Arbor Concrete Edging

Monday: (02/22) Breakfast from Happy Donut, my usual sausage, egg and cheese English muffin. I checked on the construction site on my way to get breakfast. After breakfast, I started setting up to pour concrete then mixed about 18 bags and poured only one side of the arbor. I took count of my remaining inventory and considered I'd need a couple more to do the second side but didn’t have enough to assure completion. I also had extra work crushing the first 10 bags on concrete that have been stored for a couple of years in the tent and had some hard chunks. That and my getting older, and wiser, made me decide to do the second half later. Since the yard people will be here tomorrow, I’ll plan on doing it Wednesday. Fortunately we have good weather forecast through the week. I had a ham sandwich for lunch. Lou made chicken broccoli pasta for dinner. Lou and I went to Lowe’s in Sunnyvale and picked up 10 more bags of concrete.

Tuesday: (02/22) I removed the forms on the first half of the arbor concrete. Otherwise a day off. Granola and diced apple for breakfast. Lunch with Dawn and Lou at Baji’s Cafe in Mountain View. Lou made chicken cordon bleu with rice and coleslaw for dinner.

Wednesday: (02/23) I checked on the progress of the hole being dug down the street for the new building. Then I got busy and poured the second half of the concrete for the arbor curbing. 22 bags today, 18 bags yesterday. Granola and diced apple for breakfast. Leftover chicken broccoli pasta for lunch. More leftovers for dinner. I had veggie soup with an open faced ham and cheese toast.

Thursday: (02/24) I headed down before 0800 to look in the hole. They were using the huge backhoe to shave the edge of the hole flat between steel beams. They only had five sections left to finish having done most of the shaving yesterday. By the end of the day the big backhoe was near the top of the ramp and had pulled the remaining debris up behind him. It will likely be removed tomorrow. I returned home a little after 0900 and had some of Dawn’s rice ginger sausage mixture for breakfast. For lunch I picked up a veggie burrito from El Gruellense. Lou and Dawn headed off for lunch at Ann’s cafe in Menlo park and visited a few thrift stores and did grocery shopping on the way home. I stripped the forms and cleaned up the arbor construction area. Lou made leftover chicken cordon bleu with rice and roasted tomatoes for dinner.

Friday: (02/25) Breakfast from Happy Donut, my usual. I headed off to Bear Creek Redwoods Open Space Preserve for a hike. My hike included all the trails in the preserve, a loop up to Madrone Knoll near 1700 feet up from the parking area. I went up via the Alma Trail and back on the Redwood Springs Trail. It was an 8 mile hike on a really nice day. Quite a few fellow hikers including a swarm of hikers from my hiking group. Unfortunately there aren’t any good views out over the neighboring mountains and valleys from the trail. I picked up lunch at the China Wok restaurant in Sunnyvale on my way home. We had tomato soup with toast for dinner.

Saturday: (02/27) We worked in the yard today. I continued cleanup around the arbor. I had to leave buried concrete debris around. I crushed all the larger debris into more baserock rather than have to add it to the garbage bin. Lou and Dawn cleared the new garden area. Lou and I went to Lowe’s and picked up a load of steer manure and some garden soil. Back home Lou and I spread the manure on the garden spot and then I ran the rototiller over it. We returned to Lowes for a second load of manure for the old garden spot. Dawn came with us this time. Granola and banana for breakfast. Lasagna from Harry’s Hofbrau for lunch. Lou and Dawn had their prime rib for lunch. Leftovers for dinner.

Sunday: (02/28) We all worked in the yard. I hauled some baserock to fill areas where brick will be installed under the arbor. I also placed some garden soil in the new planters under the arbor. We all went to Lowe’s again. I needed some PVC pipe and fittings and Lou needed more manure. And more supervision of the construction project down the street. Granola and banana for breakfast. Hamburgers from The Counter for lunch. Leftover Chinese food for dinner.