Wisconsin Pond Build

[j.w]

Well darn CE hope you find them and hope the dogs didn't eat them!

 

[herzausstahl]

Hello everyone,
sorry I have been away for awhile, I have been busy with summer, taking care of projects before my second daughter was born. Well she is here now, she was born on the 20th and is doing very well. Sleeps a lot more than her sister did, or at least as far as I can remember. Pond is still doing good, got a ton of string algae around the lily pads and the parrots feather, so I try to pull out what I can with a stick, but mostly just let it go. Not much I can do to it. Will have the lily pads in the water earlier next year so hopefully they will get a jump on the algae next spring.

Here are some pics of the fish, they are getting more tame, eat floating food now, but I don't feed them that often. I have not added any goldfish, but am up to 5 Koi. 2 are butterflies for sure and I believe a 3rd one is also, he was in the regular tank, but his fins look just like my other 2 butterflies, so I couldn't pass him up. Figure it was a big box pet store so he was misidentified. The fish love swimming up the stream, and if the water level is an inch below the first falls or less, they will jump the falls and swim upstream, its pretty cool to see, I have pics, but not ready to post those yet. They also have taken to swimming in the shallows, which is good, they can clean those up for me. I also figured out as they have gotten bigger if I didn't mention it, the babies were all Rosy Red minnows.

 

[sissy]

Is that a lily it is really far out of the water mine usually look like there floating on the water and your others look like mine do .

 

[j.w]

Nice pix Herz and

on your new baby girl

 

[CountryEscape]

Congrats on your new arrival at home, Herz! Love them babies ....

 

[sissy]

I bet she is a cute bundle of joy .My second son was a good baby and a good sleeper first one not so much .

 

[CountryEscape]

My mom read every child psychology book she could get her hands on, raising us 6 kids. And one thing I remember is that if your first child is a good child, never gets in trouble, the second one will be a hellion! And, visa versa. So, good luck.

 

[sissy]

Very true and not saying first one is not good but he does give that impression Tattoos from head to toe and shaved head and drives a harley and an f350 diesel dully truck ,scares the begeebers out of people .The second one is into all the technical stuff and is book smart and other one likes to work with his hands .Not at all like each other .

 

[callingcolleen1]

Good to here you got new baby girl all safe and sound and sleeping nicely at home now! Life will for sure change little more now that there is a "sibbling" to play with.

The pond looks pretty good, although judging by the pictures of your parrot feather, I would say it looks like excessive heat and sun had the plant burning up. Some plants tend to look more stunted in growth and yellowish in color, during long hot spells. I would recommend that you try to grow hornwort around the Lilly to smother out the algae, works good for me in very hot conditions, and can outgrow what the fish will eat of it, when placed in very sunny locations. I started with a small chunk that was left over from last year, gently weeded the algae out from around it at first, till it took off and now there is no algae left in this sunny warm area.

 

[CountryEscape]

It sure is growing well, Colleen. Great place for fry to hide as well, I would guess.
Sissy, my oldest brother was VERY smart, but VERY slow to get things done. Second kid was my older sister, who broke all the rules, but ended up turning out very well. I'm the third child, and I was perfect. LOL Well, not really, but I never broke any rules, did as I was told .... but that was part of my downfall in my marriage. Never took initiative and stood up for myself. Now I'm much better at that! Next kid, brother, was EXTREMELY successful in life. He was really good at Monopoly, too. He retired at age 50, and is traveling the world. Gone more than he and his wife are home these days. Last 2 are sisters, 5th child just kind of wandered through life, had a successful career, then quit to have kids, not having hard time getting back into the world. Last child, baby, was like me. Did as she was told, very successful marriage and job and life. So, we all were different in our own ways, but some were alike, some different. Brothers are totally opposite. One was ambitious, other not at all. And their lives show it. It's fun to look back on all of that and see how we all turned out. Can't say it's all in the way we were raised, as we all had the same parents, raised the same way. That's why I never say that a kid was not raised properly. I know better.

 

[CometKeith]

Herz, Congratulations! Now you have another pond helper in the making. Your pond and stream pics looks really good. if you want any floaters to combat the algae just let me know. I'll find a way to get you them. I have way more than I need. CE, That's really interesting about you and your brothers and sisters. It is amazing how each of you are so different. We have three daughters and they are all unique and different in their own way. The youngest one is a math and physics whiz and wants to become an engineer, her oldest sister is very artistic and is extremely visual, and the middle one is very good at communication and thinks on her feet and is a senior staffer for a US Senator in Washington DC.

