Wrapping Up Turkey Day

On The Road Again

Wow it has been twenty days since I have posted on my blog.   I have been in transition driving alone from Indiana to Florida with Internet capabilities limited  to my cellphone, then there was Thanksgiving, meeting my new great nephew Winston from Seattle and helping my sister and her husband refresh their new home before assisting them with them relocation, busy, busy, busy.  Well the new digs finally have a high speed connection and it is time to catch up.

Back row:  nephew Tana, bro-in law David, husband Bruce, nephews Kenny & Leo, middle sister Mary holding great nephew Winston, sister Cass, me, Leo's wife Marcy, Kenny's wife Kate and bro-in law Jim


At 6:00 am I took Bruce to the airport so he could get back north to be at work Monday, we still have a crew working finishing up a large snap cut staircase contracted rather last minute but the weather has been very good for landscaping in northeast Indiana.  Bruce flew down for the family Thanksgiving while I drove since I am staying much longer.  This year was a big change for us because we came to FL and dined with several members of my immediate family for the first time in over 25 years, rather special although we still missed those absent.

Laying out new boxwood hedge

The crew finished the last landscaping job I had lined up for this season, the landscape installation was the result of our fertilization contract.  The before pictures of this house are on my blog post of October 30th, we finished up the day before I left for Florida.

We did a fair amount of transplanting the existing material, reused the block edging, created a new bed around the lamp post, installed a boxwood hedge, some colorful accent plants and created a modern, clean and easy care landscape.  Since our clients are older they were anxious to reduce the time they had to fuss in the yard, the are very pleased with the new look.

Another of our last projects was a small timber planter to replace an existing on at Clay's restaurant near the MI/IN state line, we have done work for Clay's in the past.  We try to patronize  business's that do business with us so we took the crew to Clay's for lunch a couple of weeks ago.

Clay's Restaurant Planter

Yum, yum a hot lunch at Clay's

Lake James Again & Dog Walking

Bruce designed and sold this job, Ryan installed the stone walls, Doug and Bruce P were on the snap cut steps.  I came in at the end for the landscape design having never seen the house.  The homeowners Judy and Dale are lovely,  Judy has spoiled the men with daily sweets cookies, brownies and popcicles.  After site assessment and conversation we came up with a design saving some of the original plants and installing new, I also added a third stone terrace out of stones which were all the same size to extend the planting bed.

Judy did not think there was time for landscaping so she is especially happy that we have progressed.  We installed a pretty little dwarf weeping beech which unfortunately has a nasty grub at the top of the leader so it snapped off after being bumped.  Now we have to find a replacement for the beech or wait until spring and try to secure another.  I stumbled upon some decent tulip bulbs so I decided to drop 100 in a bed where we intend to plant annuals, much to my delight turns out tulips are Dale's favorite flower.

Walking the two wanna be labs this morning was especially beautiful, clear, crisp, not another soul around for the entire hour.  We walked in a newly harvested soybean field in addition to our normal stroll down the road.  A deer jumped out and darted back into the brush, jets left their early morning vapor trails in the sky, neighbors cats bathed in the first rays of sunshine, combines loomed behind the next row of beans and clouds of dense smoke hung in the river it was a typical walk with the pack. 

When I travel I think I miss the pack the most, the unconditional love, tail beatings, the three of us howling full out while Baxter the cat shrinks into the furniture and sneaking up on the pack finding two cats and two dogs curled up next to each other on the couch.  I had intended on getting travel size dogs but the rescue of these behemoths was our destiny so I will miss them again soon as I head off to Florida next weekend.