Garden Pond

     Spring has sprung!  The otters with their two offspring have hardly given all our new dock work a second glance.  The babies however have been curious about the dogs but watchful parents quickly usher them away.  They did manage in their playfulness to knock over the fountain. I about froze my butt off setting that back up.  With all the rain it is now two inches under water but I will wait for water  to warm up a bit more before I go adding another block.

     We hauled two truckloads of top soil which is about two cubic yards which is about two million wheelbarrows full to haul from front to back yard to back fill retainer wall.  Of course the soil was wet so each wheelbarrow full weighed about two tons.  Then we hauled one truckload of mulch which was considerably lighter but still required one million trips!  Lest you think I exaggerate, I remind you that we are in our sixties so weight and distance are measured much like dog years.  The pineapple plants are pleased with our efforts.  However, it probably would have been less expensive and easier on the backs if we bought pineapples.

     The lighthouse is on the back burner for now.  The bathroom remodel is STILL on the back burner.  The weatherstripping on the doors of the Galaxie are in place.  We are still strongly wanting to install air conditioning, but with the trip to Hawaii next month we will have to wait for our budget to catch up. We did buy the hardwood flooring for the dining room which is neatly stacked in the living room, a project also on the back burner.  I do not want to run out of things for the blog you see!

     A couple of years ago we had installed a second garden pond which we set higher than the existing one.  We thought it would be lovely when sitting on the porch or in the computer room to look out and see a lovely little pond with a fountain in the higher one and water cascading into the lower one.  We both find the sound of this soothing and relaxing.  There was a hose from the lower pond up to the fountain pump in the higher pond.  This kept the upper pond full as water cascaded from upper to lower.  The following morning after the set up however, the upper pond was almost empty.  It had been full the night before.  Did it have a leak??  We took the upper pond out.  Could not find a leak but fiber glassed the entire bottom anyway.  After the fiberglass cured we put the whole thing back together and refilled.  The next morning it was as if we had done nothing.  The upper pond again was nearly empty.  So in exasperation we just moved the entire fountain apparatus to the lower pond and it has been so ever since.  I might add that with all the rain  this spring, the upper pond was full of water every morning!  Perhaps the fiberglass needed longer to cure.

     We were wanting to build a rock wall around the upper pond which was one foot above grade so that it would look more natural.  Perhaps with the 'leak'  fixed we could do so now.  So I moved the fountain apparatus back to the upper pond.  Next morning....upper pond empty!  So Hubby left to crusade for either another upper pond or a pond liner.  Three hours later he returns empty handed.  None of the upper pond replacements he found would work because they were lacking the cascade lip. And he found liners cost prohibitive.  But I send him back out for the liner because I think we can manage the forty bucks!

     When he returns with liner and sixty pound bag of mortar mix for the wall.  We get busy.  Liner is not easy to work with over a preformed pond but we manage.  We fill it up put in fountain and wait.  Everything looks good but it is too late for wall building.  The next morning...upper pond is again almost empty!   I stare in disbelief.  No way is there a leak.  No way can 5 dogs drink that much water overnight! It slowly dawns on me the only other possibility I can think of.

