THE Road Widening - A Continuing Saga

Yvonne G

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Thursday and Friday the crew finished with my retaining wall and leveling out the back fill behind the wall, so this last week-end I cleaned up the front yard. I took down all the temporary fencing (I had already moved the leopards to a different yard on the back of the property), ran the strimmer (string trimmer), raked it all up and started demo'ing the wood fence. Today the crew is building the north curb for the center median. This was very interesting to watch. There's a big cement truck, the kind with the rotating drum on the back, and he's towing some sort of gizmo that says "curb builder" on the side. As the cement slides down the tube it goes through the curb builder which spits it out as a fully developed and shaped curb. . . no forms or anything. Then there are several guys following along with trowels smoothing and inspecting. Next comes paving this side of the street. I'm going to send the City Engineer an email asking about my fence and pond. I'm thinking that now they're finished with the retaining wall I'm going to be put on the back burner while the rest of the road construction gets worked on.

In the first two pictures I'm standing at the west end of my property. I had to take two pictures to get the whole thing in. The first picture I'm pointing the camera to the street, then the second I've pointed the camera to my driveway. I'm at the west end of the desert tortoise yard. The Texas tortoises will have a strip along the driveway. There will be a fence north to south across the middle, and the Russians will be on the other side of the fence. The shed that used to belong to the leopards will now be for the Russians.

The last picture is a view from street level.

road widening 9-19-22 a.jpgroad widening 9-19-22 b.jpgroad widening 9-19-22 c.jpg

I've bought a bunch of seed, broad leaf and pasture grass, but I won't be planting until the fence people are finished.
 
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wellington

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Thursday and Friday the crew finished with my retaining wall and leveling out the back fill behind the wall, so this last week-end I cleaned up the front yard. I took down all the temporary fencing (I had already moved the leopards to a different yard on the back of the property), ran the strimmer (string trimmer), raked it all up and started demo'ing the wood fence. Today the crew is building the north curb for the center median. This was very interesting to watch. There's a big cement truck, the kind with the rotating drum on the back, and he's towing some sort of gizmo that says "curb builder" on the side. As the cement slides down the tube it goes through the curb builder which spits it out as a fully developed and shaped curb. . . no forms or anything. Then there are several guys following along with trowels smoothing and inspecting. Next comes paving this side of the street. I'm going to send the City Engineer an email asking about my fence and pond. I'm thinking that now they're finished with the retaining wall I'm going to be put on the back burner while the rest of the road construction gets worked on.
Keep on them. They will put you on the back burner. All their construction may very well be, like another member said, the trouble with Dudley.
 

Cathie G

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It looks like they are doing you good even with all the upheaval. Hope it all gets done for you soon though.😊
 

Yvonne G

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Well, the fence is finished and I must say, I'M LOVIN' IT!!!!!! I still have a bit of work to do before I can put the tortoises back out there, move some dirt to fill in the gaps under portions of the fence, move some potted plants, take down the rest of the pond fence, but basically, it's done - and did I say I'M LOVIN' IT!!!!!!

The Russian yard:
road widening 10-4-22 a.jpg

The desert torotise yard:

road widening 10-4-22 b.jpg

The Texas tortoise yard:

road widening 10-4-22 c.jpg

Tomorrow I'll go out in the street and get a picture of the front of my property with my new retaining wall and fence. And this week-end I've asked my S-I-L to come over and get an overall view of the yards from the roof (I'm no longer safe climbing ladders and roofs).

So, until the pond is finished, that's about it for this thread.
 

SinLA

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Well, the fence is finished and I must say, I'M LOVIN' IT!!!!!! I still have a bit of work to do before I can put the tortoises back out there, move some dirt to fill in the gaps under portions of the fence, move some potted plants, take down the rest of the pond fence, but basically, it's done - and did I say I'M LOVIN' IT!!!!!!

The Russian yard:
View attachment 350563

The desert torotise yard:

View attachment 350564

The Texas tortoise yard:

View attachment 350565

Tomorrow I'll go out in the street and get a picture of the front of my property with my new retaining wall and fence. And this week-end I've asked my S-I-L to come over and get an overall view of the yards from the roof (I'm no longer safe climbing ladders and roofs).

So, until the pond is finished, that's about it for this thread.
Tortoise heaven!!!
 

DoubleD1996!

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Well, the fence is finished and I must say, I'M LOVIN' IT!!!!!! I still have a bit of work to do before I can put the tortoises back out there, move some dirt to fill in the gaps under portions of the fence, move some potted plants, take down the rest of the pond fence, but basically, it's done - and did I say I'M LOVIN' IT!!!!!!

The Russian yard:
View attachment 350563

The desert torotise yard:

View attachment 350564

The Texas tortoise yard:

View attachment 350565

Tomorrow I'll go out in the street and get a picture of the front of my property with my new retaining wall and fence. And this week-end I've asked my S-I-L to come over and get an overall view of the yards from the roof (I'm no longer safe climbing ladders and roofs).

So, until the pond is finished, that's about it for this thread.
NIIIICCCEEE!
 

