The pond dig has begun!

[callingcolleen1]

So your going to have a lot of toads, maybe one will be a prince! Ha ha! I sure have been busy working real hard, at work and at home. I have been building a stone patio out of 50 pound cement blocks for my garden gazebo that will be setup close to the ponds. (Got the brand new gazebo last fall dirt cheap, like really really cheap, regular over 200 dollars, and I carried it away for only 12 dollars! I used to have that wooden swing there but move the swing to the front yard, leveling the blocks with old sand from sandbags left over from flood that did not come, two years ago. I can't wait till I have it all done, but I have been busy at work these days too, so I hope I get it done for my day off on Monday!

 

[CountryEscape]

Sounds really nice, Colleen, and you're right, that was a STEAL for that gazebo! I could never have anything like that at my house. Too wide open and the winds would tear it up in one big wind storm. What others get in wind, with protection from other houses and trees, I get the full mother load, nothing to stop it. I realize now how much wind I WASN'T getting when I lived in the woods.
Here is my new 44" lawn sweeper. Went back and checked, and my old one was over 10 years old, so sure got my money's worth out of it. AND, since it might be repaired with some welding and adjusting, gave it to my neighbor that has his cows here. His uncle is a good welder, he said, and then he will have a sweeper for their yard, and can feed it to his calves that he has there! Win-win situation for both of us. The bag was in perfect shape yet.

I had a visitor and her grandma/my friend on Friday evening, and then another visitor and her mommy on Sat. a.m.

Visited with my former neighbor on Fri., got caught up on our lives, and other friend is a gardener, both flower and vegetable deluxe, so we swapped out plants. She got lamb's ear, Karly Rose, Mouse Ears hosta, bee balm, sedum (2 kinds that she didn't have) and a flower that multiplied this year, but I can't remember what it is called! I got lemon balm, 2 gallon jugs of wintersowed blanket flowers (some will go in my wildflower bed) and Pampas grass.
Here are just a few pics of the first couple of days in Hawaii. Coming in for my landing in Honolulu, this was over the Air Force base.

My nephew, son and daughter at the USS Utah memorial

My silly kids were constantly laying down on the ground, taking pics looking straight up, or under or over .... fun watching them "get the shot"!

This was typical of my son, and my nephew's girls. They were stuck to him like glue all week, and he loved it. He enjoys kids as much as his Mama!

Matt and Sarah under a huge Banyan tree on Ford Island.

My nephew also loves kids. They set up a mini PT (physical training) course on his front lawn. He would have the kids go through what he has his group of soldiers do in PT some mornings. Of course, he adapted it somewhat to kids, but mostly the same the men do. Things like crab walk, wheelbarrow, monkey walk ... They loved it!!! Then they did a pile up on him.

My daughter in front of the USS Utah, where it was sunk in World War II during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Most of the ships that were sunk in Pearl Harbor were brought up, either put back in service, or cut apart for scrap to use in other ships. It's amazing to me, the size of the vessels that were brought back to the surface and repaired. And, the stories about the attack on Pearl Harbor were amazing.

 

[callingcolleen1]

I need to go on a vacation, but can't bear to leave the puppies or my pond! Talk about tied down! Poppy has me wrapped around her paw! Maybe we can go on a little weekend getaway with the puppies and rent a cabin up by Elkwater lake, did that one Christmas, when the pine trees were all covered in snow, but we had so much fun up in the hills, so much to look at, even in winter! Puppies had a great time too!

Hubby won't come home cause he wants to work extra and make extra money! Greed has set in now and he says he has to make up for the nine months he was off work! Thank goodness he is coming home tonight! Puppies miss him and so do I.... Tonight we can have a nice walk down by the river together!

 

[CountryEscape]

That weekend cabin sounds like heaven, Colleen!!!! It costs me plenty to leave my house, animals, ponds, and flowers! I'm very fortunate to have kids close by that want to come take care of things, and are very dependable as well! I only pay them $20/day, but they can easily do all the stuff in less than an hour, so pretty good. However, if I had to hire a service, it would be more like $50/day or more, I would guess. Again, very lucky, but have to consider that in my cost of vacation, too.

 

[mtpond]

I know how that is, the times we did things my daughter came up here and took care of things. She had food to eat then I paid her extra money for her gas. That was before my pond. I had salt water tanks and hubby complains to
Get rid of them.












P

 

[CometKeith]

CE, When my daughter went to Hawaii last year for her H.S. class trip with the school orchestra they performed a concert for a memorial at Pearl Harbor. It was a great experience for her and her schoolmates.

