THE Road Widening - A Continuing Saga

TheLastGreen

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The old pole has been removed, and last Monday was "two weeks." They've not started construction yet.

But, I'm taking advantage of the fact my Texas tortoises are brumating and I'm re-doing their shelter and rotten fence. Over the winter I didn't take care of the grass, allowing it to revert to its wild state. But I've chopped down the Texas tortoise area and started taking down their rotten fence.

Last year one of our Fresno members sold his Manouria to my partner. Having no further use for 'tortoise fence' he asked me if I wanted his fencing. It's that artificial plastic/wood stuff. I'm not one to ever turn away free wood, so I took it. It was a whole pick-up bed full of different lengths pickets. I will plant 4x4s and attach 2x4s and then I've got all those pickets to attach to it! The only trouble is my energy level. I've been working at this portion for about two weeks and haven't gotten much done.

The area I'm working on:

View attachment 342116

You can see the pickets leaning up against the driveway fence.

And here's their old shelter. I've already upgraded the desert tortoises' shelter next door, putting on a hinged roof and insulating with rigid foam:

View attachment 342117
That looks great! I do hope that russian of yours shows his head after all this, but I can't remember, what happened to him?
 

Yvonne G

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That looks great! I do hope that russian of yours shows his head after all this, but I can't remember, what happened to him?
We've had nice weather and lots of sunshine, so I'm pretty sure he woke up and took off (fences are down all across the front of the property).
 

Yvonne G

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Wrecking across the front of my property is underway. Being demolished are several very large cactus plants, a mature flowering pear tree, a couple mature rose bushes, the fir tree I planted in the ground (was a table top christmas tree for when my Texas grand daughter came here several years ago, the south end of the pond and all its cinder blocks, and a whole lot of cement border and redwood fence material.

What it looked like before they started:

road widening a.jpg


The fig tree and the edge of the fir tree:
road widening b.jpg


The flowering pear tree:
road widening c.jpg


One of the piles of cacti:
road widening d.jpg


The fir tree to the left of the bucket, and he's working on getting a eucalyptus stump out of the ground:
road widening e.jpg



road widening f.jpg


One of the rose bushes bites the dust:
road widening g.jpg


The flowering pear tree is about to meet its maker:
road widening h.jpg



road widening i.jpg



road widening i.jpg


I was able to save my old gate:
road widening j.jpg



The south end of the pond and cinderblocks are getting demolished:
road widening k.jpg


All that's left of my fence's footing:
road widening l.jpg


A sad picture:
road widening m.jpg


I was able to save a few cuttings of the cholla, which has a very pretty purple flower. I'm going to see if I can dig through that pile for some cuttings of the orange-flowered one.
 

Yvonne G

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End of day three (after they cut my phone line and left me without phone or internet overnight!)

road widening 5-13-22.jpg
 

Yvonne G

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It looks to me like the new crew working on all this stuff is way different than the last one. That's downright rude.
It's a much bigger operation. The first contractor crew was only a few guys and very personable and friendly. This crew has four big excavators and enough workers that I don't recognize any of them.

Even though my phone line was clearly marked he still dug it up and broke it. It's like he didn't even care. He has a job to do and he's doing it regardless of what gets in the way. I was worried I'd be without phone all week end, but thank goodness AT& T's repair service works week ends.
 

Cathie G

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It's a much bigger operation. The first contractor crew was only a few guys and very personable and friendly. This crew has four big excavators and enough workers that I don't recognize any of them.

Even though my phone line was clearly marked he still dug it up and broke it. It's like he didn't even care. He has a job to do and he's doing it regardless of what gets in the way. I was worried I'd be without phone all week end, but thank goodness AT& T's repair service works week ends.
Good. Maybe At+t'll remind the idiots that you are tearing up people's homes.
 

jaizei

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It's a much bigger operation. The first contractor crew was only a few guys and very personable and friendly. This crew has four big excavators and enough workers that I don't recognize any of them.

Even though my phone line was clearly marked he still dug it up and broke it. It's like he didn't even care. He has a job to do and he's doing it regardless of what gets in the way. I was worried I'd be without phone all week end, but thank goodness AT& T's repair service works week ends.

was it just your phone line or others also?
 

