Side walk

The flagstone walk that Paul put in a few years ago was looking pretty shabby.  The plantings had gone to weeds and weren't holding the stones well.  Time for repair.
We (Gambol and I) went to Sammis Greenhouse for some sale perennials: Liatris, 5 Lupine (Lupinus Russell's Hybrid Mix), 5 Astilbe arendsii Astary Mix, 5 clustered bellflower (Campanula glomerata), 3 candy tuft (Iberis sempervirens), 3 Veronica (Veronica spieata Red Fox).
We (Paul and I) interspersed the new with the old columbine which reproduces well.  We stretched these over 50-60 feet, and we'll start collecting rocks for a wall to help stabilize the mound in downpours.

Testing the new flagstone work

We had about an inch of rain from 4:00AM to noon.  The repair that Paul did yesterday worked perfectly and let the water drain as it was supposed to.  No water snuck under the basement door.

more flagstone work

I had placed the first flagstone in the basement walkout too close to the doorway, covering the French drain stones that were in front of the door, causing the water to pool at the door and seep under it.  I used an angle grinder to cut a channel in the flagstone and then a cold chisel and small sledge hammer to break off a fairly straight section of the flagstone.  In some places the break undercut the remaining flagstone, so I crammed sand under the flagstone to fill the voids that were created.  I lifted out the cutoff piece of flagstone and scooped out the sand and dirt under it and then replaced that with some clean rock, which will allow the water to more quickly reach the drain.  Well, at least that is the theory, we'll see how it works this week with several days of showers forecast.  I also added some stone against the basement wall on both sides of the door and partially along the sides of the remaining flagstone to help absorb the runoff water. The cutout piece of flagstone might just fit in an area of the walkway where I had to use smaller stones, so that's a project for another day.

Columbines and rain

After Leslie planted half of the Coral Bells on Saturday, we stopped by the plant nursery and picked up 8 Ilex, winterberry holly--Jim Dandy (3) and Berry Nice (5)-- and three flats of Aquilegia, Columbines-- Green Apple, Mini-Star, and Caerulea-- to go in between the Heuchera, Coral Bells--Bronze Wave, and _______________________.
Since the nursery was on our way to the State College Brew Expo at Tussy Mountain we checked off  2 jobs with one car ride.  We found Boaks had a couple of interesting beers (Monster Mash and 2 Blind Monks) that we'd never had before. The rest of the vendors were regulars.  The outdoor venue was good at spreading people out, but the porta-potty situation wasn't good (What were they thinking only having a few?)  Food was a la cart (extra cost).  Music (local) added to the experience; noise in my ears but a lot of people seemed to enjoy as they picnicked on blankets.  Cigars and smoking we could have done without.
Sunday dawned threatening so right after the early dog walk we began work to dig everything in before thunderstorms hit us.  Plant, then eat.  The gulley washer storms hit shortly after breakfast. A tornado warning was issued; most places in the University Park forecast area got at least an inch of rain and some hail was reported with 30-50 mph winds.  Rain water was running down the flagstone pathway like a river, so Leslie jumped out in the rain to create a few breaks in the shoulders for the water to run off and away from the house.  We had a creek running between the hill and the path for a while.  I'll have to do some design modifications to level the shoulders down to the flagstones to allow the rain water to run off in the next storm.
On our last dog walk, I watched a bear watch Paul on the tractor as he redistributed driveway stone washed out in the heavy rain.  The dogs and I were in our meadow.  The bear was peeking around R&D's dogwood tree near the culvert.  It was alone and I couldn't tell if it was collared or ear notched.  Neither dog saw it but Buddy smelled it when we got to the locust tree line.
Pictures of the Woodland Owners Field Day at Pionke's, a gypsy moth devastated forest near Moshannon.

Let the planting begin

It took 2 loads of dirt with the RTV and a pickup truck load of compost to dress up the remaining sides of the walkway.  This will protect the crushed rock base and the layer of leveling sand from washing out.

I picked up 20 small pots of mums Chrysanthemum morifolium (red and yellow) from Wal-Mart today. Leslie planted all of them alongside the walkout from the basement.  With the new soil and compost on the sides of the walkway, the planting was relatively easy compared to normal planting that takes a pick ax and with each hole you get a bucket of rocks, so Leslie really sped through the planting process, finishing all 20 pots in about a half hour. 
Still some flagstones need leveling, but this job is essentially finished.  Whew, it was an ambitious project because of the length of the walkway and the size and weight of the flagstones, and the warmer weather sure didn't help.  Technically it wasn't rocket science; after all, building a flagstone walkway is more rock science.

