New Attire

Its been a little while. Hopefully I can get back to posting a little more regularly.

Driving around Birmingham, it is not hard to spot a lawn care crew. I sometimes wonder how any of us have enough business to survive. Since the competition is so stiff, I try to look for ways to set us apart. One of those ways is looking nice. Dressing to impress is not a revolutionary idea, but most crews look borderline hobo. It is a dirty job, but you don't have to dress like you never shower or wash your clothes.

So I make it a point to always look as nice as possible but still practical. That usually consists of collared shirt and khaki shorts. I've been slowly demoting my 'good' shirts to 'work' shirts. However the material of most of those is not the most comfortable for working outside. I took a survey of my shirts and found a cotton/polyester blend felt great and handled sweating the best. I like two buttons, the third button always seems to be unsure of its role on the the shirt. I also decided it was time to get some official Longscape shirts with our logo on them. I contacted Laura Beth about embroidering them and she said she could take care of it. Matt and I ordered an array of colors to see what we would like best with our logo.

Laura Beth was able to drop them off the other night on her way through Birmingham. She did a great job and I'm super pumped about them. They feel great and I pretty much like every color. Maroon and Forest Green are my faves, with yellow being my least favorite. We may even expand our brand into caps and jackets next.

Rebecca will be embarrassed at the quality of these photos.

Weekend in Tampa Bay

Wedding season has begun. Last weekend started a string of 7 weddings in 8 weeks. This weekend was our furthest ever. A family I knew from church back in the day contacted us about shooting their wedding in Tampa Bay. We were flattered at the offer and got their date locked in. The wedding was on a Friday so we scheduled to stay an extra day and make a very mini vacation out of it.

After doing the math I figured it would be cheaper to drive even though the 10 hours one way was not appealing. Rebecca was also afraid at the possibility of having to get her gear checked. Lost camera gear could not be an option. So to spice up the drive down a little bit a decided to set up the camera and do a time lapse. I know I've been a little time lapse heavy as of late, but I think they're fun. We set up the camera in the back seat on the tripod. Photos were taken every 60 seconds except for a few certain scenes that warranted being closer together. Rebecca will be adding some actual photos of our trip to her blog in the near future.

We drove down on Thursday and got there just before dark. We got some seafood at a local joint then went briefly to the beach. I don't think we've been to the beach since Matt's triathlon nearly two years ago. Josh and Lauren's wedding festivities began at one on Friday. They had the ceremony at a local botanical gardens which was really pretty. Everything went real well. Once again, I'll let Rebecca give a more detailed account of that day.

Saturday we had to cut back on our per diem since we had gone a little high the first two days. So we went to Chick-fil-a for lunch and used some coupons. We also had to go to the Apple Store because Rebecca's laptop had quit working. Since she had planned on working in the car on the way home we figured it would be best to go ahead and get it fixed. She needed a new battery and a new charger. Glad to have that taken care of we moved on to activities we couldn't actually do in Birmingham. Next stop was Ikea. The 3 hour maze of home furnishings was overwhelming as always. I calmed my nerves with some Swedish meatballs in the cafeteria. Keeping the per diem low. Rebecca got a few small things. I think she's set on some new office furniture, but we didn't have room in the car. Maybe it was just a secret ploy on Rebecca's part to go back? After leaving we went to the beach and got there just in time for it to start raining. A little ice cream helped to pass the time and got back out for the rain to pass and leave a beautiful sunset.

The drive back today seemed to drag on forever. Rebecca managed to squeeze in three naps. She'll probably stay up most of the night now.

Monday Morning Mishap

I rarely take the interstate in the morning. There are about 3 comparable routes to my parents house, and I usually get set on one for a while then I'll switch. In the afternoon, the interstate is always the fastest, so in the morning I usually go one of the other two. Traffic was light on Monday as I pulled out and so got in the turn lane for the interstate. I get onto the interstae from Hwy 31 and from this point on I-459N to the I-65 interchange there are 5 lanes of traffic. I don't have to merge any because the on ramp lane turns into the I-65S exit lane. One lane over is the I-65N exit lane, and the other 3 are through lanes. Traffic was flowing freely in the 3 through lanes, very backed up in the I-65N exit lane, and slow in my lane.

