Big Clean Driveway

I had gotten the powerwasher out and done some of the house and gutters and the sidewalk in the front of the house and decided to start in on the driveway.  Well, I'm pretty sure today was my 5th day of working on it but I finally got that sucker finished.  It might have been 6 days but I'm pretty sure it was only 5.  It's a big driveway, including the big pad in front of the 3-car garage, and for all intents and purposes it's like painting the whole damn thing with a 3" paintbrush!  It isn't hard, I guess, since the washer does the work but I managed to get myself very sunburned and really scorched my neck.  I made a little thingie that I tucked into a sweat band to keep the sun off my neck and it worked quite well.  The worst part of it, of course, is the steepness of the drive once you go over the 'edge' and start down.  Then just standing is a chore.  But... it's done :)

The last day and working on the steepest sections.  The wagon is there to keep the powerwasher from tipping over and sliding down the drive. 

Me and my neck-protector just powerwashing away!  My uniform included socks and sandals after one day going out there without socks on and burning the crap out of the top of my feet.  I've never done that before and I'll never let it happen again!

 

 

 

I figured that once I was done it was going to look just like a driveway and even I wouldn't be able to tell what the cleaning had done so I shot this picture.  See?  It really was dirty and mildewy and yucky and now it's all nice and clean... and ready to get dirty again.

All done... nice and clean and I'm looking forward to doing it again... in 2020!!

NC Visit - Pool Fun

Well, I took Friday off as a vacation day and made the Memorial Day weekend into a 4-day affair which gave me plenty of time to get over to NC for a visit with family.  I got into Hope Mills at about 7 PM Friday night just in time to watch David pulling some chicken wing pieces out of the outdoor fryer.  Bless his heart... he got all center wing sections, my favorite!  It was fun catching up and such and the wings were very, very good.  The drive over wasn't bad but there was a lot of traffic, but it was moving, and I ran into and through one rather serious rain storm complete with blinding rain, hail, and a bit of wind thrown in for good measure.  I was in it for maybe 30 minutes but it slowed traffic to a crawl for that time.  Other than that, no big deal.

I mentioned that I'm a bit behind in the spoiling department due mainly to my not living down the block from the kids.  When I got there, David had this swimming pool play area blown up in the yard and it was really something to see.  Of course I got my suit on and made an ass out of myself trying to imitate David going up the slide the wrong way.  I had a good time and so did Samantha as she shot a video of it.  As soon as I get it I'll put it up to embarrass myself.  Well, the play pool was being borrowed from a friend and we got to talking about getting one to own and, as said, I had some spoiling to catch up on.  So off to the store to pick up a play pool for Hannah to have. David and I got the thing set up in little time, made a few adjustments, and off to play we went!

Hannah headed up the ladder to get to the slide.  That's her cousin Ethan down there sitting in the water near the end of the slide.  Ethan took his time deciding whether he wanted to play in it or not but once he made up his mind it was non-stop action all the way.

Hannah hitting the water coming down the slide.  As she got used to it she took to kind of jumping onto the slide and really flew down the thing.  More than once there was a collective "Oh my God!" from the adults as she would jump, hit the slide once, and then hit the water.  The kid's got one strong butt!

 

Hannah completing one of her 'bounces' down the slide into the pool on the second day of playing in it.  This was so fun to watch :)

Saturday night David cooked up some of his world-famous ribs for us and they were very, very good.  He does know how to cook outside and slow cooked the ribs over some charcoal and wood that really flavored the ribs nicely.  WAY too many ribs to finish so we all had our fill and had we not had to head back home, the leftovers would have been something else for sure.  Oh yeah, before I forget, Saturday afternoon we had slaw-dogs for lunch.  I don't think I've ever had one but David cooked up some hotdogs on his grill, to perfection I might add, slap it on a bun and load on the cole slaw.  I have to admit... they were very good.

David cutting the ribs prior to tossing them into the pot to shake the sauce on to them.  Although it was me that taught David how to cook ribs, including how to skin them -- yes, there is skin and finding it and pulling it off will make a huge difference -- cut them up individually after cooking them and shaking them in a pot to sauce them, Samantha mentioned that David had said something like "We'll have ribs so I can show my dad how I perfected what he taught me as the basics."  Well... he succeeded.

Tossing them in the pot to sauce them.  Then after they're all cut individually, tossed in the pot, they're all dumped back on the grill to cook in the sauce.  Oh yeah... this is good stuff!  David just having to outdo his dad sauced the ribs 3 times but as said, these were some good ribs.

Sunday afternoon at about 2 PM I pulled out, really not wanting to leave.  A very uneventful drive back with very little traffic and a safe arrival made for one very, very nice trip for grandpa to see children and grandchildren. 



May Days - Cart

Well, there hasn't been a whole lot going on worthy of picture taking but we have been busy around the house.  Last weekend it was pretty cool so I turned to getting the gutters cleaned, on the outside this time and that was a job in itself but they did turn out quite nice, as gutters go.  Since I had the power washer out I started washing down some of the house along with the windows on the outside.  Pretty fun stuff, I know.

There was one happening during the last few weeks or so and that was the purchase of a golf cart.  Kind of funny, what with me swearing off the game for some years now and now I have a golf cart.  It's actually kind of nice though because I can use it to haul stuff as well as use it to take the garbage can down, and up, the driveway and that is REALLY nice.  This is the new ride:

Note the seats on the back where one's golf clubs would go if one played golf.

The seat is kind of cool.  I'll be able to take our visitors for little rides around the neighborhood!  It's rather nice to just meander through the area I live in which is quite large and there are many cart paths that meander here and there.  The seats fold down which really makes it handy.

There you are... seat folded down for a nice carrying deck.  But, not as nice as it could be.

Now it's as nice as it can be.  I made a 'shelf' thing so I can throw all kinds of stuff on it, and I have.  The ring right in the center of the back edge of the wood is what I hook the garbage can to.  Works like a charm!  The reflective tape is there because I do stay out after dark riding around.  The thing has lights on the front and I hook a flashing light to the ring and I'm all set to be seen!