Saturday would be a busy day and the weather forecast was promising – promising a crummy day, anyways. Got everyone out to the light and started on the various projects. Over the years it has become more of a maintenance of the landscaping, as opposed to having to create new. It is holding up nicely and really compliments the light and grounds. Our gardening division weeds, places a new layer of mulch and sometimes transplants flowers to a new area. For those who have visited the light, you know how much ground there is to cover, and our gardeners do a really great job.

In the meantime, I was off to Lowe’s to get our supplies for the big project. I was really concerned how I was going to get everything back to the light. No pick-ups this weekend, and my bus (aka the land yacht) was the closest thing we had to a hauler. I considered trying to find a trailer to rent, but fortunately Lowe’s had a stake truck that could be used for only $20 (and a great investment it was!) 800 pounds of topsoil, a pallet plus of retaining wall blocks as well as flowers.

I can recall the thoughts going thru Jeff’s head: “well, he got the pallets up onto the truck, how did he think we were going to get them off the truck?” “Wonder if he could just hit the gas and then the brakes real quick and slide the pallets off the back . . .”



Everyone pitched in and formed a supply line to unload the blocks and place them around the area where they would be used.



And, then the construction division got to work. We had roughed out the size of the wall to be built, and Doyne free-formed it a bit instead of having a regular old rectangular enclosure. Somewhere along the way, the owner of the restaurant at the yacht club next door to the light came over and after determining that we were volunteers helping the light, he offered to make pizza for lunch if we would purchase our drinks. Seemed like a good deal, so the offer was accepted. Meanwhile, time to build . . .



We had been fighting off-and-on drizzle and light rain all morning, but by the time people headed over for lunch the project was taking shape very nicely.



Unfortunately, as we returned from lunch the weather decided to develop into a more steady drizzle and eventually rain. No way were we going to leave this project unfinished, especially since the society was having an open house the next day. Plants were positioned and holes dug; grass killer was sprayed where there would not be flowers; then weed barrier was put down (and when we ran out, empty mulch bags were placed into service); and, mulch was quickly spread. Fortunately, the gardeners had saved us as much mulch as they could since the original concept for the enclosure did not use mulch. There would be annual flowers in the upper corner of the garden, and that was the only area not covered with mulch. By the time we were down to planting annuals, it was raining pretty steady and flowers went into the mud (the 800# of top soil . . .) as quickly as we could get them planted. Not always the most precise placement or even well planted, but those of us crazy enough to still be out there were pretty water logged and mud covered, so we were in a hurry to get done.



This is how it was looking when we left Saturday evening. Several of us planned to be back for the open house on Sunday, and I was going to pick up a few more bags of mulch to cover the annual portion. It rained all night long, sometimes pretty heavy. Carolyn kept wondering if there would be any annuals left Sunday morning, or if they would be washed away.



Back to the hotel to dry off and get cleaned up before heading for the hospitality suite for our evening socializing. We had supper with what we had planned to use for lunch, and that seemed to work out pretty well. I don’t think anyone was hungry when we were done. The evening would be a little sad, as Doyne and Cindy would be headed for their new home in Arizona on Monday morning. They have promised to return to visit and help some, but we will certainly miss them. They have both been so active in the Hoosier Lighthousing Club, and Doyne has been a cornerstone of all of our construction projects. (Doyne & Cindy to the right, talking with Sue and Judy).





When we headed out Sunday morning, at least it wasn’t raining heavy but it was raining. Stopped and got 4 more bags of mulch and headed to the light. The really good news was that the annuals seemed to have stayed in place. Guess that once they were in the mud they were there for the duration! As I started to spread the mulch several others showed up to help. We made quick work of that last little chore and stepped back to admire our completed project.

I think it is fair to say that we are all quite proud of that project as well as the other jobs we were able to complete:

• Completed all of the work in the flower beds – weeding, re-mulching, just generally making them look stunning
• Topped off the sand on top of the brick patio we built last spring
• Started on what will be a long term, significant undertaking to inventory the many, many articles and related type items the historical society has.
• Designed and built the new anchor display and garden.

So, all in all a great weekend. Lousy weather, but we didn’t let it win. Lots of work accomplished, lots of visiting with our lighthouse family. One great looking lighthouse and grounds by the time we were done.