Driveway Saga

B came and got me as I'd overslept. Up and writing in the middle of the night will do that. Scott had already started on the driveway and B had cut the saplings. We tossed brush, then walked over and down behind the dozer, a D3C. He'd worked his way up and was finishing on his way down, we were throwing large rocks off the edge. His second time up he'd carved a ditch away from, and graded the puddles. Second time down was serious finish, with much twirling around and driving the dozer backward. The whole piece of work is a thing of beauty. He's the best I've ever seen. At the bottom he carved out and graded the winter parking places. Then he said that he thought he should go to his storage barn, get his roller and make a few passes before the afternoon showers, he was on his way down the final time when the showers came. He settled for $600 cash. Money well spent. And a joy to watch someone do something that they're very good at doing. I had backed the Jeep over to B's parking area, so Scott could work on the puddles and my section of driveway, and when he left I drove all the way home. It's been two years since I could do that. I'll need some fill (creek-run, it's called locally), but lord love a duck. It's almost completely done. Ate a large potato and egg late lunch, then walked back over and part way down. There are now actually a couple of places where it would possible to carefully pass. We'll have to dig out the catchments for the culverts after the first big rain, but then they should be self-cleaning, the ditch is perfect (or will be, when the fines wash out) and the camber is perfect, enough to slide a vehicle over to the bank side in those moments of panic when ones loses control. I can hardly wait to drive out tomorrow. I fully intend to start laying in winter supplies next week. New shocks and serious off-road tires would significantly reduce my walking in and out. A break I've been needing. I think I'll ask TR and Meagan out for a celebratory dinner; I'd like to cook ribs, before the season disappears. Next month I have to clean the stove pipe and run-out the flying squirrels; it's not something that's optional. I have a system for that. It's an ugly half-a-day, like the half-a-day I'll spend mucking out the outhouse and the composting toilet. But it's only once a year, one nasty day, and I can reward myself with a good bottle of wine and a wedge of that excellent English Double Cheddar. Not that I'm carrot driven, just that certain things need to be done. The driveway has been constructed, then rebuilt four times, in fourteen years, and average life of 3.7 years. That's good enough for me. I don't expect to be here 3.7 years from now, so this could be the last time I pay to have the driveway rebuilt.