Abundant Stone Harvest

Rick and Ray have been harvesting boulders and rocks to edge the driveway. The view from the gate improves every day!





Now that the right side is done, Ray is using the backhoe to remove all the rubble piled up on the left side of the driveway. Later, he'll place boulders below the driveway level, spread topsoil in the area behind them and Rick will plant grass. This should make everything look much neater, and the driveway will be a little wider for snow-plowing later!



These last two photos show the before and work-in-progress. We'll take the "after" pictures when the grass starts coming in. Stay tuned...

Lots of Progress Being Made!

The grounds here at Fox Mountain are becoming more and more lush as plants that were previously eaten by the deer (rats on long legs, as we call them) are beginning to make a comeback. The hostas are multiplying beautifully, and the daylilies are sending up their scapes. Notice the stone wall along the driveway that Ray rebuilt!

The Siberian Irises (seen in the previous post) are done, but the daylilies will bloom in all their splendor by the end of this week with a showy burst of color throughout the yard. Later, the annuals will take over; then the mums for Fall.


Ray has been operating the Terra-Mite again this week, adding fill and smoothing it out for expansion of the lawn areas. Rick will add grass seed later. This photo is from 2 weeks ago when Ray was spreading new gravel on the driveway, with a "before" picture of the rock wall and hosta garden to the right. (Click to enlarge.)




Surprisingly, we did have a couple of gate crashers last week before we closed up the openings at the ends of the circular driveway. One was a 350-pound bear, the other a deer who spooked poor little Jenny! This gate is done, except for painting to match the house (and mesh to be added later)-- the other is on its way. Meanwhile, Rick blocked off the other opening temporarily with mesh to keep unwanted critters out.