wake up time

The sun has awakened me these past two mornings. I always rub my eyes in wonder when I look from my bedroom window, but especially when the last days of autumn are upon us.

Blessed am I!

a perfect day for a new sidewalk

 This is the kind of day it was; a rare day of autumn warmth, sun, breezes, blue skies, and cement.

Those kinds of days don't come along very often. One must seize them when they do.

 So, around 10 am, when the ground rumbled with the arrival of a cheery red & white cement truck, the guys
tossed on their wellies & grabbed their rake or shovel of choice.
 The cement truck really thrilled me. When the back went round & round, the red & white stripes looked strikingly like a candy cane on Christmas morning. I think I was the only one who noticed this.

 Cement truck drivers are a special breed. And that's all I have to say about that.
-But I had to say SOMETHING, anyway.

 See how expectant these guys look? They know that this is the last time their lower backs will feel good for, say, 48 hours at least.

 Then the job kicked into gear when the first river of sliding cement dropped down. Ah, its a lovely sound!

Allow me to get out of the way ( which is what the LOTM regularly tells me to do) and show you what transpired:

 I'll just say this one thing: that girl in the background?

 Yeah. Her.

She stuns me with her beauty. And her ripped up jeans. And her brother's hat.

It was an eventful day.
Now I get to throw in more more thing, and it is this:

 When life gives you three wheelbarrows full of extra cement, you think really really fast about WHERE ELSE CAN CEMENT MAKE MY LIFE EASIER.

With me, it was a fast answer: I KNOW! Why, the bottom of the hill as slick as an oil spill! You know, that stretch of hill that always lands me on my bottom on my way to my kayak!

All it took was two really helpful & strong guys who didn't mind me being a tad bit bossy. ( "Dump that heavy load here." "Put that really big rock there" -and so on & so forth.) I suspect they were extra gracious to me because they knew I had a double-meat casserole in the oven with their names on it.

 I am so entirely happy with what they made for me, that I trotted down those steps tonight & hopped into my kayak for a quick spin on the river. I didn't even land on my bottom ONCE.

That's how I spell S-U-C-C-E-S-S!

As for the sidewalk, it will be quite useful this winter. And in the spring, the Lord of the Manor will install the gorgeous slabs of paving stone that he dragged home from Pennsylvania.

Won't that be ever so nice?

sure footing

 What is the purpose of this mess?
Is it a moat? A new kind of security system? The ravages of a large marsupial?

Nope.

It's just what happens when the Lady of the Manor sweetly suggests to The Lord of the Manor that we might possibly need a real sidewalk before winter. Last winter, we balanced upon wooden planks, the kind that pirates place over the open sea & forcibly urge prisoners to trot upon.

If my memory serves me well, ( and I pray it does) -all last winter's guests to the Stone Home were accounted for; none were lost in the mire, nor skated away over the hillside beyond rescue ---depending upon the rise and fall of the season's climate.
 Early this spring -when these planks rested gingerly upon a veritable sea of mud-, M'Lord bestrewed some sundry stone in place to make the way a bit more pleasant:

 
 (No side-by-side travelers, here. Single file, please!)

But I digress. I left you, kind reader, at my sweet entreaty for a proper sidewalk.

"The Royal Coffers cannot support such an Expensive Endeavor!" -quoth the LOTM.

(royal silence before the Lady replies)

"Neither can the Royal Coffers support the Hospital Bills of the Common Folk who mayeth fall on their keisters this winter." quoth the Lady --who thinks of such things.



So the LOTM saddled up his royal steed ( the Suburban) and hitched a jolly wagon ( a flatbed) to its hinder parts & hied himself to the Stone Quarries of Pennsylvania, where he had to go near anyway for another reason. And he brought home some little bits of paving stone.

These little bits of paving stone weigh a few tons. But their cost was well-discounted, even considering the efforts it took to obtain them and lug them to their new home!

We also have a humble pile of stone which we gathered from around the yard. No sense leaving these to waste.

It was kind of fun to take a can of bright orange spray paint & lay out the Royal Sidewalk Pattern this morning! As you may note, we changed out minds a few times. But nonetheless, the die was cast -thanks to the borrowed machinery (also bright orange) from our generous neighbors.


More on the new sidewalk very soon!