Stay tuned

Next Project-Porch

     With the deck done, we move on.  Lou is now working on the seatbelts in the Galaxie.  I will repaint the porch floor.  Five years ago after pressure-washing the porch floor a great deal of old paint came off.  I decided to paint the porch floor like faux marble tile.  It was after this that came the self-imposed ban on watching HGTV.  After sealing the concrete, I painted the entire floor black.  The next day when the paint was entirely dry I meticulously using painters tape, taped off 18" squares.  Then with 1 can of dark brown paint and another of beige, I painted each square dark brown and the swirled in the beige while the brown was still wet much like making a marble cake. When that all dried I removed all the tape and I had marble tile with black grout lines.  It looked so nice but my back and knees were really sore.  My neighbor dropped in and when I showed her the porch, she really thought I had tiled it with marble!  I had to laugh to myself because I couldn't afford marble anything much less porch tile!
     Now five years ago I was a cat owner.  Since then the cats have passed on to Catnip Heaven and I replaced them with 5 dogs.  This was a gradual process.  First came Petey.  I went to our community's Chili Fest and saw a woman with a little puppy sticking out of a sweatshirt pocket.  It was a Lhasa Apso and I had been so wanting one.  The next day he was mine.  About six months after that my neighbors new girlfriend would spend the weekends next door and she brought with her a small dog named Pup E. Dawg.  Petey and Pup E. Dawg made fast friends through the chain link fence and soon they were allowed to visit one another in each others yard.  Then came the puppy pajama parties and before long Pup E. Dawg spent the whole weekend.  But then Monday through Friday, Petey would sit on the couch looking out the window and whining until Pup E. came back.  Then began my search of the City Dog Pound for a companion for Petey which would not leave every Sunday.
      I finally found Buddy, a small chihuahua.  He looked so pitiful in that large cage surrounded by Pitbulls and other assorted large dogs.  He looked at me with those bulging brown eyes that said, "Senora, por favor, please save me!"  I never cared much for chihuahuas but he was small.....and pitiful.  Within 1 hour of bringing Buddy home, Petey came running in from the backyard barking.  It was like Lassie reporting that Timmy was in the well.  When I went out to the backyard, Buddy was nowhere to be found.  Petey ran to the neighbors fence and there was Buddy.  But how did he get there?  I checked the fence line, there were no openings.  Can chihuahuas climb chain link fences?  I went back in the house, out the front door, over to the neighbors, who were not home, into their back yard and retrieved Buddy which was not all that easy as chihuahuas can run pretty fast.  Shortly later Petey and Buddy went out the Doggie Door to the back yard and within 15 minutes in came Petey barking, "Mommy  Buddy is being a bad boy again!" And sure enough Buddy was again next door.  This time after bringing Buddy back, I again went to the backyard and rechecked the fence line.  Nothing.  I went in and phoned Animal Control.  They assured me that they had never heard of a chihuahua scaling a chain link fence.  The privacy fence which is between ours and neighbors home is six feet high and wood but no breaks there and no holes dug beneath, so how is Buddy doing this and not Petey? I am beginning to understand how Buddy ended up in the pound.  His family probably gave up paying his "Get out of Puppy Prison" fines! I took a seat on the porch and watched and waited.  And little Houdini watched and waited,  but he did not have my staying power, so he furtively moved toward the privacy fence.  He nosed a board aside and scurried through. After he was through, the fence board  went back to vertical as if it were never loose.  AHA!!  I ran for hammer and nail and made a quick repair, then in the house, out the front door, into neighbors backyard, cornered this newly adopted escape artist and brought him back home.  Again I sat on the porch and waited and this time Buddy made straight for the getaway. I guess he was pretty surprised when his little nose trick suddenly did not work.  The little bugger tried every board though until failing each he finally gave up.
     The next year I got Petey a wife because he and Pup E Dawg never took to Buddy who went to a new home.  Pup E. never took much to Precious either.  I guess he resented her breaking up the Boys Club, but Petey liked her fine and the following year Petey & Precious had 7 babies, five of which went to loving homes. By then Pup E Dawg lost total interest in Petey and Petey didn't seem to mind and then Blondie moved in and Petey did mind.  Blondie is a Lab/Shepherd mix and weighed 55 pounds.  Right away  Precious, 16 pounds, thought Blondie was her new puppy. Bear and Marshmallow the last two puppies were left and they were terrified of the new "litter mate" and by the time people showed interest in them we were so attached, but thought five dogs were too much.  When the new potential family came to see them Marshmallow went wee wee all over the prospective new Mommy who promptly handed her back and said she was looking for something smaller.  We were relieved and so five was not too many afterall.
     However, five dogs with 4 feet each and 4 nails/foot took its toll on the porch floor.  This time I will just do touch up, but painting all those grouts lines is tedious and all the painting is done in piece meal  because I must accommodate the comings and goings of 5 dogs.  It takes me two days and the seatbelts are not yet finished.  And I come to find out hubby did a little catnapping under that Galaxie!  And more news...Tucker's family is moving this week.  Without Tucker to chase up and down the fence line 4 times a day we are afraid our dogs will become canine couch potatoes.  Thanksgiving in three days.  Best wishes to friends and family.
     Next project...Decorating for Christmas..I had another brainstorm!

