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Author: Landscape Management

Gas at $3 a gallon . . . who cares?

A beautiful weekend here along the south shore of the great big pond we call Lake Erie and everybody is movin’ and groovin’. The roads are full of traffic and the lake is full of boats — sailboats (it’s the weekend of the local annual Snow Flurries Regatta) and power boats of all sizes and […]

The Terminator could be mowing a lawn near you

I’ve always been slightly disappointed in the lack of technological progress in the world. Sure, we now have portable telephones that also take pictures, record videos, play music, light fires, open cans and change flat tires. Essentially, we have Swiss Army Phones. But what I really wanted and expected by the year 2000, let alone […]

A $10,000 government fine for not treating weeds

The Hungarian government is serious about weed control. Serious in a way opposite from many North American regional and local governments. Hungary recently introduced a $10,000 fine for failure to eradicate ragweed from your property.(Image: Ambrosia artemisiifolia. Source: Weed Science Society of America). Wow! According to the Society for a Ragweed-Free Hungary (it really exists!), […]

Watch out for you and yours

Watching news reports of Congress skewering ex-FEMA chief Michael Brown over the Katrina response debacle reinforces, for me anyway, the ever-growing conviction that governments, all governments, are by their nature ill prepared to respond to any sizable disaster, be it a major hurricane or, heaven forbid, another 11 September. Brave and dedicated individuals, some just […]

Hard to imagine the job ahead

When Hurricane Andrew roared through south Florida in 1992 it flattened somewhere between 25,000 – 28,000 homes (depending upon whose numbers you take) and damaged another 100,000 plus. In terms of financial loss, it was the most expensive natural disaster ever suffered by the United States. It took 11 years to rebuild all the homes […]

Fuel surcharges — everybody’s doing ’em

I spent Thursday and half of Friday with a dozen folks from the Ohio Landscape Association (www.ola.com). They invited me to participate in their strategic planning. Sure, we did a fair share of planning but we also did a fair share of trading info as far as each of our perceptions of the market, customer […]

Baseball fever, lawn striping and Rex Sox blunders

Who would have guessed it after an awful April and early May, but the Cleveland Indians are playing great baseball and look like they may make it into the post-season. Right now, they are 1/2 game up in the wild card race over the Yankees, and only 4 1/2 games behind the Chicago White Sox […]

RISE-ing in Las Vegas

Flew into Las Vegas this afternoon for the RISE Annual Conference. The temperature was 97 F. when we got off the plane — hey, it’s a “dry heat” right? Even so, I don’t have enough hair on the top of my head to keep my brain from boiling if I’m foolish enough to stand out […]

Things you learn at a yard sale

The wife and I went to some yard sales this morning. We rode our bikes and stayed in the neighborhood. The neat part of yard sales, at least for me, is the socializing. Everybody has a story and most people are open and friendly at yard sales. This morning I met Jim. He’s 65. He […]

Give me the ball, coach

Tonight was escape night. Like a junkie this past week, I’ve been addicted to every aspect of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction. It seemed like I couldn’t suck up enough of it, maybe because it seems so unreal. The human misery. The trash. Filthy water. Fire. All of it televised like some grossly out-of-control reality program. Each […]

Katrina takes out the Superdome

After getting mauled by Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans’ Superdome, the last refuge for more than 20,000 residents, now needs to be evacuated because of the unchecked flooding in the city (see “Governor: Everyone must leave New Orleans.”). Check out this aerial view of the Superdome roof damage courtesy The Seattle Times and Getty Images. While […]

Energy picture not pretty

When I handed the pizza delivery guy a buck for a $10 pizza, he made an expression like I had tried to slip a week-old cow pie into his hand. Then I looked out and I saw what he was driving — looked like a ’78 Buick. A big hunk of a car. In a […]

Lawnmower heaven

My lawnmower died on me. It was a slow and painful death for the old boy. Though reliable for many years, this summer he started to fall apart. Black, acrid smoke billowed from the engine, the wheels treads came apart, and the drive belt would pop off frequently. And once he got started, I couldn’t […]

No more annoying ring tones!!

OK! Here’s some real “news you can use.” Researchers at MIT have come up with The Cellular Squirrel (left). This cuddly looking squirrel is actually an Autonomous Interactive Intermediary (AII). It uses artificial intelligence to analyze your cell phone calls and alerts you by waving its arms, wagging its head and blinking its eyes. You […]

In cities all around us …

I was on a plane recently (big surprise there) and in one of the in-flight magazines I came across an article profiling a Texas- and California-based landscape architect named James Burnett. He recently designed an urban landscape for a new residential building development in Chicago called The Park at Lakeshore East. It’s got dog parks, […]

Cell phones and traffic don’t mix

I do a lot of driving and I also (like just about every other human on the planet) use a cell phone. Yep, I sometimes make or take calls on my cell phone when I’m driving . . . but not when I’m in traffic. It’s dangerous, dangerous, dangerous. I know; I’ve had a couple […]

Crazy fuel prices

I keep wondering how high fuel prices will have to go before people really start to change their driving and fuel-use habits. Does gasoline and diesel have to get to $3 or maybe $4 a gallon before we get serious about eliminating unnecessary travel and say adios to jobs that don’t pay? Here’s my small […]

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