Flagstone Connection and flagpole

We finally bought a flagpole (Paul's 2011 birthday present). Now the question is where to put it, or more correctly, where can "we" dig a 26" deep hole.

Paul embedded the last square yard of the walkway yesterday and today he distributed some compost along the inside of the walkway to help control weeds and provide a basis for future planting. He still has a couple of wobbly flagstones that need to be raised or lowered maybe as much as 0.25 inch. He'll add soil and compost alongside the edges of the walkway to lock in the crushed rock, sand, and flagstones to make a nice bed for planting.  Looks great.

Reading Reinventing Leona Lynn Gentry *** What is the pastor's wife after the pastor dies in the pulpit?  The small town parishioners and her family help her find out. Are we defined by our position in society or our occupation?   Cute, with some passages that pose excellent end-of-life questions for all of us to ponder. Gentry reminds us that we are multifaceted and must not allow one facet to over-balance the other parts of our lives: wife, mother, and what?

close to the end of the path

Now we are out of flagstone, but the weather is great.

walkway: 30 feet to go

The stone yard (Tressler and Fedor) where we get our sand is closed on Mon-Tues, so work on the flagstone walkway was on hold until Wed. From Wed-Fri we used 3 cubic yards of sand (6 pickup truck loads). Up until now the path has been flat, but today's work was all down hill at a steep decent. Placing the stones evenly with no dangerous trip-ups has become very tricky. It's also harder to use big stones on the down hill slope. At the end of the day on Fri, we completed the flagstone walkway to about 5 feet short of the basement walkout intersection but we have the stones selected and arranged on the pathway awaiting sand.
I put down a combination of soil and compost along the edges of the first section of the walkway which has held nicely. It will look great when planted.

Day 7 flagstone path

It took 2 RTV loads of mixed topsoil and compost to fill in the sides of the completed walkway.  I raked it to even out the sides and then swept the edges of the flagstones to get the excess dirt and compost off the stones. The landscape fabric is under the soil, folded over the top of the crushed rock layer, so it will help keep the rock in place.

Day 6 Flagstone

 

We got a lot of flagstone installed today, a 7:00 to 4:00 workday.  We used 2 1/2 pickup truckloads of sand as a leveling agent for the stone on top of the 3--4 inches of crushed rock that was compacted with a plate vibrator.
The stones are heavy, some of them require a dolly or wheelbarrow to get them to the pathway.  Once the stones are in the pathway, the amount of sand under them has to be adjusted so that the edges of the adjoining stones are at the same level as the new stone. So far, no grinding to make smaller stones but the rock hammer and chisel have worked well.
When we got done Leslie sprayed some water on the finished walkway to help get the sand down into the cracks between each of  the flagstones.  At this point we are just about even with the corner of the house, about half way finished with the pathway.
Besides finishing the pathway all the way to the basement walkout, we need to push the dirt that I piled up along the pathway sides up to the pathway edge to help keep the crushed rock, the sand, and the flagstones all locked in place.

Day 5 more flagstone prep

 I completed the merger of the pathway and the basement walkout with the landscaping fabric and crushed stone.  We then screed the entire pathway to make it all level.  We got a rental stone compactor from BestLine and ran it up and down the pathway. That took about an hour.  Next I got a load of rough sand from Tressler and Fedor to level the flagstones.
Since we wanted about 1-2 inches of sand, I used a couple of 2 x 4s on their flat side to act as guides and again screed off the excess sand.  There are 3 1/2 pallets of flagstone, so we may have to stretch them out a little to lay down the whole pathway including the basement walkout.
Some of the flagstones are pretty big so I will have to use a grinder to cut them down to size so I can handle them.  Today I used a stone hammer to chip off a couple of stones for a better fit.  The hammer will take off a chunk of stone about an inch or so in width, anywhere from 1 to 6 inches in length.  The only drawback is that the hammer sometimes undercuts the stone, so I don't want to do that on the face side of the stone, it doesn't show if the undercut is on the bottom of the stone.  The first flagstones set were in front of the breezeway entry.  I may have to reset the last 5 or 6 stones as I didn't check them with a level and they appear to be a little high, but it is beginning to look like something now.

For a 88 degree day, we accomplished a lot.  Starting at 7:30 AM helped.

Day 4 flagstone prep

I got the basement walkout finished and just about connected it to the rest of the pathway.  That area is still fairly muddy so I opted not to make the merger of the two until it dries out a bit.

More back flagstones

Temporary work stoppage as the rains have started and I have used up all the landscape fabric.  I put some flagstones at the end of the pathway to hold down the edge of the fabric and hold the crushed rock in case we do get a gully washer, which is unlikely as the radar is showing the rains just about
over for the near term and another batch of heavier rain showers out west of Clarion and Dubois.  I'll probably go out and get another roll of the landscape fabric around lunchtime.  We can use the extra for the river of rock run off channel.

