The O-Zone

Well, we knew it was coming since we spent last week getting a  place built for the cement to go.

The first wheelbarrow of wet cement had been transported to the far end of the new sidewalk and the second wheelbarrow was close behind.

It’s a really neat system.  The cement dry mix is in one hopper on the truck, and water is in the other, and they are mixed together at the site.  So there is no waste.

Dan is supervising the project. He just needed a white hard-hat to make it official. There's the path dug out of the yard, around the bedroom to the back of the house.

Jack is admiring the mixture going into the wheelbarrow. The wheelbarrow wielder is waiting patiently.

Wheelbarrow wielders have done their thing, and now the artistic part of the project begins.

It really is almost an art form to get the cement sidewalk all nicely smooth, and then brushed out with a broom.  Bob is smoothing it out with a very large float.  He spent a couple of hours making things look pretty.

Everybody has left and the new sidewalk is drying out. Once it is a pale gray like the rest of the existing sidewalk, it is ready to walk upon. A day or two at most.

So this coming winter we now have another seventy feet of sidewalk to shovel which follows the path we take to get gas cans to the generator.  Instead of having an uneven icy path, we’ll have much more secure footing, and a sidewalk is easier to shovel than grass.  We’re going to extend the flower bed between the house and the new sidewalk, next spring.  It will give me a lot more room for plants.  We’ll have to build a fence to keep the deer and bunnies out.

A roof has magically appeared on top of the arbor in the garden.

The same crew that created the sidewalk also built a roof for us in the garden, to keep the chairs and table dry and provide some shade next spring and summer.  The chances of the grape plants actually getting long enough to go over the top of the arbor were looking unlikely, so we decided a more dry solution was a better idea.

Now I need to decide what color to paint the plywood on the front of the arbor, below the roof line.  And I might as well paint the gate while I’m at it.  So many colors in my head!!!