FishinBC's Blog
FishinBC's posts about: Pond
Jun 25, 2008 | 8:26 AM PST
Tags: Pond , Scarlet Tanager , Camping , Fly Fishing , Dutch Ovens
Well after some deep contemplation we decided to call in a pond expert. Leak is not a leak; top pond has settled at an angle and is running over the top between the rocks and the pond itself. Drastic measures, all must be torn down and leveled correctly and rebuilt. The pond was here when we bought the house and with some of the other crazy things the seller did to it, who knows what this will turn out to be when we get it apart. DH wants to fill in upper pond the soil and make a flower bed. I am almost tempted!
Had a new (for me) bird sighting yesterday! A Scarlet Tanager was hanging out in the trees in the front yard. He was gorgeous! Watched him hunting for bugs in the oaks for almost an hour. I was so captivated that when he flew off it finally dawned on me that I should have grabbed the camera. Oh well, the hunting was so good hopefully he will return.
Had one ripe mater yesterday and the plants are loading up with more fast. The three new ones I put in this weekend are already bushing out. Daylilies are popping all over and everything else is doing well. My black magic elephant ear has decided to make an appearance. The standard green ones are doing wonderful. It’s that time of year when it is mostly watering and maintenance.
Pulled the tent trailer out last night to take stock and ensure that everything was in there. Looking forward to fly fishing this weekend. Even with the high water they have been pulling some nice 17 to 20 inch browns out of the White. Robdog was pretty peeved when we pushed it back in the garage. Promised him we would go on Friday, but I don’t think he will believe it until he is in the truck with his trailer hitched up. This dog loves to fish! And my portable a/c unit came yesterday!! Which means we won’t swelter trying to sleep at night while camping! Gonna tie up a load of San Juan worms tonight since they seem to be the fly of choice right now.
Reseasoned all my dutch ovens yesterday. They were such a mess. Got left out on the last camping trip during a bad storm. I just have not had the time to work on them. All are in good shape now and ready for this weekend. I love cooking in my black pots!Jul 20, 2007 | 6:58 AM PST
Tags: veggie , Pond , Daylilies , Squash Vine Borers , Tomato , Cukes , Zukes , raised beds , Banana Peppers , dogs , racoons , birds
Still dry but we are supposed to get some rain this afternoon. I should have watered last night but was just too tired. Been fighting a summer cold and trying to convenience myself I am not going to catch it. I am sure it will sneak up and bite me sooner or later. I don’t have time to be sick!
Gave some more pond plants away. I potted up some off shoots of the lotus and four leaf clover, added some hyacinths, water lettuce and gave them to a co worker who just put in a pond. My pond is still full!! Loads of lilies still blooming, but nothing from the lotus yet.
We will get the new raised bed up this weekend and do the soil prep, to have it ready for a fall veggie planting. Want to do some peas and beans and more greens. My yellow tomatoes have been the best producers so far. They sure are yummy. The red varieties are producing, just not as big or as many. I think the vine borers have finally discovered my zukes, I have two plants withering that I will pull out tonight. L Cukes are still doing great and I have one with dinner every night. I think the heat is starting to get to the peppers. The banana peppers are curling. I have been checking to be sure that they have adequate even water. Any suggestions?
More of the new daylilies are getting ready to bloom. These should be the Crimson Shadows. I have to late season ones that I hope will bloom also. One is called Late Embers and the other Fall Pink Melon. The two blooming now are called Go Figure.
Have the inevitable weed pulling and deadheading to do as well. Been lazy about the weeds in the flowerbeds with heat we have been having. The black and white brigade has been promised a trip down to the lake in the morning, so we will be up before the heat and I will have no excuses after that. The boys will be good and tired after a swim and Briar will have a good long ball session. They deserve it after being put aside a bit while company’s been here.
Rob now has the timing of the raccoon family’s visits down. They show up on the deck at about 5am every morning now and he knows it. No barking this morning, he just sat at the sliding glass door to watch them eat their breakfast. The babies are growing fast. Got a couple of dark pix of them this morning and will try to get them posted tonight.
The bird feeders have been really busy in the evenings. I am seeing a lot more indigo buntings this year. Not sure if there are more than normal or I am just providing a better seed selection. Must make some more of Gene’s suet for the pileated woodies. They are now daily visitors too.
Jul 17, 2007 | 8:21 AM PST
Tags: Green Worms , Pond , racoons , Heat , Watering
I am really missing our daily rain showers we were having for a while here! Everything is dry. I watered all the containers yesterday morning and went home last night to spend almost 3 hours watering everything. Things were looking kinda sad after the heat blast we had yesterday. More to come today and hopefully a little cooler by the weekend.