Great pics of the family. It looks like everyone was having a lot of fun!

When they sprayed our village for mosquitoes last year it killed all the baby tadpoles I had been keeping in a container, but somehow I had a few in the pond that survived and are now healthy frogs. I have been told that Roundup is supposed to be one of the best products for removing vegetation because it totally breaks down into non-toxic components within 24 hours.

 

[CountryEscape]

That's what I thought, too, Keith. That Roundup was so safe for everything after it gets washed off of plants. But, someone said it was very dangerous for frogs. I am very careful, never let any get into the pond, spray very close to the ground. I'm at a loss why only a few frogs this year.
Did have fun feeding them grubs today as I was digging and planting and each time I came up with a grub, I went to find a frog on the lily pads. Every now and then I got lucky, tossed one close by onto a pad. Other times, no frogs present, just tossed them to the fish. Koi seem to like them far better than the goldfish.
Someone told me to be sure to go to Kodama Koi (sp?) as they are in Honolulu. I looked up their website, but they are not open to visitors. I guess I could have called and said I was interested in buying some koi, but I'm not a very good liar. And, our schedule was pretty full, didn't want to make the trip and take up the vehicle for something that just I was interested in, so passed on that event.

 

[CometKeith]

CE, Frogs are so sensitive to almost any type of chemical that it wouldn't surprise me if it affected them especially in the first 24 hours. Frogs have been dying off all over the globe in the last few years and most the time people don't know exactly why. I have heard this is a huge problem in the Amazon now. I think they are really interesting creatures. I just learned that 10% of all the Nobel prizes in physiology and medicine have been to people that have investigated amphibians. I remembered studying them in biology in College that they have undetermined cells that can become anything needed. Biologists are still trying to figure out how they can grow a replacement foot or hand if necessary. Re closed: I have heard of other fish hatcheries being closed to the public. They are concerned about disease being transmitted to their fish. Here is a pic of one of my frogs today.

 

[j.w]

Now I see that one loud and clear staring straight up at me Keith!

 

[sissy]

ce have you seen addy's new puppy in presenting she is so cute

 

[CountryEscape]

Oh my, Addy has a new puppy? Nope, have not seen it!!! Someone please let me know where the pics are. Sissy, last I knew, you had just gotten a new Chi, maybe Puddles? And were maybe going to adopt another one that you were going to foster first. Did you end up getting a 3rd one?

 

[CountryEscape]

Noticed tonight that my varigated cattails are getting ready to bloom! I saw at least 7 young cattails forming! Woohoo!!! Will take pics when they get a little farther along. Right now they are green, so don't stand out too much.

 

[addy1]

Oh my, Addy has a new puppy? Nope, have not seen it!!! Someone please let me know where the pics are. Sissy, last I knew, you had just gotten a new Chi, maybe Puddles? And were maybe going to adopt another one that you were going to foster first. Did you end up getting a 3rd one?

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/topic/11887-presenting/%C2

 

[addy1]

Oh my, Addy has a new puppy? Nope, have not seen it!!! Someone please let me know where the pics are. Sissy, last I knew, you had just gotten a new Chi, maybe Puddles? And were maybe going to adopt another one that you were going to foster first. Did you end up getting a 3rd one?

https://www.gardenpondforum.com/topic/11887-presenting/

 

[CountryEscape]

Took a pic this morning of the varigated cattails getting ready to "bloom". Looks like at least 10 cattails, still green, will turn brown eventually. I'm unhappy that what I believed were "dwarf" cattails, are now being sold as "varigated" cattails. They are about 4' tall, and the cattail looks to be the same size as a regular cattail, about 5-6" long. Last year I had only one cattail, and it was small, 3-4" long, what I remembered the initial pic being when I bought them. Oh well, they are still not solid green like wild ones, I guess.

This frog was hiding in the bog of the koi pond. He's pretty friendly, not easily scared away. He probably thinks I don't see him.

OK, so is this a bullfrog or green frog? This one looks to have more of a ridge, whereas the frog in the last pic seems to be more smooth backed. I'm STILL not solid on knowing which is which. The previous frog is much larger, this one is so adorable, looks like he's smiling.

I put some ludwigia on the top of my waterfall Skippy filter, then put a board before the weir, so it doesn't get in the way of water flow. Worked last year, hoping it will again this year. Waiting for it to bloom, which should be soon.

Lillies from Larkin, has a tiny bud coming up!

Red stemmed parrots feather from Cape is doing super!

And, look out those of you that got water clover and water parsley from me! This is what it becomes the second year!

:blueflower: