What A Great Way To Start The Year

Carpenters, Masons, Electricians, Plumbers & Landscapers Make It Happen

The first week of work for the season flew by with the days sunny and crisp, just enough cold wind to keep overalls on all day.  This week has been rainy and caused us to pull off new construction because it got greasy and we experienced a small landslide on the pond project after rain saturated the sandy soil.

Start of the Staircase and Pond Roughed In

Our transition with the new company is going well.  Eric G. has been indispensable excavating and offering good ideas on the pond project. The operations manager Dan G. has bid an irrigation job which we got and provided me with input on mulch bidding, stump removal and tree removal.  Wow we have it all now.

Cody Grubbing Out the Concrete

Roger and crew from Designing Innovations are blasting out the remodel on Lake Gage, what a difference adding all the new stone work has made.  I was a bit skeptical of mixing the original brick on the house with the stone but I am a believer now.  Mike Miller Stone are the masons while Roger and his men are laying travertine on the new deck and of course finishing all the woodworking.  All of it is beautiful.

Roger K, The Man Behind the Plan on Lake Gage

I might be prejudice but I think the pond and landscaping we are installing is gonna hit this project out of the park.  We installed sandstone super slabs obtained at Fort Wayne Rocks that mimic the design and color of the travertine , they are some of the most unusual super slabs I have ever seen.

The project we began last year on Lake James is one we are back on as well.  The house is now built and we are able to start where we left off last year.  It required a couple of trips to the drawing board before we got the look right and we changed directions a couple of times but now we are all confident about form, function and price.  Good deal.

 Natural Stone Steps onto Stone Pathway

Another Lawnscape employee Lee demonstrated his special powers to me on Wednesday when he "witched" a water line on Lake James.  This is a customer who we worked with last year and is having us back this spring for another project.  Witching is a time honored method of locating underground water whether it is free-flowing or in a pipe.  Holding two metal rods about 18" long with handles that you grip loosely in both hands, holding the rods parallel to the ground, you walk.  When you cross over water the rods cross.  Lee had lots of expensive back up equipment but the witching sticks worked perfect.

Witchy Lee Locates Water Line the Old Fashion Way

Winter Pond Building

This heron feeds at our pond daily

Brrrrr...........14degrees this morning and I have a small crew working on Lake Gage, very unusual.  This time of year I am normally south but hubby has to have surgery so we are hanging north until cutting and recovery.  We have opportunity to work so the men are doing some tear out for a project that will be in the remodel showcase this spring.

Getting Started

The project is very exciting, we are going to build a magnificent water feature that will have two waterfalls separated by a winding staircase.  One large, deep pond at the top of the hill will fill the ponds and provide winter shelter for the homeowners prized koi.  The broad sense of the project is defined but choice of materials and exact lay out is being fine tuned.

Jeremy & Tom from Designing Innovations

The homeowners are long time friends, business associates and customers, we have worked on several projects together and this new pond is part of the complete renovation of the homes lakeside exterior.  The new custom deck is being constructed by Designing Innovations, Roger and his men love to work with the hottest trends and styles and this project will feature a second story travertine deck, bar and grill.

Using drive on boards to keep yard nice

All will be completed by the first of May so getting a jump on it before our busiest time of year is wonderful.

Stairs Off & Landscaping Out

Old water feature and Koi pond

Happy New Year, 2013

The holidays have filled the last month and I have had little adventure to report, I drove uneventfully from Cape Coral, FL to home mid December and have been with family and friends celebrating the season since that time.  Our last worker finished up the week before Christmas and I helped with some of the end of season clean up, we still have some to do but have accomplished a lot.

Cardinal

One of my Christmas gifts was a new Cannon SX50HS camera from husband Bruce.  I am working on learning the proper use of the camera, it does a lot of tricks zooming to 50x and having wide angle capability, a swell machine.  I hope to supply the blog with lots of sharp new images as I develop my skills.

