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The front yard is mud soup. Saturday we rented an ASV RC-30 skid loader from Home Depot. I borrowed Denver's Honda, but the 2" ball - not to mention the Honda - was too small to tow the trailer, so I used Jamie's F150 pick-up truck instead. When we got the trailer home, the crank arm used to jack up the trailer broke off. We got the RC-30 unloaded and unhooked the trailer from Jamie's truck, but it took an extra day to figure out how to get the trailer hooked back up to a vehicle (Mike and Angie's Jeep) so we could return the RC-30.
The hole in the front yard is 5-10 inches deep. I hauled the sod and "top soil" behind the house and filled in the corner where I've been building a retaining wall. I called Aall Aaround Tracktor Svc (503-591-8428) and spoke with a guy who said he could finish excavating the yard and haul away the fill. I want to get the whole yard dug out at least 12 inches below the final grade and dig one or two drainage trenches that will drain water towards the creek behind the house.
Yesterday afternoon I spent a couple of hours talking with Leonard Bernhardt about turfgrass and golf course contruction. Leonard was in the landscaping business before he started building golf courses. Now his son runs the business. It turns out Leonard knows Tom Cook. His son even teaches classes about drainage systems for Tom at Oregon State from time to time. I bought a 50 lb bag of seed from Leonard for $100.
Leonard tried to convince me to plant the yard using a soil based root zone mix, but he couldn't tell me where I could find good top soil. He did convince me that I should give up on the idea of growing bentgrass and stick with perennial rye instead. Bernhardt gets their rootzone mix from Fazio Brothers. Leonard said I could also get gravel for my drainage layer from them. Fazio supplied the material for a golf course that Bernhardt is currently building in Newburg.
I called Fazio Brothers Sand Co. at (360) 696-9781 and orderd 22 yards of a 85/15 sand bark mixture that they stockpile. I'm also getting 25 yards of gravel. I don't need that much for the drainage layer, but that's ok because I can use the extra for the retaining wall.
This morning I called Sheri at Keystone Pacific NW at (503) 439-1733. I think I'll get two pallets of Country Manor blocks - one pallet of gray and one pallet of tan - and a pallet of caps. I'm waiting for Sheri to call me back with a price and information about delivery.
Last night I changed out the back brake (an Avid Shorty-4 cantilever) on my Van Dessel. The new brake pads are nice. The pads in the front still have pieces of metal embedded them that scrape against the rim, even though I tried to clean them up. I took the chain off to clean it up. I pushed out the pins on the one link that was different from all the other ones, but I didn't feel comfortable putting that chain back on, so I used an old chain from my LeMond that I had laying around. The chain is so tight I don't think I can get it off without taking the chain apart. Hopefully I don't flat at Canada! At least I've got those puncture resistant tubes and the Conti Top Turing 2000 tires on the wheels. My gearing is 38x15 fixed. Gulp! Climbing should be fun.
The hole in the front yard is 5-10 inches deep. I hauled the sod and "top soil" behind the house and filled in the corner where I've been building a retaining wall. I called Aall Aaround Tracktor Svc (503-591-8428) and spoke with a guy who said he could finish excavating the yard and haul away the fill. I want to get the whole yard dug out at least 12 inches below the final grade and dig one or two drainage trenches that will drain water towards the creek behind the house.
Yesterday afternoon I spent a couple of hours talking with Leonard Bernhardt about turfgrass and golf course contruction. Leonard was in the landscaping business before he started building golf courses. Now his son runs the business. It turns out Leonard knows Tom Cook. His son even teaches classes about drainage systems for Tom at Oregon State from time to time. I bought a 50 lb bag of seed from Leonard for $100.
Leonard tried to convince me to plant the yard using a soil based root zone mix, but he couldn't tell me where I could find good top soil. He did convince me that I should give up on the idea of growing bentgrass and stick with perennial rye instead. Bernhardt gets their rootzone mix from Fazio Brothers. Leonard said I could also get gravel for my drainage layer from them. Fazio supplied the material for a golf course that Bernhardt is currently building in Newburg.
I called Fazio Brothers Sand Co. at (360) 696-9781 and orderd 22 yards of a 85/15 sand bark mixture that they stockpile. I'm also getting 25 yards of gravel. I don't need that much for the drainage layer, but that's ok because I can use the extra for the retaining wall.
This morning I called Sheri at Keystone Pacific NW at (503) 439-1733. I think I'll get two pallets of Country Manor blocks - one pallet of gray and one pallet of tan - and a pallet of caps. I'm waiting for Sheri to call me back with a price and information about delivery.
Last night I changed out the back brake (an Avid Shorty-4 cantilever) on my Van Dessel. The new brake pads are nice. The pads in the front still have pieces of metal embedded them that scrape against the rim, even though I tried to clean them up. I took the chain off to clean it up. I pushed out the pins on the one link that was different from all the other ones, but I didn't feel comfortable putting that chain back on, so I used an old chain from my LeMond that I had laying around. The chain is so tight I don't think I can get it off without taking the chain apart. Hopefully I don't flat at Canada! At least I've got those puncture resistant tubes and the Conti Top Turing 2000 tires on the wheels. My gearing is 38x15 fixed. Gulp! Climbing should be fun.
posted by Sabertooth Salmon at 10:23 AM
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