Morning in the Garden of Good and Evil

I will start my story by telling you about a loud bang that brought me out of a deep sleep this morning. As it only partially woke me up I went back to sleep, but only to be disturbed by another loud bang a few minutes later.  As I lay there coming to, I started thinking...what were those noises? They didn't sound like any of those noises I knew--you know, the ones you get used to after 18 years of living in one place.

So as the imagination goes, the more I searched that check list in my mind, the more I convinced myself that this noise was totally unique.  It didn't qualify as my husband closing the basement door, it didn't qualify as the cat jumping off the counter, and it wasn't a bird hitting the window.  It actually sounded like someone breaking into our basement!  So just because it is possible that someone could break into our house, not because it was probable, I got up and slowly looked out the windows, then started creeping around the house to investigate. As I got out to the living room I heard another sound, and started to get a bit scared....well, you how it goes!  And I thought about all the bad possibilities that could be associated with these strange noises.

But as I entered the kitchen, out the window was a sight to see!  Around fifty Robins were bathing in the waterfall.  Not only were there so many Robins (screaming spring in my face) there were a couple Cedar Waxwings and Bluebirds.  My two favorite birds!  In an instant my world was transformed from one of foreboding to one full of all-good-things. Was God telling me the world is a loving place?

You can see the Cedar Waxwings on the left.

Thinking on it, I realized a Robin had probably never hit our window before; they don't come to the bird feeder.  And they just make a louder sound than smaller birds I guess.  It's sad to think about, but in the pandemonium of all those birds competing for the water, a couple had flown into the glass making my evil noises. But I think they were OK; I did not see any casualties on the ground.

I took a few pictures through the window and screen, fearful that I might scare them away.  I think they could see me, and I never got one with all of them there. And now I am waiting to see if the Cedar Waxwings will flock en mass to take their turn at the waterfall.  Just about every year during the transition of the seasons they stop by.  And boy that is a sight to see.  They are beautiful birds!  As many as 100 have crowded the waterfall at a time. I will try to get pictures, but that is not the easiest thing to do.  Birds do fly away.  (But I promise, it's not like the fish that got away!)

Oh, Spring.  You will return!

A New Year, New Promise

I love this time of year when we begin to experience the promise of Spring.  Here in Virginia we have had several warm days, culminating with today in the mid-70's!  It's early to start up the pond, but the water in the large pool is greenish-brown, murky, and algae is starting to grow on the surface already.  I couldn't stand the thought of the fish not getting enough oxygen, so today I started the water flowing again even though the small pool at the top of the waterfall still had ice in it.

We are supposed to get a few more cold days in the next couple weeks, but I noticed on the weather report that it will only be one cold day at a time surrounded by several warm days on either side.  So around 3:00 pm I began the interesting process of bringing the pond back to life.

First I spent a good while scooping out as much of the stagnant water and muck from the little pools in the waterfall.  There are three or four small pools at descending levels along the length of it.  This is the first time in four years that I have removed stones and actually scooped everything out in the waterfall.  Last year was the first year I cleaned out the small pool at the top, and I wanted to do it again, but the ice sheet was stuck to the bottom.  There was no way to get it out to access the muck.  So instead I just took a hammer and chipped enough away to remove the hose, then laid it on top of the ice sheet to be ready for the flow of water from the pump.  If there had been fish in the pool, I would not have been able to use a hammer.  (Banging ice with something hard can kill the fish underneath it.)

With the waterfall sufficiently cleaned (I figured what I did was better than the usual nothing, so felt good about it), I went about resurrecting the filter from the garage, where it had been waiting since last fall after I pulled it out of the ground and cleaned it out.

It is always an interesting experience starting up a pond, and you never know how it is going to go.  There are always unforeseen problems that have to be solved!  You might compare it to starting up a car after it has sat for a year or so.

After inserting the filter pads into the cannister, and scooping out debris and dirt from the hole in the ground where the filter goes, I placed it down in there and reattached the hoses. These hoses are buried in the ground--one comes from pump in the bottom of the pond, and one goes to the top of the waterfall.  Last year I had a small leak where one hose joins the filter, so I expected that to probably happen again.

