Tag Archives: projects

Uncategorized

Driveway repair part five…. the oh sh*t moment.

16 Comments

.

Every morning when the work crew shows up?

.

.

My husband has to chat.

I truly believe the worst torture imaginable for this man would be to lock him in a room by himself with no one to talk to.

.

.

When conversation halted…. fabric was laid, bad dirt was removed and better dirt was delivered.

.

.

It’s a good thing our neighbors are morning people and far away, because things be noisy up in here.

.

.

Dirt was delivered.

.

.

Dirt was spread.

.

.

And about mid day?

Things started to go wrong.

I noticed it got quiet and figured there had to be a reason.

.

.

While I’m no expert on heavy machinery, something looked a little off here … even to me.

.

.

Definitely an oh sh*t moment.

One broken hydraulic hose brought work to a standstill.

.

Uncategorized

Driveway repair part four, the flood and another tree climbed. Sort of…

24 Comments

.

We woke up to the remains of an overnight downpour.

.

.

When having your driveway repaired, excess water is not welcome.

.

.

There were two extremely large puddles wreaking havoc with all that new oh so damned expensive dirt.

.

.

And while the birds and the visiting ducks liked their new muddy bath…

.

.

I was less than thrilled.

.

.

Naturally His Royal Highness wanted to investigate.

.

.

He’s such a timid little guy I thought the big equipment would frighten him, but he’s more afraid of the workers than the machines.

.

.

Growing bored with the earth movers he ran up the choke cherry tree before I had a chance to stop him.

.

.

The desire is there, but the skills are still lacking.

😉

.

Uncategorized

Driveway repair part three… removing old dirt and replacing it with other dirt.

13 Comments

.

There’s a whole lot of dirt moving going on at Casa River.

Dirt is dug up.

Dirt is hauled off.

.

.

New and apparently better dirt is brought in.

.

.

And for the price they’re charging, it better be truly spectacular dirt.

.

.

Fabric is laid under the new dirt. Apparently it doesn’t like the old dirt and must have a barrier to prevent cootie contamination.

.

.

The new dirt is spread and tamped down.

.

.

And the new culverts await their new home.

.

.

Rocks are mixed with the dirt.

.

.

And at 5:00pm we had a not so lovely line of tortured lawn and a driveway filled with heavy machinery to keep us company overnight.

🥴

.

Uncategorized

Driveway repair part two… a whole lotta digging and one unhappy cat.

13 Comments

.

After all the old pavement was hauled away….

.

.

We were down to dirt and apparently a good bit of sand…

.

.

Which, as it turns out…. is not good at all.

.

.

At the same time our driveway was being destroyed and rebuilt the neighbor was having theirs worked on as well.

.

.

Which means Lord Dudley Mountcatten has a hard time finding a quiet place to sleep.

.

.

An inconvenienced cat is a horrible thing.

.

.

Sand is bad for drainage and after scraping off the tar and a layer of topsoil, sand and clay is what they found.

.

.

Which meant digging down a solid foot and hauling it away.

.

.

Of course work could progress much more quickly if my husband wouldn’t go out and chat up the crew every hour on the hour.

🤣

.

Uncategorized

And so it begins.

19 Comments

.

Bright and early in the morning it started… and I’m sure the neighbors were thrilled. Good thing they’re far away because nothing about this project is going to be quiet.

.

.

I was still in my pj’s at 7:00am so I watched the crew tear up our driveway from the windows.

.

.

It’s quite a process, driveway replacement. And though I never paid much attention to it being done elsewhere…

.

.

When it’s literally right on your kitchen doorstep? It’s a bit more interesting.

.

.

First step? Heavy equipment to rip up the old tar.

Think Tonka trucks for adults.

.

.

The backhoe made short work of our old cracked and rutted pavement.

.

.

And while the machine operators were busy, there was a lot of down time for the laborers.

.

.

Every section that was ripped up had to be loaded into trucks and hauled away.

.

.

There was a crew of 5.

.

.

And by 9:00 am they had most of it torn up.

.

.

Of course the truck has to drive half an hour to the pit to dump it, and then half an hour back…. so again, lots of down time.

.

.

To be continued….

In minute and excruciating detail. You know the drill.

😉

.

Uncategorized

So much work for a few little holes.

6 Comments

.

Remember when my husband tore holes in the garage siding with his new and apparently quite powerful weed whacker?

.

.

