New Project, Day 1

[Steve]

Here's a new gig we're putting together at my partner Bill's house. He wants access on this side of his lawn to store things and needs a driveway to do it with. We're going to match the color and style of pavers he has on the other side. It's about 1,000 sq. feet and has some really good colorations.

I'll get shots of every day, early, first, then successive shots at various junctures. It should be a 3-4 day job, in the end. Here are the startup pics, no work done yet.

[neetanddave]

OK, I've looked at these two pics several times, and I have analyzed my initial resons. One word - STARK.

Having lived on the east coast of the US my entire life, but having travelled to many places EXCEPT the desert Southwest, I am astounded that people live in such a STARK environment. Much less attempt to garden there. The challenges must be tremendous, the rewards sparse as the water must be, but the success of a project must bring great joy to all who experience it.

[Steve]

Neet, "sparse" is indeed a fantastic description of Nevada. Aside from that that, believe it or not, a person can easily learn to love it: Constant sun, not too cold Winters and few 100+ days Summers, no humidity and night skies literally no one believes until they actually experience them. Sunsets here are almost daily events of wide open glories. When they use the term "Western Skies", they are speaking of the immensity of it all. Pretty breathtaking, really, and hardly a spot of pollution, naturally, in such a sparsely-populated area. Having said that "fire season", which is right now....can lead to seriously unhealthy air.

As well, the Earth's volcanic past yields a plethora of rocks and ores. Old mines within walking distance of my house have abundant turquoise you can just pick up out of the tailings. We used many of the more colorful in our garden. There is a mountain nearby my current residence called Quartz Mountain. Yes, it is literally all quartz, huge white and clear slabs and pinnacles of it. Chips from blastings, up to three and four feet across, plus many smaller pieces are all over and people do pick them. Geologically, I cannot imagine a neater place. Looking up at a fractured face of this mountain, one looks into a virtual wall of quartz, 60 feet high.

There are no mosquitos or many other flying pests, the humidity level almost certifies that. Even the hottest Summer days still see the thermometer in the low or mid 60's, normally, at night, so we tend to "Open the doors and windows at night, close them during the days." That is an apt description of Northern Nevada in general.

But Reno is different yet. Because of the foresight of water experts, Reno has developed a reservoir system and a couple of large aqueducts, fed by these, which suplly our water. Now, we had a few droughts, one just before I came and a solid 5 year drought during my existence here, that did indeed tax the system. Essentially, the water is released from Lake Tahoe, hard by Reno, (a 40 minute drive over a 9,000 foot high pass) into the Truckee River (lol, using the term "river" loosely) and thence to a marvelous lake called Pyramid Lake. Anyway, water is also imported from dry lake beds full of aquifers below, from about 80 miles away. My point being, Reno was far-sighted and fortunate enough to have the Sierra Madre mountain range on its doorstep. Reno itself was avoided earlier on because it was primarily swampland. As the railroad was built, it was raised and made inhabitable. But one can plant trees here which find an incredsibly lush water table not too deep. Thus, there are ample huge trees in this relatively young town. My point is, there is ample water for people and plants and it should stay that way. Watering restrictions apply for 6 months of the year, restricted to twice a week waterings, and people have learned the extreme and happy virtue of "drip irrigation". The mountains this year had a snow base of, get this: 100-200 feet. LOL, we got 19 feet in one night near us, up in the mountains. Reno got 4 itself..one night! Rare but fun.

Reno has become a retirement destination, among other things. It has also, because of its lax tax laws, lured abundant repostings of business from Silicon Valley and other places. It has so many different activities available, it is mind boggling. More culture than I ever imagined, with a month long Art Festival with events to die for. It is the single most physically active town I have ever seen. Everyone knows "the walk", or the workout" is available, forget rain, lol, at least, for 10 months of the year, anyway. The Winter Olympics were held here, at Squaw Valley, and there must be 20 locations for world class skiing. I play softball 3 nights a week, lol. It leads to a fairly healthy public, in the end, even if the damnedable casinos invite the, um, less intelligent, lol. Those same casinos, by the way, do contribute to schools and local government, big time. Plus, Lord, they have killer food at outrageously low prices.

Stark, yes. That same starkness assaults one when you first come here. It did me, I hated it at first. As time has passed by and my better understanding of the stark beauty of the deserts to our East got better explored, I now love it with a huge love. The mountains? What can you say. They are breath-taking and life-giving, plus they sure are fun to ski on. And they are literally what we are building on.

