(Eric, Viridian Group COO; Jason, Highland and Viridian CEO; Jen, Eric’s Wife; Donna, Highland and Viridian Controller; Charles, Jason’s Dad; Marsha, Jason’s Mom; Seth, Holly’s Husband; Holly, Jason’s Executive Assistant; Shannon, Mitch’s Fiance; Mitch, Highland Designer and Project Manager; Jon, Highland Operations Coordinator; Brent, Highland Designer and Project Manager)

Tonight, the management of Highland Outdoor, along with sister company Viridian Group, gathered on the Country Club Plaza to celebrate this years Holidays, as well as rate our performance for the year.We had a lot of fun watching team members “blow” their cash bonus on themselves (they had to do it in an hour before dinner started) - it was interesting to see how hard it was for some to buy something they would never buy normally. We saw an iPod, a Keyboard, clothes from Harolds, an electronic digital camera photo viewer, and a really cool leather wallet. Everyone had to come to dinner, at M&S Grill, with no money left.

I am constantly amazed at the incredible team we get to work with every day. We reviewed some of the benchmark financial, operational and client goals. We met some, didn’t meet others, but overall were very pleased and proud of how it appears our company will end its year. Needless to day, this year has been interesting in many different ways, but we are all grateful for how we’ve changed, and become more focused this year.

Thanks team - I’m proud of you and YOU make us incredible every single day! I can speak for our clients when I say - we appreciate you!

Sidenote: Abby and Justin were unable to attend because Abby has been really sick this week - we are hopeful she is doing MUCH better!

Consistent with Highland Outdoor’s Mission Statement, last week Designer/Project Manager Mitch Benjamin and CEO Jason Cupp traveled to Cleveland, OH, to visit two of the best landscaping companies in the United States: The Pattie Group and Yardmaster, Inc.

Mitch and Jason spent an entire day with Pattie Group CEO Steve Pattie and his team of Nationally Recognized high-end residential design/build and maintenance experts. It was an incredible opportunity to learn from a seasoned company that has a similar focus and vision as Highland Outdoor. At the end of the day, we had pages of notes on how to better serve our clients, and how to continue to build our company on core values. Thanks to Steve and his incredible team for letting us “join” their company for an entire day!

The next day, Jason spent the entire day with Yardmaster President and CEO Kurt Kluznik, delving into their operational processes, marketing principles, staff development, financial benchmarks and facility utilization.

The opportunity to share best-practices with companies of similar vision and principle has allowed Highland Outdoor to be on the cutting edge of bringing the best service and workmanship to clients on a daily basis. Although we recognize that our firm is not perfect, we strive to learn from those around us to help us refine our business towards continued excellence.

Jason, Steve and Kurt have been friends for many years through their mutual involvement in the Professional Landcare Network. The three landscape company owners recently participated in PLANET’s Crystal Ball meeting held in Fort Myers, Florida, and planned the site visits and best-practices sharing at that time.

(Mitch and Steve Pattie review project plans and operations on-site at a Pattie Group design/build project)

All of our snow billing for the events last week was mailed today. As always, a snow report and billing letter was included. To read the letter, click for the .pdf file below. If you have any billing questions, please contact Abby at the office.

snow-removal-letter-120606.pdf

It’s early Saturday morning, and we are almost completed with all of the snow and ice removal.
Needless to say, it’s been an incredibly busy last three days. Our crews have logged in excess of 700 -800 man hours, gotten very little sleep, broken and fixed countless pieces of equipment, thrown down thousands of pounds of ice melt, dropped hundreds of tons of salt, and navigated through one of the worst snow and ice storms our city has seen in a long time. Final accumulations: 5-10″ of snow throughout our client base.

Although we are our own worse critic, it was nice to get a phone call yesterday morning from one of our premier clients telling us that they went to bed on Thursday night with 8 inches of snow on their property, and woke up the next morning, and it was gone - from the driveway, front and back walks, and even around the pool, since this client liked to take a “winter swim” sometimes.

We tend to be hard on ourselves, even when we know we are putting our best foot forward. Of course, we made a lot of mistakes in the last three days. But, in the end, our staff, employees and subcontractors did an incredible job of working hard, despite worsening conditions, and lack of sleep.

The weekend awaits - a few of our staff will go to the Big 12 Championship game at Arrowhead Stadium tonight. They deserve the day off. It’s been a long week, but we know it is all worth it - not only by delivering service to our clients, but continuing to grow a business. For those that are reading this that are clients, thanks again for your constant commitment and loyalty to us - we would be nothing without you.

Stay safe, warm, and enjoy all the white before it melts off next week. It’s hard to think we will return to design/build and maintenance next week…

(Photo above of Armando and Brent as they try to “unfreeze” a spreader truck in the middle of the storm)

At last month’s Green Industry Conference, Highland Outdoor was pleased to donate three of its season tickets to the Chicago Cubs 2007 Baseball Season. The auction item was sold for over $700, benefiting the Educational Foundation to provide scholarships to green industry students attending horticulture schools across the United States. The following press release was broadcast by the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET) today:

PLANET’S LIVE AUCTION A SUCCESS

HERNDON, Va., December 1, 2006 — The Professional Landcare Network (PLANET) is pleased to announce that its annual live auction, held November 1, 2006, at PLANET’s Green Industry Conference (GIC) in Columbus, Ohio, raised $40,000 in proceeds. This number nearly doubled last year’s auction earnings.

Premier firms in the green industry donated goods and services for the live auction, which featured Harry Collins as its auctioneer. All proceeds from the auction go to support the
donors’ choice of PLANET’s legislative activities and/or ALCA Educational Foundation.

This year’s auction donors included:

AGROTAIN International, LLC
Ariens/Gravely/Stens
Arysta LifeScience
Bayer Environmental Science
David J. Frank Landscape Contracting, Inc.
Dow AgroSciences, LLC
Highland Outdoor
Honeywell
John Deere
Kujawa Enterprises, Inc.
LawnGrips
LESCO, Inc.
Novozymes Biologicals, Inc.
Nufarm Turf & Specialty
PBI/Gordon Corp.
Plant Health Care, Inc.
Syngenta Professional Products
The Andersons, Inc. – Turf & Specialty Group
Wilson Olyer Group
Viridian Group
Zior Infotech LLC/Clip

For more information about the auction, contact Betsy Demoret at (800) 395-2522 or e-mail betsydemoret@landcarenetwork.org.

PLANET represents approximately 4,400 green industry service-provider companies and suppliers nationwide that specialize in lawn care, design/build/installation, interior plantscaping, and landscape management. These firms and their employees represent more than 100,000 green industry professionals.