It is Fenced!!

     Before eight yesterday morning our fence was halfway down.  Before four in the afternoon the new fence was up.  By four-fifteen two dogs had tested their new boundaries and were pleased.

     Gavin promptly lifted his leg on the front corner of the yard and then in the back.  He kicked dirt about with his back feet and claimed the new fence suitable.

     Patty nosed along the entire length of the fence and after being told to get out of the gardens didn’t bother with it again.

     You all have a good one!

 

New fencing

     Although we will have to tighten our belts a lot for the next couple of months to pay for it, we are having the fencing that runs down the alley side of yard replaced.  I need to do this to take some pressure off The Curmudgeon and me.

     This means The Curmudgeon won’t have to walk all over the yard with the dogs when he has them out because with the new fencing he’ll be able to let them run loose.  I can take them outside with me when I’m gardening and they’ll get more exercise.

     The picket fence will now be replaced with  solid fencing.  The dogs can’t get through it, and If I’m lucky, I can take that old fencing and rig something between the two yards.  I figure I can hook the pickets and rails to the chain link and voila, instant privacy fence there since that fence is about half the length of the alley side fence.

     Installation could begin as early as Thursday.

     You all have a good one!

     Bye bye pickets.

Puttered in the garden…

     Yesterday I had a chance to putter about in the garden.  We had sun and it was warm enough that I didn’t need a jacket.  YES! 

     I was working on the pond, back washing the filters, and skimming crud from the river.  The Curmudgeon decided to join me.  He must have felt fairly good because he knelt beside the pond and with much groaning and moaning hauled Pan out and managed to fix the hose.  We now have a working fountain again. 

     I managed to clean the filters and clean out several of my pots.  I would love to have enough nice days to Spring clean all the gardens. 

     Once I get that done, I’ll be able to map out what I’d like to do for hard-scape and raised flower beds.  Keep your fingers crossed that we have several warm and dry days.

     You all have a good one!

 

My pond is already shaping up

     Does this mean that I shouldn’t think about filling it in and finding homes for my Koi yet?   I do know that last year I wasn’t able to keep up with the plants we had in there.  The one was over-growing everything both inside and outside the pond.  Do not get lizard tail plants unless you have a lot of room.

     We tore the lizard tail out and pulled the pot it was in out of the pond.  I’m hoping that’s the last I see of that plant.  It was while trimming it back in August when I had my heart attack.

     My Koi look happy and healthy.  The little black one is fast catching up in size to the others.  They are mooching food already the finny pigs.  This mild winter we had has them fully ready for warm weather food. 

     You all have a good one. 

Koi anyone?

Pond

     It saddens me, but I think we’ll have to give up the pond.  DH can’t do any of the work and I can’t keep up with what all needs to be done.  It breaks my heart because I love it so much but I need to cut back on some of the heavy work around here.

     We’ll have to empty it and fill it in.  Maybe I’ll put a screeened Gazebo in its place.  It would be a nice place to picnic or read and be protected from the bugs. 

     If you are in Eastern PA and could give some large, friendly Koi a good home , we need to talk.

Good news and more

 

     I’ve already had some inquiries into items we have listed for the house clean out on Craig’s list.  It would be exciting to have many people show up and buy, buy, buy.  We sure do want to have the house empty, empty, empty so the painters can come.

     Yesterday I spent the day attempting to catch up on a few household chores.  DH is happy that he has clean clothes.  The fish are happy now that they’ve had their filters backwashed and fresh water added to the pond.  The pups were thrilled that they had me to tease and harass non-stop all day.

     The gardens are happy since I watered.  I do need to buy some mulch so they don’t dry as fast as they have been.  Once I’m done over at the MIL’s house, I will do that.

I can tell that it is cherry season

 

     If you look at the picture above, you can’t see it, but off to the left beyond the edge of the picture is a cherry tree.  From the size of it, we believe it to be at least one hundred years old.  The cherries are ripe now. 

     How can I tell without going up to the tree to look at them?  Every single gosh darned bird around has brought cherries to my yard to picnic on them.  I’ve found cherry bits and pits in the waterfall, on the furniture, and in the bird bath.  Need I tell you about the color of the bird poop that’s also everywhere?