It was the first thing you see when you step out the kitchen door …

.

.

And yesterday, he’d had enough.

.

.

I know nothing about vinyl siding installation but was assured you had to start in the middle in order to remove the bottom piece.

.

.

It seemed like an awful lot of work just to replace one section.

.

.

But after a few hours the damaged section was removed…

.

.

And everything was back to normal.

Until the next time…

😉

.

Uncategorized

Back at it.

22 Comments

.

After an almost two week hiatus from working in the crap cave cellar… for reasons that will be discussed later….the husband was back on track.

.

.

The far right corner was complete so the ceiling work started moving outward.

.

.

I was called in to help numerous times because the price of plywood went up again and my spouse switched from the higher grade to the rougher stuff which was much harder to work with. Imagine if you will…. me, with my bad knee climbing on the step stool and trying to hold a sheet of wood in place over my head.

It was not a pretty sight. Nor a quiet one. I never realized there were so many colorful ways to say hurry up before I was roped in to helping.

.

.

In between curses, I checked out his treasure. An old Bell and Howell movie projector, those horrible figural whisky bottles people used to collect in the ‘70s, a rather nice Italian pepper grinder and another rooster.

.

.

Skeeter Skoot? I can only imagine the horrible chemicals they wanted us to spray ourselves with then back then.

.

.

And finally… it looks like my husband will be giving classes on junk collecting. Reserve your seat now, it’s sure to be a popular seminar.

🥴

.

Uncategorized

I don’t know how he stands it.

34 Comments

.

Work continues in the underground crap filled cave basement, one small section at a time because my husband is still miserably bored by retirement.

.

.

He clears and cleans a few square feet..

.

.

Having moved all the cobwebbed clutter that resided there…

.

.

Behind him to the section he previously cleared, insulated and ceiling’d. (That’s the past tense of ‘put up a ceiling’ in case you were wondering.)

He’s shuffled more useless junk around in the past month than Fred Sanford did in his 6 year television series run.

To be honest it drives the OCD part of me a little nuts. Now would be the perfect time to sort, clean, and organize… but he won’t. No matter how many times I suggest it or offer to help. It will be so much more work to do it later, but the man cannot multi task to save his life. The last time I brought up the subject? He snapped at me and said “One thing at a time!”

So he’s down there now, alone. Having turned the corner on the front wall…

.

.

With all that still in front of him.

I don’t know how he stands it. I really don’t.

.

Uncategorized

Necessity is the mother of invention.

30 Comments

.

Since we’ve established my husband doesn’t want me to lend a hand in the basement, alternative helpmates must be employed.

.

.

Meet the Dead Man.. otherwise known as my husband’s personal assistant. Since my spouse can’t lift, position and hold a piece of plywood over his head while screwing it into the floor joists, he built himself a friend. One who doesn’t offer advice or disagree with him like I do.

And speaking of holding things in place….

.

.

When the old insulation is ripped and starts to sag?

Grab a broom.

.

.

And balance that broom on a box, which is balanced on a few old books, which are top of another box which is on a table not meant to support that much weight.

Good times.

🤣

.

Uncategorized

Onward and upward.

32 Comments

.

Props to my husband for not only sticking with his horrible basement project but becoming totally obsessed by it. Clearing, cleaning and organizing ( not really, but he’s trying ) 40 years worth of junk is not for the faint hearted. Or the asthmatic… the dust and cobwebs are epic.

When last I reported, shelves were being built on the back right wall and corners were being turned.

.

.

So now that ⬆️…

Looks like this ⬇️ …

.

.

Because every time he carves out a small area to work…

.

.

Thousands of pounds of junk stuff must be moved.

.

.

Anyone need a tv antenna or an old bottle of Clorox? It’s still half full.

.

.

Four vintage wooden crates were unearthed… but none of them were alcohol related for my vinyl collection damn it.

.

.

This is a serious amount of work. And while I try to go down and help, more often than not the husband gets aggravated with me and tells me to get lost.

If 39 years of marriage has taught us anything, it’s that we don’t work well together. I’m a very organized person ….. I plan, I make lists, I gather needed tools and supplies, I have everything I need within reach. He wings it… no plan, always searching for tools and has to run to the store every other day for more supplies. Basically, we drive each other crazy and end up doing our projects by ourselves. Harder, yes. But it keeps us out of divorce court.

.

.

It’s a good thing I don’t use that freezer or second refrigerator anymore.

🤣

.