Rocks, Bushes, and Grass Seed

Everything is done, now we just wait for the grass to grow. Today Tony and his crew finished up; they put black soil, bushes, weed blocker, and rocks in the planters and grass seed on the lawn. The "carpet" you see on the lawn is a biodegradable blanket to keep the seed moist, and there is a grid within it to help prevent erosion. By October the grass will be all grown in and as thick as our previous lawn. I don't even have to water it very much - the blanket will keep the moisture in. At the time this picture was taken, not all of the "carpet" was laid because they ran out of it. They came back a little while later to finish it. The bushes are mini bay berry and mini-evergreens. In the back by the laundry room window, they replanted the original bush that was there before the construction. An item to be added is the railing, which is on order. I need to figure out what to do with the downspout that it is not such an eye sore.

The Filzen Family Reunion 2008

James's family:
Megan, Diane, Elaine, Matt, Marty & Dar

Jerry's Family: (dad's twin brother's son)
Little Jerry II, Jerry III, Girlfriend.
Front: Andrew

Janet's Family:
Front: Lorriane Mielke, Jeff, Janet, Jim, Kim
Middle: Stephanie, Jean, Tasha, Julie, Tyler
Back: Gene, Melinda, Mike

Tommy's Family
Front: Patty, Tom, Chris
Back row: Tim, Alicia, baby Joshua, Jonathon, Ann, Jason

Barb's Family:
Front: Barb, Wendy
Back: Tim Kathy Wendy's husband Wayne, Luverne.

Armin, Jr.'s Family:
Front: Jr. holding Andrew
Back: Kelly, Tommy

Day #7 - WOW!

WOW - Look at the progress in 7 days... done! The things that are left, add rock and bushes to the planters, lay down sod for Ken, and seed our yard to put it back together. The pavers look really dusty because they put sand in between the spaces on the pavers. We are not supposed to take a hose to clean them off because it will wash the sand out of place. When the color appears, I will post new pictures. Guess what the name of our pavers are? Minnesota River Blend. Cool. We are so impressed and think it looks great!

On The Move!

Cooper & Allie helped Dad pick out the design!

Devin got Ankle, Foot Orthotics on Wednesday. The intent is for them to keep his ankles in the proper position so that he will not need heel cord release surgery in the future. After attempting to put shoes on with them and determining that we might be doing more damage with the shoes, we have opted to try just the orthotics. The shoes get caught on the carpet and caused his knees to go in directions they should not be going when he moves around. The Ortho doctor does not want him attempting to stand for at least 2 more months in order to give the hips time to deepen. The videos are without the Splint on, but we are currently doing both the Orthotics and the split all except 4 hours a day.

Day #6 Pavers!

Progress today... the pavers are starting to go in, and the steps by the side door are completed. Tony of River Creek Nursery is very busy, and we are lucky to have him doing our house. His projects coming up are building a park in Winthrop, and landscaping a new NU Telecom building out by Wal-Mart somewhere. Tomorrow Tony will build the steps by the front door, and finish the pavers. Tony mentioned that seeding the front yard would be better than laying sod because of the shade. Sod needs sun, and the roots would not grow as deep as if we used seed. So, we are going to put sod in Ken's yard, and seed our yard. In the planter part of the walls, we are going to have Tony put in rocks, and make it ready for bushes/plants when mom and I decide what we want in them. Check out the before pictures below.

The Before Pictures

Day #5

Today was quite the day again... more progress on the steps and they tore out the front dinette area of the sidewalk. When they tore out the cement slab in front of the living room step, the step came with, so Tony is going to build a new one. Mike, the carpenter, came by this morning and fixed the board under the kitchen door. $60.00 later...22 dollars for the supplies, and 38 dollars labor. There is a picture of the crew working, Krista, on the left, is going to be a 3rd grade teacher at St. Anthony's here in New Ulm, Tony is in the caterpillar, he is the owner of River Creek Nursery, I graduated from high school with him, and Steve, is on the right. Look how they left their cans today, in the bush. I made them cupcakes this afternoon and used Santa liners, and told them it was Christmas in July, so they decorated the bush in back. Funny. You can also see how the roots above ground got damaged when they pulled out the planter footings and sidewalk in front of the dinette window, Tony said the tree would be fine, I hope so, I would be so sad to see that tree go, we get a lot of shade from it. Also, you can see how beat up our lawn is from the construction. In addition, you can see the pallets on the front lawn; each one holds 27 bricks, so I could do the math of how many pounds of brick are in the wall. Until tomorrow... rain is forecast, so we will see if any work can be done.

Day #4 coming together....

Wow - a lot of progress today - and we love it so far! As you can see, more steps are being added and the planters are progressing. Tony and his crew are so funny... yesterday I told them to leave their pop cans in the back, then I would take them down to the recycling. They stacked them yesterday in a pyramid, and I mentioned today to them that I thought that was funny because they are landscapers... so today they got even fancier with their building! :-) Tomorrow morning a builder guy will come and replace that board under the side door so Tony and his workers can proceed with steps up to the door. As you can see, Ken's and our front yard is really trashed. Tony is extending the wall so our front yard will be flat without any slopes. We are unsure if we will put any kind of a railing on the steps yet. FYI - each of the bricks is 82 pounds! I will have to guesstimate how many bricks, then figure out the total weight. One of these days when I have nothing better to do!! :-)