July 29 - Ta Da!

The fountain turned out pretty cool if I do say so myself.

They seeded the west side of the house and covered it with straw this afternoon. And, right on cue here comes some light rain this evening.

Tomorrow is the last day that the landscaper will be here. They should be planting some wildflowers back side of the house below the septic system and close to Trapper. They may be coming back later this fall if/when we decide to have him plant some trees. Now we just need some rainy days to get this grass going. Otherwise, lots of watering ahead.

July 28 - The Bubbler is bubbling!

The landscaping boys worked on Saturday and planted more shrubs and mulched.

The big news, however, is that we set our new bubbler rock in place and made it functional. For those of you that remember the water feature at our home in Long Grove, this one is much the same. There's only one place where the water bubbles out the top on this one, however.

Here are some fresh shots of the progress.

Today, I added some more rocks to be ready to have the area finished up with plants and mulch on Monday.

There are two rocks set side by side. The bigger one on the left weighs 1190 lb.

Here are some of the completed planted areas.

July 26 - Back after my road trip. Some planting is done.

I made a whirlwind trip to Pensacola this week to deliver my '92 Mustang to my son Frank. I drove 1000+ miles in 2 days without any air conditioning! Driving a 21 year old car that has been sitting in a garage or storage for the past several years all that distance was a bit of a gamble. All went well for me. Drove 570 miles the first day and stopped in northern Mississippi for the night.

The 2nd day was a 440 mile jaunt and an overnight visit with good friends Gary and Maggie Campbell in Foley, AL. I never did put the top down. I put a wet rag on my neck and sipped on the biggest fountain drink I could buy to pass the miles.

My 3rd day was spent in Pensacola to meet up with Frank and Crystal. We had something to eat at McGuire's Irish Pub before they went to an evening 311 concert at the Bay Center.

I flew home on Thursday morning. Pensacola to Dallas to St. Louis to Kirksville, MO. Kirksville is only about an hour drive from our house. I got off of a very nice American Airlines Boeing 757 in St. Louis to board a twin engine Cape Air 8-seater for the last leg to Kirksville. Let's just say that it was an interesting finish to my journey. They had to ask me how much I weighed before I could get on the plane. There were 5 passengers on the plane. One pilot sporting a handle bar mustache.... who turns sideways from his cockpit seat to tell us the preflight instructions. Needless to say there was no in-flight beverage service. This all reminded me of the Ron White routine about a short flight in a small plane that was losing oil pressure. Glad all went smoothly.

After Frank dropped me off at the airport, he soon discovered that the electric fan on the radiator had stopped working sometime during my drive south. The car overheated a but when he got to Destin but nothing serious. After letting it cool down, he made it to Southport and has already installed a new fan. He admitted that part of the attraction of owning the car will be wrenching on it. Nothing like getting a quick start on that!

I'll miss having the Stang in my garage but am pleased that Frank and his family wanted the car.  Here's wishing them many, many miles of top down fun in the future!!!

Now, back to our landscaping. Here are some pics of the plants and mulch recently added.

Earlier this week, they added some stepping stones from the deck stairs around to the back of the house.

Here's the patio area on the north side with some plants and mulch.....

After being gone for a few days, you can see it's time for me to get some weedkiller out once again to clean up our rocked shoreline. You can also see that we have new grass popping through on the hillside already.

Tomorrow, we work on the bubbler rock in front of the house. Once that is done, the crew will plant some more grass before packing up for their next job next week. The end is near!

July 19 - Patio is done

Here are some pics of the completed patio. Next week we start planting.

July 18 - Patio starting to take shape

Wow. We started this landscaping work on June 7 and we haven't planted one shrub yet!

And, I'm not sure how these guys are holding up day after day in this heat.

Here's a fresh look at the new patio on the north side of the house. Once some grasses and shrubs are planted, we should have a good screen from the septic system. And, we will have another shaded area to sit in the evening which also happens to be cigar station #6.

The planted areas will have a nice white stone edging....

July 9, 2013 - Moved some dirt today

I spent a couple of sweaty hours with the trimmer this morning to remove any remaining grass from the hillside behind our house. It was an extremely hot, humid day today all over the region. We also had .16" of rain right before noon.

Several loads of clay soil were delivered this afternoon and then spread along the west side of the house. Brant used his skills with the skid loader to smooth out the hillside between the house and the lake. It's steep but we're hoping to make it a little more navigable should I need to mow it in the future. Things are starting to shape up. With a little more rock placed along the west side of the house, perhaps we can start planting something. Grass, shrubs, etc. will be a welcome site in the coming days.

They finished up the wall on the back side of the garage yesterday.

Later on, we'll construct a wood deck outside these sliders. If you remember, these sliders were rejected last August (opened the wrong direction) but we later decided to install them here on the back wall of the garage.

Below is the cleared out hillside. I ran over it with my 4x4 mower as much as I could last evening and finished with the trimmer this morning before the skid loader took over.

No more grassy weeds after the skid loader did it's work. We are leaving Trapper where he lies.....always in the way just like when he was alive. You can see his grave on the left.

In the process of clearing the hillside, Brant uncovered what we think are snake eggs. There were 12 of them. After I Googled this find, I thing they belong to a Black Rat Snake which is pretty common in Iowa. I laid my watch next to them so you can judge their size. I hate snakes. Don't want 'em around but they do have their benefits.....they keep the small animal (i.e. mouse) population under control. Still don't like 'em. I killed a water snake trying to injest a live crappie this past week. Anyway, there will be 12 fewer little snakes patrolling the area this summer.

July 3 - Flagstone is all down. Shifting gears to work behind the garage

They wrapped up work on the flagstone patio and fire pit for the time being. There will be seeding work in that area later on. After rounding up some firewood, we should be able to have our first fire tonight.

Late yesterday afternoon, the focus shifted to the area behind the garage.

In the mean time, the boys went tubing and Frank V even went skiing for the first time in years. We're having a ball with Frank, Crystal, Frankie, Lily and Connor. Tyler and Emily should be here tonight. Hot dogs and Smores will be on the menu.

I've waited a long time for this day. My boys and their families here with Brenda and me enjoying a summer's night at our lake home.