Building pond in Israel by a Granny!

[addy1]

We had huge dust storms in Arizona. 300 foot plus wave of dust would come through. Horrendous winds. I had a pool, from blue water to brown.

 

[YShahar]

We had huge dust storms in Arizona. 300 foot plus wave of dust would come through. Horrendous winds. I had a pool, from blue water to brown.

Oy! I bet those were similar to ours. We also sometimes get these huge waves of dust coming through. This one apparently blew in from the northeast (Syria and Iraq) and wasn't accompanied by the usual choking heat, so at least it wasn't as unpleasant as some. The good news is that it's expected to settle out over night. The bad news is that it's expected to settle out right on top of us. Ugh!

 

[addy1]

You could watch it coming, run outside to secure things.

One storm 3 thunderheads met just north on my house the dust came, then we had winds of over 140 mph. Around 3000 houses lost their north facing roof. We did, then it rained 2 inches. Took a year to repair all, we lived in a rental for awhile, mold etc.

Here in Maryland the storms are not as wild. Occasional tornado warning, some bad winds.

 

[addy1]

Loved the thunder lightening storms out there! Unreal strikes loud storms.

 

[YShahar]

You could watch it coming, run outside to secure things.

One storm 3 thunderheads met just north on my house the dust came, then we had winds of over 140 mph. Around 3000 houses lost their north facing roof. We did, then it rained 2 inches. Took a year to repair all, we lived in a rental for awhile, mold etc.

Yikes!

Our dust storms may -- on very rare occasions -- get a sprinkle of mud when the colder air moves in. But we don't get any rain from April to October, so no thunderstorms. Kind of a shame, as I love lightning. We generally have only one good thunderstorm each year, at the start of the rainy season. After that, we may get some high winds and flooding, but that's it.

 

[TheFishGuy]

I though I was looking at a nice tan stucco wall or something for a bit there, turns out that is the air!

 

[YShahar]

I though I was looking at a nice tan stucco wall or something for a bit there, turns out that is the air!

Sad, but true!

Meanwhile, I did get a tiny bit of work done today once the dust had settled (literally). There were a few weathered limestone boulders that had become hidden behind the bushes, so I repurposed those to build up the rocky area around the intake bay and tie it into the rest of the garden. Here's how it looks by day...

And here's how it looks at night:

Arya the calico cat made another appearance, after having gone AWOL for a couple of days due to all the guests invading her space. Hopefully she'll stick around a bit more!

Once I get the plumbing installed, I'll straighten out the rocks on the far side so they line up a bit better and add gravel. The area directly in front of the intake bay will become a pea gravel path, and the rocks on the near side will be inset into the ground a bit more than they are at present. I'll need to use the grinder to carve out a space for them in the concrete around the patio post so they'll sit flush.

Now if I can get the rock work on the pond done as well, we'll have something!

 

[GBBUDD]

You sure could fool me that sure doesn't look like the middle of a desert.

some very cool looking rocks lots of character

 

[addy1]

Love it!

You sure could fool me that sure doesn't look like the middle of a desert.

some very cool looking rocks lots of character

It looks like an oasis!

 

[YShahar]

Well, it was a desert for over a thousand years, and parts of the country are very much still desert and probably always will be. But despite centuries of erosion, all it takes is a bit of love and a lot of work, and the desert blooms again.

 

[GBBUDD]

We have deserts too most of us just opt to visisit and not live there. Yet your area is the most fought over in human history.

 

[addy1]

all it takes is a bit of love and a lot of work, and the desert blooms again.

You show the love and definitely the work! Ms Granny!

 

[GBBUDD]

The more pieces of heaven created in more back yards the less dust for the sand storms ok so I'm probably talking a couple thousand years but it will get there.

 

[YShahar]

The more pieces of heaven created in more back yards the less dust for the sand storms ok so I'm probably talking a couple thousand years but it will get there.

Absolutely! I'm also hoping the pond will give us some much-needed humidity on the drier days, as well as being a real boon for the local wildlife.

Our real worry will be going over our monthly water quota due to evaporation. The fact that there's a fair bit of shade over the pond for part of the day should help to some extent, but there's no denying that it's going to need topping up constantly in the summer. I really wish I had an easy way of turning our patio space into a rain collection reservoir. But I'm really not up to digging another huge hole by hand!

Meanwhile, His Honor the Cook had a conversation with the lady in charge of water for our community, and then crunched some numbers. Looks like the savings from rain water catchment - even including any fines for going over quota - still wouldn't justify paying someone to do the work at this point.

 

[GBBUDD]

I supposed painting the guest bedroom with a waterproof paint and turning a downspout into the bedroom is not an option collect the spring rains