Mission Accomplished...

One of the projects I have been wanting to do here for a number of years was to pave the rest of the drive way.  When we built the house, we had about 1/3 of it paved, mainly because that was all we could afford at the time.  The gravel part wasn't too bad, and was a kinda "country" effect.  But over the years, there were some things I just did not like -- the weeds growing thru the stones and having to continually spray them, and each spring having to spend several days picking up stones out of the yard from the snow blower activity of the previous winter.  Also, every once in a while, the lawn mower would kick out a handfull of stones, launching these projectiles at my house, the neighbor's house or a passing car.

So, this year, a neighbor and I got to talking about paving our drives (he had gravel too) and we thought we could get a better price if we could get a contractor who would want to do both of them a the same time, saving time on tools, labor, and cement.  I think both of us are very pleased with the finished products.  At least I am now that I have pretty much finished it up.

Here are some pictures of the project.  I'm putting these on mainly because my grandson, Quinn, is fascinated with construction equipment.  He lives in Brooklyn, NY and likes coming to Grandma and Grandpa's house so he can see these and farm vehicles.  He also likes the pond.  I put a pond picture in because I wanted to show you what I did with most of the gravel from the driveway.

After about a month of letting the dirt settle, we got the fertilizer and seed down and spread the straw during a downpour.  That helped to secure the straw and saved us from watering it in for the first day.

This is where most of the gravel went.  Really helped to secure the banks of the pond.

I added these last three pictures of the two of us so Quinn would see us next to the construction vehicles.


All in all, this was a pretty good project.  I like the way it makes the house look, and will surely be better this winter and spring.

Every day I look around at the pond, the yard, the house, and I thank God for the gifts he has given us.  We love to share this place with guests, family, lots of young (and old) fishermen, and our dog, Bailey.

Hooah