Thursday, October 24, 2013

Disappearing Sidewalk

You may notice some innocuous-looking white spray paint marks on the sidewalk in front of our driveway.  Or maybe not.  They've been there for almost a year.  So long that I decided that they didn't mean anything after all.


However, this afternoon, there was a knock on the door.  "We're going to tear apart the sidewalk in front of your house and pour new concrete tomorrow.  You might want to move your truck."

Of course I don't want my truck to be stuck in the driveway all weekend. I moved it down the street.  Not sure what they would have done if I hadn't been home.  Not sure why they didn't leave a notice a few days in advance.

After an hour or so, a cute little Bobcat with a jackhammer attachment on the front showed up.


It made short work of the sidewalk, in large chunks,


which it then drove down the street


and dumped in the big truck.


It was interesting to see that it really only took a couple of seconds of hammering in just the right place


to pop up a big rectangle of sidewalk


which could then be balanced on top of the arm to take to the truck.


The driver dude was really quite skilled.

Once the sidewalk was gone, on could see all the magnolia roots that were near the surface under it.  "You have anacondas here," said the driver when I came out the garage door.


I walked down the street to intercept Nimue coming home from school at that point, so that she knew to go up the neighbors' driveway and under our peach tree to get around this:


An hour later, the poor guy is still working on digging out all the anacondas.

Being a good spouse, I did send Chad a note to warn him not to try to ride his bike up the driveway in the dark on the way home from work tonight, lest he be eaten by the new hole.  

Incidentally, the treehouse provides a nice place from which to spy on the proceedings.





Monday, October 21, 2013

Treehouse


How does one get from this (drawn by Nim when we moved several years ago)

to this? (started by Chad over Labor Day, finished during the recent government shutdown)

Start with one bouncy kid.
(not pictured)

Add nagging by less mechanically-inclined spouse.
(also not pictured)

Throw in a holiday weekend without a trip planned.

Make many drawings.

Overload the truck with lumber.  Three times.

Make more drawings and lots of sawdust.


 

 Build into the night.  Utilize kid as a light-holder if needed.
 

Branch out into making drawings on the computer

Keep plugging away

Make friends with the screws.  Many many screws.

One could have nightmares about screws.

Take advantage of furlough during government shutdown to keep working on project.

Make more drawings.

Enjoy easy drawbridge access to the roof (gutter-cleaning only; no kids allowed there).

Use some of the leftover wood to build a bench to go over the wine storage in the atrium.

Apply sticky stain and rejoice.
(Requires hanging off the outside of the front like a monkey.  Neighbors probably think I'm nuts.)

Now all we need to do is grow the front bushes taller.

And add the weatherproof solar panels, battery, and lights.

And maybe a roof that echoes the angle of the Eichler roof. 
Or maybe not.
(It doesn't rain much here anyway.)

A fine place to enjoy an afternoon popsicle.



Sunday, October 20, 2013

Alien Crab Spiders of Yum!

Nimue has been cooking out of Ghoulish Goodies again.  She's getting lots of practice learning how to clean up after herself! (I try to stay out of the way during the process, lest my head explode.)


Not A Box

You would think that by middle school, one would become too jaded to engage in imaginary play with boxes.  Not my kid...



(We had to get a new microwave after our old one suddenly died.)