Driveway and Stuff

So after the excitement of the last post, with the pour and all, the only thing left to show is the final finishing.

See?  Expansion joints and all.
Now we have a complete sidewalk all the way around to the back yard.

Lets look at the driveway from this side.

Here's the drain by the front porch.  All surrounded by concrete so that dirt doesn't wash into it and plug up the pipes.  That would be a shame.

And here's the drain on the lower side of the front yard.  Also surrounded by concrete.

That Chris, he's thorough.

New Driveway

Hey, hey, hey, look at that.  A mixer truck at our house.  Now that's something you don't see every day.

You can always tell one of Chris's jobs is coming down the homestretch when he pours the driveway.

Also, the dirt has been dug away from the drains, so I'm sure Chris is going to pour some concrete around them.

See?  This one too.

Even this one.

As always, concrete pours are fast paced events.
The pumper is pumping, Dan is raking and Chris and the concrete guy are screeding.
I'm just staying out of the way.

There's my fella.
In his fancy boots.

More action.

Here, I'll go stand in the garage and shoot.

Chris, washing off one of the stakes.

Hmm, a lull in the action while they watch Chris wash off the stake?  

 

In addition to the driveway, they also finished the sidewalk.

Back around front, more screeding.

What on earth are these?  Concrete skis?

A bucket of the more recognizable concrete tools.

Just in case you wanted to look at the sidewalk from this view.

Or the front of the garage.

Hi mixer driver.  He's flipping the switch to send concrete down the chute.  Or stop it from going down the chute.  One or the other.

We're down to the last few feet.

Hi Chris.

I don't even know what new piece of information to add here, you're such a concrete expert by now.

Aha!  I was right!  They are concreting around the drains.

Planting Strip

Remember when the boys dug out the dirt in the planting area?  Well, here is what it looked like after all their hard labor.

Now we're going to fill it all back in with rocks.

See?

Over here too.
The white pipes are irrigation lines for the trees.

Here's the first concrete coming down the chute. 
Of course we're using concrete.  You didn't think we'd just lay the rocks in the dirt and leave them did you? 

Here's Chris filling the form.

Chris and Sport.

All full.  I'm not sure about this.  Maybe it shouldn't be so full?

Dan pulling the chute over to the next form.

And more concrete .

Dan's using the scraper thing to pull a little more concrete down the chute.

Dan

Dan and Chris moving concrete.

Ever wonder what the back of a concrete truck looks like?

More filling.
What follows this photograph is a frenzied period of placing the rocks in the concrete, shoveling out some of it (yes, it was too full) and just general high stress.  I was placing some of the rocks, so no photos.

BUT, after all that, here's the final product.

See?  Rocks in concrete.

No weeds to pull, no landscaping to try to maintain.  Nice and clean.

Jackhammers and Paint

Here's Dan, at one of his favorite jobs.  Jackhammering.  Ok, that's me being sarcastic.  Jackhammering is not his favorite job, it's probably one of his least favorite jobs.  But I'm guessing you knew that already.

He's taking out the concrete down the side of the garage.  It was old and uneven, so had to come out.  See the pieces he's already removed in a pile behind him?

Meanwhile, around front, the painters are getting ready to paint!  Here, they've covered the windows and gutters with plastic and paper.

They've  already started on the end.  The lower stucco part is already painted, and now they're starting on the siding.

 

And here is the back.  Talk about a mishmash!

Here comes Dan with another load of concrete.  Again, I just try to get my pictures and stay out of the way.

Lets take another look at that house.  The stucco is painted, the old siding is yellow, the new siding is tan, the trim is grey.  Lovely.

There goes Case to check on the progress.  If you  look through the garage door, you can see up the street.  Have you not noticed that before?  Or maybe I haven't given you any good pictures to illustrate it.  Sorry.