Starting the Job

My front lawn has been a sorry mess for some years.  It's not exactly an eyesore... it's not full of dandelions and other weeds... but it is full of bare spots.  It does not look nice in comparison with my well-tended flower beds and the new siding on the house.  Also, the landscape timbers across the front of the house were rotting, and the paving stones running next to the timbers after many years were no longer level.  I wanted a makeover of my front yard.

The plan was to do the project last year.  However, because of the pandemic, the landscape company that mows my lawn was not able to get work visas for the Mexican workers they usually hire.  They did not have the staff to do any large projects.

This year the company was able to get visas for their workers.  I expected that the job would be done before I returned from my trip to Mexico this spring.  However the constant rain, and even snow, in April had put them far behind schedule.  When I came home the landscape timbers and the pavers had been removed, but that was all.

More than three weeks had passed, but yesterday a crew of three men (two of them from Mexico) arrived with equipment and begin the work in earnest.  The Mexican fellows worked meticulously on preparing the ground for the pavers and the (faux) stone border that will replace the timbers.  Meanwhile the other guy used a small front end loader to rip out the old lawn.

While they ate lunch, I chatted in Spanish with the Mexican workers.  One of them, Raimundo, who hails from the state of Oaxaca, I already knew from previous summers.  The other fellow is from the state of Veracruz.  I was happy to hear that they had been vaccinated up here.  They complained about the Mexican government's response to the pandemic.

Those who gripe about Mexicans taking away jobs from U.S. workers do not know what they are talking about.  I have chatted with the owner of the landscape company.  He puts ads in the newspapers, and no one responds.  No one wants to do heavy physical labor.  Without his workers from Mexico, he would be unable to take on the large landscaping projects.  And he says that no one works as hard or as well as his Mexican guys. 

When they were done for the day, they left the Bobcat loader here.  So I think it is a pretty safe bet that they will be back on Monday (weather permitting) to continue their work.

***Shortly after I published this entry, the work crew arrived.  They are working on a Saturday!