Immediately after I get on, I see people trying to switch positions trying to avoid the backed up exit lane, either to get to my lane or to get to the through lanes. I see a grey SUV pull out of the I-65N exit lane into one of the through lanes moving at a decent speed. She must not have noticed a red sedan was already coming in that lane. The red car slammed on the brakes and veered slightly to the left to try to avoid. Not having enough time the red car hits the SUV and bounces even further into the next lane over where there happens to be a semi-truck. The red car hits the wheels of the semi (miraculously avoiding getting stuck underneath) and bounces off it back into the backed up I-65N exit lane, hitting a black SUV and blue sedan. Writing this it sounds much worse than actually observing it. While scary, there wasn't major damage to any of the cars, and my immediate thought was what a terrible way to start a week. As I get even with the red car I look over and notice the driver appears to be unconscious, thus greatly changing my impression of the accident. I pull over on the shoulder, grab my phone, and run to the car. I get to the window and he is definitely knocked out. The windshield is hard to see though and the side airbag has deployed making it hard to get close to him. He's leaned up against the door, so I don't want to open it to risk moving him. So I try yelling at him. He still doesn't respond. I dial 911. While talking to the dispatcher I notice, no one else has stopped to check on the guy. The other 3 drivers involved, having much less damage are still sitting in their cars talking on the phone, I'm guessing insurance, family, or 911 themselves. I tell the dispatcher where the accident is while trying to figure out a way to get to the guy. Just about then he comes to. He must have gotten knocked out by the airbag. He's dressed in scrubs, so I figure he's in the medical industry. The dispatcher wants to know what the injuries to the guy are, so I hand the phone to him so he can just tell her himself. His arm is a little cut up from the glass, but other than that he's seems to be ok. He doesn't remember anything after running into the semi.

The authorities arrive soon after and take charge. I stick around to give my statement to an officer, then head on my way thankful I wasn't heading north that morning.

Pretty much just below the 459 icon is where the accident took place.

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.

Super Mom

Spring/Summer has come quickly and with it lots of new business, which is fantastic. The only problem is I can only do so much by myself. Matt is set to join the business when he graduates, but that is still a month away. My first earthly priority has shown no interest in helping me again since her last Longscape outing. So I moved on to the other female in my life, my Mom. Never afraid of any task she stepped up to provide some much needed assistance. Without it, I simply could not have gotten the projects done. Thanks so much for help.

Pine straw has been on the docket a lot lately and so that is what I needed help with. She has now helped on three such jobs covering 1.5 days, one of which was the same that Rebecca helped with last year. On the first day we put out 95 bales between two yards. Today we added another 30 to our resume.

Lot of straw.

Client decided they wanted some shrubs removed before we put down straw.

Finished product.

What a trooper.

Who wouldn't want to help with this project?

And yes it is as steep as it looks.

All tuckered out.

Tub-O-Grub

Spring has come very quickly which has been great for business, but a tough transition from winter dormancy. Hopefully some of my Spring projects from work will make it up here. I just have to remember to take pictures while I'm there.

One purchase that had been on my mind for a while now, arrived in the mail this past week, thanks to some help from Tyler and his Costco membership. Rebecca and I had discussed occasionally the idea of storing some food. Once a common practice, it is now left to the 'prepper' realm. There's no need to store food when you have a grocery store within easy access. Having been near major natural disaster and visited areas soon after major disasters I don't think it is a total lost art. Not to mention the ever present threat of Thunderdome. If something were to happen or if times got to tough, I don't want to have to depend on the government to give me my daily bread, since it looks like that is where we're heading with every other aspect of our life. But that is a whole other blog post. We thought about having a rotating stock of canned goods in our garage, but it would probably just end up passing its expiration date. So as I searched for other options I came across this; a bucket of food built for emergencies. It contains 330 servings or enough for 1 person for 1 month, getting 2100 calories/day. So 15 days for the both of us eating healthily, or 30 days on a diet. Another nice feature is it has a 15 year shelf life, so no constant need for rotating stock. I wanted to try some of it, to see how edible it is, but unfortunately each food item is sealed together. So I didn't want to break a seal thus reducing the shelf life.

Rebecca of course shakes her head at my purchase, but I think it is a good thing to have on hand. Worst case scenario for the food/best case scenario for society, we never have to use it. If that is the case, then in 15 years we'll have a party and we can all partake of the food bucket. What a great way to spend my 42nd birthday. 

Rebecca's New Toy

I know you're probably thinking its a camera, lens, computer or other type of gadget. She has plenty of those at the moment. This one she isn't exactly that excited about or will use it that much. I'll probably get more enjoyment out of it than her. She also refused to pose for a picture with it.

We finally took advantage of her second amendment rights the other day and got her a handgun. We went with a Ruger SR22. I wanted to get a small caliber for several reasons. This will be a good one for her and anyone else to learn to shoot on. The ammo is super cheap relative to other calibers. I feel she will be most comfortable with it the rare times she goes to shoot with me.

I also wanted to get the gun for some other reasons.

• They're cool.
• Fun activity.
• Guns will hold their value.
• Last forever.
• Always have a use. 
• The never desired but always possible scenario of self-defense.

I like to joke with Rebecca that we are going to put all our investments in firearms. She always responds with rolling her eyes. While I would never do this, I don't think it is the most unreasonable idea. I really can't think of a tangible thing other than guns and land that will always hold its value no matter the status of society around you. A lot of people go to precious metals to diversify, but I don't like that idea much. Gold, silver, etc., don't have any real use aside from decoration. Their only value comes from the perceived value of others. So if times got super tough, say Thunderdome, what good would gold be? Food and fuel always have a shelf life. Since we can't afford any land at the moment, we're left with firearms. If we are ever fortunate to own some property, we'll be ready to protect it.

Hopefully we'll make it up to the range soon, so she can christen her new toy.