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.

Slinging Boulders

Cody and Bill are working on this project in Angola, Cody is becoming a fine craftsman of pavers he is an apt pupil and enjoys his work.  This is the largest circle we have ever done, nearly 20' requiring almost 4 circle kits to spin out.  The snap cut steps have complete sides by cutting some thinner steps down as fillers, many landscapers do not fill the sides when stacking only a couple of steps, to me that just looks unfinished.
We have two seating walls and a grill surround to install along with plants, this one will be very cozy.

We are lucky enough to be able to participate in this years BANI Parade of Homes and this house built by Star Homes is the one we will be landscaping.  Gregg Richhart, the builder is one hot ticket right now, this is his second set of twins (two new houses side by side) on Clear Lake.  He split a double lot selling one house and building this one as a spec, I love the colors and cottage style.  An amazing amount of contractors have been crawling all over this house for the past two weeks and we are up next.  How exciting, I love a Parade.

Last Sunday I took the boys to work with me, as you see meeting the office cat started out on a high plane but ended up with three amigos.  My boys Finn and Munch really dig cats for the most part.  There first visit to the shop went fine but I don't think they will ever develop the manners needed to be office dogs, they still prefer to greet people standing up.

We wrapped this installation up last week, sodding, adding trees and a great hydrangea hedge on the property lines.  It was a bit unusual as we installed the sod on the lakeside weeks ago and the landscaping on the roadside was really designed as we went along with lots of input from the homeowners. 

Glacial Stone Planter

This is start of our 2015 BANI Parade of Homes installation and it is a huge project, starting from the seawall and roaring up the hill in a neighborhood known as the cliff dwellers, Lone Tree Point.  Ryan gets a chance to really spread his wings on this project and Eric is swinging the rocks, Joe and Bruce worked on the timbers on the neighbors side and I finally freed up Scott to join in the fun later in the week.

Pavers down the hill ready to cap the seawall and patio

By Friday the men were nearly at the top of the hill with the steps and walls.  Monday they will add another 15 to 20 ton of boulder outcroppings to finish the hardscape , this one is gonna be super groovy.

Next week will be crazy, start and finish the parade house, complete two clean ups, work in several small jobs that we have promised.  Looks like we will be just about ready to get back into two jobs were builders have been holding us up.  Last week Doug and crew wrapped two full new house landscape installations, man we are super busy.  We will be losing some of our summer help soon so I have hired another guy who starts Monday, plus I hired someone mid week this past week.  Hectic.

Fourth of July , Painting the Sky

Fourth of July was memorable for me again this year, lots of activities and I actually took some time off inspired by my good pal Carol who came to visit from Boston.  I filled our dance card with a cook out at my cousins, AngolaBash where we listened to a friend play wicked guitar and showcase some other local talent, a boat ride and cook out on Lake Gage and finally a dinner party at home on Monday.  Oh yeah, we even managed to view the fireworks in Angola which has been awhile for me.

The boss wondered what I did with the annuals I bought from the competition.  This giant old fountain has not worked for our customer for several years so we re-purposed it as a planter, it looks awesome, just in time for their July 4th party.

Wild Thing is a Vietnam era military truck that has been re-purposed as well.  My cousin restored the truck and drives it in parades, school tours and the odd military event.  Only thing missing was power steering we were back seeding truck tracks from the lawn on Monday.

This mail  order Tikki Bar was pretty cool, three Penske trucks pulled into the driveway and two days later on a already poured pad constructed the bar, kitchen, grills, sink, fridge and all.  Ceramic tile bar and stools were even included.  Pretty cool Nyla and Bob.

 A regular visitor to our pond this great blue heron hunted breakfast last Saturday while my pal from Boston was cooking me cream cheese and chive scrambled eggs, yum, yum we had a fun filled weekend, a cook in the kitchen made life even better.

Flying Low Trio was the reason we went to the AngolaBash last Saturday and we were not disappointed, I have been watching Dave Hall play guitar since he first shocked himself playing on our deck some 20 odd years ago, like many things he improves with age.  True to the moniker the band started out with 3 but ended up 6, Dave and the men were joined first by a talented young harmonica player, then a very throaty blonde women who had range and gusto, then by a fresh young local singer, good show everyone.

