Anyone Need a Barricade?

The road to success is always under construction.

~ Internet Meme

I am interrupting my other writing to vent...sharing an example of what seems to be a constant companion these days - road construction.*

I walked the dog "through" and will be driving "through" to get to the house...unless a maintenance truck is parked across the drive - but that's generally the cable or electric company.

Yesterday I walked out the back door to find a warning sign - "Construction Ahead" on one side and "End of Construction" on the other - next to the side yard curb. Later a pile of plastic and aluminum began to grow in the corner of the side yard (yes, on my grass).

Okay. This is not my corner, but they moved mine before I got a photo. AND I had to pile the stuff neatly in my yard. This is a neat stack compared to what they did on my corner. It had basically been thrown down willy-nilly. It's not their pathetic dry grass, after all.

There were pieces of more signs and barriers and sandbags.

Up early this morning, I set up the hose to finish watering our crispy yard (we have lost a few of my experimental plantings in plastic pots in the heat and our negligence for taking a vacation), I noted the construction team had been at work before me - staging the implementation of chaos in the neighborhood.

The road in front of the house is a major one in this small town. There is always traffic. There will be snarls without it.

It seems that we are surrounded by road construction these days - my former workplace has two entities working on different projects creating an endless looping detour on one side and inconvenience for everyone on the other. When I finally found my way past the "road closed" signs I asked them how they managed to tick-off both the city and the state. They explained that both had delays (one fired a contractor and was two months behind on the project).

How students and employees will manage this when school begins in a couple of weeks is anyone's guess. I only stopped to purchase my weekly egg supply from a former co-worker who has free-range hens.** While I was there I found my way to the office of campus police to pick up a new parking sticker. I figured the driving situation could only get worse and I would avoid more hassles by acting right away.

Anyway, I suppose we will be driving the dog to the park and trying to figure ways to escape the noise and smell. Our suitcases haven't been put away. A trip is always an option.

No one really knows what is planned for our neighborhood, but we've shared some ideas on social media. We suspect a resurface of this major street - nice hot sticky smelly tar and loose gravel everywhere.

Maybe they will finish before school starts. Ha!

NOTES:

* Okay. I know - first world problem. I should be grateful to have paved streets. We all really do have more to worry about considering the current political climate and chaos in the world. Please, let me whine. [I do fear I am turning into a bit of a crank.]

**My class is on the edge of the campus and I have envisioned a magic path in from the north. It won't matter if I cannot get out of my driveway.