Done… almost, just some grass left…

We completed our first two projects today, yippee. The rain started about 1 minute after though, so that was it for the day. Everyone went home pretty happy I think. Especially since it is a long weekend coming up, AND we finished. I always ask the crew “what was your favorite part of the project?” they always respond “Finishing it.”

I understand. Because this is what ‘during’ the project feels like:

and this is what ‘after’ the project feels like:

Our new guy Jake seems happy whenever I see him. Keep up the good work Jake. (he’s not really that tall, it’s the 4 inches of mud on his boots)

Here are a few other pictures of our ‘almost’ finished project. Thursday the grass will arrive and then it’s all done! As I said earlier, Yippee! So now we have moved 4 houses down the block to start the next one.

Lots of rain…

We had over an inch of rain today, it is plenty to shut us down. It always seems like we can keep going, and then it seems to rain just enough to make it really hard to work. It’s that thing about 6” inches of mud and being very cold and wet. No fun.

We were so close to putting in the bricks on the front path, darn it. see the screeds still in the sand? ohhh soooo close.

The conjoined path would have looked great, the raised bed turned out very nice too!

We have most of the limestone rock in place around the boardwalk.

The backyard of yard #1 has been graded, so the water is much less of an issue than if it hadn’t been finished. We almost ordered sod for Friday, but we won’t get there now. too bad.

Another shot of the nicely draining yard.

Here is a good picture of the Mudmats we use. These are fibreglass sheets with big bamboo pipes in built in sleeves that we lay down on areas of high traffic or muddy areas so we don’t cause undo damage to the terrain or our equipment.

Rain control…

The little green thing in the picture is a drain emitter that goes on our underground drainage. We connect the downspouts on the house and trench for "’Big O’ pipe. This allows us to get all the roof water from the corners of the house, and move that excess H2o to the edges of the water. But not right to the edge as the city of Calgary requires that we stop 2 meters from any property line to allow *some* of the water to be absorbed by the landscape. This keeps a bit of the water from going straight into the storm sewers. Good idea.

Busy busy busy...

...and woooooo-wee does it feel good to be busy. Our first 2 conjoined projects are wrapping up. It may not look like it in these pictures, but as I said before, once these hardscapes are complete, it is all soft and smooth and easier! There is alot going on on site these days, here are Dad (on the mini-digger), Elton (on the saw) and Hedi (behind the mini-digger) just a working away!

It is great to have some decent weather finally. Whenever we get a run of good weather, it is really amazing to see how much we can get done in just a few days.

Here is Hedi (look closely) working in both yards at once!

The pathways in each yard even match. You won't see them both unless the gates are open, but still looks cool.

These poor buggers, who are with another landscaper working on the block, are hand digging 3 tree holes. Yikes, I remember those days well, before we got the Skid steer with the 36" tree auger. These 3 guys worked all afternoon to plant 3 trees.

Ryan has been doing an amazing job as our expediter. He goes nonstop all day getting our materials, and the site crew gets to work uninterrupted. This is a great way to get our work done! Great work Ryan! Here he is unloading some very nice garden mix soil!

Elton is providing the finishing touches on the small path in yard #2. There was a lot of cutting to get the bricks to make the tight turn, but as always, it looks great!

I took a picture of Homeowners #1 coming home, and even in the reflection of their car, Elton is working hard. Great work Mister Elton! Keep it up! (he is fixing the pull start on the rock saw)

Captain, Thar be a patio here...

heh, little Star Trek reference... (remember the whales?)

YAY, Our First before and after pictures of the year.

We had a very efficient day, thanks to our new hire. Hedi and Elton are certified for patios and retaining walls, and are at their best when they work together, uninterrupted on site. This is why Ryan is so valuable for us. He spends a lot of his day providing us the materials and tools so that we can get the job completed much quicker. The patio turned out great! Can't wait to see the yard in the next 4 days as it will be GREEN! woowoo! Fresh sod has started to ship so, we are moving forward, all guns a blazin'!

