We’ve had a beautiful week here in Virginia which resulted in the driveway crew getting a good bit of work accomplished this week.

The old steps were torn off of our front porch and the start of the new steps were constructed.  We discovered that our two front porch posts are starting to rot, so they’ll have to be replaced.

The front yard is still a mess!

The steps to the screened porch were removed and new steps were constructed.

 

A huge shipment of pavers for the driveway was delivered yesterday.  The crew planned to start putting them down today, but we received a good bit of rain last night, so I’ll bet that they’ll have to wait until Monday to start.

Our yard has now been in disarray for over two months and we have very little to show for it.  In January our new driveway was cut out, graveled, and rolled.  It snowed multiple times, was cold, and then rained over and over.  Once the crew started back to work on the driveway, they realized that the gravel that had been applied was not deep enough.  More gravel has been added, rolled down, and we hope that the crew will start laying the pavers soon.

In the meantime the crew started building a retaining wall and patio that will extend off of our deck.

Look carefully for the white paint outline and you’ll be able to picture our new patio.  The edges will be made of the pavers and the middle will be Greenstone.  Greenstone used to be mined in our area.  We saved a pile of it when we removed a patio that used to be located where our addition is now.  The wall is called a seating wall and should be perfect for you guessed it, sitting.

The concrete pad that you see in the picture below will be removed and will become a much larger landing constructed of pavers.  The pavers will be flush with the driveway.  The portion of driveway where my car is parked will become lawn.

Sitting on this new patio should be quite pleasant once it is complete. (The pine tree that you see planted at an odd angle is temporarily planted here until the front yard construction is complete.)

We plan to get a cocktail table and chairs that are somewhat like what a club at the beach has.  The middle part can either hold ice for drinks or it can be a fire pit.  I’m examining this one at the beach last fall to find the manufacturer’s name.

I hope one of us doesn’t accidentally go out the screened porch door.  If we do, the fall won’t be pretty.  The guys removed the steps today and I’m guessing that they’ll work in this area the rest of the week.

Now that things are rolling, it should be exciting to come home from work each day to see what has been accomplished.

There is no school today because my area of Virginia received 14” of snow on Saturday.  It is really beautiful but it will halt the progress on our driveway until probably next week. 

I’m spending most of the day studying for a new class that I have to teach next year.  I’ve taught life science for the last 18 years and next year I have to teach physical science.  I haven’t had any physical science since high school!!  I’ve been studying, reading, taking notes, and doing a lot of worrying about it.  The more work I do now, the more prepared I’ll be in August when the new year starts.  I’m hoping to get a lot accomplished today.

The crew started working on the driveway last Wednesday.  I was amazed at the amount of work that they accomplished in three days.  I tried to document the progress each day, but I got home late two of the days and had trouble taking pictures at dusk.

These shots are from Wednesday night.  They cut the curb and dug out where the new driveway will go.

The sidewalks were removed and the new sidewalk area was marked.

The sidewalk was also removed here.  The steps here will later be removed and rebuilt. 

It was light when I got home on Thursday, so my second day progress pictures are much better.  The concrete for the new front entrance was poured.

Extra dirt is piled on this landscape bed in our front yard.  The guys will contour this to make a berm later in the project.  I’m sure they won’t need all of this soil.

The guys worked like crazy on Friday to prepare the driveway for the big snow in the forecast.  It looked pretty good when I got home.

Now it is snow covered!

I won’t have more progress to report until the snow melts.  It is really exciting to come home each day to see what has been accomplished.

Now back to studying potential and kinetic energy and energy transformations.  Blah!!!