Blair Witch (landscaping) Project

For being a landscaper/outdoorsy person, I'm really a city boy at heart.  Put me on the streets of a downtown area at 4 a.m., and I'm fine... but put me in a country woods setting, and my imagination (fueled by such classics as Deliverance, Blair Witch Project and The Village) goes into overload.  It doesn't help that the camp is far away from civilization surrounded by woods... theres a prison nearby and the local rednecks like to ride around on their quads at 2 a.m. shooting things.  It also doesn't help being in a tent because you are literally a 'sitting duck'.  You can't see what's going on around you, and if someone would come up to the tent, you'd be trapped... and they would thrash you with a machete, splattering your fresh blood all over the waterproof fabric and rain fly.. you'd scream but no one would hear you...(breathes deeply).  Anyway, I think that's why Blair Witch Project was so terrifying for me... it's not what you actually saw that scares you... it's what you hear and don't see.  Between paranoia and 9 hours of torrential downpours with lightning, thunder and high winds, I got very little sleep.

The project went off pretty smoothly... I had precut the wood at home, so all I had to do was screw the grill bump-out together... it took no time to assemble.  Sculpting the beds was a little more of a challenge since the area was full of crabgrass.  I needed the dirt to raise the beds, so I basically had to dig it up and pound it against the ground to knock the dirt off.  I dug the fire pit, planted the plants, put the mulch down and added some decorative rocks.  All-in-all, it was a fun, creative project.  It's not very often that I get carte blanche to do what I want, and although there was a definite budget and request for maintenance-free plants, I appreciate my friend's trust in me to do what I think is best, taking into consideration his needs.  It would have been amazing had I been able to plant some flowers, etc... but it's so late in the season and he's only down there on the weekends.... they'd probably die.

It was a nice couple of days out in nature... I saw 18 deer, 6 raccoons, a turkey, and a chicken (that almost lost his life trying to cross the road in front of me).  I got to see my friend, Scott, and was able to just relax a bit as well.  It was nice to be at camp when there weren't a lot of people there.  I'm considering going there for Labor Day week/weekend... we'll see.  I'm still up in the air.