Cabin Fever

This has been the scene at our house since Tuesday. No pretty fluffy snow--just raw, cold ICE! We had to break through the ice on top of the pond to reset the pump when the power went out. (well...that would be hubby bless his heart!) I made my soup, I made cookies, I drank hot tea, I cleaned one closet and the pantry--need to get those seeds planted, but oh I have cabin fever! I know the weather is bad just about everywhere, and much worse than ours--and I know all of you are ready to get outside and get those hands dirty. I didn't know what to do, so decided to get the latest book I bought and read. But this was really not the "latest" book--it was very old.
Last week I went to half priced books (love that store!) and finally found a copy of "The Secret Garden" by Frances Hodgson Burnett. You know, the book you read as a child. I was so excited as this one was illustrated by the late Tasha Tudor, one of my favorite people! Let me tell you, if you have not read this book in a while-or if you have never read it, go as soon as you can and get a copy. Yes, it is written for young adults, but that is quite ok. You will love it. It takes you to a place of excitement and serenity. I cannot recommend it more. If you need something to do on one of these cold winter days, read The Secret Garden..you will be glad you did!

"...she was inside the wonderful garden and she could come through the door under the ivy any time and she felt as if she had found a world all her own."

NEWS FLASH!!

Hey y'all--I thought I would give you an update on the weather. They told us we would have a "dusting" of snow over night...this is what the "dusting" turned into!!

Late Summer and the Pond

I sat on the patio early this Labor Day morning enjoying a cup of coffee and slightly cooler temps, listening to the peaceful sound of the pond. We built our pond about 11 or 12 years ago. It added the perfect touch to our little backyard. We used a red pump as our source for recirculating the water back into the pond. We like the nice sound it created, plus although a lot smaller, the pump reminded us of camping in Colorado and pumping water at the campsite. However, the past 2 years, the pump has been slowing down and collecting so much algae we are cleaning it out way too often, so, we have been thinking it may be time to retire the old pump and create a small waterfall.

Just a thought that I ponder as I sit this morning. I am also thinking what a good idea it was to plant yellow cosmos around the back of the pond. Those flowers love sun, and are really drought tolerant. They should re-seed too! There is another reason I am enjoying the pond this early morning..do you notice anything missing? The net! Because of heron problems, we had to net our pond last year. But last month we noticed we never see heron anymore. Back in the spring we could just stand outside and watch them fly by-- so many! Now I don't think the problem is over--oh no! We have discovered the heron fly over in late winter/early spring during their nesting season. Then when the temperatures start to heat up, I'd say late June, they seem to go somewhere else.

I don't miss them either! I want to protect my fish, but I also watched the dragon flies trying to get to the water these hot summer days, and was very torn on what to do. We keep the net close by just in case, but for now the pond is open for the birds, bees and butterflies (plus dragonflies) to enjoy.

If we decide to build a small waterfall, the pump will not be thrown away--it will just be disconnected and sit beside the pond. I don't want to lose the character of that old pump. It will always be a reminder of the first years of the pond and all the hard work hubby did in designing and building it. I so love my little pond!

Cedar Post and an old Wash Tub....

As you might remember from a couple of years ago, we had to do something to protect the goldfish in our pond from the blue heron that fly over our yard. We never had a problem until we took trees down as the heron probably couldn't see the pond from the sky. As soon as the first tree came down, I lost all but 2 fish to a heron visit. The only thing we knew to do was put up green metal stakes with fishing line around them. I hated that look so much! Cindy, at My Corner of Katy, told me what I was hating was the metal stakes. She told me to find something more rustic as that is the look I really like in my garden.
I have tried to come up with an idea ever since Cindy put that bee in my bonnet..and found the perfect thing on our trip to the Hill Country in March. We stopped by a fence company and bought small cedar post. I hope you can see them in the picture. They are just what I have been looking for. Thanks so much Cindy for starting me thinking!
And remember the old wash tub we found on that same trip? It now has a home in the bed behind the pond. I planted it with a really big coleus, a few small coleus, and a sweet potato vine. That lime green vine really compliments the colors of the coleus. I went to Canton a few weeks ago and found the old window and the "Seeds" sign. Of course, I needed to plant some seeds, so I planted cosmos seeds all over the area. Can you see them? They were coming up in 3 days!
I am so pleased with the look. It's that old time in the garden memory I am always trying to achieve. Wish I had a clothes line with an old quilt hanging on it...hum....

