Country Escape's 2nd pond - Goldfish only

[CountryEscape]

I had a beautiful day to work outside! At one point I was filling water into the koi pond by putting fresh water into the bog, and noticed these two frogs. The one is a bullfrog, biggest one I've seen so far, maybe the one that was croaking, not sure, and the other one is maybe 1/3 the size of the bullfrog.

Then before I was able to start watering the flowers, I could hear thunder to the west, and this is what I saw coming my way looking towards my front yard.

And then about 10 minutes later (I got all my tools, etc. put away in a hurry), this picture was taken out my back yard.

It rained a nice shower, could have used less wind at the beginning, but I think the new flowers and plants (and grass from Addy -- THANKS!!!) sure appreciated the nice soaking they got.
Hope everyone else had a wonderful St. Patrick's Day!

 

[pondlover]

CE that looks FABULOUS!!!! You've done a great job. It's really going to come together nicely when your rocks are all in place. I love what you did with the stepping stones over your stream bed. Makes me want a stream now and it's on my "wish list".

 

[j.w]

You got a lot done today CE and tomorrow you get to do it all over again. It sure is fun sitting here watching you do all this and thanks for letting us all watch! You don't even charge for admission! That storm looked pretty scary and glad you quit and got inside before the rains came down. I'll be tuning in tomorrow to see how it goes and if you can catch all those little fishies :goldfish: :goldfish: :goldfish:

 

[addy1]

Great job! you are doing wonderful

 

[CountryEscape]

Well, that storm produced 1.5" of rain, which was more than enough for the new flowers and plants, but great for helping me fill the pond. Bad thing though ... this morning the waterfall was not running. WTH!!! Checked, the "new" plug ins I had put on the deck specifically for the pond, were all dead. Yep, dead. Flipped the breaker 3 times, still nothing. All other electrical in the house and outside are working fine. Go figure! I have it plugged into the outlet on the outside of my house, where I had it originally until I got the new ones. Don't you know someone is going to get a piece of my mind tomorrow when I call! Those outlets were all to be GFCI rated, the boxes have a cover, I have no idea what has happened. If anyone is electrically inclined and have an idea to offer me, I would love to hear it! I'm so mad right now I could spit. LOL Glad I got the flower planted, as it will be later in the day before that area is anything but mud. Speaking of mud, won't be able to get the new pond filled all the way, as I will be digging in mud to do it. BUT, I will get the fish from the basement moved and get a pump running in the pond and down the stream at least for some circulation. Figure I can use my homemade filter from the basement pond until I get the bog dug out and filled with pea gravel and plants, as well!
Coffee is done, sun is shining, it's over 60 already, I'm heading to the deck to enjoy the ponds.

 

[sissy]

I noticed your retaining wall block is hollow mine are solid and wonder if you could plant small plants in the hollows .A cement drill bit you could put a small hole in the bottom for drainage .Do they come like that in the larger retaining wall block also ,hollow .Would make a great living wall around the pond like that .I have large concrete block with holes in it that i put plants in .The plants grow over the block after awhile and hide the whole block .

 

[CountryEscape]

Actually, you are seeing the scoop out on the underside of the blocks. The top is flat. I have them laid flat side down so not as many "edges" on the liner. But, good idea!!! The liner will go on top of the retaining wall blocks, then another stone or block on top of that. I'm thinking landscape stone this time, as I have to buy either way, so may as well just do the cheaper bought stones. They are only 88 cents right now, so that's cheaper than a skid of rocks by far.

 

[sissy]

my block are solid all the way through and after I saw yours I went on the block and rock sight here in Danville that sells all kinds of blocks and stuff and they have really large hollowed out ones like that .They go up from 12 inch ,16 inch ,24 inch,30 inch .and 36 inch size and did not know they came hollowed out .It said on there sight that they do that to make them lighter and save on concrete and they claim they are stronger .I got my block at lowes .May go get a couple of the bigger ones for planters .Glad I saw yours as there sight also carries bigger concrete planters starting at 15 dollars and up .The 36 inch block 3.99 not bad price for a planter ,even if it is just a retaining wall block

 

[pecan]

Your pond is coming along swimmingly

I can't wait to see it filled with happy happy fishies.

Question for those of you with streams... Do baby fishies go down stream to the lower pond?

 

[j.w]

CE that's a heck of a lot of rain at one time for sure! I hope it dries out fast for ya so you can get some work done today. At least get your fish outta the basement. Hope you can figure out what went wrong w/ the electrical.
Well just relax for awhile and enjoy your ponds and all that you have accomplished and this problem w/ the power will get fixed one way or another.

