Ash Tree Chainsaw Massacre

The heat continues, drought endures although we had an inch or two of rain during the past week.  We are losing hours and workers as we have been coming in early and barely are able to get in a scorching 40 hours per week.  Our freshman female worker sweet Jessica has been out for over a week with heat stroke and dehydration as the diagnosis, she has been to her family doctor, the local hospital and Urgent Care but continues with vomiting and fever.  All manner of tests and pills yet she feels no better.  It is on to the big city hospital in the morning for her.

What to do with dead ash trees killed by the emerald ash borer, the city of Fremont, IN has the solution turn them into wood sculpture?  Several of the trees were cleverly carved by a local chainsaw artist, bears, raccoons and squirrels are playing on the once ugly stumps.  Sweet.

Last week was cooler and we did get in a full week.  We were still short Jessica and Theresa was gone a couple of days, this week will be the last for Rick as he will be going back to college.  I hired a young man whose father is an excavator we know his name is Cody his dad says he had a bottle in one hand and a shovel in the other for as long as he can remember so I have high hopes for the kid.

We are wrapping up the odd commercial job a nursing home in Angola where Bruce has been in charge, he did manage to find a spot for one of our signature rock walls.  His biggest concern has been watering and for the last three week ends he has been going to town to water the new plants.  Soaker hose and timers have been installed and the maintenance men at the nursing home will be taking over the watering chores this week.

The landscaping around this small block wall belongs to Mike Stuckey at M & C Trenching, Mike and Cheryl's son is getting married and they are sprucing up their yard.  The wall was already there and they had a couple of deceased ash tree that were removed last year.  Mike reworked the wall and I designed the new look while he and his crew installed it with a little help from us. 

I traded Mike for the use of his mini excavator for a day and Bruce P dug a retention pond at our property to handle overflow rain water and pick up ground water and divert it from the retaining wall next to our house.  You can see the heavy clay soil that will hold the water, our soil is a mix of clay, sand, gravel spots and the rare loam all on 25 acres.

Carlos Santana Live

Our summer concert schedule included Carlos Santana at the Toledo, OH Zoo an intimate venue where every seat is great.  Spiritual Carlos entertained the audience holding those long notes and encouraging us to be what we wanted and love one another.  Everyone should see Santana at least once, it is a memorable experience.

Rocking in the Heat

A rare occurrence has taken place we did not work the crew from July 4 to July 9th and it was a great decision because it was still smoking outside with record temperatures over 106 degrees.  Our region has had a record number of triple digit days, crops are suffering, we have stopped applying fertilizer, herbicides and insecticides for those without irrigation. Lawns are crunchy dormant with no relief in sight.  But the beat or heat  goes on.........and we progress with the next jobs.

This job on Clear Lake is nearly finished and we have installed another Millgrove first, an old fashioned lake driveway with a modern day twist of pavers.  I have advised the customers that a slow and steady approach will be the best way to assure safe parking.

Placement of a 4" October Glory Maple on the right corner of the property serves to pull the earth closer to the high roof peaks.  The tree certainly makes a statement.  Likewise the the European Hornbeam on the lakeside corner of the house both grounds the corner and the low branching fills the space to the ground providing a great visual barrier between the neighboring deck levels. Intimate property lines often mean creative planting strategies are necessary fortunately we are blessed with a wonderful variety of hardy plant species and shapes.

Our next big project is well underway on Lake James (which has receded 8' )  our first shipment of 8 pallets of Allen Block Ashlar Hickory blend block is being installed as I write, well not all at once but we will need our second shipment by Monday.

We had lots of great excavation help from Dan Eyester Excavation and John Day,  John really cowboy ed up climbing a hill of loose soil in the mini sending everyone scurrying as he precipitously rocked and teetered nearly rolling  down the hill.  Having a mini excavator, a big back hoe and our tractor really greased the wheels on this project.

Before our arrival Dan and John applied the
 engineered solution to solve the soggy yard that plagued the customer lakeside.  Tile, soil stabilization fabric and fresh dirt raise the yard and the new swales offer direction for surface water should it ever rain.  Dan, John and crews did a swell job on the lawn all we had to do was a light rake and we were ready for seed.

Jimmy Buffett Live 2012

It has been two years since I went to a Jimmy Buffett concert and it looks like I will be able to see him twice this summer.  I shot this video when Bruce and I went to Tinsley Park, IL, just sout of Chicago Saturday night.  Jimmy was hot...hot...hot and so was the temperature in the mid 90's.  We had a good time but a rough ride home as we figured to just pick up a hotel room on the way home and found every hotel we stopped at the first 50 miles or so to be sold out.  We drove on home and got there around 4:30 am having to drive slowly through dense fog the last few miles.  Fins Up, enjoy one of Jimmy's signature Parrotthead songs.