with Twila as helper

I have been relaxing and enjoying my retirement , but , there is work to do. My lovely wife Twila told me she wanted to work outside yesterday to enjoy the nice weather , get some fresh air , and to add some input ( and oversight / supervision ) to my yard work efforts. So , out came the shovel , rake , and wheelbarrow . Several hours later , we had what seems to be a definite plan for the new front walkway and progress on my second concrete creation , a Lone Star.

Since I am using a Chevy Malibu to haul my materials it might be a while before all the concrete work is done . Still debating the possibility of edging the new walk with stone to match the sidewalk . Lots more digging if I decide to go that way but it's the expense and the look that will decide it for me , not the amount of time or effort it would take to accomplish. 

The inside of the house is a total wreck right now as a crew showed up on Friday to remove all the carpets and underlying padding in preparation for installation of new flooring.Everything cleared out of two bedrooms and the living room and all of it stowed and stuffed into the remaining bedroom , kitchen , and dining room. And from the carpet removal , everything in the entire house is now coated with a layer of dust. Which is part of the reason Twila wanted to work outside.

Part of me is very glad there is a self-limiting factor to how much I can do on any given day determined by how much stuff I can haul home from Lowe's . At 80 pounds per bag , I only bring home a max of 4 bags of concrete per trip which makes two wheelbarrow loads mixed and poured and finished . Ah , restraint.

Actually , I've been thinking about this walkway for so long , I'm really happy to finally be making it a reality. I just hope it turns out well and no serious problems crop up to hamper the work.

It's getting to be much cooler. I had to really get after it to work up much of a sweat . During the last couple of weeks of relative inactivity my weight has wanted to inch back up toward 230. I hope by the time the walk is done I will be back under 225 . I then plan to strip the remaining grass off between the walk and the house , cover all the exposed ground with newspaper to keep down weeds , and then cover with rock like on the other side in front which I completed earlier. Then I'll place the collection of plants I have been gathering and saving to complete the overall work and then I'll be done. Until I decide to put something around the base of the tree which was the reason for all this effort. I think. I also still have to decide how to finish off that star. And the model train layout which is DEFINITELY on hold as the room is full of everything that was in the guest bedroom while the floor is being done. And the shed made out of pallets 

has been receiving some thought but no real work . Yet.

Work to do , work to do indeed.