Big Progress in October

Lots of planning around here for the last year or so... And suddenly this month there is so much activity and progress!

1)  Kris has almost finished the fence.  It's like 95% done.  In September we finally got a payout from the guy's insurance, one year after the accident with the fence.  Kris has just some tweaks to do on the fence panels at the back of the alley, and then we need to put up the chain link at the back of the property.

2)  Broadway Street was repaved this week!  And became a 3-lane instead of the dangerous 4-lane that it's been for who knows how long....  The very day that our fence was run into was the first meeting of the Broadway St Task Force.  I showed up kinda shell-shocked and said, "My fence was hit by a car this morning."  "Ohhhhh, that house!"  Everyone in the room knew about it. 
For the last year, the task force worked with the transportation departments from Hennepin County and Minneapolis; held community open houses for information and feedback; surveyed as many commuters, business, and residents as we could; ran websites for additional feedback...  And came up with a 3-phase plan for the road.

Repaving was already scheduled, like years in advance, so this week that happened.  And when the new asphalt was on, the new lines were painted for one lane traveling each direction + a turn lane in the middle.  I am so flipping happy, I can't even explain!
Grinding down the previous layers of asphalt also uncovered our curbs!  For the first time in 7+ years of owning this house, we have curbs in front of like half of our house.  Something so simple.

3)  We finally got our roof replaced!!  It was in ugly condition when we bought the house, for sure.  For years we debated if we wanted to add dormers off the top floor or maybe build an actual 2nd story...  And eventually we decided to just leave it as is.  We got a new roof put on a couple weeks ago, and a crew is here at this very moment putting on our brand-new gutters.  :-)   We also got a new mailbox because the demo crew trashed ours....  
And Kris pulled off the lattice and wood where the chimney used to be, so that the soffits and gutters could be put in as one solid piece, instead of taking those little jogs like they used to.  So now there is a gap in the siding... one more thing to repair.

Fence Accident

Yesterday, while our family was sleeping, there was a traffic accident... that ended up in our yard.  I got a text message from our neighbor telling us to go look in the yard. 

Another neighbor, actually, driving his Jeep down Broadway, got cut off by another driver and his car plowed right into our fence. :-(   It's only half done.  It's sooo labor-intensive.  K is devastated.  Obviously we will be pursuing a payout from the man's insurance.  But.... f*ck.  This sucks.  At least 5 panels need to be replaced.

Boulevard Tree Removal

Our two boulevard trees were removed this morning.   They were supposed to be removed last fall, but oh well.  I had called the city Forestry Department because the trees were much too big for the one-foot wide boulevard space they had and were ruining our sidewalks.  Turns out they won't remove the trees for that reason!  !!!  But he had already been keeping an eye on those trees because he noticed that the tops of semi-trucks are hitting the trees--  #1 because our road makes cars & trucks drive right up against the non-existent curb and #2 because the trees are too big for their location.  He agreed they should come down and that they will not plant replacements.

Now that they're gone, the house feels really exposed!  It's kind of weird!