MaeLyn's Musings

Working on the path through the park A few months ago, I wrote about the park down the street, and how the city is rehabilitating it. ( See here .) A month or so later, they had made some progress, and I wrote about it again. ( See here .) Since then, the work has continued. outlining where the new sidewalks would go Some days as we walked to school, we were met with the loud cacophony of jackhammers breaking up the concrete sidewalks. Sometimes we got to see giant excavators digging up huge chunks of concrete or asphalt. bulldozers would push them into piles and then load them into trucks with giant open bins on the back to haul the refuse to a dump somewhere. New paths would be outlined with thin boards held in place by metal and wood stakes. Then came the excitement of concrete mixers and towering concrete pumps, pouring new sidewalks and courtyards. After the concrete was poured, workers would come, sometimes on hands and knees smoothing the poured concrete with trowels...

 Every weekday morning and afternoon of the past week has held a mystery. What changes will have happened at the park down the street when we walk past today? Last Wednesday, a bright yellow digger and bulldozer sat on the sidewalk within the enclosure. On Thursday, a man was using a ditch witch to carve a ditch around all the edges of the area in the park where work is to be done. The ditch was then filled with what appears to be a roll of straw, which had been staked down. There were also bright orange barriers erected in various parts of the park. On Sunday, Steven and I were enjoying the warm sunshine and took a stroll through the park. To my surprise, even though it was Sunday there were people working. While we didn't get a close look, it appeared that they had taken out a tree and were grinding down the stump. Monday morning, bright and early, the digger was at work on the hill, gobbling up huge chunks of earth and depositing them in a pile where the bul...

The weather here in Colorado drives me crazy sometimes. Yesterday, the skies were overcast, but the weather was fairly warm. Even at 7:30 last night, when I was picking Hannah up after rehearsal, it was about 47*, which seemed warm. This morning we awoke to a winter wonderland, the trees wearing a coat of white about an inch deep, and clear blue skies. The sidewalks on the way to school this morning were treacherous, as though the snow fell in clumps and then froze, leaving a layer of crunchy ice, still white and lumpy. However, the electronic sign at the school said the temperature was already 37* at 8:00 this morning, and sure enough, by the time I returned home, the ice on the sidewalks was already beginning to soften and melt. By this afternoon, it will probably be mostly gone. Picture taken with my phone last week. I mentioned before that they are rehabilitating the park down the street. A week and a half ago, we saw some trucks pull up in front of the park loaded with hu...

A year ago (February 2013) we received notice that the park down the street from us was going to be improved by the city. Steven and John attended a city meeting where they discussed the changes that were planned, and suggestions were made by the residents of the area. They planned to add a larger pavilion, expand the play area and put in more swings, and even install a skate park. We were excited for the changes to occur. But the wheels of progress turn slowly. Last fall, the city posted a big blue sign at the park announcing the rehabilitation of the park, listing the time of construction as Fall 2013 - Summer 2014. Again, we got excited thinking that they were going to begin work soon. But whatever work was being done was not obvious to those of us who walked by the park on a regular basis. One morning a couple weeks ago, when the ground was covered in snow, we noticed a person from the local utility company spraying lines on the snow and placing little red flags to mark the l...