Hot Times in the Big City

Yesterday in the midst of all the tree toppling, we had a visit from the apron inspector.  That would be the driveway apron, not the one I use for cooking.  He had a fine posse of 3 young men from Benjamin Hays High School in tow.  He was setting a fine example for them as they came along in his shadow, learning how to use a measuring wheel and other skills.

While he was on the phone with his supervisor to ask how to inspect an asphalt driveway apron, I chatted with the teenagers. The burly, strong looking fellow staring at the camera told me that he was the nose guard for his high school football team.  Looks like he'd be a good one, doesn't he?  Then he told me that he wanted to go to college to study to be a mortician.  The football fan in me kinda liked that -- a nose guard who kills 'em, then chills 'em.  Wouldn't you just love to meet the career counselor at Benjamin Mays? 

Any way, in spite of having no experience whatsoever with asphalt driveway aprons, the inspector told us that we had to dig out the gravel the previous inspector had told us to put in there and replace it with a bed of asphalt below ground level.  So, Steve the driveway guy dug it out.  When Jason went racing down there on his bulldozer, I thought he was playing chicken, but he was just offering to help smooth things up.

The asphalt was spread in there by hand.  It was 300 degrees.  The air temperature was in the mid 90's.

It was hot times in the big city.

Before long the inspector came by.  He approved the ground work that had been laid.  Hooray!

Meanwhile back at the bat cave, the batmobile was firing its lasers.  Well, okay, it was the paving machine and they were flames for keeping the asphalt hot, but it was cool, anyway. 

Well, okay, it was hot.

Before too long we had a paved driveway!

Somewhere in all the excitement, Drew came by and starting marking the trees that will be used for lumber in our house.

Later in the day, he came back and sealed the ends of the logs with a custom color that marks them as ours.

I kept thinking that I had seen the color before, and it finally hit me:  Its exactly the same color as the Wicked Witch of the West's face!

I'll get you, you little pretty!

I think maybe the heat is getting to me.

Last night after supper we had one more important job to do.

Jason had graciously lifted out the quince for me and set them aside.  So, we gathered our tools - and our strength - and headed over to replant them.  I thought it was neat that my sweetie and our kids were replanting the same quince bushes that his grandmother - their great grandmother - had planted so many decades ago.  I also think they'll look great and make a nice screen around the transformer.