Instead, water started flowing out everywhere, in great quantities, from the top of the filter!  This is an area that houses the UV light, so it is not supposed to get wet!  Of course I quickly unplugged the pump to stop the water flow.  First I thought the hose to the top of the waterfall was clogged with ice, causing too much pressure to build up in the filter.  So I took a long time finding an auxilerary length of hose and hose fitting to route the water directly back into the big pool at the bottom, instead of going to the top of the waterfall. No easy task--finding an old filter with a spare hose fitting, sawing off the hose fitting to the correct diameter, installing the auxilerary hose, sealing with teflon tape.  Finally it was done, but when I plugged in the pump again, the exact same thing happened!

After quickly unplugging the pump and thinking a bit, I realized it was possible something was broken inside the filter part that housed the UV light, or perhaps I didn't re-assemble it correctly last fall after I cleaned it, causing water to leak through.  So I pulled the top of the filter out of the ground, unattached the hoses, and brought it inside along with the old filter I had.  I wanted to compare the two to see if anything was different. Each UV light is secured by 10 or 12 screws.  Once both were apart, I realized I did not have the crystal sleeve that protects the UV lamp seated down far enough, and water was getting though.  Mystery solved!!

Finally I reconnected the filter to the hoses in the ground, once again plugged in the pump, and watched to see if it would happen again.  No massive water leak!  But I still have the regular leak from the hose fittings.  I replaced some of the old teflon tape, and the leak reduced to a slower dripping.  But by this time it was getting dark, and it is good enough until I have time to work on it some more!

An afternoon's work is rewarding!  Water is flowing yet again!  Tomorrow the pond water will hopefully be clear, and the fish must feel better with the increased oxygen.  I also put a couple enzyme packets in the pond a couple days ago to help break down leaves and twigs that snuck into the pond despite the net that was covering it since last fall.

However, I don't expect much more to happen in the way of the pond coming to life until after a few more weeks.  The water looked like it was around 40 degrees--still pretty cold (the thermometer was covered with algae).  And I noticed in this blog that I did not start up the waterfall last year until March 14.  The first fish feeding was March 22.  So that is long time yet.  But I think it is safe to have the water flowing, as I do not think the waterfall will freeze this time of year.

So I'm happy--I hope the fish are happy, and I think the family will also be happy. I know the birds will be happy--they love to drink and bathe in the waterfall.  The frogs will be happy.  Soon they will start becoming more active--they do not like having a net on the pond.

Will add photo tomorrow when it get's light!  Ta-Ta!

Dog Days

Well, we're officially in them--the dog days of summer!  And this summer it's especially doggy, with these 100 degree temps for a week or more and no rain!  The pond garden is leggy and brownish, but it's still my love.  The water lilies exploded this year thanks to the fertilizing, but the Water Hyacinths are again small and turning brown, from a combination of high PH and fish eating their roots.  If all goes according to history, I will be pulling them out soon!

Even though I haven't posted in a while, I have been taking pictures all along.  So here are some of them, with a wide shot  the pond this morning.  We finally got a big rain--so thankful!  But now plants are flattened in addition to being leggy and brown!!  LOL

Cardinal taking a bath with frog nearby.

Native Daylilies just beginning to bloom.

My son, Foster, took these of the bull frog and the Red Bellied Woodpeckers.  They are an adult male and his juvenile.  He is feeding his baby on a tree near the pond with black oil sunflower seeds from the bird feeder.

More Photos!

I am loving this!  Getting more involved, delving deeper into photography.  These will be best enjoyed by clicking on them to see in full size. :-)

Wet Photography!

Hello there!  We're entering the dog days of summer, as far as the pond garden is concerned.  With the end of the Iris season, comes long hot days, too much shade, and the garden begins to turn into a jungle.  We are still waiting for the commencement of Daylily blooms, which should occur soon.

However, I have been occupying my time (along with watering the bog) by attacking the pond and garden with my camera.  Here are a few shots you might enjoy!

Taking Stock, Getting Ready to Say Goodbye

Our faithful friends of the garden are getting ready to say goodbye. My garden peaks in May, so after the Irises fade, there is not much left to look forward to.  The Pitcher Plants will grow bigger, the Liatris will spike up and flop over, the Purple Loosestrife will tower over the garden bench with all it's menace, the Coral Bells will struggle against the aggressive Mint, the native Daylilies will shoot up five foot tall flower stalks, the ornamental Daylilies will put in an appearance, and there are one or two plants whose names I don't remember.  But nothing comes close to the splendor of the spring blossoms.

So I say good bye to these perennial pals:  the purple Iris above...

The Yellow Flag Iris...

The Japanese Iris...

The plant which I only remember it's cultivar name: Alba...

My one Peony boom, although she is just beginning to open, and there is one more on the way....

But the pond itself remains always, supporting my Koi, Comets, and Shubumkins.  The fish, the fish--it was always about the fish anyway.

Please do continue to visit.  I will continue to post pictures to show the entire life and times of this pond in Virginia!  :-)

Wildlife Gone Wild!

I'll start this post with a couple pictures of birds, because the most incredible thing just happened to me involving a bird.  (It wasn't a Cardinal though).  The Cardinal pictured above, however, sat in the garden for several minutes today all puffed out, and wings fanned out, acting like it either 1) just took a bath and was drying in the sun 2) was trying to attract a mate or 3) was a baby and wanted it's parent to feed it.  Mystery was not solved.  The bottom pic is of a Red Bellied Woodpecker.  This one is using a special technique for splitting sunflower seeds:  wedge it in the corner of the bird feeder post, then peck it.  This is the same bird I see every year, or perhaps the descendants of the parent who first learned this trick and taught it to it's young.

But let me recount to you what just happened a few moments ago!  I was lying in the warm afternoon sun on the chaise lounge on my deck--just to take a break and soak up the sun for a few minutes.  Birds are very comfortable around our deck, because the bird feeder, bird bath, and water garden are just adjacent.  Every year Wrens make nests in our hanging baskets.  So when I heard a bird fluttering around the deck, I said to myself, "hold still and see how close it comes".  Well, I did hold still, and with my sunglasses on it was not evident that I was a living human being.  The bird, or birds, kept fluttering closer and closer.  At one point I spied it hovering about five feet above me, and thought it was a Cardinal, but I couldn't get a good look.  Soon I heard them hopping on and off the furniture. And then, one landed on the cushion of my lounge near the back of my head, flying off, then coming back again.  Then, low and behold...it started yanking strands of hair off my head!!  I thought "Wow!  I can't believe this is actually happening!"  It did cross my mind that they would be attracted to the hair, but I didn't imagine they would do it.  Well,  I think there were two...as one yanked off a few strands and fly away, another would land right away and yank some more.  Soon, there was just too much yanking and I was afraid they would take too much of my hair away, so I slowly moved my head back to see if I could get a glimpse of them.  They were slow to realize what was happening, and I was able to see that they were a couple Titmouse!  I was very surprised, as I thought they would have been Wrens.  They confusingly hopped on the nearby deck furniture, then the railing, then the roof, each time looking down at me wondering what was going on.  It was simply amazing!  And no, I did not get pooped on.  LOL!

The fish were very active this morning.  They come to me like in this picture now whenever I approach the pond.  Their appetites are waking up.

As for the frogs, have we been enjoying their antics as well!  This very large common pond frog (don't know it's real name) sits out at the upper pool with it's younger relatives.

And now for the Bullfrog!  This is the photo I took the other day, the one where I didn't realize I had caught a picture of the Bullfrog.  This was especially exciting because I had not bee able to see him, he is so elusive.  But later in the day, when I was sneaking out to take pics of the regular frogs above, about half way through the photo session, I noticed a blob on the far side of the pond wall.  I looked and it was the Bullfrog frozen halfway up the rocks, where he had been climbing out of the pond!  It was awesome.  He stayed there like that for several minutes until a squirrel came over and caused him to jump back into the pond.

Earlier in the day I watched as two very young squirrels explored the garden and the waterfall.  It's amazing how just through observation you can learn so much.  You can tell by the antics of an animal that it is young and everything is new to them.  I also enjoy watching young families of birds.  They act like juveniles, even demanding that their parents feed them.

About the same time as the young squirrels explored, two Chipmunks scurried around, chasing each other over phlox and garden bench.  It was almost a regular wrestling match!

Everything in this post happened in two days.  Things are getting wild in the garden!