep seeing DIY projects using pallets. While I watering the Flor de Mayo on the roof I noticed a pallet in the backyard of the warehouse next door. This morning I asked the manager if the pallet was useful to him “¿Le sirve?”, a useful phrase that I learned from my gardener. He gave it to me!

Life is going well.