Arrrrrgh!

While driving home through Mad City [Madison], we went through construction sites at rush hour. 

I was in the left lane and the car in the right lane splashed us with what I thought was mud. The wipers barely got the mud off with repeated spraying. I just figured I'd run it through the car wash the next day.

Nope. This was liquid concrete and guess what? It doesn't come off! I read up on the different ways to try and get it off. Nothing works and it scratches the finish of the vehicle. 
Nasty Stuff!

So yesterday I stopped at the local body shop and talked to the husband/wife team that ran the place. He said I could scrap it off but ruin the finish on the hood, the door, the front, and the roof of our car. The front bumper and head light would be terribly damaged and messed up. 

His suggestion was to report it to my car insurance.

Now. The car is 5 years old. I love this car. I could take the money and run, have it scraped and deal with the rust and scratches. However.
For now? I will see what the insurance has to say.

Two years ago, I had a groundhog eat my transmission line and my insurance covered that.

At least I can say that I have some really odd claims?

Groundhogs and splashing concrete!

The bent plastic by the fog light was from a parking lot incident. I have no idea how that occurred when I was at the clinic last year... but if that part needs to be replaced, I'll have a two - fer.

Frank, the gent I hired for plowing last winter also farms and has a gravel pit as well as a business that does driveways and whatnot.

He and his worker arrived yesterday morning to see what we wanted done. This shot is of his bulldozer parked in the lower driveway. This section of driveway has no base left and becomes a mud sucking pit each spring. 

I have to park on the ridge or park on the hill and walk with groceries to the house. It would be nice not to have to deal with that next spring. He will dig out the culverts on the hill driveway and level out a place next to the back door for me to park and for vehicles to turn around.

What the driveway looks like during the thaw. View from the house:

These improvements have been needed for a long time. Hubby kept putting it off thinking he'd do it himself. The last time we had any real work done, it was in 2007 and that was on the hill. Nothing has been done to the lower drive since we bought the place.

2007 work:

This is sort of exciting. 

It pays to stay local and seek out someone who you know to do the work. Frank lives close enough to be called a neighbor. We've been neighbors since he was a young man. 

The work that was done in 2007 was from another local friend that has since retired from his work for the county. That was a huge undertaking and has really kept the hill driveway from washing out over the years.

As a bonus, Frank noted that two pines near the house were dying. He commented that he'd just push them down with the bulldozer. I said that was fine too. However I couldn't cut it up. I'd hack off my legs with a chainsaw.

He looked at his co-worker and said that they'd do that and haul it away. They could use the wood for the outdoor wood heater he'd purchased for his shop.

Well now. That seems like a good deal to me!