Gravel Drive Love

Why is this lovely to me (if not to you)?
This is the mid-point of my project to replace my ordinary concrete drive with permeable paving
The cement was mighty cracked, as my biggest tree asserted its authority with a couple of surface roots that just coincidently diverted some of the runoff away from the stormdrain into itself. I can respect that, but it looked awful. Also a lot of the water still went into the stormdrain, which is a problem around here because they overflow. Permeable pavers let the water soak into the ground where it flows slowly through the network of underground creeks and eventually into the Sound.
With the absolutely essential help of my pal Izzy and a rented jackhammer, the cement got converted into "urbanite" - concrete chunks useful for making raised beds. That's the stuff to the left of the Little Free Library (red newspaper box from an extinct paper); eventually it'll be the back garden by the new fence.
In the picture, the further pile of gravel when spread out will provide a firm foundation for the pavers, which are plastic arrays strong enough to bear the weight of a car. Then the near pile of gravel gets shoveled to fill the empty spaces in the pavers, and leveled over all. It's ready for use but wait! The vinca minora, beach strawberry, and other low-growing greenery will begin the slow process of converting the drive to their own use over maybe the course of a decade. I'll wait.
It is one more step on making my home more sustainable.
And THAT's why this picture is beautiful to me!

Today I saw my twin!

 

On the wall next to a little free pantry that I was stocking

Muppet Moss

 

Either a new Muppet or moss embracing curb reflectors. It's just our way around here.

Weekend Of No Photos

My Cans

 I have gotten out of the habit of taking pictures of something beautiful (or funny) every day, and I miss it. I've been busy!    

I talked with Shannon at work a couple of times. The hotspot has still not arrived, but I've gotten a couple of notices saying I have to restart work Monday or start taking leave. I don't trust them to have safe office space if they can't even provide a ship date or tracking number on technology they say is being sent so I can work safely from home! 

I plan to give it a month and see whether the vaccine becomes available (every appointment is booked when I checked but I suppose I just have to keep trying) or if the hotspot magically appears. I am ok with retiring and living on Social Security if I have to, but that would be cutting things mighty thin.

Saturday I took the cans to recycling for cash: $6.45 hooray! It's not a lot of money for half a year of saving up, but I enjoy the effort. The guy at the site is one of my "loose connections" as I think Claire would put it.

My impulse to finally move on this is to have the trunk empty in case Clair did ride her bike to the park and want a ride back - not a strong likelihood but it's good to be prepared. To stretch out the time between can recycling trips, I put 4 bags of them in the trunk; normally I don't store anything there but the jump start kit, but this was only a few pounds so I didn't mind.

Saturday night was the climax of one DND quest, which left us with a sort of artifact to dispose of an no idea what to do about it - so it's the start of something new. I realized that I had passed up a couple opportunities to Talk Like A Heroic Fantasy so maybe I'll plan for that next time. It can add to the fun.

Sunday afternoon, after I dropped off the last of the food donations, I met Claire at Lincoln Park and we walked and talked. We will probably do something like that again.

All weekend I tinkered on preparations for Toastmasters training and other support items. I volunteered to do the President Role training and I'm not at all satisfied with their powerpoint; I'm revising in line with the ideas I picked up from STU and also adapting some thoughts for engagement over zoom