b'Yep, Neiman EnvironmentsTaking pictures and leaf samples,As a kid growing up in El Paso, Nursery and Landscapeslowly taught myself about theseused to dream about living a long Construction Company based inthriving drouth survivors Id beentime ago. Thinking somehow it Flower Mound, Texas. Our thingseeing. They were Texas nativewould have been so much better was We Do The Entire Job. Andplants! A crude awakening for atimes back then. But slowly boy, entire job we did. All manner26-year-old young nurserymanwith age, more often I woke up of hardscapes, patios, decks,plant guy. Eventually, I learnedto my deeper thoughts . about fences, water features, erosion andhow absolutely exhilarating ithow much blood on the ground drainage control, retaining walls,is to become familiar with mythere must have been back then. playgrounds, outdoor lighting,eco-region. Still to this day,Probably a lot of blood still sprinkler systems, and big trees.my favorite thing to do. Walk thespilling, but we seem to be much Plants and grass were just icing onland with open eyes, in gratitudebetter at hiding it all now.the cake. We did the flour, eggs,for what has always been right salt, made the dough, kneaded thehere. We have been given such aIt is getting hard to hide drouths bread. We did the hard work andremarkable joy. Good as it gets. now.the pretty stuff that comes at the end. Over time I learned. My 12-In fall of 81, Jan and I married. mile daily drive was takingWorking long days in all kinds Every day that 1980 summerme from edges of the Easternof weather, we slowly made on my country drive homeCross Timbers to edges of theourselves a little home. Started from the nursery, I noticed aBlackland Prairie. Soft flowing,quietly in our hearts, then head few plants were still green andsubtle intermingling of soil typesand hands. We made plans for even blooming, un-cared for,and natural vegetation changes.a little family. Still remember in undeveloped pastures andBack then, there were still enoughheadlines in the Morning News woodland edges. Id stop, crawlfragments of the original pieces.when they started construction on through rusty barbed wire fencesWith some imagination, I couldthe last possible lake that could and walk up for a closer look.stitch together what this place wenaturally drain to Dallas . Lake call home looked like a hundredRay Roberts. Huge Lake Serves years before I was born. Dallas Needs to 2010.'