Tag Archives: maine

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The driveway replacement finale.

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The back half of the driveway was done and paving moved to the front.

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Which means the big machine was put into play. If you’ve never seen the process, it really is kind of fascinating.

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Before long they were at the road end.

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And the wheelbarrow brigade was back in action.

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Fill, dump, spread.

Repeat.

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When they’d made us a nice entrance…

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The final smoothing commenced.

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A little more on the edges…

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And they were stringing the don’t drive on me for a week! sign.

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Which surprised me because we were originally told to let it set for 3.

Either way, it looks good.

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And a damn sight better than it did.

Before and after pics to come.

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And we’re paving….

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The day we’d been waiting for finally arrived .

A temporary mailbox had been installed…

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The blockade was removed….

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And paving commenced.

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The crew pulled in at 7:30am with the big machine but a lot had to happen before they fired up that baby.

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Spray painting for instance.

But when the dump truck with the hot tar arrived, things really kicked into high gear.

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The bump out parking area was the first spot to be paved.

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And I have to say … those laborers I photographed sitting down playing with their phones really earned their pay this day.

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Time is of the essence when the tar is hot and they were positively trotting while dumping wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow full of the heavy stuff into place.

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It’s a whole lotta work.

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In front of the garage by the kitchen porch was next.

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And I’m sure the crew thought the lady who lives here was nuts for running from window to window to take pictures of the progress.

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A little portable packing and smoothing later, that section was done.

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A nibbler and a very chill fox.

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The baby woodchucks are growing and seem to be everywhere at once.

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One little guy likes to grab a carrot slice and eat it in privacy on the stone wall.

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Which I must admit makes for some cute pictures.

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Our momma fox is coming earlier than usual now and usually shows up by 4:00pm.

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Chances are her babies are running her ragged and she appreciates the easy source of food.

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Poor momma.

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She’s so tired she eats lying down.

❤️

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Driveway replacement inconveniences.

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As we wait for the smoothed dirt to dry on the newly torn up and backfilled driveway, a word about the inconveniences of this repair/replace project.

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Ours cars now have to sit outside in the elements for the week it’s taking the crew to do the job and probably for 2-3 weeks after that. Forget the fact that Ethel, my Subaru, is a garage virgin and has never spent a night outside…. not being able to use the driveway means the only place we can pull into our property is way out here.

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Which makes walking to your car in the rain and hauling groceries back to the house a right royal pain in the *ss.

And since we contracted to have the culvert replaced?

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Our mailbox had to go as well.

Trying to predict what time the postman will drive by so I can run out there to meet him is getting old fast.

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Driveway repair part nine…. finishing touches to dirt and the husband’s blockade.

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The rough work on the driveway repair was coming to a close.

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Small loads of the top layer of dirt were finessed.

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With numerous wheelbarrow trips.

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Though not everyone was hard at work.

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Lots of dumping. Lots of spreading by hand.

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And then the crew whipped out a big power saw and started cutting away part of the road.

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I didn’t realize they were allowed to do that, but clearly they are.

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And when I say cut, I mean rip up big chunks as well.

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Nest step? Smooth and pack the dirt.

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And at the end of the day we were left with this.

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Which we were told was a little too wet to pave so it would have to sit for a few days to dry.

We were also told not to drive on it. And since a lot of people use our driveway to turn around?

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The husband built a blockade.

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And we’re climbing.

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Lord Dudley Mountcatten was on the move the other day and headed right for his favorite pear tree.

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Please note His Lordship is actually airborne in the next photo.

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As usual, once His Lordship achieved tree grip…

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He was clueless about the next step and simply hung there.

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For quite a while as it turns out.

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But finally, he ascended.

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And posed nicely for the photographer.

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What to do once he’s up there or how to get down proves a bit more difficult.

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Driveway repair part seven… the smoothing battle.

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Work continues on the driveway.

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Dirt and gravel are brought in, dumped, spread …

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And smoothed.

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At times it looks like some weird sort of race.

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Bigger boys, bigger toys.

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Was my husband out there chatting during the process?

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I think you know the answer to that.

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It’s a good thing I don’t like to nap during the day.

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Because when they do the section in front of the garage, they’re literally right on the kitchen porch doorstep.

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