Fashion

[Bird mama]

Good Morning   It is sunny, cooler (70 at 11:30 EDT) and breezy and we know what that means - Bernie has her windows open all over the house

I received my Attitudes by Renee maxi dress on Friday and it was exactly the pick me up that I needed.  I like the shades of brown used in the animal pattern and the fit is great.

About the sidewalk escapade..... In 2015 my city decided to rebuild the street on my block.  I mean they ripped it all out down to sand.  They removed curbs too and cut along the street edge of everyone's driveway aprons.  I had never seen a residential street built up like that before so I took photos of the process at every stage.  My husband was a photography nut and part of me did it for him since he wasn't here.

The street edge of my driveway apron was crumbled and jagged and everyone around me had a clean edge.  Even though I worked full time back then I managed to chase the guy leading the project down one morning.  I asked if he would look at my edge and correct it before they put the rebar in and poured.  Guy blew me off.  If they thought I took photos before I went nuts after that.  Called the city engineer and suggested they check the edge before they proceeded.  That dude blew me off.

Street was finished by September.  Called the engineer again and said, so, you let the construction company move on and I'm stuck with a jagged driveway apron?  I don't think so.  He said they took videos of the process.  I said, good, let's compare your video to the 100+ photos I took.  Engineer came out and side Yikes!  He said a new apron would be poured come Spring 2016.  Guess he thought I would forget about it.  Guy didn't know me   Suffice it to say, my new driveway apron was poured August 2016.

Sadly, that taught me to think the worst about city projects that impact me.  I had already caught one cutting error during the sidewalk project - they corrected that the next day.  The crew poured last week Thursday and was removing barricades for pedestrian traffic the next day.  I had one square that had a hole in it with a root poking up and took pics.  The square that pitched towards the upper part of my driveway versus the street was removed and replaced with a new square that was pitched towards my driveway and not the street.  I checked the pitch with my bubble levelers.

I called the main engineer (I was nice) and asked if the city was going to do a final walk through, not a drive by.  I was assured that the junior engineer and owner of the company would come by to check.  I was home all day and they did not.  The crew backfilled the trenches along the grass (from the sidewalk frames) and tossed grass seed on dry dirt - the sparrows loved it.  I knew when that happened that my concerns were in the review view mirror.  I'll get the bill from the city and pay it.  If there's an issue with the new squares - I've got over 150 photographs.

Today's good news - they city replaced water meter readers outside of the house last summer.  Residents received letters about scheduling indoor water meter replacement.  Mine was this morning. Company is Utility Metering Solutions (UMS) and my installer Brian was from the great state of New York (yes, his license plate is NYC and he drove here).  Nicest, friendly guy I've met in a long time.  Job was done in 25 minutes - no drama.

[Fressa]

BirdMama---Glad you finally got a resolve to your construction problems. I take a lot of notes from every conversation/phone call when we encounter a construction/purchase issue. I take pictures as well. I find having pictures seems to get results more than phone calls. I swear, I have more knowledge about construction projects than I ever wanted to know. LOL I just think it's a shame that very few people want to just do the job correctly and have no problem just blowing you off as you go up the chain. That just launches my rocket. I guess I'm always looking at it in terms of how many hours I had to work and save to purchase it. It's such a nice relief when you have a project that is done correctly and in a timely manner.   

[Bird mama]

@Fressa  that's just it, the new sidewalk remains jacked up.  I had to close the door on it on Friday.  If the city finds fault with the new squares in the future I'll remind them of my call and tell them to resolve it with their contractor.  Apparently my role in the equation is limited to paying for it. 

[Fressa]

Birdmama---I know the end result is always we pay but at least you have your calls and pictures for future reference. (if needed)  After I mutter at myself for a few days and steam a few floors  I make my file and put it in the desk drawer. It's all you can do. Not right but currently the way it is.  

[LindaLatte]

Good Afternoon and thanks for getting us started, Bernie.  Glad you like your new dress and your weather is nice, but sorry for your sidewalk issues. 

My street had not been touched for many, many years.  While some neighborhoods nearby are responsible for their streets, my neighborhood comes under the jurisdiction of the county.  The road was pathetic -- crumbling and full of potholes.  When the neighbors asked about repaving several years ago, the response was that neighborhood streets were very low on the priority list.  And, we should not expect repaving in our lifetimes.  

A couple of years ago, the county had some more money, and they re-did our sidewalk "aprons" to comply with handicapped regulations (not sure that is the correct name).  That was a mess, but they mostly did a good job.  Where they did not, they responded to calls from the neighbors/homeowners association.  Then, they repaved the streets.  I am a happy camper with the improvements.  

At least you have documentation, and the water meter replacement went well. 

Hi Fressa.  Good for you keeping documentation/pictures.

Our weather is pretty nice today -- cooler with a chance of rain.  I was even able to open my windows for a while this morning, and it isn't supposed to make it to 100 degrees this week.  

Nothing exciting going on here.  I did an exercise DVD earlier, and I need to do some cleaning. I am still deciding what to take on my trip -- decisions, decisions. 

Waves to all of our posters and readers.  Hope everyone has a nice evening and sleeps well.

Hugs,

Linda