Day Two Hundred Seventeen

Public Works Saves The Sidewalk Hand Prints


In my opinion, these city employees went above and beyond the job description to save the childhood hand prints of my two daughters who each pressed one small hand into cement that was freshly poured probably twenty years ago.

The concrete was about three inches thick. They started with this big circular saw and were really careful cutting around the prints.

Then they brought in the jackhammer to help dig underneath to loosen it up. At this point, I figured Here we go, it's gonna crack into a thousand pieces.

It didn't crack at all. This is the hole that was left after they extracted the cut out prints I'm happy to say in one solid piece.

I know you can't see the hand prints in this picture. They're covered with cement dust, but they are still there after a couple of decades, and I'm very happy to have this memento of my kids' childhood. I'm also very thankful to the guys who took the time to do this for me. They didn't have to. I'm still amazed they remembered I had asked about having this done almost two weeks ago.

By tomorrow, they'll be tearing up the sidewalks in front of our house and later on pouring another round of fresh cement. I'll miss our old bumpy sidewalks, like I miss our old wavy glass windows in our house. But I'll get over it. I'm hoping the grand kids will be here the day they pour the cement so we can begin a whole new generation of sidewalk hand prints.

Every neighborhood deserves a sidewalk.

Day Two Hundred Sixteen

The day was sunny and hot, near 90 degrees, like it's supposed to be in August in middle Tennessee. By the time Neil got home after 5:00, the weather took a turn and the temperature dropped about 15 degrees. Dark swirly clouds rolled in and the wind blew like crazy and of course we stood outside and watched it all while I took some pictures. Didn't rain much in our back yard and the thunder stayed in the distance, so we were spared something that could have been fierce. Probably was in other areas. I guess we were lucky a big limb didn't blow out of a tree and hit us in our silly heads. It's downright chilly outside right now at 8:26 PM and the katydids are singing a happy little feels-like-Fall song.

Day Two Hundred Fifteen

Me and my shadow peace out on the freshly painted front porch this afternoon.

Can't resist those Dahlias. Even the back side is pretty.

Day Two Hundred Fourteen

Snapshots from mine and other big back yards....

The Fairy Ring was back on the front lawn of Jefferson Avenue church of Christ this morning when I arrived. They look different from the ones I saw there last week. These got trampled later on by some little kids. Bummer.

I notice mushrooms everywhere now this summer. Not sure why. Saw these in a neighbor's front yard today. I hope they didn't mind me creeping into their yard to snap some pictures. These mushrooms were huge.

This one looks like a sand dollar.

And these look like something in which a Hobbit would reside.

Found this discarded insect shell, an old pine cone and a rock keeping company in the outer limits of my own back yard. The nearest pine tree is two houses down from ours. Guess this one blew in during a storm a long time ago.

Discovered some more pretty flowers growing in our jungle. This one still sported a little dew drop on its petal.

Pretty little bud. Didn't even notice the bug attached to it until I downloaded the picture on the computer.

The cone flowers are fading but still photo worthy.

Get a room! I thought I was snapping a picture of a cute June bug until I got a closer look. I think we can be sure there will be more June bugs next year....

Our Dahlias are really pretty this year.

This is my favorite snapshot from today.

Dahlia bud

I like this little Morning Glory. The vines are growing everywhere now. They always remind me of the beginning of a new school year because the Morning Glories were always blooming when my daughters walked through the back yard to school.

Sun/Moon Face looks like he could use some Chap stick!

Day Two Hundred Thirteen

Finally got a first coat of paint on the old concrete front porch today. The color is called, oddly enough, Cement. It's a Benjamin Moore paint for porches and decks and such that's a special mixed color. It looks off white here, but it's actually a neat color that goes with the siding color pretty well. It will need a second coat of course, but that will have to wait until next week and a dryer day. We're moving right along....