Progress, but not finished.....yet

The Ginky Weeds have been quite a construction site this week. On Monday the concrete contractor arrived to prepare to install a concrete sidewalk to the shop and a concrete driveway. He expected to be finished today, but the weather was threatening and he decided to hold of the finish until Monday. Here's the new sidewalk; I'm SOOOO glad to not have to walk on the old soggy pavers anymore!

The driveway is coming along nicely, about two thirds complete. It's a long one, about the length of a football field, so is taking some time to complete. We won't be able to drive on it until a week after installation, but it will be well worth the wait. We are currently using "Miller Lane" behind the house for access to and from the roads.

Now on to the next project......the retaining wall and steps to the basement walkout. I've been working on this for almost two weeks now and it's finally in the home stretch. In my last post I included a picture of the beginnings of the entry steps from the bottom level. Here is what it looks like now. Note that the retaining wall is now complete!!!

Here's the curve in the wall as it blends from the side of the pool to the steps. Must be all the measuring and remeasuring paid off. The new wall from below was right on the same level as the bottom of the retaining wall when I got to that point. It was a big relief to see that come together!

And here are the steps that we've all been waiting for. They are not capped yet and won't be until the old concrete retaining wall is textured and colored and concrete is poured in the lower level landing. Once that's done, this project will rapidly be completed. That will be one big item to check off my "To Do" list! Of course, it wasn't easy. I had to work in a drain for the downspout on this end of the house so that it winds behind the steps, then inside the wall and exits below the base of the wall. I also had to relevel and shim the fence posts so that the gate is properly aligned. Those will be cemented in which should retain alignment.

That's the status from here and a pictorial explanation of why when any of you have called, Mom has answered the phone. When complete, I will move on to building drywells in the front and back of the house to manage the water drainage around the house, including the sump discharge in the front yard. Then I can bring in topsoil and seed around the walls and the areas of tearup for the drywells. Will it all get done this summer? I hope so, but time will tell. With vacation coming in two weeks, guess I'd better find a higher gear to shift into!

Love to all!

Charlie