Another fine workday in the rain

Before the madness started...

Today started out clear but cold and as Matt and I surveyed the street at 8am we noticed that the mulch had been dumped right on the area where we wanted to build the last section of the path. Ugh!

Lyngso truck arrives

We went to get coffee and came back in time to meet the guy from Lyngso at 8.20am. He was delivering our 72 fine Sonoma field stone boulders, handpicked by Matt and I last weekend.

He got them off the truck, and put the pallets along the street while I unwrapped them and put the trash in bins.

Matt rolled up all the orange plastic fencing that has been protecting the street, and piled up the signboards too.

Rocks are ready

At 9am Kessel and Mauricio arrived and started operating the bobcat, moving rocks to their final places. Then all the other volunteers started arriving and it got busy!

Everyone split into groups and tackled various jobs. One group worked on the remaining pathway, where loads of dirt had to be moved to backfill the pathway, get raked flat and have decomposed granite compacted on top. The dirt down there is heavy and hard to move!

We had 9 tons of decomposed granite delivered and we still need 4 more yards - argh! We had more bender board delivered and Matt cut it to the right length and everyone pounded in the stakes to hold it.

Team hard at work

Another group was busy moving mulch out of the way at the same time. Pitchforks, rakes, wheelbarrows and bucket-loads were spread along the street - amazing how much better that makes it all look!

Another group rearranged rocks, placing them flat side down, every 9' along the street.We had just enough, but when we order more for the bio-retention cells we might intersperse a few large ones in among the current ones.

Work in progress

Lastly Matt headed up a crew removing all the yuccas and cacti from the Regent's Cab lot. Everyone was getting tired, and then it started raining... could we hold out and finish the job?

Emily and Debbie went to get pizzas from Goat Hill Pizza and sadly Emily had to go home as she was feeling sick. The rest of us plowed onwards, stopping for a pizza break. One last push in the rain though and yes - we planted ALL the plants! We cleaned up all the trash, got all the tools back to Sean the DPW guy

Ta dah!

Our first guests

There are still two mounds of mulch and that's going to be work for another day... but while I was contemplating that the very first people to officially walk down our newly opened path passed me, and I had to stop and take their photo - left. Yay!

Matt, Emily, Ryan, Debbie, Tony, Nate, Tristan, Jessica, Chris, Gennie, Gina, Carlin, Leslie, Bruce, Eliot, Bill, Maulik, Steve, Max, Carl, Kessel, Mauricio, the 7 teenagers from Millbrae, and all the people whose names I forgot (sorry - so tired!) all worked SO HARD today and made it happen - thank you all so much for contributing to this community project. You should feel very proud.