Status Report

I pulled myself away from the details of wedding planning - well mostly, anyway - to spend some time at the office yesterday. So as we were getting our Nando's fix at noon, I pummeled The Water Expert with questions about the progression of some projects. My disclaimer is that my brain is currently stuffed with details like centerpieces and dress fittings, but I'll try to pass on some of his answers.

There is still no running fountain at the south lake at Highland Groves. The divers are going in today to see if they can find the problem. The Mister wondered why they don't just pull the entire thing out, since it's a floating fountain anyway, and look at it on dry land. Nevertheless, the procedure seems to be to handle it in the water, so we'll wait and see what they discover. In the meantime, everything else is operational. This means that the common landscaping can be installed and that will green up the views considerably.

Speaking of installing the turf, and of the interesting language unique to development, The Water Expert is requiring the landscape company to "amend the soil." At a recent seminar, when The Water Expert asked the secret to installing healthy turf, the reply he got was something like this: "There are only three things you need to do: first, soil amendment. Second, soil amendment. And third, soil amendment." So Highland Groves will see their soil amended. What this means is to add some stuff (can't remember the name) to the soil and work it up to a depth of about six inches; this is done after the sprinklers are installed and before the sod is laid. The purpose of this stuff is to keep the dirt fluffy and allow the water and nutrients to feed the grass. Our soil contains a lot of clay and ends up "binding" - clumping together - and so the water runs off rather than into the roots. (Note: "fluffy" is definitely NOT The Water Expert's choice of words.) In my line of work, we amend tax law and tax returns, we amend contracts and trust documents and wills; so amending soil doesn't sound all that foreign, I guess.

The Water Expert had no idea when the traffic restrictions on Recker might be removed.

On a different topic, the roof on the office was finished on Monday. We had wondered what the impact of the marches and boycott might be on various aspects of work around Morrison Ranch; the answer seems to be - not much. Some construction crews were not at Highland Groves, but others were; our roof was completed; the guys doing landscape maintenance at Higley Groves West were mowing on their normal schedule; and about half of the workers at The First Cousin's sons' farm in Gila Bend worked and half didn't. These are all anecdotal examples, of course. I'm not sure what the broad impact was, but there is certainly some discussion going on across the country, so that chapter has yet to be completed.