A Little Slice of Heaven

We have our house on the market now, hoping to sell and move to FL soon. These photo's are about 10 years old so the flora has grown and there have been a few changes.

To Dark To See

To dark to work outdoors

What's wrong with this picture, yep it is dark and we are starting work, 7:30 am, Eastern Standard time and we are starting work?   The time changes  in the morning, fall back, spring forward, remember?  Personally I can't wait, I really don't dig driving deer alley in the dark every morning.  Now if we could just do something about the predicted wind and cold next week I would be even happier.

The "King of Concrete"

Brian King and his talented crew are onsite in Phillips Bay busily stamping the patio after pouring the foundation and lower level walls including the storm room of the new house were the local trades are competing once again for parking space.  Hey Brian that stamped concrete was supposed to be pavers, you must be the King of sales as well. 

Phillips Bay Local Stone

 

This project in Phillips Bay requires a four man crew and will take about six or seven weeks to complete this phase.  Last week the men removed a old concrete boat ramp using a jack hammer on a angle in the water, ugh.  It was my idea to stand on the four foot ladders to make the angle a little easier, another idea was to secure to hammer to the mini to reduce fatigue, great idea they came up with that after the hammer took a swim on Ryan.

Stay Alert Scott

Make no mistake this is not a job for sissies or the faint of heart Scott uses the Bobcat forks to grip the mini from behind to keep Eric from falling forward over the hill with the weight of the boulders.  Meanwhile Ryan and Cody are below manipulating a one and a half ton (3000 lb) swinging rock into place, concentration and teamwork along with courage, just another day of landscaping.

Ryan working Jackhammer

Jackhammer Swimming

Tying Jackhammer to Mini, Priceless

Red Stone

We finished the church in Angola, which has a most unusual color of grout in the sparkling granite split face stone.  The stone itself is beautiful more typical of Wisconsin field stone but it could have been locally quarried, I should find out.  The church landscaping committee chose the stone from several samples we provided, it is a dead ringer for bringing out the colors in the building itself.  Might not have been the one I would have picked, I would have been more neutral perhaps with a gray stone but I gotta say it does pop.  We were able to use some pyramidal yews in town since we have no worries of deer, a nice change.      

   

 Another job we finished up was in Pine Canyon Lake seeding a half acre after the excavator completed cutting down a big hill and removing trees.  We will be back next year to finish up the lakeside once more dirt is installed.  Lucky for us we got some help from our Fort Wayne brothers to finish up just before the snow flurries hit Friday.  As we did previously at this site we sprayed a sticking agent or tackifier to hold the straw over winter.  The seed we sewed here less than a month ago really needs to be cut.

 

 

 

 

 

Paving Seawalls

Petunias Still Thriving in October

A Terrific Year for Annuals

Dusty Miller Looking Like Sea Coral

It is tough to concentrate on work as this year at the end of season we will be going to Florida to our new home.  We are excited to have our own house and put an end to sponging with the relatives for the winter.  The house needs a bit of work but I enjoy the process from design, install to finish although seems you never actually finish on your own piece of dirt or house.  A huge adjustment this winter will be taking all our critters to Florida with us and living in the city, close to the neighbors, going from 25 acres to .25, wow.

Unilock Rivenstone Paver Seawall 

Looks like these are the only pavers we will install on the Lone Tree Point job this year.  Construction is a bit behind and we have done most of what we can without the house being closer to finished.  This is gonna be a boat stopper when completed.

Super Slab Patio, oh Yeah

Controlling Rainwater

We are actually done with this job now and it is great looking.  I have not taken any photos of the finished product yet but I will.  We have to go back and do some extra seeding once the excavator is finished, this property is about three acres.  This piece of dirt makes me want to move, I fell in love with Pine Canyon Lake the first time I saw it but was already in a committed relationship with another chunk of dirt.  Oh well.

The gravel pit closest to our old shop has changed hands, meet Eric and his brother Eric.  I added to their workload this past week when I went rock/boulder shopping.  It is tough to estimate but I think the next job will weigh in somewhere around 175-250 tons or 350,000 - 500,000 pounds that' a lot of rocks.  When the first load was weighed it was 62,791 pounds with the truck.  The pit is only about three miles from the job site.

We Built This Berm 19 Years Ago

How To Plant Trees Where There Are Roots

The purpose of a berm is usually to retain water or reduce noise on busy roads, add trees and you have privacy as well.  The original conifers that were installed were Austrian Pine, they became diseased and scrawny so it was time to start over.  The new tree are White Spruce we are also removing the sod between trees, leveling the bed, installing edging, weed barrier and crushed stone to reduce outdoor chores.

Potato Launcher

I followed this behemoth down State Road 120, it bombed four tater's on the road the short time I was behind it, think it needs a tailgate?

Lunar Eclipse

It was fun watching the eclipse Wednesday morning, the dogs did not seem to get what we were doing standing out in the cold, dark, morning staring up at the moon, but as usual they were up for it.

Under the Deck, No Problem

Almost Finished With This One

The weather is chilling and the leaves changing, this weekend is brilliant, colors amazing.  I hope to get out and drive up north this weekend, open the sunroof of the HHR let the wind blow listen to Jimmy Buffett maybe a little Bob Marley, run the dogs along the dunes of Lake Michigan, need to take the time.

FALL AWAY

The Dekalb County Free Fair usually has some pretty good musical acts during its week run in Auburn.  This year we went and saw the band Kasmir, they are a Led Zepplin cover band and they are a credible band to listen to and watch.  The show was good with lots of energy.  We also discovered the most wonderful walleye sandwich heaping with crispy fish on a sweet warm soft bun, yum, yum.  I probably had two to many salt water taffy strips, I love pealing back the wax paper and marveling at the bright sticky dye I am about to ingest.