Went by Lowes and picked up some more perennials they had marked down. Also got a hardy hibiscus, it has one huge flower on it. I got them all watered and will get them in the ground this weekend. Trying to completely fill in this one bed and get it established before winter. Little by little it is coming together and I have high hopes that it will all come back and do well next year.
Took a recent photo of the pond and the elephant ears. There are a few new photos in a couple of my albums also. One of the baby pileated woodpecker who has now learned from mom how to get to the suet feeder.
Had two of the baby coons on the deck this morning when I got up, no sign of mom or the other kid. They are so cute and were both sleeping off full tummies in the feeding trough. Rob spotted them and spoiled their nap with his barking so they got up and shimmied down the deck post.
Well, I was wondering when they would show up and killed my first two victims last night. One of those big green worms had eaten the top of my cherry tomato plant and another was starting on the lemon boys. Grrrrr… They both got whacked in half with my garden shears. They are soooo gross!! Checked the rest of the maters over and didn’t see anymore. I will be diligent and check them often now. Not sure what else I can do about them. Checked my gourd plant when I was watering last night and I have a couple of little birdhouse gourds growing.
So hot last night even the dogs didn’t want to go for a walk. They sat on the porch while I watered then we all went in to collapse on the bed under the fan.
Jun 27, 2007 | 8:03 AM PST
Tags: vegetable , dahlia , Pond , Pond Lilies , Lotus , perennial
I hadn’t watered in a couple of days because we were supposed to get lots of rain. It only spit on us so after my photography class last night, I ran around trying to get things watered before it got too dark. We got a little shower this morning, but nothing that really watered anything.
A couple of my dahlias were leaning over pretty bad from the weight of the blooms. Decided to go ahead and cut the full blooms and bring them to the office to enjoy. There are still plenty of buds on the plants and now they are not leaning over, even staked.
My pond lilies are blooming non stop this year. Had a total of six blooms last week and this week there are four new ones. Monday night, I transplanted the chameleon, cannas, and one of the pond grasses that were bulging in their pots. They look better for it already. Lot’s of leafs on the lotus but no blooms yet there. The hyacinths have bloomed a few times also.
Going to try my hand at pickling peppers. Got some jars and found a recipe on line. I have banana peppers coming out my ears and I hate to see things wasted. I am hoping to have a ripe tomato by this weekend. I have been harvesting cherry tomatoes, but the first of the big ‘uns is almost ready!! Should have two really nice zukes to grill on July 4th too.
Making plans for the kids and friend when they come next week. The fourth will be spent at home, cooking, eating, visiting and enjoying their company. My Shannon and my friend Cat enjoying cooking as much as I do, so we will be fixing all kinds of goodies to enjoy throughout the day and week. They are both looking forward to coming and harvesting from my garden and herb pots.
Have begun laying out on paper just how I want to design my two largest beds. I will keep buying marked down perennials that I want to add and look forward to making them what I really want.
Jun 19, 2007 | 6:45 AM PST
Tags: pond , Fish , Squirrels , murder , tomatoes , MONDAYS
Mine was yesterday…I am kind of like Garfield, I hate Mondays. Work was just plain Monday hectic, chased my tail all day at the office. On the way home, hubby murdered a squirrel in the road. Okay, okay, I know there are tons of them and this one won’t make a dent, but he could have slowed down and not hit it at all. Let’s just say that I let him know how I felt and he won’t be doing that again with me in the car. Really, he did feel bad about it and kept apologizing. I told him to tell it to the squirrel.
We got home to find that the murder victim’s friends had pulled over and chewed up my sunflowers. No real tragedy there, but the fallen stock knocked a bloom off my clematis. Went out to the veggie patch to find a major broken limb on one of my tomatoes. We had a pretty good storm yesterday and I am sure the wind took it down.
Next, I was walking around the pond to see my latest lily bloom and I think the murderer rigged one of the flagstones at the edge of the pond to try to get rid of his only witness to the crime. You know how everything moves in slow motion in a fall? Well that is what it was like, seemed to take forever! The flagstone landed on my foot and it took quite a bit of slipping and sliding to get myself up outta there. Luckily, there were no floating fish bodies, just my big old behind taking a dip. Of course I really got razed by hubby…grrrrr.
