Building a Rock Wall with an Excavator (in the rain)

Finished rock wall, puddles and all!

Luc's latest job, above, a long rock retaining wall that transitions the large hill above the resident's new house into a flat backyard.  The past few weeks have been very wet with lots of rainfall, which poses unique challenges for building a rock wall, especially one like this that retains a hillside next to a house.  Extra work was done to aid in drainage around and through the rock wall, including drain rock/gravel and a small culvert.  Below are some pictures of the process:

  above: the house is being built at the same time as the rock wall.

 

 Some of the rocks that will be used

  

Luc and his girls 

 

walking the line, on top the work-in-progress

 staking it out

 putting in the gravel

What do you have that will last hundreds of years?

Stella smiles high atop her daddy's rock wall project

Luc is currently making a very long rock wall that's about 4 feet tall. The wall frames the home owner's property line, then curves around to meet the driveway. Stella and I stopped by on a sunny weekday to record the progress. Luc is using his excavator to place the large rocks and shape the earth. It is an often times tedious process, but it is incredibly rewarding to see the wall in all of it's magnificence! It may stand for hundreds of years, who knows? It will likely last longer than the house itself. That is some kind of responsibility!

Visit Luc's landscaping blog at: http://www.livelylandscapes.blogspot.com

or for a free job estimate call: 360-914-6022

Volunteer Work for Island (the Kids') Coffeehouse in Langley

The "BEFORE" picture, above, with Luc's excavator parked and ready for work the next day . . .


Luc and his excavator (above) do the work of many people in just one day


Marina visits with dad at the work site


Above: this is how the landscaping looked after Luc removed some of the bushes on the west side of the coffeehouse

Above: paths are being put in and soil is being moved



Luc has been volunteering his time, excavator, and expertise to help the Island Coffeehouse and Book Store in downtown Langley renovate their landscaping.

Plans for the coffeehouse include expanding the building to include a second story, taking out the previous landscaping, and adding paths and plantings.

Island Coffeehouse's website describes the business as a "community-building showcase for collaborating with youth voices – in song, in art, and in poetry and prose. Through programs like Friday Night Live, Youth In Philanthropy and the sales of youth art, we give young people a space to contribute their artistic visions and their service to the South End of Whidbey Island."

The store is a non-profit business and is a program of the South Whidbey Community Engagement Center, and the South Whidbey Commons, a 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

For more information on the coffeehouse and book store visit their website at:
http://www.islandcoffeehouseandbooks.org/values.html

Clearing Loads of Blackberries to Reveal a Barn and Field

Before: Blackberries were taking over the field and had climbed all the way up to the barn's roof line.

Another view (to the right of the barn): massive amounts of blackberries


R: Before picture L: after some initial blackberry removal work was done via the excavator


Luc and excavator in action

More action pictures


Right: clearing the blackberries to reveal a very old stone building


L: Progress! R: some remaining blackberry branches in the barn windows


L: the girls watch and record Luc's progress R: Stella points to Daddy


L: Removing the blackberries reveals . . . the barn! R: Luc at work on a cold, wet day

Dealing with the blackberries: burning

The girls watch the fire with dad and warm their hands


Above: some of the massive piles of blackberries.

Baby Stella's First Ride on the Great Yellow Machine (excavator)

Luc takes baby Stella (1 year old) on the excavator, for the first time and...

... they load her wheel barrow with a rock ...

... and Stella takes over the controls

... I have this under control dad...

Here is how you move the bucket, Stella... well, she loved it!

Neighbors have a job too: excavating a road, spreading dirt, and making a 1st class RV perch

Luc was working on the neighbor's terrace (see December 16th post) and the neighbors hired him and sometimes partner Doug Roraback to haul dirt to their site to create a parking spot for their RV on a steep embankment. The job consisted of filling in a large "dip" in the hillside with dirt and creating a road to the site. Once filled in, the area will serve as a parking spot for the home owners RV. The proposed parking site will also have a magnificent view of the water.

Doug hauled more than 25 large dump truck loads of dirt from Greenbank & Coupeville to the site in Clinton. Luc used his excavator to move the dirt, shape the land, fill in the dip, and lie gravel on the newly formed road. Here is where the road meets the new road Luc made

Filling in the "dip" and the view of the water.

Just beginning the filling in process. Look for this stump in the following pictures to get an idea of how the job progressed.

Part of the road to the RV site

RV site-to-be

Moving the dirt in to the site

Stump is pictured on the left. Excavator perched precariously.

Now this is perched precariously!

Road to the RV site with Doug's dump truck (blue) dumping a load at the future RV site.

the road to RV site
Above: the final finished platform