 

[CountryEscape]

I got all of the fish from the basement to the new pond or the baby koi into the koi pond. The more I see the goldfish I got from Pond Kid, the more I like them!

I fed my fish for the first time today. They were happy campers! You can see 2 of the baby koi in the center on the first picture - orange and white is a Gin Rin Butterfly and the mouth next to him/her is another Gin Rin.

In the next picture ALL 3 of Pond Kid's koi are visible! They are the yellow head with blackish body to the left of the big orange and white koi in front, then the one that looks to that one straight back from it, and then the orange head and black body just behind the yellow koi. I'm going to post this picture on his thread when he was asking to sell them!

I also got 4 containers of pond lilies planted from Addy - Thanks so much, Chris! These are all in the new pond on the shelf. I still have probably 4-6 more pots to plant, ran out of cat litter, though.

And I brought up my make-shift filter tub from the basement to use for the goldfish pond until I get the bog up and going. Just put blocks behind the liner so any water will flow into the pond. Works like a charm!

Water is pretty murky, worse after the rain, but I'm confident in time it will be clear. Goldfish from PK are staying pretty much down low but I've seen them going around the edge as well. They are kind of skittish since being caught, so don't trust me right now, but that will change in time.
Mowed some of my yard, front and back around the ponds, but the rest can wait until the yard dries out more. Just wanted to check out the mower running condition, and was thrilled it started right up without putting battery on charger even!
The electric issue will get dealt with tomorrow, and I won't be happy when I call! My power did flash off and then back one, maybe did more than that during the night, but that is no reason for the outlets to not work. It should have flipped the breaker, which it did not do. I have all my stuff running on 2 outlets on the house, and lots of extension cords, which I do not like at all. That was why I got the outlets put on the deck. Grrr .... at least I have everything running. I'm happy camper!

 

[sissy]

did you check the test buttons and you can buy a tester to test to see if they are wired right .It cost any wheres from 15 dollars and up and it will all light up if they are done right .I have a built in surge protector on my breaker box .What size service do you have if it is not enough electric to run everything it will burn out the outlets or even burn out the breaker box circuit .You could also have a faulty one .I had one bad one that had to be replaced even though it was new ,It had a crack in it .I have 150 amp breaker box for my pond and workshop and guest house and a 200 amp service for the house .The outlets could have been faulty also .I had 3 outlets in my house that were bad ,it happens sometimes .If your outlet light is on that means it was flipped and off means it is working right and I found out if they are dropped they can crack inside .My son always wraps a piece of electrical tape around the whole outlet before he installs in in the outlet box as it protects the wires .

 

[CountryEscape]

YOur son is smart, Sissy! I suspect I have a bad breaker. When I had the electrician install the 2 boxes, he asked what I would be running. I told him I wanted plenty to run pumps and lights and anything else I decided to run outside! So, there is absolutely no excuse for the outlets not working, except for a bad breaker like you said or something stupid like that. Not one of the outlets is working, so it has to be the breaker.
BTW, my dear neighbor figured out my electric problem with my little shed and water well for the horses! It was a bad clamp on the neutral connection. He said he will swing by sometime and replace it. Woohoo! And, while he was here checking things, I learned something new, too! Every other breaker was for half of the box, wired with the first wire, and the other half was with the other wire. So .... I should have checked each area by breaker. Turns out half of them WERE working, just the lights and pump were on the same circuit. I didn't think to check the other lights on the other part of the building, or any of the outlets, which were on different breakers. Anyhow, whatever happened with the neutral not connecting well burned out all the light bulbs, which is likely why my heat lamp popped and broke, rather than just burned out, previously. I love it when neighbors come to help out and can fix the problem without me paying for a $250 electrician to come and do the same thing.

 

[j.w]

Don't really understand all that electrical jargon but glad you are getting it fixed somehow or another CE. Hope your neighbor can get er done! I'm afraid of electricity..........there I admitted it!

 

[CountryEscape]

Oh, JW, I'm scared to death of electricity! When he climbed up the ladder and started fiddling with the wires that came from my electric pole to the little barn, I squealed, "Are you sure you won't get electricuted?" He laughed and said that the neutral line has no electricity. I asked how he knew which one was the neutral line, because they were all black, and he said the one that is bare wire! Yikes, I don't even want to get near wires. I was very thankful he figured out the problem. He's such a great neighbor, VERY handsome, too. LOL My daughter nick named him "Blue Eyes". He has the most beautiful eyes! He's just a really good kid, and I'm so thankful that he is my neighbor and that he is so giving of himself and his time.