Yvonne G

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They're working at a snail's pace. No work at all for two weeks, then this past Friday they dug away about five more feet off the frontage:

Here I'm standing in my driveway looking out at the street, along the path that used to be my old driveway:

road widening 6-5-22 a.jpg

This is the desert tortoise yard. You can see the marks and stakes showing where the excavation will go:

road widening 6-5-22 b.jpg

Hard to get the perspective, but this is the side of the "canyon" - about 7' from top to bottom:

road widening 6-5-22 c.jpg

That whitish flat spot is hardpan. Looks like cement/concrete, but he assurred me it's hardpan/caliche. Trying to excavate that broke the excavator's bucket, so he left it and continued on in a different spot:

road widening 6-5-22 d.jpgroad widening 6-5-22 e.jpg

Looking east along the frontage. Gives you an idea of just how wide the new street is going to be:

road widening 6-5-22 f.jpg
 

Maggie3fan

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Well, I guess they are taking care of her financially, but the damage done to the plants and earth, matches the damage done to the hearts of those of us who partnered in her yard. When I drove truck and when I went to someplace interesting I brought back part of it,...cactus from Texass, ferns from Florida..something from New Mexico...that sort of stuff you can't replace. The lives of exotic reptiles already lost and more to lose. Her husband brought her a cactus from a bike run, I think...that makes it very old, and now gone. Frankly, I think the whiole thing sucks....but it is what it is, and she will just do it all again...
 

Yvonne G

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Well, I guess they are taking care of her financially, but the damage done to the plants and earth, matches the damage done to the hearts of those of us who partnered in her yard. When I drove truck and when I went to someplace interesting I brought back part of it,...cactus from Texass, ferns from Florida..something from New Mexico...that sort of stuff you can't replace. The lives of exotic reptiles already lost and more to lose. Her husband brought her a cactus from a bike run, I think...that makes it very old, and now gone. Frankly, I think the whiole thing sucks....but it is what it is, and she will just do it all again...
. . . if I live that long, Maggie. I'll be 84 this year, and my energy level and ambition are not nearly what they used to be. I'll be getting together with my tortoise partner, Will, later to see how I can thin down the herd and consolidate the yards.
 

Yvonne G

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Progressing at a snail's pace. They had to work around my telephone buried drop which was laying on the ground because AT&T didn't come out to take care of moving it. They finally came yesterday. In the meantime the road widening crew put in some 4" PVC up the cliff to the desert tortoise yard, and out to the right-of-way area which lines up with the new power pole. Then the AT&T repairman came and put in a new drop through that PVC, placed a new pedestal and everything's buried except for the hole out at the street that's waiting for a splicer to come out and encapsulate the cable and splice so they can bury it.

They're preparing the trench for the footing for the retaining wall, and having a very hard time with the hard pan. They tried using a backhoe, and it wouldn't cut it. Today they brought out a pneumatic thing-a-ma-bob that rat-a-tat-tat'ed the hard soil. It was too hot for me to stand out there and watch them, so I don't know if that thing worked or not. It was so hot that they had a little tent-like cover over the guy operating the equipment. Here's the weather outlook for the next few days. So I imagine not too much work will get done for a while:

Thu
Clear

101°
70°
Fri
Sunny

105°
69°
Sat
Sunny

106°
69°
Sun
Sunny

107°
71°
Mon
Sunny

107°
70°
Tue
Sunny

103°
67°
Wed
Sunny

101°
65°
Thu
Sunny



Here's how it looks at the end of today:

road widening 6-23-22 a.jpgroad widening 6-23-22 b.jpg
 

TaraMaiden

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I'm very late to the party, and only recently joined.... I'm not asking precise details (none of my business!) but -
. . . if I live that long, Maggie. I'll be 84 this year, and my energy level and ambition are not nearly what they used to be. I'll be getting together with my tortoise partner, Will, later to see how I can thin down the herd and consolidate the yards.

- are you being compensated for everything you've lost? All the plants, and your terrain, and everything else you've had to sacrifice??
 

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