[Steve]

We began the day after excavating the original materials, so we could make sure and have a nice thick and solid base underneath the bricks we lay tomorrow. As well, we added soil off to the left to make for beds, interspersed with some boulders. So we added base rock to the desired depth, spread it evenly and at the correct height and then compacted it thoroughly with a small plate tamper. Tomorrow, we will finish the levelling, compact again, add sand and "screed" it (absolute levelling with a wide board, pulling back so it distributes evenly and perfectly), then lay the bricks. This is the "80% preparation, 20% finishing" I often speak of. Yes, we made a hella mess, lol. By the way, in answer to your question about the starkenss, Neet, I also placed a few shots of what he has in his back yard in terms of landscaping.

[neetanddave]

Where are the trees? I would go nuts without the woods.

[Karen]

Thanks for painting a picture of your area for us Steve. :) The pictures are fantastic. It really is fascinating to me to see what gardens look like in other areas.

[Steve]

Neet, I am going to take some pictures today of trees for you. Yes, we have some, lol. However, when you look at the two pictures of Pyramid Lake, know this: there is not one tree around the entire 50 mile perimeter of that lake which was not brought in. There were some Cottonwoods which grew around the marshes and Truckee River in Reno, some 100 feet high and ancient, and some willows, yet, this is a desert, silly. There aint no trees in a desert!:lolup: :lolup:

[Steve]

Neet, here you go. By the way, the last shot is our new company vehicle. Nice eh? Wouldn't you want someone in that car to do work at your house??

[neetanddave]

That is why I have never visted the SW. I love trees. Those mountains look so... so.... NEKKID! :shocker:

And that car is parked up the street from my house ;) I'm in the Redneck South, remember? :lol2:

[Steve]

OK, we got your pavers being set. I forgot to take the camera, duh, first thing in the morning, so I missed where we compacted and began laying the sand in on top of the compacted base. I think you guys might forgive this oversight, however, lol. Nevertheless, the intrepid brick layers labor on. This was about noon today and another couple of hours has us beginning to cut the bricks for the curving character we are seeking. Bill asked for at least one straight stretch, for ease of backing his trailers in and having some guide......it was sensible, actually, lol. It will be on the right. This is sort of the fun part, now. Note, we placed the pallets of pavers near to where we work. Nothing worse than walking forever with 8 pavers in your clutches. Just made one picture, which, really, tells it all anyway.

Note, too, to appease Neet, lol, I have included greener pictures of Bill's.

[Steve]

For Karen! (and Neet):lolup: :weird_thread: :spray:

[neetanddave]

Well, that greener is some better. Still not my cup of tea, but I guess you learn to admire it when you live there.

[LokisMum]

I'm with Neet! Definitely too stark for my taste! I like lush green lawns and lots of flowers! Very interesting though! I wouldn't mind visiting but don't think I could live there!

[Steve]

LOL Neet with some grudging acceptance, but still wayyyy wary of that ugly brown desert, lol. I'm kidding you, Neet, it can be stark, no doubt about it. My role, I guess is to change all that. :egypt:

The brightness of the Sun here is something else. The aforementioned brownness and starkness adds to the glare of a Sun whose UV ratings can be 120-130, as opposed to those readingas of a max of maybe 90 back East. In other words, you can sunburn in 5 minutes here, if you don't use screen or wear long sleeves. The fact is, Reno is almost a mile high, at 4,500 feet above sea sleverl. Bill's house is 5,000 ft. It is literally closer to the sun and protrudes through one of the layers of atmosphere that protect you back East. It yields those cool, clean skies I speak of and clearer night skies, but the Sun is a factor in one's life here. The lack of pollution, in that sense, is dangerous, ironically. Add the fact that 85% of the days Reno experiences are 100% sunny and you have a factor, again. Hey, plants sure like it!

[Steve]

This is the morning shot, around 10 AM, and the boys have been cutting all morning, fitting the cut pavers on the left hand side and creating the curve there. Turns out we may curve the other side as well, hopefully to match, since we have enough pavers. Yes, the cutting takes time. But.....and this is huge, nothing looks better than well cut and formed curves. Inasmuch as Bill is on a reasonable well-travelled road, we are advertising as well as creating something for him. Later, when all is cut and placed, we will grout with sand (monday), sweeping it in between the bricks, then compact it again.

[Sar]

It's looking very impressive already, Steve!

I take it that the borders will be planted up? :)

[Steve]

Sar asked: "I take it that the borders will be planted up? "

Sar, that is the plan, yes. Poor Bill, my business partner who I have played softball with for 13 years got scrunched in the face with a hard hit softball the other night, I told Anne about it. He pitches and this was an exceptionally hard-hit ball. Well, it hit his nose, head on, and he is, a week later, today undergoing plastic surgery, lol. Every bone in his face was broken, possibly even his sinuses. And yes, it was as ugly an event as any of the veteran ballplyers he plays with had ever seen.

