Relative Something

We got closer than ever to new asphalt yesterday. With great anticipation, starting right from the moment I first woke up, we awaited the arrival of heavy equipment. I drove Cyndie’s car down to the road first thing, just to have it available in case we have reason to go anywhere in the next few days.

Then I watched the hours tick by. It was about ten o’clock when I finally heard big trucks down on County Road N. Any lingering doubts I had about the timely continuation of this project were put to rest.

They unloaded machines from trailers and started moving them up the driveway. The first day would be all about preparation. Using a Bobcat skid steer tractor, the grading expert, Dan, was an artist of control as he worked to perfect the surface left by the excavating crew. They had left one small depression that he was able to quickly eliminate with the addition of another small load of gravel.

Dan said the curve in the driveway makes this job a little trickier because his Bobcat doesn’t have a blade that can be set at an angle. It just has a small bucket that he uses to grade the surface. Grading through the turn takes extra focus and attention to detail. In the high heat of a cloudless day, it would be much easier to just zone out and drive by muscle memory.

It felt great at the end of the day to see their compactors parked at the top of our driveway, ready for what comes next.

Today, it will be putting down new asphalt.

I’m feeling rather giddy to be this close.

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