     I can’t wait for cherry season to end.  I’m tired of scrubbing the white yard furniture….

Another peek into my garden

 

     It’s amazing how a dozen tadpoles can so cleverly disappear into the pond.  They hide so well it’s a rare thing for us to spot one.  I did spy one hiding in the river tonight.  I can’t wait for them to become frogs.  It’ll be a real treat to have green frogs living here instead of the bullfrogs we’ve had so often.

     G has a bullfrog in her pond.  He’s been there several years, probably because he’s not as dumb as ours were.  Ours went walk about and several were run over by cars in the alley between our house and the cemetery hunting grounds.  Hers stays in their yard, catches starlings, and completely grosses her out by leaving the dead birds floating in the pond.  He seems to enjoy the EEK factor with her.

     Our new Koi seems to be settling in well.  It’s going to take some time before he is as big as the six girls he swims with now.  I keep saying he because I am desperately hoping this one is a male.

     I still have a bunch of plants to get into the ground even though I have planted some every day so far.

They MADE me do it

 

     The expression heard often yesterday by my dear friends was, “Why did I let you drag me here?”   G, her husband, and I went off on a money-spending spree (for me, not for them).  They took me to a bulk goods store they love to go to and I went over board–there was so much there I wanted to bring home.  The spices alone (cheap!) made me go hog-wild.

     If that wasn’t bad enough we then stopped at our favorite garden shop where, once again, I managed to spend like a drunken sailor on shore leave.   As I piled more flowers on my cart, I said once again, “Why did you drag me here?”  As if, I went along with them kicking and screaming.  Yeah, sure I did.  They had to hog tie me to take me along.  Now about that swampland in Florida you wanted….

     Then we went to the pond shop.  (No, no, don’t make me go in there!)  Damn it, he had two black Koi…now he has one and so do I….  I found green frog tadpoles for the pond and yep, brought home a dozen of them.

     Next time they invite me to go along on a jaunt, DH should handcuff me to the desk.

I LOVE the new washer!

 

     My new Whirlpool top loading HE washer arrived yesterday morning promptly at eight-thirty.  It’s a good thing that DH was out of bed because I was so sound asleep I didn’t hear the doorbell ring or the dogs bark.  The deliverymen had the old machine out and the new one installed in short order.

     Before I left to go over to the MIL’s house, I ran it on the “Refresh” cycle with the stuff they give you to do that.  After I arrived home and after dinner, I did four loads of wash in the time it would normally take me to do two.  The spin cycle on the old machine never got the clothes so dry.

     This machine spins at 800 rpm and has the clothes almost dry.  This means the dryer ran less.  Hurrah, for the new washing machine and less time taken out of my day to do the laundry!

Hooked on DIY Network

 

     Now that my TV gets it, I’ve become hooked on the DIY network.  It’s my late night background noise while I write.  Although at times, it does drag me away from the computer because it catches my interest. 

     DH and I had many plans of what we wanted to do with this house.  Only one ever came to fruition and that was the pond.  Maybe if we’d known sooner that his MS was going to kick his ass we would’ve jumped on those projects.

     Now, instead I drool over ideas and projects I see on the show.  A deck or patio?  Oh, yes that would be nice.  To see the kitchen and front bedroom stripped of wood paneling and neatly wall boarded and freshly painted?  A pipe dream.

     If any of those hosts want to come in here and do the work (free of charge) I’d let them.  Tap, tap, tap…is thing on?  Can you hear me out there?

I wonder, do Koi get the sniffles?

 

     It seems that pond heaters, when used hard in very cold weather, have a two-year lifespan.  I have to replace ours this winter.  It isn’t heating well.  Without a heater in the pond, our lovely Koi won’t last through the winter.  I was glad to find them on Amazon and ordered two so I had a spare just in case.

     So far, we’ve been lucky with the old heater managing to limp along.  The pond hasn’t frozen over completely yet.  Sunday we’re supposed to have a day in the fifties with rain.  However, the temperatures will take another dive after that.  I hope the old heater survives until the new ones arrive.

     I also hope the Koi stay healthy in the meantime.