Coach Painter and players during time out

Notice the gray haired bald tuba player?

One of the great new features is continuous/automatic picture taking, for example at a sporting event I can set the camera and shoot in rapid succession catching all the action.  I recently employed this at the Purdue vs. William and Mary basketball game this past Saturday.  My husband and I are both Purdue alumni and still enjoy visiting campus for various events.  We have several college chums who actually live in the area and we all get together both on campus and off.  It was great visiting with friends and lots of fun playing with the new features of my camera trying to shoot the game.

No mistakes here

I took several hundred shots and got maybe three that were decent, I have greater respect for sports photographers now.  Keeping the winter bird feeders full gives me some great subjects as well.

Purdue won despite this missed dunk

Beach Bums

The clouds around this bird look like bird wings to me, can you see this?

Shorts and t shirts are still my attire but that will change soon enough as I begin my journey north later this week.  I got lucky these last couple of weeks in  Florida it has been unseasonably warm with gentle breezes, temperatures in the low 80's. 

Shrimp Fleet FMB

I spent most of last week painting the exterior of my sisters new house, got to earn my keep somehow.  It really was easy painting since the house is single story.  I do not mind as I am able to get some exercise and be outdoors, a bit of trim left to do and I can head home with a clear conscious.

Christmas Decorations on FMB Noodle & Flip Flop Trees

A girlfriend from Boston arrived last Thursday and two girlfriends from St. Pete came down to spend the weekend, we had a ball.  With the beautiful weather beach cruising was a must and we went to one of my favorite old haunts Fort Meyers Beach on Saturday and Santibel & Captivia on Sunday where I was once a licensed landscaper.  In the early 90's I used to winter in Florida and worked for a couple of landscapers as well as independently.

We got chased off Fort Meyers Beach when this short intense storm popped up

As usual there were lots of interesting subjects to photograph.  Avian life still beats strong on the beaches despite the tourists and eco-risks.  As far as tourist traffic goes it was easy on/easy off both the islands, after Christmas that will be a different story when the snowbirds flock back south.

Me and the Girls

We went swimming in mother ocean, strolled for shells, ate some tasty fish tacos, swallowed crisp pinot, saw a rainbow and listened to three local bands all and all a lovely weekend.

Ibis feeding

A large flock of pelicans at Blind Pass between Santibel and Captivia Islands

Cruising The Bay Bay

Florida has been great, warm sunny days, open window nights, lots of sit down family meals with nephew, new great nephew, wife/mother of nephews, sister and bro-in law, so nice not to be eating out of my lap or in the car.  Settling into a new  house and neighborhood I am going out looking for the public library in the morning a bit old fashioned but I still enjoy holding a book in my hands and find it makes a great sun shield while reading outside.

A quintessential Florida experience is a tour of the back bay in a small boat, you are guaranteed to see wildlife, suck in the sea air and might get lucky enough to see some dancing dolphins.  You can rent a large variety of vessels, captain yourself or pay for a tour with a local guide.  Up and down the coast nearly every marina provides these services making Florida's waterways accessible for all who desire.

We rented a 24' deck boat out of Monroe Marina on Pine Island, the new digs are only 10 minutes off Pine Island, after getting a bucket of grilled KFC , we hooked up with Florida nephew Ken and his wife Kate for a day of water touring.  The weatherman had predicted sunny skies with moderate wind but instead it was cool with a steady breeze of 10 to 12 knots gusting to 20.  With the wind blowing a steady chop  2' white caps were  prevalent on the intercoastal waterway.

Motoring out of the marina down the channel Kenny immediately spotted an osprey munching on a mullet perched high up on the branch of a swaying pine.  We aimed for Tween Waters and pushed through the rough and chilly intercoastal until  we could  slow down, cruising the channels eating chicken, gawking at mansions and animal watching.

It is really cool that you can intimately and easily engage with nature in many ways in Florida.

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.