You’ve seen “The Rock,” right? The entrance to Southern Gables at Jewell and Estes is meticulously maintained by neighborhood volunteers. Frank Bontrager heads up the effort. He and his loyal followers (but mostly Frank) keep the landscaping in good shape, the weeds out, and the night light shining on the centerpiece, a big stone slab with our Southern Gables logo engraved on it. Right next to it, along the adjacent Ag ditch (our water feature, the Southern Gables Riviera) there was a stand of weeds that had not been mowed in FIFTY YEARS! Weeds grow pretty big in fifty years.

Before

Well, our man Frank got a little tired of the seeds from all that mess blowing over on our carefully groomed entryway. After a number of unsuccessful calls to the Ag Ditch Company and the City of Lakewood about mowing the tall weeds on the west side of the ditch (Ag Ditch Company: “Not my job!” City of Lakewood: “Sure! Oh, wait. No, never mind. Not my job!”) Frank proposed to the Neighborhood Association that we hire someone to get it done. It needed doing, and it needed a lot of labor and big equipment. Frank went out for quotes, and decided on Huynh’s Lawn and Landscaping Service. Ngu Huynh is a Southern Gables neighbor. We love working with neighbors! He lives at 8957 W. Woodard Drive, and has a good reputation all around. We had hired his crew before, to put all of the rock in the landscaping on that same corner lot back in 2013. 

Ngu and his crew mowed, trimmed, and removed the five-foot high weeds that had been an eyesore for longer than anyone other than our “neighborhood pioneer” residents could remember. (Hint: FIFTY YEARS!) We paid $300 to mow the approximately 100 yards from the landscaping to the second utility pole.  They did a fantastic job. It took about five hours with a crew of four.

After. Looking south from Jewell

It is worth a drive along Jewell, to take a look just east of Estes along the right bank of the ditch, to see this great mowing job. It’s a definite  improvement. Thanks Frank, for pushing this project through and for the care you always show toward keeping our neighborhood looking great!