The King of Concrete Returns

I'm actually not supposed to do any work today but when I go outside I can't just ignore things that have to be done.

A few years ago I had some crook and his crew asphalt my 300ft driveway

Well parts that they did while I was watching closely turned out pretty good.......but some are signs of a crook.

He promised 4in thick and in several places it is ONE inch thick and a certain type of weed we have (called horse tail) will grow right through thick hard clay AND the asphalt over and over no matter how much weed killer I pour on them straight with no water added

I was way better off when it was just a dirt driveway......and I would just mow down the middle.

Well out on the circle behind the house there is one curve about 15ft X 5 ft that is falling apart and in a hundred pieces.

I dug all of that asphalt up and under that is about a foot thick clay......hard and thick but thin asphalt just slides around on it in the winter.

I dug up almost all of the clay down another 5 inches so when I fill all of this mess up with rebar,concrete and rocks......and make the curve wider.....it will last for decades longer than me.

The worst thing is this was supposed to make things easier here since I am not supposed to do this kind of labor anymore....but I do.

And as always the women has nothing good to say about anything I do here

My main dream for this summer was going to be my last big concrete project building a HUGE concrete and stone back porch to replace the wooden one I built 13 years ago just to pass the final inspections by the county.

Of course she will give me crap daily if I do that too

(just typing to myself)

Sunny all day with the north wind so it never got too hot.

Mixed up the 240lbs of concrete and added rocks I have in my stash.

This is going to take a couple trips to Home Depot because this will take at least 14 more bags (80lb bags)

I better find more creek rocks to add so I won't have to make more than the 2 trips.

Only good thing is I will either be in summer shape to make the new back porch or ......the exact opposite

(I never did say what my New Years resolution was but so far so good with that)

a bag of redi mix makes 3 sq feet 2 inches thick, not very big area coverage. see if the Depot has some smaller pieces of rebar sticks, use them instead of the stones.

seen those little chicken wings on Facebook

cravnravn wrote:seen those little chicken wings on Facebook

Yeah I know how you facebook junkies are

Ok just got home since the wife made me ride with her to town and back so now I can go out and get the rest of the rock I need to finish this project and go pick up more concrete tomorrow........good thing the lawn has not got too far ahead of me yet.

I know one of these days I will get free time and a trip to the bowling alley and I have a long time owner who is redrilling my original bowling ball my Dad got me when I was about 13.......already polished it up and the old beast looks new

( 90 mile round trip )

you would love my sisters place, talk about being hurricane ready, 8" thick solid poured concrete walls, even the interior walls are solid poured

cravnravn wrote:you would love my sisters place, talk about being hurricane ready, 8" thick solid poured concrete walls, even the interior walls are solid poured

NICE

I sort of finished my project today.......mixed up the seven 80lb bags and rocks and some rebar but came up about a half bag short but I can finish it later.

So it was 17 bags total  and a sunny day.

so there's where my sunshine went. so far haven't seen the sun, oh well today is an excursion day, boat trip with some snorkeling thrown in.

Well at least under water you can't really tell if the sun is shining unless you are looking up

Another hot sunny day here today.........I even have to put water on the new concrete so it cures better.

I'm taking the day off after that project.

I will need to find a gas sale so I can reload the John Deere so I can do the first mow of May while I am still ahead.

I hope one of the days this week I can make the 100 mile round trip to Port Angeles to have my old bowling ball redrilled to fit my hands now........Dad gave me this one when I was 13 and in a bowling league just before Mom moved me over here to the Olympic Peninsula

I know the owners son and the owner is doing the redrill and he already polished it up.

His son is the former owner of the alley that closed down last year and sold me a piece of that alley that I am one of these days making into a kitchen table.

And I am going to see if I can still roll a bowling ball while I am there..........if I can and don't roll it in the gutter I might start playing again and we have another alley east of us only 20 minutes away

I have even been watching PBA on espn the last few sunday mornings and next sunday is for the trophy for these team bowling PBA groups in Portland Maine ......the finals have Pete Weber on one team and Norm Duke on the other.........2 of the Top 5 in PBA history.

Last sunday the Norm Duke  team rolled a 300  and Norm finished it rolling the 3 strikes in the 10th frame

Keggler...

ColtsKurt wrote:Keggler...

I could be wrong but I think they only call it a Kegler if one person rolls all 12 strikes and this was team bowling so they have 5 players on the team all roll strikes when they roll a frame and they have one picked to roll the 10th frame so Norm Duke rolled the last 3 and maybe one or two before that early in that game.

But today I see Norm Duke and Pete Weber are in a singles PBA contest and they BOTH rolled the Kegler vs each other but Weber has the lead with his average over 250 after 8 games with 1,999 points......I imagine it would take me a month to knock down 1,999 pins

I have seen a few Pro Bowlers that are from Indiana lately watching on espn.

They say this team trophy they are playing for on sunday was won by one of these teams in Indy in 2013

Hey, Magic. I've been bowling with 3 buddies every Tuesday since the start of the year. Bought a new ball beginning of February and have raised my average about 8 points since then (now all the way up to 152!). Not bad for an old fart, huh?

BlueShoes1 wrote:Hey, Magic.  I've been bowling with 3 buddies every Tuesday since the start of the year.  Bought a new ball beginning of February and have raised my average about 8 points since then (now all the way up to 152!).  Not bad for an old fart, huh?

Not bad at all

I can't wait to give it a try again since I had to retire from golf.

Just wondering if my knees can do this so I can roll the ball instead of bounce it when it hits the lane.

Man if I get a 150 I will be buying a new ball and shoes and going over to the closest alley once a week too.

Lot cheaper than golf too.

you silly guys and rolling tenpins, throw the duckpins, that's real bowling.

cravnravn wrote:you silly guys and rolling tenpins, throw the duckpins, that's real bowling.

Just saying "duckpins" is silly Cravn

That is Tom Brady bowling!!