I still find it amazing how we can turn a big square pallet of big square bricks, into this flowing and inviting curvy patio! This pathway shown here is a little wider than we would normally use, however, one of the homeowners uses a power wheelchair and among many other accessibility items we have designed, the pathway is nice and wide for easy navigation.

Again, we sure can't wait until it's graded and 'greened'

A great job as always team!

A really good week...

The week has gone better than expected. The weather has been cold, but not unbearable. Today is our first patio install. Woowoo! I love patio installs, it means we are nearing the end! Also, we had our first tree delivery yesterday and, as always, Jim out at Eagle Lake Nurseries has selected incredible trees for us. Thanks Jim.

And further to Hedi's story, here are a couple of teaser pictures.

I have a pretty interesting story about...

... Hedi.

I will post it in a day or so. Gotta get it just right... to protect the innocent...

We don't care anymore...

...about the snow and cold. We have to press on, and so we are! We are on site in Elgin Village working on project 1 and 2 of 4 scheduled on this block. We actually have our first Trees of the season arriving on Thursday, along with 4 pallets of bricks to finish the patios and pathways. Once those items are completed it is just some softscapes and sod to complete! Yay. Completions are the best!

We had a not so new addition to the team today. Some of you may remember young Ryan M. from our first and second seasons. He went off to explore the world through some other company and is now back with us as our equipment/maintenance/site/irrigation and repair tech. Ryan will also be in charge of vendor relations as he is responsible for expediting all our required products to and from the work sites.

Still....

....snowing....

1 year later...

It was April 18th last year when we got stopped with a snowstorm.

http://leedavidnews.blogspot.com/2008/04/snow-day.html

It is April 22nd this year and the same thing.

HOWEVER, we are on call for plowing! so everyone is happy... er ... I guess except our landscape clients who we have started their projects.

Calgary, whatr ya gonna do?

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On a brighter, warmer note, we received our first brick order. This is Cam, he may be the nicest crane truck operator in Calgary and area. Always ontime and always smiling! Thanks for your attitude Cam!

Here, Hedi is placing the drainage rock around the wood boardwalk between our first 2 customers houses. What a cool idea! Share the limited space between the houses and put a maintenance free boardwalk. It looks REALLY good!

Drive safe Calgary! it is mucky out there!

Updates...

...We started landscaping last week, and it is great to be back!

We are in Elgin Village Estates and will be for a bit as we have 3 projects to complete there.

From there we will be in Cranston for a couple. We will make a trip to Airdrie and NW Calgary for a couple of quick jobs. Then we will be out in Millerville building a huge wall!

This wall is 17' high at the top, and will be 190+ feet long with stairs up the side of the house at one end and a cool private firepit alcove at the other end. Looking forward to working out in the mountains!

We have a few spring clean-ups as we are providing maintenance services for our own customers starting this year, Including Kenny the Dog's yard in Bel-Aire.

He wrecked his dog run and we are being hired to go fix it. And they thought Kenny wouldn't hurt the turf. heh.

Hedi and Elton are both VERY happy to be done with the long cold winter, as are Dad and I.

We really like doing projects we like doing. That includes all of our landscape projects, no matter how difficult or how bad the weather is. It all beats plowing snow for 2-3 days straight.

HOWEVER - the forecast is for FREAKING LOTS of snow come Wed-Thursday..... YEESH!

we are close...

We are close to starting the new landscaping season. I see around the neighborhoods that some landscapers have started building decks and fences, drilling through the frost layers and working in the mud and snow. We won't even consider that. It is too hard to ensure a solid product when we can't rely on the thawing ground for structure.

We should be able to get going in a week or so with the forecast. We would start on projects that have south facing backyards and typically are bare dirt (new yard projects) as they tend to absorb the suns heat better than existing landscape renovations.

We are VERY much looking forward to starting our 2009 season!