Dave's Really Cooking

Finishing the weekend on our old haunt Lake Gage was super groovy, had fun on the yacht ride, great eats and even tried to slalom ski, notice I said try...probably better warm up a bit next time.  Met some new people including a couple of daredevil little boys.

Yep a bit of time off but I still managed to finalize a exciting new landscaping job that we started in this week.  A big job on a challenging site.  Work is super busy.  Bye Carol and welcome into the world yesterday Cassandra Christine Leona Klejnot, love you already.

Past, Present and Future

One of the many reasons I love working in the trades

Don't even know who to thank for the blistering economy but we are sure getting our share.  This reminds me of the boom days seems people are most interested in how soon we can get it done rather than what it costs, lots of new construction and heavy remodels, having fun again. 

Steve lives next door to a job site where we are working, he hand feeds two squirrels who reside in the tree in front of his house.  The squirrel are male and female mates he has been feeding them for about two years, they only eat cashews, pretty sweet to watch.

I have been digging the concrete work that Gregg Richhart at Star Homes has been putting out lately, not afraid of form and curves, makes my job easier.  Don't imagine he is making any friends with the team that does his flatwork.

Straw flowers have always been one of my favorites, color, texture and that great crunchy noise when you touch them, doesn't get much better than that.  Of course having several colors to choose from does not hurt either.

We landscaped this house a few years ago and with the homeowners finishing touches charm abounds. Perennials, hydrangea and summer annuals burst with color making this lakehouse  an inviting spot to chill in summer.  If we get to landscape the new house next door it will be three in a row on Clear Lake.

Another fine Star Homes is well under way.  The homeowner says several natural wells were located on the property, the one I observed running steadily filled the bottom quarter of a 4" drain tile.  This side of Clear Lake has many natural wells that must be channeled into the lake to even make building possible.  Capturing water and making it flow where you want is not always easy often the water reroutes itself and must be dealt with again.

We installed this natural stone staircase several years ago while it has become a tad bit overgrown it is still on of my favorite stair treatments.  It is fun to go by some of the older work we have done and see how it has held up and talk with customers from years ago, beautifying Steuben County one house at a time, hi, ho.

When blue lobelia is growing well it is hard to beat this little jewel of a annual.  When the sun hits it just right it looks nearly florescent, sure is cherry and bright.

Pouring the driveway is generally the last step before landscaping a new house.  I took photos of this house last Thursday and have it on my drawing board right now.  Really I need to quit blogging and get back to drawing and bidding this one today.  Customers really get anxious once the house nears completion especially those living on the lakes and hoping to capitalize on their first summer of fun.

Life is blooming all around, summer in Indiana means flowers and flowers are happiness for me.

Something Old, Something New and Get Well Wishes

The patient here is Jan our wonderful manager of the yard and nursery she went through a traumatic operation last week but she is strong and healthy.  She had an ugly tumor removed which she texted to me as a photo, I would put that up here but it is way too gross, speedy recovery Jan, I miss you smile.

 This project will help Travis get his credentials as a certified paver installer and wall builder, training is all part of the program that sets us apart from other installers.  We are fortunate that most of the employees really like what they are doing and are happy to attend training classes.

They actually finished up this project today, the plant material really sets off the hardscape nicely.  We transplanted the shrubs from the original beds and put them in beds we created around the yard trees, looks really sharp, I will have to get some additional photos of the finished product.

 We were are pleased with how this newly remodeled house turned out on Clear Lake, the landscaping gives it a cottage style flair.  I planted several flats of blue salvia around the cylinder yews should be really stellar in a couple more weeks.

The job on Lone Tree Point where we had the engineer is progressing as well.  A new concrete retaining wall is being poured over the old wall and still anchor posts are inserted into the old wall as dead men.  A difficult task but a necessary start for a solid foundation.  We will be slinging boulders on this hill before you know it.  Likely we will install nearly a hundred ton of material on this hill, should be interesting.

Finally this is a new house on my drawing board now, over on Lake James, should be a fun project a bit easier than normal on flat ground and already graded, yippee.