Took a shower to wash off the pond scum, made dinner, took two Excedrin migraine and went to bed. Note: when you need to take an aspirin for the pain caused by a flagstone that hit your foot as you fell in your pond, DON’T use migraine formula at bed time…it contains caffeine. So on top of the rest of my lovely Monday, I did not sleep at all. Hope y’all had a better day.
May 14, 2007 | 2:50 PM PST
Tags: veggie , birds , Pond
I I had a wonderful weekend and a wonderful mother’s day, because I got to play to my yard the whole time and hang out with the boy!!
I picked a whole colander full of lettuce and spinach from the garden Saturday and we had a big salad with our dinner. Used some of the fresh herbs on the deck to make a dressing. Yummy! My tomatoes are going gangbusters and everything else is coming along. It was really warm this weekend with record highs. But we have a cool down this week so that will be nice.
Ryan and I went to the pond store and got some water lettuce and hyacinths for the pond. We spent most of Sunday morning just running errands, going to the produce stand and having lunch. A good mom and son day. When they turn 20, their idea of a good time isn’t really hanging out with mom. But I think if you asked him he probably wouldn’t deny he had fun!! We also got some more 25 cent gold fish and added them to the pond. The originals are now about 6 inches long and did great over the winter so we got them some friends. My lotus now has six leafs and all the lilies have buds. Looking forward to the lettuce and hyacinths multiplying and helping to shade the water.
The daylily farm called to confirm that my order was dug and packaged and will be sent out today. Of course now I can’t find my receipt and don’t remember what I ordered! Oh well, I like surprises. I have been saving room in one bed for them and listening to hubby grumble about the bare spots. I keep telling him they are coming. Whew! Now they finally are.
The yard got its second haircut this weekend. I am so glad we did the front as well as the dog yard. It looks great and feels wonderful on the bare toes!! Zoysia was the way to go. Even with the trees it is doing great.
We got the back of the house power washed. The next project is to clean and re-stain all the decks. Once that is done I am hoping we can sit and enjoy the fruits of our labor for a few weekends without working. I did take some time to sit on the deck and watch the birds yesterday. Had all the regular visitors and a rose breasted grosbeak passing through stopped for a bite and a drink on his way north. His mate looks like a sparrow on steroids. She ate her fill and eyed me from the tree a few times. Got some good photos of her, but he was hiding in the cedar by the time I got back with the camera.
Apr 12, 2007 | 12:13 PM PST
Tags: freeze , birds , garden , vegetable garden , veggies , Pond , Lotus , japanese maple , sod , containers
Another night below freezing last night and another to come Saturday night, will spring ever come back??? They even said the words “snow flurries” for Sunday!! Whaaa!!!
Okay, still waiting on the extra 20 yards of sod to fill the patch and trim out the rest. Rain again is keeping them from cutting the sod. The rest of the grass we have put down is looking great. What a difference in the front yard it makes.
All my container plants were hold up in the garage again last night. I will take them out again for the day as soon as it warms up. We have given up on the rest other than the tomatoes and peppers. Containers in the garage, veggie bed covered and filbert covered. For all the good it will do. But at least it isn’t the 20 degrees or lower 5 nights in a row.
I asked Treeman about my very sad Japanese maple, the news is not good. I will wait a bit and keep an eye on it but odds are its toast. Thanks, Treeman for breaking it to me gently.
The birds are back at the feeders, this cold giving them an urgent need for fuel. Some of the birder talk I get emailed to me is saying that this warm spell we had bringing everything out and now this freeze is going to hurt the birds pretty badly as well. The new tender foliage is now brown and crunchy, leaving the insects nowhere to do their thing and that means no insects for the hungry birds sitting eggs or feeding young. Not good. I don’t know how much good it will do, but I will keep a close eye that my feeders are filled and have water there for the birds.
Hoping we get a bit of a break in the rain we are suppose to get this weekend, so that I can pull up or cut back damaged flowers and access what to do now in my flower beds. Most of the annuals are toast. I planted those just for instant gratification. I really want to get serious and plan out some nice perennials.
The pond is doing well. The lotus was trying to put up shoots when the freeze happened. I had sunk it deeper in the water to protect it and checked it last night and it is still okay. The lilies slowed down but are okay and the four leaf clover is doing well too. The cannas slowed too but are fine, since I threw them in a cooler with the pond grasses and stuck them in the garage. The pond nursery said they would have hyacinths by the end of this month, so I will head over there to get some to add to the pond soon.
I really want spring to return soon, and not go straight into 100+ degrees with humidity. But I am sure my wish is no different from any of us. Hope everyone is doing well and staying warm.
