Sunday, October 13, 2013
Hidden Lake Gardens, Tipton MI
Great spot, close to home and well maintained. Saw several shrubs labeled "dwarf" that were big as trees, same ones we plant. The conifer garden was huge and fascinating . Nice conservancy and hosta hill blows me away. Great day for a garden tour.
Saturday, October 12, 2013
What Did You Do This Week?
It was a pretty busy week and we wrapped up a couple of short projects. Sometimes the short ones are the more rewarding because we can get in and out quickly while making big improvements other projects like the big stone wall in this video take weeks.
It was foggy most every morning these past couple of weeks and the combination of fog and morning light made for some stellar views. We started the week with a seeding job just outside of Angola, the chickens were eating the seed as fast as we put it down. The cocky rooster took a liking to our truck and we had to shoo him out several times. To slow down the seed eating the men set up a sprinkler and blasted the foul.
The dry creek bed took us a couple of days and I thought it was fun. I selected each stone and pretty much knew where each stone would set before we installed it. The largest stone we cut in half with the concrete saw that doubled its use and cut the weight in half. We used the tractor to lower the Missouri boulders down the steep hill from the road to the bottom of the staircase was 88'. Using slate as the stream bed stone adds to the illusion of water. The stream bed adds needed weight to the other side of the stairs. I thought it turned out pretty cool.
Ryan and Scott are still at it up on Coldwater Lake. We used Allan Block provide much needed foundation for the pavers that will sit a top it. We will be stacking a stone wall in front of the block that will disguise the block. The next step is to start a matching stone wall on the other side of the stairs.
It was foggy most every morning these past couple of weeks and the combination of fog and morning light made for some stellar views. We started the week with a seeding job just outside of Angola, the chickens were eating the seed as fast as we put it down. The cocky rooster took a liking to our truck and we had to shoo him out several times. To slow down the seed eating the men set up a sprinkler and blasted the foul.
The dry creek bed took us a couple of days and I thought it was fun. I selected each stone and pretty much knew where each stone would set before we installed it. The largest stone we cut in half with the concrete saw that doubled its use and cut the weight in half. We used the tractor to lower the Missouri boulders down the steep hill from the road to the bottom of the staircase was 88'. Using slate as the stream bed stone adds to the illusion of water. The stream bed adds needed weight to the other side of the stairs. I thought it turned out pretty cool.
Ryan and Scott are still at it up on Coldwater Lake. We used Allan Block provide much needed foundation for the pavers that will sit a top it. We will be stacking a stone wall in front of the block that will disguise the block. The next step is to start a matching stone wall on the other side of the stairs.
We Tame Hills
Last year we installed a snap cut stairway on this steep hill on Lake James. Earlier this year Dave built a stone wall around their parking lot and we are back yet again to create a dry creek bed between the steps and a tree because it is just so darn hard to mow. We kicked around different ideas and settled on the the creek bed which I thought was pretty much fun to build, of course I was on the tractor or the ground and not actually hauling around all these giant Missouri boulders. The three largest rocks weighed 2800 pounds and we had to tote them down the hill. In order to get them in place we used gravity, a tree cart, rope, our John Deere and a few good men.
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