Sod Party - Time Lapse

One of my favorite non-maintenance landscape jobs, is putting in sod. I love transforming a space and I love turf, so combining the two makes my day. I schedule this job to coordinate when Matt would be home for Easter. The shady backyard needed to be replaced with Zoysiagrass and came out to about 6 pallets. It also needed some topsoil, so we brought in 10 cubic yards. The backyard had limited access so that meant everything had to be carried by wheelbarrow into place. Since it was also on a pretty steep slope we had to staple a good portion of the sod so it would stay in place. We had a two hour rain delay on Thursday and also made things pretty muddy. Dad came out for a couple hours that afternoon to help out. The rest of the project took all Friday and an hour on Saturday to finish up. It all went really well and glad we got to be a part of it.

Mr. No Shoulders

Mr. No Shoulders with no head.

I set up the camera to do a time lapse of the project. Since its Rebecca's gear I had to be extra careful with it and so I put a ziplock bag over the camera and lens to protect it from dust and rain. That's why its a little hazy and has trouble focusing in some. The third guy in some of the pictures is the homeowner who was working on his back patio. The camera battery died in the afternoon on the first day so that is the reason for the big jump in progress.

First Day

I've often heard the phrase "This is the first day of the rest of your life." While it holds true for everyday it really has an impact this past week. Up until now every phase of my life has been just that a phase. There was always an end in sight, with the next step more or less laid out. Now that we are "done" with school there really are no next steps. Unless something unforeseen happens, we are here for good.

This was my first week back at Longscape. I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with that name, but it works for now. It was a great week and a lot of fun. Other than the oppressive humidity, it went very well. I had work to do everyday and several new leads, which was very encouraging. Its also been good that I'm not "full-time" right away since we have lots of transition stuff to still take care of. Also I want to organize both of our businesses correctly from the start so we can focus on quality and not quantity.

We don't have another wedding until October 10th, so that will allow us some time to catch up on photos.

Life's Certainties

I remember hearing the saying, "The only things certain in life are death and taxes." As I wade into the beginnings of adulthood the latter part of that phrase is becoming more and more prevalent.

My last post was on a benefit of having a photography business, this one is about one of the negatives. I have been reluctantly exploring the correct method for starting a small business over the past couple of months. I knew we needed to be legal in Uncle Sam's eyes, but he doesn't exactly make it real clear on the approved approach for doing this. They all tell you about the business side of things, not the legal, pay your taxes, requirements.

Anyways, Rebecca and I finally decided to not trust our own knowledge and go see someone who does know what to do. We went to Helen Grissett at Columbus Tax and Accounting. She was a Dave Ramsey ELP for small business. She was kind enough to sit down with us for about an hour free of charge and walk us through getting an Employer Identification Number (EIN), filling out sales tax form with the state, and answering all of our ignorant questions on the subject.

Our next step was to go to the bank and get a business checking account set up. That took about another hour. So now we don't have to ask people to rewrite their checks when they make them out to Rebecca Long Photography.

The third step of getting a business license was halted because we have to get approved by the city to work out of our apartment. That will take a separate form for that and then we can apply for a business license.

I'm beginning to think businesses biggest competitor is the government. I'm not looking forward to doing our income taxes.