Another SYRMW so NHH

That would be Snowy Yucky Rainy Muddy Week, and Nothing Has Happened.

Wet and yucky, but panoramic

The past few weeks have been pretty bad, weather-wise, and the builder hasn't done much on the driveway. There will be a few pictures up soon, but we're talking about new piles of rocks, or piles of rocks with snow on them. We don't have grandchildren, and we don't have cats, so we show people pictures of every incremental change on the property. Eventually.

But the down-time has allowed me to create a panorama of the property. This is from pictures taken February 2, and is put together using a program called AutoStitch. And it's neat - I tossed it 17 pictures, tweaked a few settings, let it go, and came out with this. I added the point-of-interest captions (in yellow) later. The pic is about 5 meg, so it may take a bit to load. And it's best viewed at full size (or maybe 50%) to read the words. If you try to take in all its goodness on a single screen, you'll see yellow blurs where something happened. And I left the scalloped edges of the pictures in so there's more information, and to keep the tops of some trees.



When you zoom in (the blue magnifying glass toward the upper right) you will be standing in the master bath, looking out the back of the house. This is the center of the panorama - the tour starts on the far left of the photo and continues to the far right. Downloading the pic will let you use your favorite viewer (or editor, if your initials are DW).

Next time, I'll go portrait mode and use more pictures. That should allow both earth and sky to show. And doing it on a tripod will provide some uniformity.

Tech note: uploading a 5.8M picture directly into Blogger resulted in an 85K panorama, with less-than-perfect translation. Bzzzzzt. Using Picasa's web album and linking to the picture (uploaded at largest size) worked just fine. Thanks, Google!

Quiet week

The builder said nothing happened this week, so we reciprocated by not going and taking pictures.

When it's frozen, nothing changes

These are pictures from Saturday, January 19, 2008. It was very cold outside - probably single digits. That did make the mud easier to walk on.

The workers hadn't done much (if anything) since the last picture-taking. The bridge is curing, and that takes time. So I took pictures of places I couldn't get to last week.

This is a better picture of the bridge. We have expressed our concern to the builder about the low shoulders on the bridge. He says that when it's all over, it will be right.


A better view of underneath. This is looking upstream, towards the corner.


There's some serious support on this bridge. Looks all nice and shiny.



There's one place on the wall where there's some fill showing through. I'd rather the void not be there, but I don't know if it's a problem.


I decided to get artistic and go for the low angle. Looking downstream.


And then I did it again. I like this one better.

A bridge over quiet waters

They have finally made it into a real bridge. It has a top on it now.


You can see that they have left mounds of gravel to keep people from driving on it.

It looks nice - the sides are ramped up to keep people from driving off.


I got to be king of the hill.


They'll keep cars off it for a couple weeks, but we walked on it.


It was raining when we were there, so the camera had to stay under the umbrella. That's why I'm dark, and is one of the reasons Bettie is so bright.

It is a real thick bridge.


A better view of the ramping up on the sides.


We're still not real comfortable that this will keep a car from going off the side. We're talking to the builder.

A bridge to Mudville. I didn't see Casey.


I tried to show the thickness of the bridge with my standard foot. My ankle didn't bend as much as I wanted it to (which is probably good).


Up top, near the carport, looking out the length of the property. I took the picture to show the standing water, but happened to get the septic system (the red flags towards the upper right) and our flower bed (with white plastic covering it, at the right edge, beside the red flags).


The top of the driveway. Messy, muddy, and ucky.


But that didn't stop me.


Once I got most of the way down the driveway, I took pictures of Bettie in the car. Here are the far and near shots, with me in the same location.


Neat camera. Thanks again, Mom and Dad.

As I was going down the driveway, I tried to stop every few feet for a picture. I'm going to see if I can combine them into a movie. If I get it done, I'll post it here.

Time and tide

Time never waits, but tides come and go. The work on the bridge moves forward more slowly than time.

From Saturday the January 5 2008:

They have added gravel between the road and the first concrete pour. Now it looks more like a driveway.




The bridge is solidly built. I have a standard foot-sized foot. (That's a dozen inches, not a baker's dozen)


Looking upstream towards the corner


And then from Tuesday, January 8, 2008: they're getting ready to pour the deck of the bridge.


We think the pieces in the middle of the gap are there for temporary support only. You can see the pieces of rebar bent over to be embedded in the deck of the bridge.


Every time we go over, it looks more like a real driveway.


Part of the reason we think the center supports are temporary


We're planning on going over again on Sunday. I think the top deck is supposed to be poured. It cures for two weeks after that.

Bridge-building

Fresh pictures from January 3, 2008. Bettie had to stop by her dad's house to pick up some things, and she had the camera with her.

This one gives some perspective on the size of the bridge.


A neat shot along the stream. Yes, the water is frozen over.


Balancing act


They wear boots for a reason - this is messy!