Slip and slide

The forecast was correct this time! 3-4 inches of snow fell last night and it's pretty cold out today. Look at the snowy roof, we have a well insulated roof since there are no melted parts...or we don't have any heat in the house to leak out! We spent a vacation day on Friday to prep the driveway. Since the fill had been put down and compacted, we wanted to make sure the ground stayed dry and relatively warm.

Thursday afternoon after the sidewalk was poured and the driveway was covered with concrete blankets.

 Friday morning we uncovered the driveway and put the drains and PVC in the fill for gutters and a few extra runs for irrigation, electrical wiring or dog fences. Was sunny and warm for most of the day. Then we put down 1" thick sheets of pink Dow extruded polystyrene foam (they have the pink panther on them!). We taped the seams between the sheets with packaging tape. The rocks are key (good think we bought a huge pile of rocks for landscaping!). The winds were super gusty Friday so we had to weigh everything down or it would fly away. One gust got us and several sheets blew across the yard. After that I learned to dive quickly on top of anything that wanted to blow away. Took about 3 hours to put all of the foam down, a pretty easy task.

Next we covered the driveway with thick black plastic. This was even more entertaining with the wind 20' wide strips can get quite a bit of lift! More rocks to weigh it down... And then on top we put the concrete blankets back to help keep the driveway warm. So the driveway looks pretty much identical to how it did on Friday morning, but it's even more slippery with the foam and black plastic under the blankets. Everyone had a few near slips trying to walk down the steep part. And then add 3" of snow on top and you have a great slip and slide! But watch all of the hidden rocks, they can hurt!

The landscapers were busy all day Friday. They enjoyed watching me wrestle with the foam, plastic and blankets for the driveway. I don't make manual labor tasks look quite as easy as they do (guess I'm cut out for that desk job)! At least I could provide entertainment at no additional charge.

 

 Plenty of activity in the front yard. 

 The river swale on the south side is nearly done, but it runs into the porta potty at the bottom of the hill.

 3 out of 10 truck loads of large malapai boulders. 

 A truck load of topsoil was delivered Friday. The guys were impressive pushing the wheel barrows up the wooden ramp to get up the hill. 

 A nice start to the 3' high boulder wall along the sidewalk. Three guys move all of the boulders and place them carefully to make a nice looking wall. 

Moving dirt and installing the irrigation system.

Building the irrigation system on the north side of the house. 

 

Looks like a muddy mess. They were out there this morning finishing shoveling the dirt and rock out of the street so that the plow could come by.