Summer 2005

Dear Clients:
As I write this, we have recently been blessed or cursed with a tremendous amount of rainfall. We have received nearly 12 inches of rain at The Ranchito, outside of Bucyrus, KS, within the last 2 weeks. I guess that I and many others wished too hard for rain during the dry month of May.

We are very relieved to have survived the spring rush. We have been going at full throttle since March 1st. Most of all, we are very thankful for the demand for our services, and we hope that we have not offended anyone by not responding to their request in a reasonable period of time. We have been cautious not to take on more than we can handle so that we do not compromise our quality and service. However, we live by and welcome all of your referrals.

I might best describe the last two months as overwhelming. Many of you saw my picture in the Kansas City Star this past April (if you did not read the article, please realize that I hate red mulch and that you should also hate red mulch). We welcomed the exposure, but we were not entirely prepared for the number of phone calls that we received. Our deadlines were numerous this spring with many clients having special events, including graduations and weddings. To put this in some perspective, we completed a record number of landscape renovation and new landscape projects this spring. We installed nearly 10 semi-loads of mulch, and performed over 30 spring clean-up projects. We are now recovering and attempting to get our second wind. We are looking forward to a more relaxed and less chaotic schedule this summer, and we hope to slip in some time off before too long.

If you are not already aware of this fact, I must tell you that our Landscape Design Assistant, Kristin Schoenecker, is engaged to be married this November. Her fiancé, Jake George, who worked with us this past year, is now employed with Farmers Insurance. They both currently reside in Lawrence. Jerry’s succulent plant collection continues to grow. He is ready to open his own arboretum if anyone cares to provide financing. As for myself, I still have one walleye fishing tournament remaining this summer at Milford Reservoir, outside of Junction City, KS. Hopefully, my dad and I will have a respectable catch in the two day event. For all of our environmentally conscience clients, all fish caught at our tournaments are released after being weighed.

As for the rest of our employees, they continue to make us proud. Many of you know Raymundo Vera, who spent several years with us previously. He is back this year and we are very pleased to have his experience on our side. You will likely find him on our management crew working diligently to make sure our projects are maintained to perfection. Many of you also know Pancho (Franciso) Cruz. He is our Management Foreman and he has been with us since 1999. Pancho recently received his official naturalization papers and he is now a citizen of the United States.

While I am on the subject of good quality labor, I ask for your support for any legislation that provides us with a legal source of temporary workers from Mexico. Considering the seasonality of our work, we could not survive without their help. As the debate regarding illegal immigration rages on, please realize how dysfunctional the current INS system is, and how bad it desperately needs improvement or abolishment. I am not asking for amnesty for illegal aliens, but I am asking for a reasonable, efficient, simple, guest worker program that permits large numbers of Mexicans (and others) to work here on a temporary basis for a reasonable wage.
Okay I feel better now. I will talk to you later. Have a great summer!

Your humble landscape consultant & designer,
Troy Gormally

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SUMMER 2005

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