Jan A

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Well, the fence is finished and I must say, I'M LOVIN' IT!!!!!! I still have a bit of work to do before I can put the tortoises back out there, move some dirt to fill in the gaps under portions of the fence, move some potted plants, take down the rest of the pond fence, but basically, it's done - and did I say I'M LOVIN' IT!!!!!!

The Russian yard:
View attachment 350563

The desert torotise yard:

View attachment 350564

The Texas tortoise yard:

View attachment 350565

Tomorrow I'll go out in the street and get a picture of the front of my property with my new retaining wall and fence. And this week-end I've asked my S-I-L to come over and get an overall view of the yards from the roof (I'm no longer safe climbing ladders and roofs).

So, until the pond is finished, that's about it for this thread.
Congrats!! I'm so glad you are reaping some benefit FINALLY!!
 

zolasmum

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Well, the fence is finished and I must say, I'M LOVIN' IT!!!!!! I still have a bit of work to do before I can put the tortoises back out there, move some dirt to fill in the gaps under portions of the fence, move some potted plants, take down the rest of the pond fence, but basically, it's done - and did I say I'M LOVIN' IT!!!!!!

The Russian yard:
View attachment 350563

The desert torotise yard:

View attachment 350564

The Texas tortoise yard:

View attachment 350565

Tomorrow I'll go out in the street and get a picture of the front of my property with my new retaining wall and fence. And this week-end I've asked my S-I-L to come over and get an overall view of the yards from the roof (I'm no longer safe climbing ladders and roofs).

So, until the pond is finished, that's about it for this thread.
That's great, but you haven't mention the traffic noise. Is that more of a problem now ?
Angie
 

SinLA

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How many Russians do you have, and how do you find them in that large a space??
 

Yvonne G

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That's great, but you haven't mention the traffic noise. Is that more of a problem now ?
Angie
The fence across the front is 5' tall with pickets on both sides. The double pickets is supposed to help mute traffic sounds. Time will tell. As of now, the road is closed to all but through traffic. We'll see. But in the meantime I bought 10 (they actually sent me 13) willow sticks (not the weeping kind). After sitting in a bucket of water for a week They all but one sprouted roots. There are about 20 8' sections of fence, so I have to order more so that I can plant one tree in front of each section. When I had the aldabra tortoises there was a weeping willow that hung over their fence. They really enjoyed catching the waving branches for a snack.
 

Yvonne G

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How many Russians do you have, and how do you find them in that large a space??
A couple months ago my sister sent me two males and a female. So now I have 3.4 russians. I'll have to pay attention to where they like to hide so I have a bit of a clue as to where they are. That area doesn't have very much broad leaf plants and weeds, so I'll be putting out food daily. Before brumation time comes, I hope to catch them around the feeding station. Fingers crossed.
 

SinLA

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A couple months ago my sister sent me two males and a female. So now I have 3.4 russians. I'll have to pay attention to where they like to hide so I have a bit of a clue as to where they are. That area doesn't have very much broad leaf plants and weeds, so I'll be putting out food daily. Before brumation time comes, I hope to catch them around the feeding station. Fingers crossed.
3.4 Russians?
 

ZippyButter

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I‘m not an expert, but cypress trees have “knees.” Not sure if they would be an issue for you…
Cypress trees are good as long as they are not anywhere closed to Wood fences, house frames..... Brick retaining walls are fine with them, since termites can't chew on bricks.
 

ZippyButter

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Thank you both for the tree research. I'm sorta' thinking about reclaiming the redwood pickets from the fence across the front of the property and using them somehow as an above ground tree planter box across the whole front with a drip system. I worry about the roots because the trees will be above the retaining wall .
Perhaps you can negotiate with the city to put in the steel barrier 6' deep ( I don't know the code there) against the retaining wall so any trees roots cannot penetrate the wall in the future.
 

Cathie G

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Well, the fence is finished and I must say, I'M LOVIN' IT!!!!!! I still have a bit of work to do before I can put the tortoises back out there, move some dirt to fill in the gaps under portions of the fence, move some potted plants, take down the rest of the pond fence, but basically, it's done - and did I say I'M LOVIN' IT!!!!!!

The Russian yard:
View attachment 350563

The desert torotise yard:

View attachment 350564

The Texas tortoise yard:

View attachment 350565

Tomorrow I'll go out in the street and get a picture of the front of my property with my new retaining wall and fence. And this week-end I've asked my S-I-L to come over and get an overall view of the yards from the roof (I'm no longer safe climbing ladders and roofs).

So, until the pond is finished, that's about it for this thread.
I'm happy for you.😊 good good 👍
 

jaizei

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The fence across the front is 5' tall with pickets on both sides. The double pickets is supposed to help mute traffic sounds. Time will tell. As of now, the road is closed to all but through traffic. We'll see. But in the meantime I bought 10 (they actually sent me 13) willow sticks (not the weeping kind). After sitting in a bucket of water for a week They all but one sprouted roots. There are about 20 8' sections of fence, so I have to order more so that I can plant one tree in front of each section. When I had the aldabra tortoises there was a weeping willow that hung over their fence. They really enjoyed catching the waving branches for a snack.

I've bought the hybrid willow cuttings before, they do grow pretty fast.
 

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