Now, Bill is an ex-motorcylce champion. I mean world class. Last year he finally hung up his cycle, at the tender age of 54, but he had won a world championship while racing his motorcylce on ice, lol, the year before. He's a big guy, about 6' 4", which makes his motorcycle achievements that much more incredible. He literally embodies the "no fear" thing and he has, how can I say this?.........broken every bone in his body at least once. One year, he removed a cast from his broken leg to race in Las Vegas in an ice event. He strapped his leg inside his big boot and raced. His wife was fit to be tied, lol. OK, he's a nut. But I love the lug and so does she.

Anyway, he is getting plastic surgery because he wants to breathe, something he can't do currently. Otherwise, he says, he wouldn't give a hoot over having a nose that looks like some boxer's after 20 years of fighting. "Hey, I'm 54, who the heck do I want to impress?", lol, is his logic.

The upshot is we may have to go lighter on the planting. He faces at least a $6,000 bill to cover deductibles in this enlightened medical establishment we have here. So we will see how many plants he wants to buy. It could be we just shape the mounds appropriately and wait til he builds his money stash up again, which would probably not take too long.

But our Bill has gotten the gardening bug, big time. He says the only good thing recently was coming home and seeing the progress on the pavers. He is stoked. His house property was an empty field when we first hooked up.

By the way, he went out and bought a lacrosse helmet topitch in the other night and, less than a week after the "event" he pitched in another ballgame. LMAO, see what I mean?

[Karen]

Oh my! I'm glad he is OK! That had to be terrifying to witness.

[Steve]

Actually, I have been missing games and I missed that one. I have had my own health issues, nothing too scary but enough to keep me away from the place I love most. The guys who were there all called me the next day, so I got reports. Yes, no one had seen an event as bad, ever. The guy that hit it was so sorry it was sad. Bill even told him right there not to worry about it, s*** happens. I have seen some nasty stuff, myself.

[Sar]

Oh dear, poor Bill!

He really does sound like a character though, one tough guy by the sounds of things! :lol2:

Such a shame that his face has cost him his border plants for now! I'm sure if we were all near by, we'd rally together to get that border filled in no time! :clap:

[Steve]

:lolup: :lolup: Sar, I'll tell Bill what you said! That was funny. Yeah, we're just hoping everything is fine with him for now, bottom line. I imagine we'll get 'er all planted up fairly soon, maybe even this week. Bill runs a dealership, selling Polaris equipment, things like snowmobiles, quads and etc, and does very well, indeed at it. Here is his site: http://www.renocycles.com/

With Winter approaching (for snow vehicles in the mountains) and the hunting season near (quads), Bill will be fine. Still, I'm not sure about the plants, lol.

[Steve]

Actually, we are finishing as we speak, but I was only there earlier this morning and took these. The one with the sand covering the bricks is the latest. We'll broom the sand into the cracks, then, with sand still on top, compact the overall stuff a couple of times. After that, we wash it, and "Voila!", a driveway!

[Sar]

Oh the pain of the sand bit! :lol2: I remember being sent out as a child to do the sand maintenance! :lol2:

That's great that Bill's face didn't completely take away the flowers! ;) Have you chosen anything that you think will work there? Are you going to tier it?

Oooh, Bill's business will definitely be picking up now! :clap: Lots of lovely plants will be on their way! :clap:

[Steve]

Well, here is the unwashed (as yet) finish. LOL, we got called to a different project suddenly yesterday so we have not washed this off as of this morning. Nevertheless, here is the general picture. Looks like the plants will wait til I get back from Arizona (leaving tomorrow morning) on Monday or Tuesday. And, even then, Bill always prefer we make money rather than work on his place, lol, so it might wait, anyway, for plantings, Sar. We have aniother project just waiting to go, all we need is word. Bill is loco over the result..another pleased customer.:lolup:

[Sar]

Looking good, Steve! :clap: Is that Bill in the second picture?

I can't wait to see it planted up! Tell Bill he has to do it sooner rather than later because the VF people are W-A-I-T-I-N-G!! :lol2:

[Steve]

Sar, I'm in Arizona, visiting a friend for 5 days. The pictured person is my foreman, Kenny. Bill is purposely not taking pictures, lol. Let me see if I can find one. BTW, if you do a Google Search on Bill Hermant, you can see him there.....motorcycle racerman. (On ice, lol)