Harold, You're Fired!!!

All spring I thought my goldfish seemed skittish. I wondered if the blue heron was making more visits. One afternoon as I tried to get the fish to come up to the top so I could feed them, I realized one of the blue shubunkins was missing. Darn!! About a week or 2 later, I was walking through the kitchen late one Friday afternoon and when I glanced in back, I thought I was seeing double--2 herons! No, that would be one fake heron and one REAL heron! I watched the live heron pace around the yard until I guess he noticed me watching and flew away. Oh... Harold......"you're fired!!"

I was so mad! One of my neighbors that has a Koi pond told me a blue heron has gotten so many of his fish, he had to net his pond. My friend, Sunrise in Sachse has also had heron problems. She decided to net her pond as well.
I went complaining to hubby who did some research on herons. According to what hubby read, herons walk into a pond (rather than fly into it) and will not cross a barrier. The suggestion was to either net your pond, or use line to create a fence. Hubby decided to try the fence idea.

He bought green metal stakes at Home Depot and used fishing line to create a fence around the pond. He also crossed the top-just in case the article he read was not correct about the herons flying into a pond. This "fence" has been up about 6 weeks now, and so far, so good.
I don't particularly like to look at a fence made of fishing line, but what else can I do? We decided we have 2 options; leave this fishing line fence up, or let the heron use our pond as a diner and buy new fish all the time. To be honest, I don't know what the final decision will be... For now, I will try to look beyond the fishing line and see blooming flowers!
Harold is now unemployed. If he goes out to look for another job, he better not use me as a reference....I will be quick to say "cannot perform duties as assigned!"

Harold! Where WERE you???

One day last week after work I cooked dinner as usual, cleaned up..then went outside to feed the fish. I could hear the trickle of the water from the old red pump hitting the pond, but there was a strange, stillness in the backyard. I walked over with food in my hand to toss in the water, and realized what I sensed..there were no fish!
Remember last May when we got back from my son's graduation I came home to find that a Blue Heron had himself a nice dinner from my pond. Oh my gosh..the same thing happened again! I was sick. I bought Harold to fool any Heron that might fly by thinking the pond already had a bird . (Herons are not very social. They don't like to visit a pond that already has another bird feeding.)
I was very mad and very sad, but last week was so busy that I didn't have the time to dwell on it. I did have a talk with Harold, but he just stared at me.
Two nights later my husband decided to clean the submersible pump. He came and got me to tell me he saw where the Heron did his fishing as he knocked off one side of a plant sitting on the edge of the pond. We also noticed a tiny little baby fish hiding behind the pump. That was not a big surprise as I thought a baby or two might have survived the attack since they are so little. So..hubby cleans the pump and puts it back in the water.

I got busy with backyard chores and happen to glance at the pond. What is that I keep seeing? I walk over, peep in, and guess what I see? Lots of fish!! I couldn't believe my eyes. They were very skittish, darting in and out from behind the pond plants, but they were there! Where had they been? I looked at Harold who stood there very proudly but wasn't talking, and I figured it out. I couldn't see them because they were hiding from me, just like they hid from that Blue Heron! We have lots of underwater grass and when the fish swim down to the bottom of the pond, you cannot see them in the grass. I'm sure Harold told the Heron this pond was taken and he would have to find another feeding spot which gave the fish time to seek protection. (Actually, I think the Heron had a small snack before he left which gave the other fish time to swim to the bottom) The weather turned cold on Friday and Saturday, so the fish went back to the grass. Today it is much warmer, but I can only see spots of color in the tall grass-the fish remain in hiding. That's ok--they have pond algae to eat and are much safer staying where they are until the pond plants start to cover the surface again. You can't help but grow fond of something you feed everyday-even fish. Herons are one of the problems ponders have. Hubby has done lots of research on the best plan of action..and we have a few ideas we may try in the near future. In the meantime I'm leaving it all up to Harold--he really was there doing his job!
Thanks Harold!!

