My goldfish pond

[CometKeith]

We do a lot of rehabs. I would swear that a lot of the repairs that some of the old homeowners did is when they were either drunk or high!
We see drains put into vent lines, lamp cords used to connect electrical circuits behind the wall, people that tried doing carpentry that had no idea at all what they were supposed to do. Recently we found a very nice basement where the homeowner drywalled over joists in the ceiling that were completely destroyed by termites. At least it looked nice as you were falling through the floor from above!

Addy/jw thanks. It was cool seeing the fish for the first time in a long time. They looked about the same as last time I saw them 5 months ago. I still have a bunch of black ones. I was hoping some of them might have changed colors but no luck.

 

[CometKeith]

I cleaned some leaves from the pond

this past weekend in the warmish? 40 degree spring weather we are having and put in my bio-filter. Here is a pic.

 

[sissy]

What I hate is those house hunter shows where people say I want a new house because there is no work to be done .GEEZE ,or they want vintage charm and they want huge closets and huge master bed and bath ,reality check there .Then they want land but they don't want yard work .I have remodeled 5 houses in my lifetime and also did my sisters kitchen .If you have no chores around your house or no fix ups you must be blind .This was my first new house and all it has been is work .What kind of shrubs are behind your pond Keith ,at least they give you some shade ,but have you ever had problems with roots

 

[j.w]

I did some much needed cleaning also. Doesn't it feel good to get out there now when the weather is starting to warm up? Get things done and be able to enjoy the pond and fish again

 

[CountryEscape]

I've noticed if the sun is shining and it's over 50 degrees, the spongey algae from the bottom of the ponds (mostly the koi pond) floats to the surface, and then needs to be cleaned out of the skimmer basket daily. Soon, though, the algae is going to have some serious competition with the plants. Then no more worries about it.
Your pond is looking great, Keith! Seems to look very different than I remembered, maybe because the snow is gone.

 

[CometKeith]

Sissy, They are cedars of some sort. We planted them when we built our house so they have been there for a while. I don't watch those shows much but they are pretty amusing because they don't talk about upgrading mechanicals at all. The first thing someone needs to do is check electrical, plumbing, and heating. Typically most service panels are undersized and most people are putting in 200 amps now and running new circuits to the kitchen and other places where it is needed. If there are old galvanized pipes and cast iron drain they are usually all replaced in a modest scale rehab, and typically hvac systems are being upgraded to high efficiency. Also new windows are needed, new insulation to meet new guidelines for energy efficiency, new roofing is needed etc. The shows never talk about this stuff... just about how pretty the kitchen or powder room looks or how cool the space is since they demolished a wall.

 

[CometKeith]

Jw, It was 76 on Sunday and I worked on the pond a little and it was fun. I did a bunch of water changes over the weekend to try to clear up the tannins from the leaves.Today is was 46...burrrrrr.. CE, Thanks. We are seriously looking for a new house and a bigger yard for a bigger pond is a priority. We are looking for something small and cheap that we can rehab. Maybe I'll do a pond build and house build thread at the same time if we ever find the right property

 

[addy1]

we bought this small rancher, (both of us came from houses way too large) for the land, the privacy, the rural living. The house fits perfectly, and I LOVE the land

 

[RobAmy]

We also own a small ranch, our pond is almost bigger then the house

 

[CountryEscape]

I'm in the same boat. Small house, 1400 sq ft ranch, full basement that is unfinished (who needs all that extra space? Not me!) and my ponds are my priority. If I married a man that enjoyed keeping the house neat and clean, we would have it made. LOL I love to keep the outside looking great, someone else can do the inside. Funny how as we get older (I'm 56 now), size of house is no longer so important, but the things we add to the house and property ARE.

 

[sissy]

This house is 40 sq. ft .bigger than my house in NJ ,but we use every sq.ft. of it .The basement is just storage but if someone wanted to put stairs up to the attic it could be finished .This house is 2440 sq, ft. but it does not get wasted .I could do without all the land work .It was not bad when hubby could help but for the last 5 years it has been all up to me .I could sell off the other 2 lots but I would not want to do that to the house .It would take away from it resale wise .

 

[addy1]

We have a finished basement, laundry down there. Right now it is storage for all of my pond, bee, yard stuff and other junk.........................desperately needs organizing. around 1300 sq feet.

 

[haver79]

Me too, ranch house. When we moved here 22 years ago I did not care much for ranch homes. As I get older, I think it is much better style of home to retire in. All one level. Small and cozy, less house to keep clean! Semi finished basement is a catch all for me. Needs to be cleaned and a lot of stuff gotten rid of. Problem for me is I would rather be anywhere els at home rather than the basement so keep putting it off.

 

[CometKeith]

Thanks for the encouraging words. We are looking for around a 1300-1400 sq ft house which would be about 1/3rd of what we have now. We have two grown girls and one in college and it looks like she will be making a very good income with her engineering degree so we just need something big enough for the two of us. We want to take a ranch and totally gut the interior except for the bedrooms and build a kitchen /living room/family room all open with the kitchen in the middle. We are planning on modifying the roof either with trusses or something similar to give a higher ceiling in the middle of the house. We are also going to make it very modern. I think it will be a fun project because we are in construction and will be pretty easy for us to do and most the hard part will be in the planning not the execution. Most important of all is the new pond and it needs to be large. I haven't even begun to think about what size or what it will look like because I don't want to get my hopes up until we have the property. The neat thing is my wife and I are both in agreement at least about the house we want and she is coming around to idea that I really want a very nice pond.

 

[j.w]

Sounds like a neat plan Keith and hope you find just the right house and property. I like that your wife is coming around to the big beautiful pond idea. Sometimes it's a slow process in getting the other half to see what the important stuff is but we all somehow manage to hypnotize them into it sooner or later