pond in progress started 4/21/10

[addy1]

Lol sissy, that would be a shocker if that shell ended up with a new body. I was so sad when I found it floating in the tank. I had the fence up to keep herons out, I put rocks over the bottom of the fence so the turtles could not push their way into the pond.

 

[addy1]

This is the view I really enjoy, from our living room windows. You can look down and watch the fish swimming around. I set the cameras view to match how it looks to us. If I use the wide angle to see the entire pond, it makes the pond look far far away.




The water is crystal clear, the lilies slowly starting to die back. Floaters just don't do well in the big pond, parrots feather does great in the stream ponds, thick and healthy.

We still have plenty of water room for more fish. They are good at population control, I see spawning, then the snack on egg attack. No babies noted in the big pond, do have some in the shubbie tank and the deck pond.
The net will stay up until our first snow, so far mr heron, still flies over every day, still has not stopped by. I don't trust it though. Beginning to think it can see the netting and just keeps going.
I don't even notice it anymore, most of the time the lighting makes it almost invisible. These shots where taken late in the day, so the sun reflected off the net.

My little girl and her corn cob cigar.............

 

[callingcolleen1]

Summer is almost gone! Where did the time go?? Your beautiful lillys are dying back? The water must be getting cold! Oh no, I just want summer to stay all winter! Are you planning to grow Missy's coat back for winter? I suppose you have several coats for her in the closet. She would be fun to dress up!

 

[capewind]

Addy .. please, please, please be super careful with corn cobs ... MANY dogs have DIED because a piece has gotten stuck in the intestine ... I didnt know this was an issue til some years back (2005 litter), one of our puppy buyers lost her (my) pup ... She was 7 months old at the time. They did the surgery to remove it, but the suctures on the intestine didnt hold ...

 

[callingcolleen1]

I never heard of cobs for dogs...

 

[addy1]

Addy .. please, please, please be super careful with corn cobs ... MANY dogs have DIED because a piece has gotten stuck in the intestine ... I didnt know this was an issue til some years back (2005 litter), one of our puppy buyers lost her (my) pup ... She was 7 months old at the time. They did the surgery to remove it, but the suctures on the intestine didnt hold ...

She does not get to chew on it, found it in the yard, I let her carry it back to the house, her prize, then poof...........gone. She carries everything back to the house, apples, grass clumps, wood, she does not try to chew on it until she gets into the house. I don't let any of her treasures make it in, sometimes she sneaks in a small apple, you don't see it in her mouth.

 

[callingcolleen1]

They have to explore and taste everything at that age, I remember that well....

 

[addy1]

Summer is almost gone! Where did the time go?? Your beautiful lillys are dying back? The water must be getting cold! Oh no, I just want summer to stay all winter! Are you planning to grow Missy's coat back for winter? I suppose you have several coats for her in the closet. She would be fun to dress up!

The pond dropped to 60, the lilies are still blooming, not a lot but a little. I don't see a lot of new growth. They will putz along for a while longer, then I will groom and sink. We have had a wet cool summer with some horrible hot spells mixed in. Right now cooler than "normal" who knows what the next week will bring. I don't recall when I groom them, time wise. I just watch for them to get sparser and sparser, I know the water is darn cold when I do.

Colleen, she never stops, I have to watch her like unreal when we walk the road, I never know what she will pick up and try to eat. This morning it was some kids gum, luckily stuck to the road, I got to it before she got it in her mouth.

 

[j.w]

Shame on little Missy trying to eat that yucky gum on the road. I think she may need to sit in the corner for a time out if she doesn't behave herself. Good luck w/ keeping her in one spot :biggrin: Do you ever play lets catch Missy in the house and she runs just far enough out of your reach and then you try again and she zooms away. I used to play that w/ our big dog all the time. He would bark at you to entice you to keep trying to catch him.........................funny critters :cheerful:

 

[CountryEscape]

Thanks for that bit of info, Cape. I've never heard that. I have corn fields all around, but the dogs I've had that loved corn liked the fresh stuff, not the cob.
Addy, my lilies have really slowed down the last couple of weeks, just a few blooms, I can tell the plants are not putting out new leaves. I think it's the time of year, sun changing to lower in the sky, and they react from that.
And, I have seen absolutely no babies in either pond this year. With the problems in the goldfish pond, any babies born would have likely died, but the koi pond I have not seen any spawning (they could have easily done it during the day when I was gone) and no babies whatsoever, which is all fine with me. Population control is great. I like frogs, big fish and dragonfly nymphs to eat them all! I have enough fish.
Love your views, Addy, and your little Missy is quite the miser, bringing home her treasures.

 

[capewind]

Thanks for that bit of info, Cape. I've never heard that. I have corn fields all around, but the dogs I've had that loved corn liked the fresh stuff, not the cob.

A lot of folks who have given their dogs corn cobs simply made fresh corn on the cob, and either tossed the cobs to the dogs, or the dogs were able to find them. Three of the most common items to cause an obstruction are the corn cobs, femur bones (also called marrow bones) and Greenie/Nylabon type items. IF a dog is not an agressive chewer, a short time with a FRESH femur bone can be a nice treat, but never the dried ones you get packaged at the pet suppliers. They are dry and brittle, and easy for a dog to break off a chunk, but even with the fresh bones, once the marrow is gone, the rest needs to be thrown out, as some dogs do manage to break chunks off, not to mention many dogs have broken teeth on them.

Addy, my lilies have really slowed down the last couple of weeks, just a few blooms, I can tell the plants are not putting out new leaves. I think it's the time of year, sun changing to lower in the sky, and they react from that.

Ours are still pushing buds, but otherwise, look horrible, but we also shocked them when we moved them to the other pond ...

And, I have seen absolutely no babies in either pond this year. With the problems in the goldfish pond, any babies born would have likely died, but the koi pond I have not seen any spawning (they could have easily done it during the day when I was gone) and no babies whatsoever, which is all fine with me. Population control is great. I like frogs, big fish and dragonfly nymphs to eat them all! I have enough fish.

Other than a GF spawn early in the season, and just a few survivors, I know we had another GF spawn, but havent found a single koi fry this year. Thinking they became food to either fish or the filter

 

[addy1]

She has some little stuffed critters, a beaver and a squirrel, she picks them up, looks at me and wants to play chase. When Mark comes home and takes off his socks, she grabs them and runs, tossing in the air growling, has a great time. She loves it when we take the gate down and she can run into the bedrooms, knowing I will chase her. If I ignore her she bumps me with her nose to get my attention. We are learning fetch.............slowly.......her rules lol.

She has a collection of toys, ignores some for the longest time, then decides it is time for a new attack toy. We just leave them on the floor near her play pen. The only time she is locked down is when I can't watch her.

She dances when she wants to go out to look for more treasures, on her hind legs, spinning, barking, staring at me, until I give in..........so darn cute.

We play that all the time jw, lets catch missy, she loves it! Sometimes Mark and I surround her, fun to watch her figure out which way to go to get around us.

I am fighting a horrible contact dermatitis from my elbows down. I was cleaning out one of the wildflower gardens, grass, weeds, getting ready to reseed with honey bee nectar friendly flowers. We are setting up two hives next summer. Any ways, this small yellow daisy type flower, everywhere, some live, some dead has fine hairs on the stem. Well I have now found out I am allergic to it. I had long sleeves on, long pants, boots, but those spines went through my shirt. My lower arms are horribly broken out, as bad as a real bad case of poison ivy. Itches, hurts, even making me feel bad, body fighting off the infection. Can't sleep wake up itching, now have raw spots...........geez What next. Now not sure how to take care of the gardens, that flower is everywhere.

 

[addy1]

The flower



The stem, you can see the spines, fibers, all over the stems, leaves and flower



Well it is a black eyed susan, maryland state flower. From what I am reading since I react so bad to poison ivy, I get the same reaction to the hairs on these type plants.

 

[capewind]

We are setting up two hives next summer.

Do you have a list of top EASY flowers that are bee friendly? Son "informed" hubby and I a month or so ago that he IS getting bees next year ... He has valid arguements for doing it (such as one of the reasons my veggies didnt do well the last two years was lack of bees; that was a good sales pitch LOL) ... Our "agreement" is simple ... He wants bees, HE is taking care of them! BTW, he is 22, so not like a young child getting a pet that they wont take care of ... I have done ZERO research, and really dont intend to, not my project, but if you know of some bee favorites, I may help him in that regard LOL.

 

[addy1]

The easiest are wildflower seed mixes that produce nectar and pollen. They have specific ones just for honey bees and wild bees. I was clearing one of my wildflower gardens, (needed to be cleared and replanted) when I got the black eyed susan attack.
I have purchased 7 lbs of seed to put out, my next big problem is keeping the deer from eating them all. I will be getting some deer fencing, probably, the guy at the seed company suggest mouse traps, he uses them to keep elk out of his gardens.
The mixes are a combo of annual, perennial, the flowers used bloom from spring to fall, different plants, so there is always nectar.
I read that WATER MINT! lol is a great nectar producer, the same with obedience flower, both I have an abundance of. They are blooming now, which means the bees will have a good supply of nectar to get ready for the winter. The obedience is more for the hummers than the bees, tube type flower.
Everything I have planted here has been bee, bird, hummer friendly. Bee Balm, bee weed they love it, lavender, lots of different flowers. In my research for bee's I have found out you need to think nectar producers, some flowers do great pollen, but not nectar.

coreopsis, blanket flower, bee balm, cone flowers, asters, for get me not, have all done great here, plants I put in, they come back every year.


honey bee mix

Blanketflower
California Poppy
Cape Forget-Me-Not
China Aster
Chinese Forget-Me-Not
Corn Poppy
Dwarf Sulphur Cosmos
French Marigold
Lacy Phacelia
Lance-Leaved Coreopsis
New England Aster
Prairie Coneflower
Purple Coneflower
Purple Prairie Clover
Rockcress
Rocky Mountain Penstemon
Scarlet Cinquefoil
Siberian Wallflower
Sweet Mignonette
White Upland Aster

honey bee and wild bee mix

Mixture includes:
Baby Blue-Eyes
Bergamot
Blue Flax
California Poppy
China Aster
Chinese Forget-Me-Not
Corn Poppy
Fleabane Daisy
Forget-Me-Not
Globe Gilia
Indian Blanket
Lance-Leaved Coreopsis
Lavender Hyssop
New England Aster
Plains Coreopsis
Purple Coneflower
Rockcress
Siberian Wallflower
Sweet Alyssum