The Pond in Fall

Yesterday morning when I went out to feed the fish I saw this one lonely little water poppy in bloom. There were times this summer I would have more than 10 flowers at 1 time! The pond has been such a joy this summer. Of course it has always been my favorite part of the little backyard, but this year the pond plants were incredible! Almost to the point I wasn't quite sure what to do as I never had to cut back pond plants before.

Now the leaves are turning brown . The one grass on the right is evergreen, but all the other things will eventually die back completely . Hopefully they will return in the spring, but I never know for sure. I know it's getting time to put the garden to bed for the winter, but the hardest thing for me is letting the pond go to have it's winter rest. I leave the red pump going, so I always have the sound of water, but there is no greenery around it--it looks pretty sad.

The new fish have been really happy in their new home and are still very frisky coming up to catch any pellets I might throw to them. But the time for feeding fish is coming to an end for the year as well. Once the water reaches 55 degrees, you are warned to stop feeding your fish. Actually, I think it's all instinct. My fish seem to know it's time and head down to the bottom of the pond to begin their winter hibernation. You can see them, but they barely move. They tell you not to be tempted to feed your fish on a warm January morning because their bodies are in hibernation and could not digest any food, but my fish have never tried to come up and ask for food. They stay on the bottom until one warm day in March I go out and there they are at the top saying "feed me, feed me!"

As the wind begins to blow, and leaves come tumbling down, we have to put a net up and try to keep as many leaves as we can from falling in the pond. This is the part I hate the most, but I need to do this to keep the pond free of debris. We usually do this sometime in November, and depending on the weather and when all the leaves fall, take it down around the end of December or some years it's into January.

So I take one last look at this water poppy, and I reflect on what pleasure this pond my husband so lovingly built 10 years ago has given me. I will keep these memories as I head into the end of the year, looking forward to the warm spring morning I take my coffee pond side and find excited fish announcing "I'm hungry--feed me, feed me!"

"God gave us memories that we might have roses in December."

J.M Barrie

The Backyard Pond

In 1998 my husband and I went on our first pond tour. I was fascinated. The thought of having a pond (with fish!) in the backyard thrilled me. After 8 months of wishing and planning, wonderful husband built me a pond! He designed it, dug it, leveled it, hauled rocks in my now planter wheelbarrow to put around it--and lo and behold the perfect pond for our little backyard! I added plants and goldfish and over the years it has developed into the focal point of our yard. We decided to use a red pump instead of a waterfall--something different and something that reminded us of our favorite campsite in Colorado. I love the sound of the water, and I love feeding the fish. Because of the trees in the back, the pond was mostly in the shade. Taking down one of the trees this past winter opened up the yard and gave the pond more light. The plants have never looked better. However, a problem occurred that we never had to deal with before. When we returned from the graduation in Lubbock I noticed one of my pond plants had fallen over. Well, there has been lots of wind I thought. As I put the plant back in place, I felt an unusual quietness with the pond--and then it hit me. All the fish were gone! I knew Herons had been flying over, and I thought I needed to do something maybe since the pond was in plain sight, but I didn't do it soon enough. I sat down and cried. I lost my little friends that greeted me every morning with "feed me, feed me." I felt like I had let them down--had not protected them. My husband got on the Internet the next morning and ordered a fake Blue Heron. Sometimes you can fool the birds--thought we would give it a try.


So meet Harold the Heron. His job is to protect. I bought new fish this weekend. The baby fish have settled in and are nibbling on food I throw to them. I actually discovered 2 of my original fish had gotten away and were hiding behind a plant. They remained behind the plant until the babies swam their way. Now it's a big game of chase.


I really miss my original fish--I had them 9 years! We started with 7, ended up with 13, then lost all but 2. Life is full of disappointments, but we move on. I will enjoy and take care of the new little ones...and the next time we go out of town, the pond will be netted!