Good morning!!!!

dave1949 · May 21, 2015

daugen said:
good morning all. Dave, good luck today with your Mom. May all outcomes be positive.

Weather outcome is not good today for what is planned...replacing the pavers in my front walkway and repitching the whole area away from the house. Since my helper noshowed me yesterday (I think he like Maynard Krebs must pipe up every once in a while "WORK?") Two fireman coming today to do the work; I'm still hurting from pulling all the pavers out yesterday by myself. And now the forecast is for severe thunderstorms starting after lunch with .8 inches of rain.
Don't think the top layer of sand is going to get set today, will get the rest done and wait until things dry up. I bought the plastic bottom liners from Lowes to make this somewhat idiot proof.

Need to make a run out in a little bit to pick up some more water and sports drinks for the workers. Then I intend to do nothing more than drive the tractor and supervise today. They will need to dig out the sand in there already, likely will get them to just shovel into the FEL and I'll go make yet another pile somewhere. Even though the plastic liners allegedly avoid the use of underlayment, we are doing it the old fashioned way, go all the way down, underlay, roll/tamp, light coat of sand, tamp again, lay liners, lay pavers, etc. Maybe those liners will let them get enough done before the heavens open up. That area will then be quite the little swimming pool. Plastic liners are full of drain holes so it should all drain and be fine by morning. Then tomorrow we can finish it off.

I'll have a lot of material left. Preserved all the old pavers and piled them behind the barn, and will lay them somewhere in the barn to form a floor, a bit of recycling. Pics to follow.

Maybe renting a plate compactor would be good. If you make enough passes even the smaller ones will compact a lot and more evenly than a hand tamper. Good luck with the weather and thank you for the well wishes.

txdon · May 21, 2015

Good morning! A cool 68˚ with a North wind and it will only get into the mid 70s.
Chance of rain again for the 13 day in a row. We had 1/2" yesterday - total for the month 7.5".

I have not watered My watermelon patch in two weeks but the daily rains have kept the sand saturated, like a wet sponge, and 80% of the plants have drowned. I'm so used to the drought that I saw no reason to plant them on mounds - mistake. There's no rush to put up my new solar panel and pump on the spring pond for irrigation.

Drew the tamper and bull float were my prep tools of choice on the sand for the pavers. Don't forget the rubber hammers.

farmer2009 · May 21, 2015

51 this morning and headed to 63 today. Getting close to the record cool highs the last couple of days. I'm not going to argue if spring wants to hang out till fall. Forecasts say I'm dreaming upper 80's and humid next week.

Off to see chickens this morning then finish some weedeating that the hired help didn't get done with. I really wish I could find someone who could do the weedeating in double my time. It takes me about 4 hours. The last two I have hired needed 12 and 13 hours to finish.

Dave hope your mom has a speedy recovery.

Drew have seen some use PVC pipe to control the depth and help keep the slopes right. Lay out two pipes then screed off of them. Then fill in for the pipes. Some pictures would be nice.

daugen · May 21, 2015

thanks guys. My 280 pound fireman is bringing his tamper plus I'm going to run my 1200 pound water roller over it.
I have a long aluminum bar, looks like a big rule without markings and I think that will keep a nice flat surface. Good ideas on the rollers. Off to the barn plus I'll grab the rubber hammers.

KevT · May 21, 2015

Dave, I truly wish the best for your Mom. We had to put my MIL in the Nursing Home after she broke her leg. The bone healed fine, but she wont weight bear and we both work.

ronjhall · May 21, 2015

daugen said:
thanks guys. My 280 pound fireman is bringing his tamper plus I'm going to run my 1200 pound water roller over it.
I have a long aluminum bar, looks like a big rule without markings and I think that will keep a nice flat surface. Good ideas on the rollers. Off to the barn plus I'll grab the rubber hammers.

It's not weight that makes a good place for the pavers. It's vibrations from the Plate Compactor. Makes a big difference in how long pavers stay in place. Also much easier on the body.

davesl708 · May 21, 2015

Good morning everyone. Hope you have fair weather and warm temps. 51F degrees this morning after a little shower overnight. This will be only the fifth day this month we have had decent sunshine and no rain. Will only get to maybe 67F degrees today. Has been well below average temps here all month.

deerseeker001 · May 21, 2015

51 and sunny, warming to 70 Today which is a big improvement in the Weather.I will be working in the yard Today.

dave1949 · May 21, 2015

KevT said:
Dave, I truly wish the best for your Mom. We had to put my MIL in the Nursing Home after she broke her leg. The bone healed fine, but she wont weight bear and we both work.

Thanks Kev. We keep our fingers crossed. We thought about what if she had broken a leg or hip, that would be a lot worse and maybe something like your MIL that there is never a complete comeback from. Seems to go that way often enough especially if there are other medical issues--and there usually are for elderly folks.

