R0bert is a closet handy-man who requires just a little shove now and then. So, of course, I feel it necessary to draw out his talents by supplying him with projects. I regret that we don't own more square footage around our little chica for me to design and expand. As it is, I have to work within the confines of this postage stamp-sized abode. Ahh, but there is the outside. My creativity is already spilling outside. I'm eyeing the common spaces around us calculating how I could plant some herbs and flowers or maybe mosaic a cement bench or arrange more potted plants on the sidewalk. On Fridays I have been holding an art/crafts session for the neighborhood kids, the village kids, I think I'll start calling them, up on the patio. My plan is to start displaying their artwork outside for the neighborhood to see. I started to pester Robert about my designs for a display board. It ended in us stopping to see Jeff at West Coast Millworks to build me something.
In a week's time I should have an 8x4 plywood and corkboard panel to mount on a wall outside somewhere. Jeff says I can come to the shop to stain or paint the framing however I wish. I'm thrilled to have a project, Robert is thrilled not to have to build it. The kids will be proud to show off their artwork and I think the residents will be happy to see something creative going on. Everybody wins.
There was just one little more thing: I want either a dutch door or some kind of gate to keep Chloe from wondering outside, yet keep our home open to the outside. Robert tagged along looking for something we could fashion into a gate. Actually, he hoped to find a ready-made baby gate; I hoped he'd build me something less plastic-y. I was talking fencing wire and framing and lumber and hammered iron hardware. I even got him to come along to the Sunday flea market (an event I would never even consider stepping foot in back home but here in Loreto it is a highlight of the week for many shopping-starved souls who hope for the near impossible--a perfect strawberry, an unbruised apple, a pair of unused shoes.) We poked around for the baby gate and, while we were at it, an unusual sized battery for a remote control but finding neither.
We ended up buying a worn filet knife for the equivalent of a buck-fifty, a fabulous find for Robert who needed one for fishing. His mood was considerably perked by the act of procuring a bargain and thus in his mind we were finished and it was time for us to go. I persevered a bit more to gather up some vegetables--a decent head of lettuce, garlic, onions, some shelled peas. I always pass on the raw meat. I don't know, something about raw meat on display in the open, sans refrigeration and protective covering, repels me.
As for the doggie gate: This is my solution and it's cheap. The water jug barrier. No installation required.
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