 

[callingcolleen1]

I'm the youngest child, my mother had five kids in five years, and me and my sister are 11 months apart! We all talk alike, look alike, and people still confuse me with my other sisters. When you have five kids in five years I swear "clan mentality" takes over. I sure some people have said "good golly! ... there more of you! Ha ha ha.

 

[sissy]

I am what they call my fathers daughter and swore up and down to him I was going to retire at 50 and did and a couple of months before 50 .I started working at 16 had my own place by 18 and bought my first house at 24 and never looked back no matter what .

 

[herzausstahl]

Is that a lily it is really far out of the water mine usually look like there floating on the water and your others look like mine do .

it is sissy, I had one in the whiskey barrel that stuck out even more! i was thinking the same thing

I bet she is a cute bundle of joy .My second son was a good baby and a good sleeper first one not so much .

thats kind of how she is turning out to be, her sister did sleep much less and was up during the night a little more

Good to here you got new baby girl all safe and sound and sleeping nicely at home now! Life will for sure change little more now that there is a "sibbling" to play with.

The pond looks pretty good, although judging by the pictures of your parrot feather, I would say it looks like excessive heat and sun had the plant burning up. Some plants tend to look more stunted in growth and yellowish in color, during long hot spells. I would recommend that you try to grow hornwort around the Lilly to smother out the algae, works good for me in very hot conditions, and can outgrow what the fish will eat of it, when placed in very sunny locations. I started with a small chunk that was left over from last year, gently weeded the algae out from around it at first, till it took off and now there is no algae left in this sunny warm area.

thanks colleen, actually it was the new found neighbor who moved in last fall that she has found to play with, she is a few years older but they get along really well and also now she plays with another neighbor who is a year older and lived here for awhile. all she wants to do when she wakes up is play with "friends" now, its a lot of fun but a new concept for mom and dad, but the good news is we live on a cul de sac so all the kids get together and play really well, plus all of us parents get along well also, so that is a major bonus!

the parrots feather was growing fine, just being choked out by the algae. I think the biggest problem I had is I didn't add any of the plants until mid june or later, so they didn't fully grow to their potential which I believe would have blocked out a lot of the sunlight and hopefully choked out more of the algae! I do plan on adding hornwort next year early on to help with that.

Herz, Congratulations! Now you have another pond helper in the making. Your pond and stream pics looks really good. if you want any floaters to combat the algae just let me know. I'll find a way to get you them. I have way more than I need. CE, That's really interesting about you and your brothers and sisters. It is amazing how each of you are so different. We have three daughters and they are all unique and different in their own way. The youngest one is a math and physics whiz and wants to become an engineer, her oldest sister is very artistic and is extremely visual, and the middle one is very good at communication and thinks on her feet and is a senior staffer for a US Senator in Washington DC.

thanks keith! i did go on the local garden walk this year and a guy had a pond with a ton of water hyacinths and said he started with 3 only, I also found out the name of the vender who is local so I can get some next spring!

I'm the youngest child, my mother had five kids in five years, and me and my sister are 11 months apart! We all talk alike, look alike, and people still confuse me with my other sisters. When you have five kids in five years I swear "clan mentality" takes over. I sure some people have said "good golly! ... there more of you! Ha ha ha.

colleen I understand that all too well, my younger brother and I are only 13 months apart and aside from the fact that I am half a foot taller than both my brothers (one older, one younger) we share similiar features, sound alike and have many of the same mannerisms!

and now for some more pictures! the fish like food now, and don't shy away from it as they used to, but I still feed them sparingly (not every day, kinda more when I remember and think about it!) here they are feeding:


also here's a visitor who stepped out of the water for once and away from the safety of the deck:



Turns out I had 3 of these guys at least in the pond and seen them recently. Also decided to remove the cave since it led to algae on the pumps and took up some of the real estate for the fish to swim in. I also dropped all my lilies (but one) to the bottom of the pond, so curious to see how they do. They are spread in a line kind of, across the center. Will see how they grow back next year.

 

[sissy]

pond looks really good and hard to believe it is new and your froggie friend will bring back more froggie friends .Did your daughter seem him yet .Your daughter is becoming a social queen and when she starts school how much fun she will have .My son felt like a dad as he is almost 11 years older than his brother so it gave him an excuse to play ,I mean put together all his brothers toys at christmas and birthdays .