Work goes on and we will soon begin the race to catch the leaves.  We are about to start the big canyon on Lake James should be interesting.

Summer Sunrise

Pine Canyon Lake Sunrise

We mostly finished landscaping the First Baptist Church in Coldwater, the irrigator needs to install the underground watering system then we will go back and wrap things up.  We ran a lot of river wash stone and laid 6 rolls of weed barrier.

The ground is literally moving on our job in Pine Canyon Lake.  A one story hill has been shifted from the road side of the house to the lakeside filling in and flattening the yard.  Many of the mature pine trees have been removed and the house is now in clear view.

Starting the Bluestone Patio

The patio is moving alone nicely and we will be starting the landscaping beds next.  Extensive landscaping with large beds will pull this house back into the woods.

Bill and Gary, A Great Team

Happy and Handsome My Favorite Kind of Equipment Operator

We got back to our job on Clear Lake since the flatwork has been mostly completed.  It is another challenging site impossible when wet, to slippery with very narrow access.  The TR53 cracked and threw a track so we had to use the Bobcat to pull it up.  Two of the hardscape areas are about finished but we will wait until everyone is done at the lakeside before building a rock wall that will further restrict lakeside entry.

Stream Bed Under Deck

Glacial Stone Wall Necessary Before Driveway

Landscaping Churches

Staging Plants at the Baptist Church

Seems work gets in the way of blogging more often than I would care for, not just my job but so many chores at home both in the yard and just routine upkeep.  This is especially true having to maintain 25 acres and a rental property which we have had for sale for more than a year. 

Cody Cleaning Out the Old Planting Beds

As I earlier reported this year has certainly been busy and we are easily booked till the end of the season.  We are completing a large landscape installation at a baptist church in Coldwater, MI which we bid and landed last December.  The church itself is huge with a child care center, gymnasium, kitchen, sanctuary and other offices.  We removed the old shrubs which mostly consisted of yews.

Setting up the New Plants

 

Serbian Spruce Make a Great Addition

 

The project in Phillips Bay has been excavated and we now have one big hole waiting for boulders and steps.  It is always a bit weird starting landscaping with no house but it is often necessary on these steep Steuben County hills.  It is difficult to envision how the landscaping will meet up with the house and where everything is going to go but we usually get the job done.  This excavation suffered heavy rains and some of the soil collapsed but actually fell sort of into place where we will be needing it, groovy.

The Big Dig

Under a deck or porch is a tricky spot to landscape generally most people end up with some type of hard surface, often concrete.  Our customers on Clear Lake thought the idea of a dry creek bed and a spot to hang their hammock was the way to go so we started with the boulders first.  Actually I had picked out some boulders larger than these but getting them down the hill was more trouble than it was worth, so we downsized the rocks.

Travis Rounding the Turn

Creek Outline

 

This little chapel is behind the Congregational church in Angola where we just submitted a bid to renovate the landscaping.  Two church members maintain the garden, it is a sweet spot.

Little Chapel Garden

Over 60 Easy Gardens

Once a flower bed now a weed bed

Shrubs & stone make easy care

Doug transformed this climbing hydrangea into the most beautiful in the county

What a difference 60 labor hours makes

 

Serious health issues prevented this couple from attending to their gardens this year and with a weak heart lowering the work load was the main goal.  Small shrubs, stone and weed barrier did the trick nicely.  I like to call it the over 60 Garden Care Design.     

                             

                                                                           

            

Cooler Fishing

Munch learned a new trick when Leo and Winston went fishing.  Munch and his brother dog Finn spend much of the summer swimming in the pond fishing, what a waste of time, this is like well...fishing in a barrel.

Award Winning Landscaping

This is the BANI Parade winner for 2014, the landscaping was designed by me and installed by my team.  We are very happy with first place and thankful for the opportunity to participate.  Congratulations team.

Our 2014 BANI Parade of Homes Entry

Quickfire Hydrangea Glowing

This past week has been hectic and I hope profitable, as we wrapped up several projects and will be sending out invoices soon.  The large Missouri boulder outcropping and stone stairs on Lone Tree Point was one hydraulic line from completion last Friday as the excavator blew a hose.  We will finish Monday, Ryan has done a fabulous job of executing my vision and Eric has provided the steady hand on the mini while Scott has really developed his skills on this job.  Joe and Bruce worked the timber walls.  Dangerous but rewarding creating a masterpiece from a unforgiving slope.

It will be interesting to total the tons of stone slung on this hill, should know next week.  We will take a break from Lone Tree Point to finish up a job on Lake James.  The next part of this hill will be much easier, pavers on the seawall.

These guys don't have the luxury of a excavator to move a big rock but they do have our football playing rock toting Caleb, sorry to say he will be leaving for college soon.  This is the last phase of landscaping installation for these twin houses on Clear Lake.

This project in Angola is down to the greenery now, the hardscape is complete, Bill has a new partner Matt who is doing just fine, learning hardscape quickly.

Saws, saws, saws there is a terrific amount of activity to finish this model home in time for the BANI Parade of Homes  next week.  The house will be judged by other trades professionals on construction, landscaping and interior design, in addition to best overall house, keep your fingers crossed that we show well.   So far I am pretty satisfied with how it is looking.

The start of the dwarf rose of sharon hedge, I fertilized these shrubs hoping to push them into bloom by Parade time they are so close.  It took some looking but I found a spot for my antique soap holder turned flower pot under the window.

The lakeside is nearly finished, we will be getting some patio furniture and potted plants providing the extra color.

Once the outhouse is gone and the grass is green I think this will be a sweet walk to the basketball court all part of the Parade House outdoor living space.

Welcome into this big beautiful world Sophia Grace Eyester your daddy is one of my favorite young men.