Water and Tar

My evening was filled with both – and a lack of – last night. For the water portion, we’re on a boil order for another 24 hours.

The mother called yesterday to tell me that we had no water. In part, I think it was kind of her way of asking, “Did you pay the water bill?” without asking “Did you pay the water bill?” (Remarkably, not only had I paid the water bill, I paid it early this month. Go figure.)

Our block and some of the surrounding properties have had a continuing series of water issues for months. It was supposedly resolved early in the summer. That effort left a huge hole in front of the neighbor across the alley’s house. They tried for weeks to get it fixed. The water company would say it was the city’s job. The city? They put it back on the water company!

I guess someone agreed to something yesterday as there was a truck and crew on-site (even after I got home last night). That was what caused the water shortage.

When I got home, the mother had moved a lot of stuff from under the carport (included her 80 million $%&^@ flower pots of varying sizes) and had cleaned the front half of the driveway off and swept it down. That was a lot of work and helped me a lot. I had started clearing and crack-filling on the back half Sunday and resumed it again Monday evening. After applying some asphalt primer to the array of oil spots, I think I’m pretty well done back there now.

Now it’s on to the carport and then out to the front half. Did I mention that our driveway is HUGE?! Freakin' ridiculously huge. We could put the whole house on it at least twice!

I ran out of liquid crack-filler, as I knew I would, so shortly after dark, I headed out to get supplies. Much to my dismay, the Sears Hardware closest to me did not have the asphalt caulk OR the liquid filler I like and had been using. Totally out! They did have some gravel patch and I picked that up as well as a cheap bristle applicator.

Home Depot didn’t have the big container of crack-filler either and the caulk cost nearly twice as much. (Though it’s supposed to be better and cover about 25 percent more.) The good news: The mid-grade sealer I decided to buy instead of the cheap stuff? MARKED DOWN! Part of HD’s companywide initiative to compete by marking down prices throughout the store. Saved me $15 so I was pleased. I just hope I bought enough. I did according to the coverage specs, more in fact, but their coverage estimates are rarely accurate.

I've got a half-day of vacation on Friday, so that’s when I’m hoping to get the bulk of actually sealing finished, if not completed. Tonight and tomorrow night’s agenda: serious crack-filling!