Going Off Grid in East Tennessee (cheaper, tennis, mountains)

[Pam& Bill]

Great update and what an odd tree. I look forward to each Monday morning.
Pam

[kygman]

If you look close at that tree, you can see that one day, long ago, a storm split that tree. The two points sticking up is what's left of the old tree trunk. The hollowed out part still attached to the ground is the rest of it. The new growth is coming out of what used to be the top to the tree. Either somebody cut up what was the top or it broke off when the tree broke and rotted away.
Seabee, sometimes what makes blacktop slip like what you're talking about is not enough tack oil underneath. Tack oil is what they spray before they blacktop to help the new hot blacktop (usually 300-350 degrees when dumped in the truck) bond to the existing surface. If there isn't enough oil put down the blacktop won't bond in that spot. Don't want too much oil though as it can seep through. What will interesting is watching the trucks back up the hill. They should start paving at the top and go down. For one obvious reason, if they started at the bottom there's no way for the trucks to get around the paver, loaded or full. Another reason is, by starting at the bottom and the trucks backing up the hill, they won't get the heavy loaded trucks on the new blacktop, which could leave tracks and would leave trash stuck in it.

Lisa, I'll tell you something funny about putting down blacktop. Several of the summers I have blacktopped, we would just happen to be working close to a field with the tastiest, juciest corn, just ready to pick! We would grab enough ears for everybody and, at the hot mix plant (hot mix is the hot blacktop), after the truck was loaded, we stuck the corn in the hot mix, shucks and all.
We'd leave the silks sticking out to make them easier to find. By the time we got to the job site that was some of the best tasting corn ever. The shucks kept the oil out while the corn was steam cooked. A little squeeze Parkay goes a long way out there! lol

[Tek_Freek]

So is this a snake or is the famed Nessie from Loch Ness? Some judicial cutting would make this a great place to cookout at night and tell scary stories!

[kygman]

If it's a male, wonder if that's what it looks like it could be at the bottom right of the trunk??? lol

[Jaxson]

Good eye Tek!

YLisa can't wait to see it all paved thanks for the weekly update you guys are amazing.

[HawaiiLover]

Hi Lisa, and of course, Mike.
I, too, am excited to see the paving job done.

[southernfried]

Hey Mike &Lisa Ive been away for bout 2weeks,had to seatdown &get up with what is goin on in M&L world,looks like yaw been goin at it!! With all the work,cool lookin tree! Until next time! seeya

[younglisa7]

Good morning everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful week. The weather is really changing. They are calling for a bad winter.

Thank you all for writing in. Now let me take you back to when the weather was nicer.

8-13
Back to the paving job. All in all the crew was there for about 2 weeks. Today they brought in truck loads of gravel and used their roller to pack it down. The longest part was the waiting for the truck to get back from the plant.

Here is the roller coming up the driveway.



They got all the gravel dropped and spread out for our back parking area.



I am really excited to finally see some pavement but that will be tomorrow.
It took them the whole day to prep the side walkway, the back area, and the driveway.



8-14

Today is the day. Woo hoo. They are going to lay the asphalt. It is going to be a "smelly" day. I'll have to keep the house closed up.

The first truck of asphalt they were able to bring the truck straight up going forward. They will be working their way down. Once they get to the driveway they will have to back up.


Our first load of asphalt is at the top. They start off with the side walkway.

They dump it into the smaller bucket so it can be spread out by hand.



Dumping it into the spreader.



It got dumped out and now they guys are starting to spread it on our walkway.




Moving their way up the walkway.



Next they have to roll it out to make it smooth. They do the walkway with a hand roller.



The walkway is done. Yay. Now we just have to stay off of it for a little while.




Now they can move onto the back parking area. Here is the "big boy" roller.
Very cool. As you all know I like the big trucks, lol. I should have had Tonka toys when I was a kid.



The guys are spreading out the last of the asphalt.



They didn't get anymore deliveries of asphalt so that's all they can do. Now we have to wait until the weekend is over for them to finish.


That is all for this quick update. I know the stories are getting short but I am trying to stretch it out as long as I can. We will be busy again in the Spring.

I apologize for any technical misuse of words about paving and the machinery used. If anyone can fill us all in please do so.

Have a wonderful week and I will write again next Monday.

Lisa

[HawaiiLover]

Lisa, the paving looks great. Can't wait to see the finished job.

[Jaxson]

Thanks for the update YLisa! Will your one day pond be going in directly in front of your house on the other side of the fence? I was wondering about the driveway and gate leading out into the pasture.