CW's Back Yard Water Garden Begins!

[GBBUDD]

oh that made the guy think you were into him.

definitely the reverse for me i could stay out till 3:00 am easier than getting up for 3:00 am





;

 

[addy1]

These eyes have seen very few new year fireworks.

 

[Rabungalow]

Looking good! That’s quite the accomplishment.

 

[j.w]

9pm is the new midnight

 

[Lisak1]

9pm is the new midnight

OMG that's so true! When my kids were at home I could burn it at both ends. Up until midnight, 1AM; out of bed by 5AM. Not anymore man... now it's a 9PM bedtime for me. Still get up at 5, but now it's on at least 8 hours of sleep. I honestly believe I was sleep deprived for decades. And we used to take pride in how little we had to sleep - like EINSTEIN! Now we know how important sleep really is!

 

[GBBUDD]

2:30 am last night been up since 6:00 i'll pay for it two days from now. don't ask me why its two days it just is

 

[addy1]

Lol I worked on call for 30 years. At one time called out every night for 7 days, working all day also. one night finally heading home saw pink elephants crossing the road! i mean it big pink elephants! So we changed to a every other night, every other weekend.

Never had weeks of uninterrupted sleep until the hospitals decided we need 24 7 coverage. About 2 yrs before I quit and moved east.

It took years to get a full night of sleep even after I quit the on call work.

 

[GBBUDD]

i'M SORRY here we have people committed to help others yet there infinitely smarter superiors say lets see how many screw ups we can CREATE when people have no sleep . why the medical profession calls this wise is beyond me. trust me i have slept / or sleep walked on too many projects after burring the midnight oil.

My father in law broke his neck and back in one fall he was on morphine and Demerol. went in for surgery on a backqucil pump " forgive the spelling on that one" Any ways after the pump kicked on a few days latter they gave him the Demerol and morphine and it put him in a comma for i believe a week if not more. this was 15 years ago

 

[j.w]

2:30 am last night been up since 6:00 i'll pay for it two days from now. don't ask me why its two days it just is

WHY? Had to ask.............maybe I have a bit of oppositional disorder

 

[GBBUDD]

Just surfing . And like cw internal clock said time to arise

 

[YShahar]

2:30 am last night been up since 6:00 i'll pay for it two days from now. don't ask me why its two days it just is

I would love to say that I have more sense than to stay up until 2:30 when I know that I'll be getting up at 6:00. But alas, such is not the case. Last night I sat up and read in the living room until after 1:00 am. I thought about going around to lock the gates and heading to bed. But then I thought, well let's just sit here in the dark and see if we can catch a glimpse of that porcupine coming to the stream to drink.

And so I sat still in my reading chair, looking out the patio doors. And sat. And sat...

And then my eye caught a glimmer of movement by the head of the stream. Sure enough, something was up there, and it was too big to be a cat! So I stood up to get a better look.

Now, you'd think that after some 20 years in a police sniper unit, I would be aware by now of what I was wearing when I was trying to be inconspicuous in a dark room. But it seems that a life of sloth and decadence have dulled the old sniper wits...I was wearing a white t-shirt that I sleep in. So of course, as soon as I stood up, whatever was at the stream departed at speed over the garden wall and off into the great beyond.

But now I was invested... I changed clothes into something more sensible and sat down again, hoping it would come back. And sat. And sat... No luck. Finally looked at the clock and found it was just past 2:00. Time to admit...well, no, not defeat of course. But at least a temporary ceasefire. So I went around and started locking up.

But then I thought, why not just go out and sit on the patio by the pond for a few minutes before locking the back gate. May as well say goodnight to the fish.

As I was just about to set foot on my fish feeding rock, I glanced down. And saw about 50 cm worth of viper there by my feet. Another 40 cm or so (judging by the body thickness) was busy nosing about in the shrubbery by the path. One more step and I would have stepped on it.

