Sunday, April 10, 2022

NO MORE SMELL

 Do you want to know what I am LOVING the most about our new driveway?

Apart from not feeling sheer loathing from the shoddy workmanship and faulty product?

The lack of smell.

The smell of hot tar, and the incredible heat that rose up from it over summer.

The concrete has virtually NO SMELL at all, it is not hot to walk on, and OMG, no stones.  

Every time I walk out my front door, I just smile happily!  😊  No more disappointment.


I will finish putting all the pots back on the driveway and so on, then take photos for you.

But for now...

ABOVE: I took this photo of the Wooden Surround last night.  I was planning on staining it mid/dark brown, but Stew suggested we leave it 'natural' as it tones in with the existing fence.

He's so right, it really does look fabulous.  I'm rather proud of it, and we both had a hand in it's construction, making it special.

There will be boards running across the top, like an inside lid... (resting on the railings that you can't see), then Lacy can put her small potted plants on top of it.

So there ya go... that's all for now.

Catch ya later.


10.45 am:  Well it was a late start here.  
I've been outside and taken some photos, so here goes:


ABOVE:  It's still drying down on the right hand side, as the shrubs keep it in shadow most of the day.  The carport is not back in it's rightful position yet, that might happen Thursday night.

But mostly, it's finished.  We absolutely LOVE it.

I walked on it with bare feet... NO STONES.  So, so good.

Stew is about to go and cut up boards for the inside 'shelf' of the wooden surround now.  Yipee.
After that is done we are heading out for a nice lunch somewhere.

Then we are packing... for a three day trip away.

ABOVE:  This section of fence was out the front shielding the bins from the road.  Now we have the bins by the back door, so we have repurposed this bit of fence for the 'lid' on the wooden surround.
The surround has cost us nothing.  We had all the bits and pieces of wood we needed just lying around.  SCORE.


ABOVE:  I couldn't decide with photo was nicer, so ya get both.
It looks so damn nice there now.

It's now 12.18 pm, time for lunch I reckon.  We've not decided where to go yet.

ABOVE:  We ended up going to Hamilton Gardens.   It was VERY BUSY, cars parked on the grass even.  We thought there must be an event on to warrant so many people being there, but no.  Just a lovely Sunday to be at the Gardens obviously.

ABOVE:  We had Eggs Benedict again, and they were perfect.

On our way home we stopped in at Mitre 10 for potting mix and a new plant for our front door.  We decided Lacy's 'front door' looked way nicer than our's, and we couldn't have that! 😂😅😊

ABOVE:  Luckily we already had all the blue pots, just in other areas.  The new plant is a succulent type of thing, which we love.  I'm happy with my front door entrance now.

It's almost 3 pm, and I'm feeling tired and a bit crabby, so time to put me feet up and just relax for a while.

ABOVE:  I baked an extra large Bacon and Egg pie for dinner.  It has onion, cheese, fresh parsley and mint in it too.
Left overs will be our lunch tomorrow.

I'm sure it will be delicious, once it's cooled down a bit.

Time to sign off for the day.
Catch ya tomorrow.

16 comments:

  1. Anonymous9:47 AM

    Is it your air conditioner unit you are covering up? If so, does it need fresh air to operate properly? Just wondering. I love the box. Such an ingenious way to cover equipment up. Ky Girl

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    Replies
    1. Yes it is, and as we virtually never use that unit, having the surround there won't matter. PLUS the wooden surround is a good distance away from the unit, there is plenty of fresh air available to it if we do turn it on. We do love it too.

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    2. Anonymous1:14 PM

      It is all looking so nice. The concrete is fabulous and beautiful and I bet it feels good on the bare feet. Ky Girl

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  2. Finally sheesh talk about making us wait!! Looks fabulous and shit loads better than the asphalt, imagine the stink in summer when it's really hot 🤢 have a super trip 💙💙

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    Replies
    1. We didn't have to imagine the smell! We lived with it over this summer already! Fresh tar seal was Horrendous!

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  3. Your driveway looks gorgeous.

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  4. Anonymous12:42 PM

    The concrete does look really good but how did you not know that asphalt smells like hot tar in the summer - all the roads are made from it!! Maybe like most of us the cost was the first consideration but glad you were able to replace it with concrete. Audrey

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    Replies
    1. The old asphalt driveway that was already here did not smell at all, even over summer. It was only the new asphalt that smelt so bad. We went with an overlay of asphalt as the man told us that's all it needed, an overlay. Lesson learnt... only concrete from now on.

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  5. Anonymous1:19 PM

    It looks fantastic! The box around the A/C ties in well with your other fence, and the plants just soften the look up. It must feel wonderful to have it all "done".

    Enjoy your lunch, and also your well-deserved three day holiday.

    A Fan in Canada

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  6. Anonymous1:48 PM

    Fabulous!

    Peta

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  7. Anonymous2:33 PM

    Driveway looks great, so glad it's all over now. Have a lovely getaway. You're lucky you have someone to look after the house and dogs, we need to organise that too so we can go away for more than one night.
    Trish in Oz.

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  8. Drive look amazing hope you r gonna send asphalt twat a photo of what a good job looks like. Enjoy well deserved break.

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  9. We had asphalt on the farm and it was fine but obviously depends a bit on the workmanship. Thinking about it that driveway has been down 32 years and still ok

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  10. I too wondered about the air space around the air conditioner but if you did decide to use it the top could have one or two of the boards removed if needed. It's all looking wonderful Chris!

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  11. It's all looking fabulous with your lovely plants and pots. Such a relief to have it all finished and you like the end result. Look forward to more pics from your trip away. Hoping we can get another visit to NZ in 2023, depending on how well the airbnb does this year - first guests of the season arrived yesterday, and a good few bookings lined up. The Nelson gal is planning a few weeks over here in August/Sept when her neice/nephew arrives so that's something to look forward to - she's been a busy lady due to staff shortages caused by covid isolations and lack of workers coming in from overseas so will be ready for a good break. She's put her residency application in so maybe she'll be an honorary kiwi at some point in the future ! Enjoy your break....well deserved after all your gardening. Good to have Lacy on hand to dog-sit and keep an eye on things.

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  12. Anonymous2:37 PM

    Concrete looks awesome thank goodness!!! Love the pots & the timber surround. Enjoy your trip away :-)

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