Sink or Swim!

I thought I'd let you suffer through the stress and anxiety of wondering what happened to the sink project... Did the new sink leak? Did the gaskets burst, spewing water sky high? Did the worst things that could happen happen?!?!?
NO! It all went swimmingly and we've been enjoying our new cabinets and sink for almost a week now. I've just been remiss (and busy!!) and haven't gotten around to finishing this epic.
So to pick up where we left off, Joe and Bob installed the freshly painted cabinets- ones repurposed from a couple of friend's kitchen re-do.And as you can see, with the exception of a couple of places that needed repainting after the cabinets were fitted, it already looks cleaner and brighter.
This part of the process looks simple enough but my hats off to Bob and Joe for figuring out how to fit all the jigsaw puzzle like pieces back together and then still have to do the actual plumbing.

For a few days, we washed dishes in the downstairs bathroom sink. It was a tad inconvenient but thank goodness for that downstairs sink. It felt almost awkward to think of using the kitchen sink again. The dish drain board had to sit on the washing machine and necessitated many trips back and forth from the bathroom to the kitchen. I don't miss that procession!
But finally, the sink was dropped in and the side pieces were glued on and braced. That's what the random looking piece of wood is all about: causing pressure to hold the side panels in place until set. But look at that glowing red sink! Fabulous! Around the edge, you can see silicone caulking oozing out of the friction between the sink and the counter surface. Bob carefully sliced that away and then he was ready to hook up the pipes and connections underneath. That's the nerve wracking part, because if it isn't sealed correctly, we're back to Leak Ville!
But it worked and brilliantly when Bob turned on the water.

So the sink is now in use and every time I approach it to get a glass of water or place a dish in the sink to wash it, I admire the amazing red sink... with no leaks. The doors still remain to be reattached but we're waiting a couple of days until the underneath dries out completely. But it looks and works great and I don't cringe when ever I get a glass of water.

End of Driveway Excitement

We now have this at the end of our driveway. Such progress! For the past six months, we realized the inevitability of construction lapping at the end of our driveway as the town crew moved slowly up Jeremy Swamp Road. They seem to be hopping all over the place: first one end, then a centerish (disconnected piece) and then our end- skipping the middle... Promptly at 6:30 every morning, the booming and beeping and pinging and LOUD GUY TALK would filter up the driveway from the street. We're fortunate that our house is set back from the road! (We hear it anyway.)
This greeted me when I attempted to leave the driveway yesterday morning:

I could barely squeeze past, and this was in addition to both of our next door neighbor's cars (waiting for the school bus) and a large dump truck and the aforementioned bus. Quite the busy intersection! I had remembered to bring my camera along so I snapped these pictures. As I said to the amused town crew guys, "How often do I have this much activity at the end of the driveway?" Everyone seemed busy staring into the big hole...

(That's the police officer bending over. Nice shorts.)
In any event, I don't know that we needed a wider road or so many attractive drains and pipes added to our lives, and as a friend suggested, it will only permit more traffic and people and their cars to attain higher speeds. It's already dangerous walking up our road to the dirt road where I walk most mornings. Here are the drain basins:

This was the right side of the driveway. It was like this for the entire Labor Day weekend. I guess the chains were there to discourage us from stealing the cement forms.
The weird upshot of all this construction was that I chose to take lil' Robin the Good on an alternative walk. I bundled her into the car (good practice for her auto-phobia!) and drove her three minutes up the road to the State Bridle Trail, where we've been walking every day since. And it's beautiful! Wide and quiet and winding through some amazing properties. Robin seems to enjoy this walk more than the dirt road, so it's our new routine.
One last shot. Y'know, this equipment is really big!