Well, it looks like paving the driveway isn't going to be quite as expensive as I had feared. I found some local guys who are going to do it for about $17,000. I was afraid it was going to be around $25k. They quoted it at 3" thick, but I think I'm going to have them go 4" since it is pretty steep and a couple times a year the propane truck has to drive up to refill my tank. I'm also going to have a retaining wall put in along one of the hillsides, and I want to plant a row of trees along the driveway. I may have to scale back my budget for the master bathroom after all the outside work is done, but we'll see.
I half wonder if I'm wasting my money on these projects. It's only a matter of time before we have oh God, the kitty just farted! Oh, it's so awful! Somebody save me!
Akk, ffft, ugh. That was horrible! Anyway, it's only a matter of time before we have a major earthquake in Nor Cal. The last big one on the San Andreas was the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (which may have actually been on a subsidiary fault, namely the the Hayward Fault in which case the last big quake would have been the 1906 SF quake). The scary part is that the Pacific Plate is moving northward along the North American Plate at a rate of 1.5 inches per year along the San Andreas Fault in Central California. The USGS and several universities and governmental entities have tons of instruments set up in Parkfield, near Paso Robles, where they measure the movement of the two tectonic plates whose junction makes up the San Andreas. In this part of the state, the plates are in constant motion, but just a little further north (i.e. teh San Francisco Bay Area), the two plates are locked against each other (as they are in Southern California). At some point, the Pacific Plate around San Francisco MUST move northward to relieve the strain put upon it by the movement around Paso. So, another major quake at some point is a certainty. It's just a question of when.
I half wonder if I'm wasting my money on these projects. It's only a matter of time before we have oh God, the kitty just farted! Oh, it's so awful! Somebody save me!
Akk, ffft, ugh. That was horrible! Anyway, it's only a matter of time before we have a major earthquake in Nor Cal. The last big one on the San Andreas was the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake (which may have actually been on a subsidiary fault, namely the the Hayward Fault in which case the last big quake would have been the 1906 SF quake). The scary part is that the Pacific Plate is moving northward along the North American Plate at a rate of 1.5 inches per year along the San Andreas Fault in Central California. The USGS and several universities and governmental entities have tons of instruments set up in Parkfield, near Paso Robles, where they measure the movement of the two tectonic plates whose junction makes up the San Andreas. In this part of the state, the plates are in constant motion, but just a little further north (i.e. teh San Francisco Bay Area), the two plates are locked against each other (as they are in Southern California). At some point, the Pacific Plate around San Francisco MUST move northward to relieve the strain put upon it by the movement around Paso. So, another major quake at some point is a certainty. It's just a question of when.
About the master bathroom ... Dewey won't have any plans for awhile. He's dangerously close to failing his classes. He thinks getting the house done by Christmas is too ambitious. *shrug* I'll see what we can do though.
Do you have insurance coverage in case you have an earthquake? If so, I wouldn't worry about the work you're getting done. Plus, the money you put into it will help get you a better selling price when you decide to move on. If you don't have insurance, get it. And flood insurance.