FOUR - Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, September 8, 2004 Stickhorse Race brings out young athletes Yard of the Month for September Janice and Les PauMian Les and Janice Paustian have earned the Heppner Yard of the Month for September because o f what they have done with rock; hauling it o ff their steep hillside home site and hauling more back to use e x ten siv e ly in the landscaping. The P austians m oved to H eppner from Baker City in 1975 for Les’s job at Kinzua Mill. When they purchased their then three-year-old home at 340 B arratt Street there was nothing but rock, six-foot high weeds and more rock. Les brought in a D8 Cat and got busy. A fter w earing out four rip p er blades and hauling out 122 yards o f rock, they finally had semi-flat land to work on. Stacked railroad ties create terraces along the back o f the property. Because the soil is shallow, Janice planted a vast amount of flowering succulents that have spread to fiALinJaeds and spill over edges. An area of solid basalt bedrock that would not budge with the D8 now shows its strength and charm in the midst of plantings. C rocuses that have m ultiplied into the thousands bloom purple, w hite and gold in early spring. A particularly special plant is a white iris that began with Janice’s family in Colorado then made each move with her, first to Idaho and then Oregon. Aged tree stum ps are displayed as yard art with one stump interlaced with o ld -fash io n e d hens and chicks. Interspersed along the property are pine and blue spruce trees all planted as six-inch starts since the rocky ground p ro h ib its anything new with larger roots. Dusty-blue berries grow heavily on a juniper tree that anchors the yard’s center. A large boulder held ov er from the o rig in al leveling project stakes it’s claim among various rocks hauled back from trips to the mountain. In a quiet comer beneath a red-leaf maple, red rock is used as m ulch. Gravel is thickly spread in the driveway that leads to a large, cement parking pad. Dirt brought in for a lawn turned out to be sterile and refused to grow grass at first. That problem was eventually resolved and now there is a lush, green, weed- free stretch of lawn that just calls out for bare feet. Upon closer examination, there are bare feet permanently in the law n; several co n crete stepping stones in the shape of* big footprints lead from the patio to the upper yard. A bout two years ago, repairs to a leaking water line necessitated a big change to the front o f the property. Les ended up removing trees and juniper shrubs replacing them with a large expanse o f neatly stacked landscape blocks and loads o f river rock. From their front deck, the Paustians enjoy watching a ctiv itie s at H eppner E lem entary School and /lp>u axe ¿HoiteeC to