I mowed the yard this morning for the first time this year. The robins appreciate the shorter grass and Sharon told me it was time to mow. :laughing: It must be summer.

txdon · May 21, 2015

Taking a quick break from Mowing in the mist. It is an incredible 64˚ - now I know how it feels up North in the summer. This is great, I don't even mind stopping every 20 minutes to clean out the underneath of the mower.

sseelhoff · May 21, 2015

Isn't this amazing? Trying to decide if I need a long sleeve jersey to ride.

sodamo · May 21, 2015

64°F and .04 inches rain last 24 hours

Be safe
Have a great day

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sodamo · May 21, 2015

Dave, best wishes for your Mom's recovery.

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Larro Darro · May 21, 2015

Good Evening. 1955, clear, 80F with 66% humidity. Our high was 91F and tonight's forecast low is 64F. Last night we had a bad wind storm blow through about 2100. It didn't last long, but the resulting power outage hung around until after midnight. It blew some of my sweet corn over, and turned over melon and cucumber vines.

My cousin and I spent the day canoeing on the Chipola River. When he wasn't hung up, he was catching little big mouth bass. We were not going to keep them, even if they had been long enough.

Dave, hope your Mom has a speedy recovery.

daugen · May 21, 2015

made good progress on the walkway, took longer than hoped to get the grades right, but we shall see.

What I did not like was finding I had two mini sinkholes in the walkway bed. One shovel handle went down half its length. My two firemen are not small guys for sure... and they really worked on those two soft sections. My roller would not fit, so they hand tamped over and over.

All the existing sand was dug out, underlayment put it, tamped, sand, tamped, then the plastic sections, then the pavers just got started before the heavens opened up and we had a tropical dump down on us. Even my phone started buzzing saying there was a local tornado alert, luckily involving the area ten miles east of me. Nasty storm front for sure.

Kyle_in_Tex · May 21, 2015

sseelhoff said:
Isn't this amazing? Trying to decide if I need a long sleeve jersey to ride.

I was couped up all day inside work. Came out and was surprised to a misty 65 degrees. Rare. I used to have a crawdad feast every year the 1st weekend in May (same as Kentucky Derby). 2 or 3 times out of 17, it was a cold, windy affair.

Ready for the rains to go to the northwest of Austin to fill up the lakes.

Kyle_in_Tex · May 21, 2015

daugen said:
made good progress on the walkway, took longer than hoped to get the grades right, but we shall see.

What I did not like was finding I had two mini sinkholes in the walkway bed. One shovel handle went down half its length. My two firemen are not small guys for sure... and they really worked on those two soft sections. My roller would not fit, so they hand tamped over and over.

All the existing sand was dug out, underlayment put it, tamped, sand, tamped, then the plastic sections, then the pavers just got started before the heavens opened up and we had a tropical dump down on us. Even my phone started buzzing saying there was a local tornado alert, luckily involving the area ten miles east of me. Nasty storm front for sure.

Drew, That last pic might just be the heaviest load you've had in the FEL.

Dave, more prayers for your mom.

Ron, easy on that back. You only have one.

KevT · May 21, 2015

daugen said:
made good progress on the walkway, took longer than hoped to get the grades right, but we shall see.

What I did not like was finding I had two mini sinkholes in the walkway bed. One shovel handle went down half its length. My two firemen are not small guys for sure... and they really worked on those two soft sections. My roller would not fit, so they hand tamped over and over.

All the existing sand was dug out, underlayment put it, tamped, sand, tamped, then the plastic sections, then the pavers just got started before the heavens opened up and we had a tropical dump down on us. Even my phone started buzzing saying there was a local tornado alert, luckily involving the area ten miles east of me. Nasty storm front for sure.

I didn't realize you had sink holes in NC? I have 2 on my property, but mine are what I use as burn pits for the trees I had knocked over. When they parceled out this area they did it in 10 acre tracts, and if you look at an aerial view every property had one, you can follow the path. I do think mine are a little bigger, they are 30 foot across, and about 16 foot deep. Lori wanted to turn one into a pond.....

txdon · May 21, 2015

Drew, are you going to put a boarder on those pavers or just butt up sand next to them?

farmer2009 · May 22, 2015

daugen said:
made good progress on the walkway, took longer than hoped to get the grades right, but we shall see. What I did not like was finding I had two mini sinkholes in the walkway bed. One shovel handle went down half its length. My two firemen are not small guys for sure... and they really worked on those two soft sections. My roller would not fit, so they hand tamped over and over. All the existing sand was dug out, underlayment put it, tamped, sand, tamped, then the plastic sections, then the pavers just got started before the heavens opened up and we had a tropical dump down on us. Even my phone started buzzing saying there was a local tornado alert, luckily involving the area ten miles east of me. Nasty storm front for sure.

Drew. Be careful with those sink holes. Sometimes they grow very fast.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IukDWhf7U9I