More back walk

Got the roll of fabric.  The pictures show how far I am on the stone base.  I also fixed the stone
slab at the rear entry so the top step rests on the lip of the bottom step.

 Work in progress.  Two RTV loads and now all the landscape fabric is gone.

Day 2 back walk way

Made the turn around the back corner of the house with the scraped pathway and then down to the basement walkout.  There are a couple of high spots to scrape down, but the bulk of the dirt moving is complete.  I still have some hand digging to do at the breezeway and main rear entryways and the basement walkout needs a little more attention on the sides of the pathway.  Once those are finished off, I'll put down some landscape cloth and 4 inches of the 1/4 inch crushed stones for the base.  That will require a vibrating packing machine to get it in final shape before I put down 2 inches of sand for leveling the flagstones.  Then begins the process of getting the right stones and shaping them for the best fit in the walkway--sort of an open ended puzzle solving process.  I have not done any irregular stone fitting, so it may be interesting.

Day 1 the back walkway

This morning I began scraping soil for the base of the flagstone walkway.  I started by pulling dirt from in front of the breezeway rear entry and then turned 90 degrees and went straight across the main rear entry and down to the edge of the house.  Driving the tractor backwards and using the bucket blade to scrape causes the dirt to pile up, so to make the banks on both sides of the walkway I had to shovel the scraped dirt.  I haven't measured how deep the scraped pathway is now but it looks about 6-8 inches. 

The third bluestone tread is in and the treads are rearranged so that the higher tread rests on the back of the tread below it.  Some of remaining rock from the retaining walls will be placed on the sides of the treads partially as decoration and partly to hold the foundation rock in place.

The area between the front of the house and the driveway has been graded and compacted with stone.  More flagstone has been placed in the front of the house.  

The team pushed the previously positioned flagstone closer together so our chairs and table don't fall into the cracks.  Soon I'll have to see what we can plant in the spaces.

Reading Blink **** Gladwell, thin-slicing and instinctual knowing in the blink of an eye before the conscious brain recognizes the knowledge.  Fascinating.

Lavender

We spent all day Sunday relocating our lavender garden from the left side of the garage to the right side of the garage.  This was primarily to make room for the flagstone patio to permit access from the garage driveway to the new house.  In its original position the garden was directly  in the way of the path from the driveway to the house.  The original garden was built out of pressure treated lumber (2" x8"planks) nailed and screwed together with "L" shaped angle braces in the four corners to form a rectangular box, roughly 4' x 8'. 
For the relocated garden we used rocks that we had accumulated around the property and dry stacked them in an oval, roughly 6' x 12'.  The larger size allowed us to separate plants and to find several self seeded baby plants as we transplanted the lavender.  I think we purchased 8 plants in 4" pots. We now have 12 or more, some of which are 12"-ers.
Since I know we have more big rocks sprinkled around the Barony, I can see 2 or 3 more of these raised beds in a cloverleaf with other specialty gardens with maybe a bird bath at the center. Paths of flagstone with thyme between would be fun too. Cloverleaf, or perhaps pawprint.

The hens think this is a throne.  They love the height.

hardscape continues

The retaining wall effort is essentially finished.  The guys took care of the water collecting on either side of the main entry.

Surfaces were leveled for the patio and the first of the flagstones were laid on a sand base.

Reading: On Writing Well, 25th Anniversary: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction ****William K. Zinsser.  He practices what he preaches.  A joy to read even if I weren't interested in writing.

Landscape architect

We met with Tim Maurer from Moon Brothers Landscaping this afternoon and he is all set to do up a landscape design. He will probably revisit our site to take some measurements next week although we sent him home with lots of maps and a drawing that Michael did.
One design item that Tim suggested was to move the basement exit from the back of the left side wall to the front of the left side wall--this would help in the development of the swale to move the water from the back of the house out to daylight and would make it easier to keep the water away from the house. It may cut down the requirement to build a concrete head wall to protect the entry. Also with the natural slope of the site, moving it towards the front of the house would give us an additional drop so the steps up from the basement level would be less than with the basement exit at the rear of the side wall. He talked about a swale on the top of the back hill in the forest a bit to help move water away from the house before it even gets close.
He understood my request for PA natives while allowing daffodils for Mom Kitty and Lilies of the Valley for Mom Mac and some lavender for us. He'll use some of the local fieldstone but help us with a flagstone patio in front of the greatroom.
We liked Tim's approach and it looks like we will be able to work with him on our plan.