I beat a hasty retreat, and then tossed a pebble at the snake to get it moving away from the patio. It went off at a leisurely pace. I think it might have been feeding on something there, which would explain why it was lying so still. I'm really hoping that whatever it got was the same animal that keeps digging holes in my garden (assuming it's not the porcupine doing that).

Anyway, after locking up, for some inexplicable reason, I decided that a glass of arak might go down really well.

 

[addy1]

I have done the same, see something on cams go to the windows, opps light color shirt, critter runs. At least not a viper!

 

[GBBUDD]

I would love to say that I have more sense than to stay up until 2:30 when I know that I'll be getting up at 6:00. But alas, such is not the case. Last night I sat up and read in the living room until after 1:00 am. I thought about going around to lock the gates and heading to bed. But then I thought, well let's just sit here in the dark and see if we can catch a glimpse of that porcupine coming to the stream to drink.

And so I sat still in my reading chair, looking out the patio doors. And sat. And sat...

And then my eye caught a glimmer of movement by the head of the stream. Sure enough, something was up there, and it was too big to be a cat! So I stood up to get a better look.

Now, you'd think that after some 20 years in a police sniper unit, I would be aware by now of what I was wearing when I was trying to be inconspicuous in a dark room. But it seems that a life of sloth and decadence have dulled the old sniper wits...I was wearing a white t-shirt that I sleep in. So of course, as soon as I stood up, whatever was at the stream departed at speed over the garden wall and off into the great beyond.

But now I was invested... I changed clothes into something more sensible and sat down again, hoping it would come back. And sat. And sat... No luck. Finally looked at the clock and found it was just past 2:00. Time to admit...well, no, not defeat of course. But at least a temporary ceasefire. So I went around and started locking up.

But then I thought, why not just go out and sit on the patio by the pond for a few minutes before locking the back gate. May as well say goodnight to the fish.

As I was just about to set foot on my fish feeding rock, I glanced down. And saw about 50 cm worth of viper there by my feet. Another 40 cm or so (judging by the body thickness) was busy nosing about in the shrubbery by the path. One more step and I would have stepped on it.

I beat a hasty retreat, and then tossed a pebble at the snake to get it moving away from the patio. It went off at a leisurely pace. I think it might have been feeding on something there, which would explain why it was lying so still. I'm really hoping that whatever it got was the same animal that keeps digging holes in my garden (assuming it's not the porcupine doing that).

Anyway, after locking up, for some inexplicable reason, I decided that a glass of arak might go down really well.

And you ladies say we are the stunads. I LOVE IT.

Beats the hell out of me looking for what ever tore up the gutters I guess it was the gutter pixie telling me it was time to be cleaned

 

[addy1]

Birds looking for food! They do it here.

 

[combatwombat]

Just refilled the reservoir and metered the fill. Went through 2,000 gallons in 17 days. And when I do the math, that's only about 1.75" of loss/week, which is about what I'd expect during the summer with the pond in full sun, lots of water movement, and 24/7 wind for a week straight.

Pretty wild, though. When I designed the reservoir, I was counting on enough small rain events through summer to refill it long enough to make it to the next one. But that did not happen last year. And, so far, no signs of it happening this year either.

Meanwhile, it was one of the wettest springs in history. Such is the problem with these designs. More water than you could ever handle when you don't need it. Nothing when you do.

I also conveniently forgot that the last 500 or so gallons in the reservoir aren't really usable without damaging the pumps. So, my 2,500 gallon reservoir is more like 2,000 realistic gallons.

I calculated that I have space to store about 7,000 gallons of water under my deck—an awkward space I keep trying and failing to successfully store anything else. Maybe one of those rain pillows would work? Or some other rigid solution? Would get me through 2-3 months of dry summer weather. Perhaps long enough to actually get some rain before going dry.

I think a thick, green lawn would actually be better for water conservation than a pond. At least in this back yard. But you can't sit on the deck and listen to a lawn. Or swim in it. Or catch tadpoles and watch baby ducks swim. Or plant things you don't have to water.

Hell, might as well convert the rest of the lawn into more pond.