We're Disappointed Too
By: Daniel Applegate, President
Posted May 23, 2011
As we approach Memorial Day Weekend, a time when visitation exceeds that of any other time of the year, it has become abundantly clear to us that many visitors, most of whom will be here to decorate the memorial locations of loved-ones, are going to be disappointed with the maintenance conditions.
This is Ohio; it rains...sometimes a lot...and sometimes not at all. But the rainfall this spring has been excessive, abnormally so. Maybe this is just Mother Nature's method of balancing the account - making-up for last year's drought. But, because of the rain, the ground conditions have been, to say the least, unfavorable. In fact, the saturated nature of the grounds prevented our Grounds Team from engaging in many of the tasks that we would normally carry-out and complete during the month of April. Of course, this put us behind and it's been "catch-up" ever since.
The month of May ushered in slightly better weather conditions, a fact that helped our cause and, we have in fact made progress with mowing, grave reapirs, bronze installation and all of the other maintenance tasks. That is, until this week. The rain of the past two days has again put a halt to, or has severely limited, many of our maintenance activities. Moreover, I just looked at Weather.com; rain is in the forecast for the rest of this week. If that prediction holds true, much of what we have planned to accomplish in the way of maintenance prior to Memorial Day Weekend will be "rained-out."
We are unhappy with this chain of events; actually, at this moment, we're unhappy with Mother Nature. Just as we're unhappy that the potholes in our roadways, scheduled for repair since late April, have yet to be repaired - the victim of the rain. We're unhappy that some of the the landscapping projects that have been scheduled since late April, remain incomplete - victim of the rain. And, we're unhappy that the earth work on the undeveloped land on the south end of our property remains incomplete - again a victim of the rain.
The fact is that the rain has played havoc with just about any outside work. We are unhappy about that because, during this time of year when there is a focus on cemeteries, we would like to, and it's in our interest to, "put our best foot forward." We're disappointed and if the forecast holds true, I'm sure many of you will be disappointed also. We hope, however, as the weekend approaches that your disappointment will be tempered somewhat by a reasoned consideration of the circumstances that we have confronted this spring.