We are paved!

Yesterday was my day to stay home and monitor the job.  Even though I didn’t have to lay conduit, I still needed to make some decisions on the fly – the kind one makes and then has to live with.  Up to a certain point, adjustments could be made.  Pretty soon, though, things start happening very quickly and  it’s hard to reign the momentum back in.  Of course, changes can be made at any time, it just gets progressively more expensive to make them.

Paul couldn’t stand being away and came home in the early afternoon.  By then, everything was rapidly moving along and we both just stood back and admired their work. 

Although we don’t often contract jobs out (we are fairly handy and, um, cheap), when we do, it’s nice to watch experts at work. The good news: things got done quickly; they’ve done the job so many times before they didn’t spend time agonizing over minor nits.  The bad news: there was a lot of waste.  When just a small corner was needed from a brick, the rest of the brick was tossed (hopefully to be ground down and used again).  A lot of small corners equal a lot of waste.  If we had done the job ourselves, we would have used parts of one brick in several spots – much less waste.

Towards the end of the day, several cars of new workers began showing up.  We were told that these were all crew chiefs.  As their individual jobs finished, they’d send their crews home and gather at any remaining job sites that could benefit from extra help.  Watching these men work was truly amazing; each had a role and knew how to perform it.  In no time at all our job was complete (2 days!) and they were off to enjoy their weekend.  

Now that the pavers are in, we will begin to prepare the soil for planting.



This photo doesn't show the finished installation - we still have to clean and seal the bricks.



Finally, some progress!

The crew showed up at 8:30 this morning to begin the pre-installation work.  I have a previously scheduled meeting in LA today so my husband stayed home so he could be on site to “supervise,” answer any questions, and lay the conduit when it’s time.  In addition to taking digital photos for our records, I have asked him to text me with pictures throughout the day so I can see the progress.  Since I will be on the train for a good part of the day, I hope to get regular updates so I can feel at least part of the process.

I came home from my trip to find our front yard transformed to a gravel and sand lot.  I guess it’s better than the dead grass and weedy mess we had going on,  but I’m anxious to get the pavers in.   Paul said that a lot of the neighbors stopped by to see what we were doing (they probably were reluctant to ask before when our yard looked so bad, fearing the worse). 

Waving "good-bye" to our palms

The decision to remove the current landscaping in our front yard has been a long time coming.  For a number of years it was pretty easy to take care of; we had the irrigation on timers and had hired a gentleman to come by every two weeks to mow the lawn and provide some additional yard maintenance.   

Every spring the agapanthus send out their peduncles, each with the promise of a beautiful violet-blue flower nestled inside an almond-shaped bract.  This annual awakening, along with the appearance of “my” brilliant yellow oriole, assured me that spring was here and summer is not far behind. 

Unfortunately, lately, the lawn has started to look pretty bad, the pigmy date palms are getting too large for their space, and the agapanthus, daylilies, and jasmine have begun to need more care than I’m willing to provide.  Although we will miss the spring colors, we have decided that we are willing to trade them for less maintenance and lower water bills. 

A neighbor has taken us up on our “you dig them out and haul them, they’re free” offer of the pigmy date palms.  This has saved us the time, effort, and maybe money, to have them removed.  Hopefully they will survive and thrive in their new home.

In the meantime, our yard is looking more open and exposed and we need to get a plan in place soon.