2022 Thursday — Backyard Re-do

Yesterday the guys told Mr. Fun that they did not think they would be here today. As much as we are anxious for them to complete this first job on the first phase, we were relieved to have a day without workers.

So when we heard their truck arrive mid-morning, we were completely caught off guard. For a moment it felt like instant chaos. Mr. Fun had moved our car out of the garage, but it was parked right in front of the house where the workers park their truck. So he immediately ran down the stairs to move our car.

Their boss, Cody, the owner of the company arrived just moments after them. They are all technically welders. They are building a ramp that will allow us to get halfway up the slope in our backyard to the next level up. That next level has a natural slope-up, that leads to the very top of our backyard hill.

Our home has outdoor stairs on both sides; the north stairs come up to our front door. The south stairs end at the gate to our backyard. We do not want to more stairs to walk; our goal is to avoid falling, tripping, or stumbling. Our original thought was to have a switchback path with retaining wall on the hillside. That seemed like a lot of earth to disturb. Then someone suggested that having a ramp built might be the solution. So we started looking for a ramp builder. The ramp is basically a bridge on an incline.

Yesterday they cemented in the “pier” pilings that will support the ramp. Today the guys began welding the ramp together. In order to weld here at our house, they have used a portable generator all day.

The noise of the generator has been overwhelmingly monotonous. I feel bad for the vacationers who have rented houses this week here in our neighborhood. Hopefully they are all at the beach or the history museum or Hearst Castle or somewhere other than here desiring to have a quiet leisurely day relaxing on the deck of their vacation rental. Three times the generator was shut-off: once for lunch, then for a short break mid-afternoon, and again near 5:00 p.m. at quitting time. Each of those moments, the silence was amazing.

That’s Thursday’s story. A noisy one, but one that reports the progress being made in our backyard.

Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol
and Chloe & Mitzi too!