Log Cabin Revival

April is ending and I bid it a not so fond farewell, it was colder than March for the most part and ugly windy.  Today the forecast is crummy the weatherman just reported a high of 48 with strong, raw winds, ugh.  Working outdoors for a living is not always a cake walk.  It is easy to see why we wait until after Mother's Day to plant annuals.

This is the custom concrete for the top of the fire pit we built last fall.  We are still completing some odds and ends on that job but should finish soon.

We are off to a good start with the complete landscaping renovation of the historic log cabin on a lake just north of us.  We got it torn out in a couple of days and have started the blue stone patio, poured the new porch foundation, started the Chilton stone wall and built a mock-up of the pergola whew, those men are good.

To build the pergola we have to get a building permit and in this county that is often crazy.  Bruce and I are very busy and time is precious.  From start to finish it took over seven hours and stops in no less than five different locations I am so glad that for the most part we do not have to get permits for our installations the system in Steuben county IN is not user friendly.

The material we are using for patios and walks on this job is new for us.  It is blue stone quarried in sheets and saw cut at about 36 X 72 X 2.5" and very consistent in thickness and surface.  The advantage for installation is less time leveling, cutting patterns and greater precision fitting.  For the customer color, surface walk ability, less variation and better pricing make these jumbo slabs a step in the right direction.  We will fill the gaps with Gator Dust.

It was difficult for me to wrap my head around the exact height and location of the pergola that would best meet our clients stated goals so I had the men build a mock up.  We were able to adjust and manipulate so now we are exactly sure where to position the posts and how long to make the tales on the rafters. The pergola will be stained white when we finish.



The Fleet



We Just Love It

Nearly two weeks between postings tells you how crazy busy I have been.  This week end alone Bruce and I have had appointments with 11 customers, the local newspaper says that our county is second in the state for lowest unemployment numbers, things are definitely picking up.  We have hired four new people this year, one has already left us for a higher paying factory job but I hired his replacement the next day, good looking kid fresh out of the marine corps.

Of course in order to have more employees we needed more trucks. Our men are not exactly on the thin side and after a hard days work three big guys in the front seat of a dump truck down a dusty road rubbing arms makes the fellas a bit cranky.  So off to the bank and home with a 2003 Ford Super Duty which took extra time to outfit;  installing tool racks, shovels, rakes and tool boxes, we back a lot into each truck and color code the equipment for easy inventory control.

Ryan and Mike just completed this rock wall, pond and water fall in one of our favorite locations, Pine Canyon Lake.  The homeowners Louise and Steve were thrilled with the new look and very pleased with Ryan and Mike saying how nice they were and how hard they worked.   She provided them with beverages and treats which the men always enjoy.  I went for a visit and we kicked around different plant material.  I snapped the photo of the homeowners and Bruce he designed and sold the project.

I am in the process of installing plants at Patty's house where she is designing and I am advising, spacing and offering selection information.  We are having fun working out the green scape as we finish up this project from last year.  The day we were installing we had snow flurries and high winds everyone was so bundled up it was hard to tell one person from the next.  We are all loo

king forward to seeing this job completed.

We are just about complete on the 1750' of block we are installing as curbing along this driveway.  A bit of fine tuning, some rock picking and seeding should wrap it up.  We also have to finish planting this hill but are waiting for it to warm up a bit more.

In between these projects we did a quick spruce up at a factory in Angola, IMP.  Trimming and top dressing stone, adding 9 spirea and removing some ugly red lava rock.  The company was planning to entertain some customers and wanted to create better curb appeal so we had a tight deadline.

Fast Start

Looks like another landscape business in our area is going to go under. One of our hard goods suppliers is failing. It always saddens me when our business associates experience financial difficulties and I am thankful to still have my head above water after all these years.

This weekend I did something I would not have expected, purchased a truck sight unseen. It is a 2003, 10 cylinder Ford extended cab with a 8' dump, fold down sides, 1 ton dually. We will tear out the rear seat and install a tool crib. The truck is a railroad vehicle with 185,000 miles that part worries me. The price however was great $ 12,500.00, a bargain for a workhorse like that. We purchased it from Dave Imel Motors in Bluffton, IN where we have bought most of our trucks. I was not even looking for a truck but the recent DOT inspections reminded how beat up our fleet is, so I called Dave.

Of course he had the perfect truck (I hope) and he was getting ready to paint it white with a black bed while I prefer all white, so I only had about an hour to discuss it with Bruce and we committed in fifteen minutes. We will pick it up in a couple of days having already purchased some of the tools that will be required to outfit it properly.

Here it is only the end of the first week of April and many of the employees are already on their 6Th week of work due to the unseasonably warm weather, maybe we are on our way to a record year. We have a dozen employees currently, near our normal maximum but who knows perhaps we will set record for full time staff this year as well.

All this means Bruce and I are running like crazy and working a cool 70 hours per week still falling behind, but we persevere. An interesting but unexpected turn of events.