Yard of the Month for June

Finally, after a long hard winter and rainy spring, the Pine Haven Beautification Alliance Committee has awarded the Yard of the Month of June/July to Kim and Dawn Pfeifle.

Kim and Dawn live at 51 Vista Grande Dr., in Pine Haven. Kim works for White Frontier Motor Co and Dawn has the store "A Prairie Dawn" in Gillette. They have four grown children, three of whom live in Gillette and one in South Dakota, from where the family originated.

They've lived in Gillette since 2002 and Dawn opened her store in 2007. She originally sold florals out of her home in South Dakota before moving and opening "A Prairie Dawn."

They've always loved the lake and this area and decided to buy a lot and put a summer/weekend home out here. However, the more they came out, the more they loved it and they decided to make this their permanent home.

We decided to give them the award as they only moved into their new lot and home a year ago, and they have put so much work into fixing up their yard already. Dawn said they ordered the home Oct. 2017, closed on lot December 2017 and delivered January 2018.

However, because of weather, it was on Mother's Day a year ago that they were able to move in. They started fixing things up by first putting in a driveway because of the muddy clay that we all know of.

From there they moved on to the yard. They now have grass and a circular driveway that goes around an area of flowers and bushes. Dawn has tried to maintain plants that the deer don't care for, such as moss rose, Russian sage, cat mint, marigolds and asparagus ferns, of course we all know that's an ongoing process. If in doubt, put a fence around them.

They have also planted lots of narrow leaf cottonwood trees, which she had in town, and seem to grow fast and are nice looking. They plan on putting in more down the road, but she said she never wants to block her view of the lake.

Also the sunrises and sunsets are so beautiful and it's so peaceful watching them, the deer, rabbits, etc. They plan on making a raised bed with a fence around it in the back later.

Kim and Dawn are planning to have a family reunion next summer with approximately 60 family members. She laughs, saying, short of building another house for a guest house, they will make do with lots of RVs, tents, etc to accommodate the crew.

Plans are being made to fix up the back yard with volleyball nets and other things and there will be lots of jet skiing, boating, etc. Her son has a fly board that he rides on the lake, so we'll have to watch for him doing that.

On that note we want to congratulate Kim and Dawn Pfeifle for their good work and say "keep it up". Be sure to drive by and look at what they've done, and good luck to next month's winners, which will be July/Aug.