Jane got down and dirty and hauled rock out of the sodden pit of stones—the edge of the pond had depressed (fill dirt) and created a leak that lowered the water level several inches, making the red Japanese maple very happy. We will now have to remember to water it.
I went out after sand—couldn’t get play sand, but got tube sand, which is large-grained and coarse, usually used in concrete—and it worked really well. Jane got the sand in and reconstituted the bank, and we found the screw cap for the drain AND the filters, and got the smaller pond pump running. I’ll now have to attach the hoses—the filters are going to have to be washed within a couple of days. The pond, clear in the summer, is right now olive drab with winter debris and needs the filtration before we even start into stuff like Sludge Remover, which won’t really work at ca 50 degree water. We need to get above that. But the big fishes, Ari, and Renji, particularly, and maybe Kenpachi, are beginning to come out during sunny periods to catch a little sun on their backs. They sleep under the ‘winter cover,’ which is a cloth-covered circle of hose hosebarbed into a circle, which floats, catches leaves and such, and otherwise keeps sleeping fish safe from winter predators. THe netting is still on, so they’re safe to tootle.
We’ve already had a Great Blue Heron standing pondside, hoping, but I chased the blighter off.
our pond is skimmed over with ice, but the pump is keeping a nice little section open
I have made a truce with the neighbor kids (I have to periodically get them out of our plumeria tree because of unsafe dead branches) regarding chicks. The feral chickens love to have babies, then bring them to our yard for object lessons on being a chicken: digging, pooping, being noisy at oh-dark-thirty, etc. The kids have proven very good at catching the chicks, and I have told them that they may come in our yard anytime they see chicks and catch them, which I then ferry to the Humane Society.
And of course — it froze last night!
We’re getting a uncommonly warm, for this time of year, wind through the Gorge from the Palouse blowing away all the fog. I stepped out last evening to confer with the neighbor who witnessed the theft of my half a cord of emergency firewood, and noticed Orion was just blazing! Mornings are coming in low 40’s, high 30’s, but days in the high 50’s, low 60’s. But we’re assured none of it is manmade. 😉
To steal a man’s emergency firewood is lower than a centipede’s belly.
We had a storm blow through on Valentine’s Day that knocked a couple shingles off our roof, and left more damage than the two real hurricanes we had over the summer. The rain was going sideways in many directions, and the big kiawe tree across from the library lost a branch as big around as my leg. Furthermore, we are looking at another storm like it coming through this weekend. I hope it gets it out of its system before we rip up our roof for the new shingles.
Common thieves.
They missed a trick. They drove right past an 8′ steel field gate. All they’d have to do is lift it off the pivot pins. Gone in 60 seconds. That’s got to be worth a few hundred dollars. I’m wondering if they’ll be coming back. Gotta be those, ripe for theft, all over the county!
I took a center-punch and hammer out and made like a dot matrix printer on the top tube, my initials and the word “STOLEN”. At least it’s identifiable.
Between when we bought our house and when we actually took possession and moved in, there were some petty thefts we were fairly sure were crackheads. Their big score was a gas generator bolted to the back lanai. The bolts were sturdy enough, but we think they just kicked out the frame of 2x4s. We had some dumb stuff disappear too, like a wicker basket with my clothespins. The police raided the house we believe to have been the dealer’s, and it was sold several months later, which solved the problem.
After closing on this house, it sat empty for a month while I went home and arranged the move from LA to Portland (with all my critters). Shortly after I moved in I discovered the door frame for the (attached) garage door was broken, had been kicked in. Don’t really know though it wasn’t when the former owners were in possession, but that makes some sense. Back in those days thieves weren’t dismantling vacant houses for the copper pipes and wiring.
eta: or drive a large spike in protruding above the hinge, same location, if you have a wood fence post rather than a steel one.
Re: your gate. I’d seriously consider going out to the North 40 with a welding rig and attaching a small steel plate about 1″ above the top hinge. You could lift off the gate after that, but it would take either another welding torch or serious hacksaw action.
@ CJ — I believe I have my copy of your address with the wigs Jane sent me for the BJD crew. I’ll look this week for that, and I will then let you know if I do or don’t find the address. Apparently, my email to you still didn’t get through, which is puzzling.
I’ll be going to the post office, likely next week, since another item hasn’t gone through yet. Looks like I’ll have to shake a bureaucratic tree on that other.
Is the koi that tangled with the eagle a few years ago still with us?
Yes. Ari’s the largest of the koi, at over a foot, heavy as a salmon (I know: I had to get a net to handle her two years ago) and healthy as a horse. The wound cost her one nostril (yes, fish have them) but has mostly healed. You’d see a normal koi face, but with a dark spot where the old wound was. It took out bone, but she’s swimming about, boss of the pond, and too big now for the eagle to even think of making off with her.
We just went under a wind chill warning at 3:45PM EST until 4:00PM Thursday. Wind chills are expected to be -25 F. I don’t believe I’m going to be clearing off any driveways today or tomorrow.
Have you had thoughts of capturing your heron and sending it to somewhere that they are endangered? Or have you simply thought of endangering it?
Very bad idea! You can legally frighten it, or destroy its habitat, but you can’t touch it.
Hmmm…. animated rubber snakes? Or do they eat snakes?
My parents have a plastic owl on their TV antenna in Phoenix. I don’t know how effective it is, but I haven’t seen any birds perching there. Maybe something like that would make the heron reconsider its choice of neighborhoods.
A late friend of mine had a life size metal sculpture of a heron at the brink of his fish pond. I think the idea was to convince overflying herons that the territory was taken and they should just pass on by. I noticed however that his pond was netted, so this was obviously not infallible. Mind you, we live in raccoon territory and they are a lot more persistent, intelligent and destructive than herons are.
Here’s a really simple way to frighten it off: stand a realistic size and color plastic heron in the yard. They are territorial, and hunt singly, real ones won’t approach while they think another heron is present. A friend of mine (who wants herons to hunt for High Quality Frogs in his river-frontage yard) is really annoyed at the f.i.b. prick next door for doing just that thing and driving the birds away. This same f.i.b. also illegally cut down trees (flowage protection) because they were blocking his view of nature…I guess he wanted to be able to see the trees on the other side of the river.
A raccoon ate the buds off our Green Maiden lotus, from the wedding, and pulled it up in the process. if it didn’t survive the winter (or the raccoon) we’re getting another.
Looks like about 4 inches of snow here at my house so far…been out once with the snow blower, was going to go to kendo practice, and started out onto my street and said, “No”, there’s just too much snow, it’s 45 miles to drive each way, and it’s not safe out there. I’ll pass this week.
Time for a few days of individual drills, at least until the snow is manageable.
We are starting a big new RPG campaign tonight for some existing characters; DH is really looking forward to showing off the new creation. Music, animated opening sequence (computer generated, projected through a digital projector onto a screen), scripts — DH goes all out when starting a new storyline. The players are enthusiastic too.