Friday, April 11, 2014

driveway bs ;-)

jambaloney here!

this post i started last fall and never finished, today's little job continued the theme so here you have it!

first off - the text i started

"okay >>  sometimes projects don't get finished when winter hits - i won't complete this til spring so here ya have it!

our driveway is steep and about 100 feet long until the turn around -...."

here WAS a nice fall day




well that was it so here we go with the rest of the fall pics - yes - the driveway is long


someday i will get to putting in this perforated hose @ strategic spots... pay attention to that thing in the upper right corner..


as the ruts that the truck tires make become run-off making deeper ruts every rain


so last fall i started re-trenching the ditch  and adding strategic diverts every 20 feet or so


here is a good pic of how deep the tire tracks had gone...


i filled in the tire ruts with the dirt from the trenching of the ditches


you can get an idea here


here is a ditch before trenching..

same ditch after!



okay off to the beach for gravel!!!



not too much so the truck doesn't suffer...



and seaweed while there!!!


i filled in the rest with beach gravel until the freezing came upon us - got about 75 feet up the driveway!


so now it is spring!!!! and the ruts are back!!!!



and how - i will be filling these in again - but i am also going to devise some kind of scraper to grind down the middle part...


but we have something else to  fix - remember that "thing"? well i found it during large pickup last year i THINK it may be from an old satellite dish - they used to use the real big ones here years ago - it is metal and heavy and hollow in the center


we need some other tools today...


and this stuff...

why you ask? well this winter i got the truck stuck going up the hill and it came to rest against one of the  poles for our chain.   my buddy d came to drag me out - BUT i had to hack the pole down. as it was buried in snow and ice i used a few 2x4s to "glue' it back together. well the snow and ice is gone and my wretched mess is falling apart. i plan to put steel posts in that are set in concrete, but i needed a "here and now" solution..


first off, i took the old pole down and took off the 2x4s.. but it turned out to be too short and fat - i had a lot of chipping away with the axe to make it fit in the new base..


so i looked at the other post and eyed the baby on the left - it was pretty much just sitting on the ground so it wasn't providing support anyway..


so  off it came and trimmed with the sawzall!


it fit in the base nicely and i used the axe to cut some wedges..


and added rocks galore! 


i took an old support from the busted post and banged it in where i stole the new post from - old nails, sledge and rock - good enough!!!


thar she be!!!

and we have our "gate" back!!!


last step was to wrap a plastic bag around it and tape it to prevent water from getting in the crack and rotting the wood..



good enough for a couple of months!!!!!


i will do the rounds to visit you all soon - been a crazy winter but finally the grackles and robins have arrived and there is way more brown than white!!!

cheers!

23 comments:

  1. My dad spent his whole life keeping his steep drive-way in order. The family that bought the place let it go to ruin within a year. I've hauled many a load of gravel, so I know what you're up against.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hey gorges!

      yep - it is a lot of work, but the view is worth it - i have a cunning (sort of) plan to make it better..

      hope you are having a great spring!!!
      cheers!

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. hey pioneer p!

      thanks buddy - i THINK that is a compliment - LOL!

      cheers!

      Delete
  3. There is one way that I know of to fix your driveway so you never have to fix it again. You need to put in some speed bumps (at a slight angle) so that the water never picks up speed before it gets shunted off to the side. Then you need to crown the center of the driveway so the water goes to the side instead of down. We have a friend that lived down a two mile driveway that falls a lot steeper than your driveway in places. They put speed bumps about every 30 or 40 feet and crowned the driveway when they built it and it is still in great shape after nearly 30 years. Their speed bumps are probably three feet wide and maybe only six inches high so you can drive across it with a car and not get hung up but effective for funneling the water off to the side.

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    Replies
    1. hey ed - that is a great idea - i did have divots but the bumps sound like a much better idea!

      cheers to you!!!!

      Delete
  4. Bravo on the work. Thanks for sharing the photos

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    Replies
    1. hey rob - thanks for the kudos - if you ever fly to NS, be sure to buckle up - LOL!!!

      glad you are having some nice weather - finally, eh?

      Delete
  5. Jam, You have done a terrific job. We also have a steep and very long driveway and we must maintain the farm roads ourselves. My husband uses a tractor from the 1940s which is a great help. Your doing this by hand is very hard work and quite impressive !
    Love to you both,

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. jane:

      it is a pretty heavy duty job by hand - i have plans to get the atv to help out this year - shoulda done it before!

      hope you are doing fantastic!!!

      Delete
  6. I spent a summer on a ranch in eastern washington and my job was to throw all the big rocks graded up in the ditch. Boy that job sucked!
    OT: Don't use those natural flea gels on your cats or dogs. Active ingredients Peppermint, Clove and Lemongrass oils. So far I have seen Sargeants, Hartz and Sentry "Natural flea killers" with these ois and they can kill your annimal!

    Smokey the cat seems okay as I washed her down with Dawn dish soap and got the oil of of her within about 5 minutes of her going into hyperdrive,almost running into walls and massive drooling. It looks like I got lucky and Smokey's hair and skin are okay. Also you can use liquid Benedryl safely on cats.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. jamie:

      rocks and the like suck bigtime!!!

      thanks for the tips - knock wood no flea probs yet but if we do we will follow your advice to a t!

      cheers!

      Delete
  7. Jambaloney,

    Now the snow is gone or shall I say melted it's now causing the washout on both sides of your driveway. I know this is a lot of work to make sure the driveway doesn't wash away. I remember as a kid using large rock to fill in holes along our driveway up to our old hunt camp. If we didn't have large rock, we would use large tree's that had been cut down, and branches cut off. Keep up the good work my friend, and you'll get the driveway exactly the way you want.
    Nothing like recycling items on the homestead to make a post for blocking off the end of your driveway.
    Sending hugs and love to you and Kymber.
    Your Friend,
    Sandy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. hey sweet sandy!

      i guess your Dolese Park trout season is over - mine starts in a few days but there is still too much ice - dang!

      i am tempted to get it paved - but it would just crack like the roads here so some form of mechanized help is needed....

      free stuff IS a great way to fix a problem!

      hugs and love back to you from us!!!

      Delete
  8. When you live in the country, it never stops. Finish one thing, and there's two more that crop up. It wears a fellow out.

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    Replies
    1. harry - you are right - LOTS of work, but the scenery is worth it!
      cheers my friend!

      Delete
  9. Jam, after seeing the pictures I now know why digging post holes is not an option! Nothing but rocks in the ground!
    You still have snow on the ground? and I have my A/C on. :-)

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    Replies
    1. mike!

      oh, i will dig post holes, just gonna wait for better weather to set the cement.....

      but standard posts would not survive long here and the rocks really are everywhere - we live on what is called the "till plain" which is leftover glacier deposits form the last ice age - meaning... rocks!! ;-))


      we brought a portable ac from teh city - never used it here yet!!!! go figure..
      cheers

      Delete
  10. well now, am I the only one wondering what you are going to do with the seaweed? :)

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    Replies
    1. hey there!

      the seaweed is a MAJOR source of nutrients for composting!

      and it is totally free at the beach - cheers!

      Delete
    2. I have a bucket with Irish sea moss fermenting for extra goodies for the garden. Made it from dried sea moss. Smells delish:)
      I live near the sea shore as well, so I will look for some edibles. I would love to eat some local seaweed :)

      Delete
  11. Steve made several passes up and down the driveway.fence replacement

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