Day 4 1/2

We thought that Friday would be an off day for the workers, but they began before 7:00, when the concrete trucks arrived. Jeff told us they wanted to lay the pad for the garage today to give it time to cure. With the leftover they extended the footing for one side of the original driveway and poured a footing for the front retaining wall, as the photos show.


By the way, today's work was overtime for the boys, so I am sure they welcomed it.

This was one busy week for the crews. We had no idea they would be this far along at the end of the first week.


Monday they pour the front sidewalk.

Day 4

Looks like they did a lot today. Exciting! Here's some photos.

Day 3: Major Changes

Well, Day 3 is over now. It began this morning at about 6:05, long before sunup, when the crew arrived and revved up the diesel engines and started moving earth. When those machines back up, of course the warning signal goes off, so between the diesel engines and warning signals, and the high-intensity lights, I don't know how our neighbors in the five apartments were able to sleep. I got home about 4:45 in time to take some photos in the fading daylight. It was overcast anyway, so it was darker than it would normally be. Here are some photos:

A rectangle trench was dug in the backyard and the footings were poured for the foundation and retaining walls. The concrete was still wet and water was standing on it.

In the second photo, taken from the alley, you can see part of the footing, but you can also see the spray paint that marks the phone cable. AT&T came by today to repair the cable, but for now it lies on top of the ground, and it makes an end around the garage so that it won't be covered up by the concrete pad that will be poured.

The next one shows the splice in the alley, where the new cable is spliced onto the cable that comes up from the ground in the alley. The ground had worn away over the years until the phone cable was exposed.

The next photo shows the footings for the new retaining walls on each side of the original driveway:


A final picture--here is a shot of the equipment parked in the yard on the Glenview side, with a big pile of excavated dirt:


The forms out front look set, so I think that Thursday the front sidewalk will be poured. I bet there will be enough changes to post to this blog tomorrow.

Stealing the Internet

This is just a short post. We were without phone service all of Tuesday, as the lines were disconnected to allow for earth-moving work. When the wires were spliced together, they must have been spliced wrong. About 12 feet of phone cable lay on top of the earth yesterday, spliced in two places and tears in two more. The phones didn't work; couldn't even get a dial tone. Of course, neither would our DSL. Last night late, I was using our laptop to do word-processing, knowing I couldn't connect, when all of a sudden a box opened and Kelly broke in with a chat. Lordy, lordy, it's a miracle, I thought. We chatted for awhile, all the time I'm trying to figure out how, when it dawns on me. Someone next door must have wireless internet, and our laptop detected their unsecured wireless internet. The connection was low, but it worked, and so I did some internet surfing after finishing the chat.

So I say thanks to Kelly next door, or Charles in the garage apartment, or one of the other three in the front apartments, for allowing me to use their internet connection!

Our service is supposed to be repaired today by AT&T. If they send us a bill, I am passing it on to Jeff Neal.

Day 1 of the Great 2007 Backyard Makeover Project

Well, the Great Sewer/Garage/Sidewalk Makeover Project of 2007 got off to an early start today. Jeff Neal, our contractor, and a heavy-equipment team of three arrived around 7:00 this morning. After they left this afternoon, Leslie went out and took photos of their first day's work. Here are some of them.

In the first photo, the scraped patch in the back corner marks the location of the new garage. All of the fencing from the Glenview side around to the side of the next-door garage apartment has been removed. So also has the concrete driveway, the Glenview curb, and the retaining walls on either side of the original drive-under garage. The second photo is looking east on Glenview, on the north side of the house. The curb is gone at the alley corner, where the new driveway will be poured.

Wouldn't you know it? Two weeks ago I told Jeff Neal, our construction manager, about the buried telephone cable in our backyard, which runs roughly parallel to the sewer line. This morning before I left for work, I reminded him about the buried cable. Guess what? They accidentally cut the cable while digging! Jeff patched the cable, and AT&T is sending someone out Wednesday to fix the cable. It's a good thing Jeff patched it, because apparently AT&T doesn't care that we would be two days without phone and DSL service! But we're OK, as you can see now.

Here's another photo taken by Leslie. This one is from the yard by the tree, looking northeast to the corner of Glenview & the alley. We had removed the concrete pavers that had been the sidewalk to the alley for many years, and had stacked them beside the tree and around the concrete seat by the pond. Leslie has plans for them later.

To the right you can see the beginning of the front yard sidewalk replacement project. The steps at the street are gone, too. Note the nice compact car parked out front--it's the replacement vehicle while the Honda is being repaired. I admit: I encountered a utility pole that wasn't supposed to be there in Webster Groves two weeks ago.

Well, as you can see, we are off to a ripping good start after Day 1 of the great garage/sewer/sidewalk project. More tomorrow, I am sure.

Leslie began a report and saved it to work on later. I forgot and did this. Tomorrow the entry is hers!

Welcome to Our Life!

We are Leslie & Dale Simpson, residents of Joplin, Missouri. Our daughter Kelly suggested we begin a blog as a way of communicating the minutiae of our usually boring lives to those who might care to read it. Though our life lacks a lot of excitement, for the next month it will be noteworthy, as we are having a new garage and driveways built. We will be reporting on the progress as each day goes by.