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.

DIY - Raised Beds

A project on Mom's to-do list for a while has been some raised beds for her to expand her new found gardening habit. I like to build things and since Mom has to put up with housing my business, she gets what she wants. I also realized I might be able to offer them to some of my clients and this would be a good test run. With the winter being slow and Matt & Dad available to help, this time of year was the perfect opportunity.

Before we could install the beds we had to cut down a couple maple trees in their backyard. This also had been on the to-do list because they were getting quite large and competing with the turf a little too much. So we got the two trees down and chipped up right before it started pouring rain.

We then got started on the bed frames. We had to work in the garage since it was still raining. It took the rest of the day to build the first one. We did the second one in half the the time the following day since we knew what we were doing. Cook also stopped by and offered a hand. 

The raised beds are constructed out of landscape timbers with the final dimensions of the beds being 8' x 4' x 1'. They are held together with 1/2" rebar. A closed loop of 1/2" drip irrigation lines the inside of the bed with eight 1/4" lines extending from the main line to the middle of the bed with 2 GPH emitters at the end of each line. 

I was very pleased with how they turned out. We may add some more if she gets a large vegetable operation going.

Matt and Dad cutting up the tree. Dad is a little more safety conscious than us.

Chipping up the limbs.

Makeshift work station.

The first layer.

Getting it square.

Future home of the beds. The white in the background is the wood chips for the fresh cut maples.

Drilling the holes for the rebar.

Hammering down the rebar for stability.

Putting on the drip irrigation's main line that goes around the top of the bed and will attach to the hose.

Moving the beds into place.

Leveling up the beds. We put each one over the new stumps so they'll now be hidden.

Adding in the drip lines with emitters. Each emitter is rated for 2 GPH.

Installed.

Priase You in this Storm

Rebecca and I rode out the storm almost wondering why it was so calm at our house. As we ate dinner and watched the live stream of a Tornado, it was like watching a movie, yet going through areas just miles from our house. Relative to other areas we were never really in danger. It barely rained, the wind was not bad, and we never lost power. As we watched we knew so many people were hurting, yet what could we do? As the pictures and videos rolled in, the destruction we knew would be there was now evident on our TV. "Warzone," "bomb exploded," "destroyed," were as common phrases as "what's for dinner?" These type of images and phrases are pretty frequent on a global scale, but to realize how close it is to you and how it easily could have been you, puts it in a whole new perspective.

Why were there lives thrown into an uproar and mine spared is such an easy question to conclude. I have to remind myself that we all deserve this and much more, and we will all face this in one way or another. Our sinful nature will ultimately lead to eternal destruction and turmoil if not for the saving grace of Jesus Christ. The destruction from the storms paints such a clear picture to me of how putting our hope in anything else can be taken away in a minute. Houses, cars, and other possessions that people spend their whole lives working for can instantly become worthless. Having these things is fine, but how much more valuable to invest time in loving God and loving people.

I woke up this morning planning on going to work like any other day. I am behind on my yards from the bad weather so I was anxious to get caught up. While I was eating breakfast, I scrolled through the news photos and each one striking at my heart. I continued on to my parents house, but felt so weird about taking care of mostly cosmetic needs from my customers, when there were so many who had real needs that were much more pressing. My dad is on the chainsaw team of the Birmingham Baptist Association Disaster Relief Team and was meeting up with them this morning. I debated in my mind for just a minute more, and then decided to tag along with them for the day.  My yards were such that they can wait another day, so I made myself available to help. One of the benefits of being self-employed is the ability to be able to do this. I'm so glad I was able to help even if it only was to a few people.

Here's a map to show how close the houses with massive destruction were to my parents

The really bad areas of town that are constantly on the news are not open to volunteer relief yet because they are still in first responder search and rescue mode. So we went to four houses over the course of the day that are so close to my parents house, yet by the destruction felt like a different world. All of them had numerous trees down in their yard and on their house. As volunteers we aren't allowed to work on trees that are affecting the house for insurance purposes, but everything else is fair game. The association has a trailer full of chainsaws and we got to work. All the houses we went to were extremely grateful. You can sense their sheer overwhelmed feeling from the destruction and the relief to see somebody come to help. Again it points you to the gospel of being overwhelmed by your sin, and there is a perfect Savior willing to help you.

Pines, oaks, sweetgums, tulip poplars, it didn't matter the type of tree, they were possible victims. Here are just a few photos from our days activities and other houses around. There is still so much more work to be done.

A good reminder to move my car away from trees during a storm

This guy told me he was asleep when this happened

Tim Herrington showed up at the last house with a food trailer to feed the neighborhood. A great time of fellowship to lots of people hurting.