It's a sunny day at the farmette. Fourteen degrees C heading to a comfortable 23.
We just watched the U.S. fall to Sweden during the women's FIFA world cup. It was a hard-fought game, and it came right down to the wire. Not sure I agree with sudden death penalty kicks - it seems not very fair after playing for 90+ minutes - why not just cut to the chase?
Anyhow, all the ladies played amazingly, the Swedish goalie was supernatural, and in the end, the jig was up for the U.S.
Here on home turf, far from the action in Melbourne, Australia, we had some excitement of our own this week.
We finally got our ratty old driveway reconditioned.
Jeremy Clarke and the men from Grey-Bruce Landscaping started at about 8 a.m. on Monday and were miraculously finished everything - preparation, levelling, gravel throwing and tidying - by about 3 p.m.
It was a big job. We could barely see where the old horseshoe shaped driveway was for all the grass and weeds that had grown up over the years.
In addition to the skid steer and the roller, they had this machine that I'd never seen before. A truck filled with gravel and a conveyor belt mechanism out the back.
It look like a gigantic elephant trunk that could be controlled to send gravel with pinpoint precision exactly where it was needed. Cool.
Jeremy told me that, without this machine, the job would've taken twice as long.
As usual, they were complete professionals and cleaned everything up so you'd never know they were there.
Now, we have a truly lovely driveway that sets off the new front bed that Jeremy put in last year. Both should be good for the long term, and the face the 158-year-old farmette presents to the world is a corker. As it should be. Until next week.
Gratuitous cat photo courtesy of Hobbes (top) and Calvin, who we can hardly tell apart any more.
