Asphalt. (Image Heavy)

Last year I talked at length about my driveway. It was one of my favorite things about this house. For those who don't know, we live off the street several yards. You can't see the house from the road. I love the privacy. Anyways, our driveway was paved at the end (by the street) and in front of the house. The middle part was unpaved, a mix of dirt, rock and some brave shoots of grass and moss. Take note of the grassy hump in the middle of the driveway.

Last year I would love to walk down to the mailbox, breathing deep, taking my time. It was a 5 minute sanctuary in a day of 2 year old chaos.

In November, we hired a plow guy. Since we were new to the area and the place that the previous owners used had closed, we went with the guy that took over for that company.

We asked him to come out, since our driveway is a bit tricky. Reluctantly he came, gave us an estimate, we agreed on a price and trusted that he knew what the hell he was doing.

Well, he didn't.

Basically, with the first snowstorm (we got 16 inches, if I remember right) he came barreling down the drive, scraping everything in sight. (These photos were taken last week. We didn't take any in the winter, partly because there was constant snow/ice hiding the damage. Partly because it broke my heart knowing that my sanctuary was gone.)We didn't know it at the time, but he completely ruined our driveway. Notice the center "hump" is gone. Gone. The entire driveway was flat, large stones were thrown to each side so that Hubs couldn't mow without it being a danger to the mower and himself. I can't imagine what damage he did to is plow.

We noticed something was strange when we came home one day to find a stack of rocks in our driveway. Strange...

Then our neighbor across the street called to tell us that he basically ruined HIS snowblower from our rocks, which the idiot plow guy dug up and pushed into his driveway.

Sigh.

We went over the next day and shoveled all of the rocks into a wheel barrow and put them on our property.

But still, we felt like a-holes.

Anyways, with the continued beatings that the plow guy gave to the driveway each snow storm, we realized this spring that we'd have to do something about it.

We interviewed rock guys, asphalt guys, and landscapers. We went with the asphalt.

They started on Tuesday and by Wednesday afternoon, we had a driveway!

It breaks my heart that I'll never be able to take the walks like last year, but the guys did a wonderful, professional job. I know in my heart that asphalt is safer for The Boy to play on (you have NO idea how many scrapes and boo-boos I treated last year from him falling on rocks.) Plus, now he can ride his big wheel all the way down to the mailbox.

Here's some shots:

This shot was taken after they graded it. It's more level and some of the larger rocks were removed.

During. They cut away part of the already paved area to filled it. It was cracked and crumbling from someone (cough, cough) driving off it. The big truck was full of ground up rock, concrete and dirt. I didn't take any other during shots. The beginning of the new asphalt and the bend:

Looking up towards the bend in the driveway. They widened that area by 4 feet so that delivery trucks had plenty of room. There was alot of damage done by them to this area. Hopefully this eliminates that.Looking down the driveway to the street.

They married up the new and old so well. Great job.

I'm looking to this as a positive thing, not because I have to, but because I want to. I'm looking forward to my walks to the mailbox on my asphalt driveway. I can't wait to smell that summer rainstorm smell.

And the plowguy? Yeah, he has no idea, but these photos are being sent to him and the Better Business Bureau. We probably could have sued him for the cost of the new driveway, but we just couldn't do it. I'm sure the damage done to his stuff was more than the driveway...