Modern Vespa

So we just had a large amount of concrete poured as part of a yard renovation.

The neighborhood children have ascended to our yard like someone just turned on the bat signal.. or hooligan signal in this case.

I'm literally sitting in my garage with a beer on night watch chasing the kiddos away who are trying to leave their mark.

Not sure when I became the 'get off my lawn' guy, but I think I have enough beer to outlast their bedtimes.

Sounds like a tough gig.

Sooner or later you're gonna need a bathroom. May need backup to make sure they don't swarm in.

If it's spring break there, like it is here, you may have to back off on the beers to make it thru the late watch shift!

A few hours should be enough to have it hard enough that they won't mark it by walking on it. (I spent nearly 40 years in the industry in technical roles). Imagine my concern with 200m2 (about 2000 sq ft) all laid in one day. Kids weren't the worry, but cats love fresh concrete.
Once it's hard enough to not get marked, start your garden sprinkler to 1) cure it, and 2) keep the kids away while you use the bathroom.

'Cmon, one teeny little MV in the corner. You know you want to.

Just thinking of the old concrete in my dad's cow yard. Has some nice chicken tracks that probably date back a century by now. Way to achieve immortality.

In total, we poured a mixer and a half... so that's what, about 9 cubic meters? Tiny in comparison. The team that poured it were less concerned about deep impressions, more 'scratching' the smooth finish.

I had one neighborhood kid put her roller-skates on and asked if she could skate on it. And another little boy who was insistent he 'poke it with a stick.' Otherwise all was quiet.

I do recall being a kid and a very small section of the street I lived on was repaved after some sewer work. When they pulled up the cones we all flocked to it like it was a new swimming pool to ride out bikes, skate and play on it.

While going to College, I was fortunate to get a super paying Summer job
working for a local contractor Woodlake Cement. I usually was on the
"block crew" doing basements. Occasionally, I would join the "soft crew"
that poured and finished side walks, drive ways and new home basements.

We left one job to set up. When we cam back, a kid (Judging by the footprints) had walked the full length of the sidewalk. We had to knock it out and replace.
We did stake and yellow tape off the area.

Keep an eye out for those young rascals.

Bob Copeland
Hard dried specs of concrete from my work cloths ruined my mom's washing machine.

Buy a video camera and hide it, you can get paid for the damages.

Classic Curmudgeon Clint!??
Maybe Dirty Harry!???

If you just let them have one block of concrete, you'd be a legend in the neighborhood.

My two year old got into the action today.

Makes me feel kind of happy, kind of sad all at the same time. For there will be a day when someone will demo these memories just like we have done to the 25 year old work we just demo'd.

(We did not demo any hand prints or writing)

In about 1974 my folks built a new home. Mom and I were sitting in her car next to our freshly poured concrete driveway on guard for kids with itchy fingers. As we ate burgers and fries, which was a treat to spend solo time with my Mom, the neighborhood scoundrel came walking up the street. Not 20 feet from the car that little turd started to put his mark in the concrete. My Mom sprang from her car seat faster than Usain Bolt off the starting blocks and scolded that kid into a sprint home faster than he'd ever run. We still laugh about that event.

This is why Le Wife and me chose to go with pavers. 8)

Just as well or you would have had flamingo footprints all over it.

We kept meddling kids at bay. All concrete is set. It was really interesting to see the concrete change colors as it went through it's drying process. There were some scary black patches in the back yard that made me think the cement mixture was bad, but they all went away.

Here's the front. We still need to landscape and paint the house.

There was some reservations about going to turf, but in the end it has been the right call for us. It's really nice to be out on it at night and in the early morning.. no dew to deal with.

The exquisite attention to details..