It is finished!

     With a warm up  we finally finished staining the last dock.  We also added added a palm tree!  We now have the only palm-treed dock on the lake!  We took the canoe out to take pictures of the completed project as well as the supervisors, Blondie, Petey, Precious, Marshmallow and Bear.  We still have the lighthouse to build but are in no hurry.  It is time to catch up on other things.  Hope you enjoyed.  It was hard work but worth it and an accomplishment of which we are very proud.

Fleas!

     Five dogs, five baths!  Dawn Dish detergent kills fleas on contact.  While hubby is treating yard for fleas with whatever flavor of the month flea killer.  I  put dog bedding and whatever rags they use for tug of war in the washer to soak in bleach and vacuum the kitchen, computer room and porch (the only areas dogs are allowed. I empty vacuum of whatever creatures were lurking in crevices and put vacuum away.  I am already tired.
     I get out the doggie towels , close all avenues of escape and take a break.  I have 10 soulful eyes watching my every move.  The  four Lhasa apsos get baths in the kitchen sink.  Blondie at 65 pounds gets the shower in master bedroom.
     Petey, the alpha male in spite of his diminutive size gets to go first.  He hates baths the most and is a handful I rather face before I am exhausted.  Now Petey loves water.  He went into the lake after ducks at age eight weeks and about gave me a heart attack.  On the trip to Connecticut he took a dip at Kent Falls, amusing tourists as his fluffy coat spread out around his six month old body like a halo.  On the way home he swam in the Atlantic Ocean in New Jersey but did not like the taste much.  He also swam in the Tarheels Creek in North Carolina.  He is forever taking surreptitious dips in the garden pond.  But he hates baths!  Go figure. He only ceases wiggling to be towel dried.
     Marshmallow or Happy Tail as she is better known because her little tail is always going is next.  I originally named her Marshmallow because she is all white.  But she rarely is all white as she loves to play in dirt. Now she is not happy.  She too hates the bath, she hates water period!  She insists on sharing her bath with me!  She splashes, squirms, tries to climb up onto counters, faucets, me!  After she is towel dried I need a break.
     Now for Bear.  He was originally Buttons because in his white face, his black eyes and nose looked like buttons.  But Lou did not find that masculine enough so because of his unruly mop, he became Bear.  He is not particularly happy about baths but does not want to disrespect his manly name so at least he stoically stands still.  Everyone got clipped yesterday except Blondie who has short hair.  The like being clipped about as much as they like baths except for Precious.
     Precious April Love has become Mama Dog. Not so much because she is Mama to Happy Tail & Bear or that she adopted Blondie who out weighs her by 50 pounds as her newest pup.But because Lou cannot remember her name.  But she is precious. By now Lou has finished spraying yard and porch so he gets to bathe Precious while I do Blondie.  Precious loves baths and haircuts.  She stands perfectly still and will even lie down in the bath.  She is easy for Lou to manage and easier on his back then bending over Blondie in the shower.  We both finish at the same time and since all is dry outside, the last two dogs do not need toweling and are allowed to just run out with the other three.  We all go down to sit on the dock while the last two dogs air dry in the sun.  Everyone of them falls asleep quickly. Surprisingly none of the dogs sported many fleas.  Hopefully we have gotten them under control after a two year struggle.
     It was hard work but both Lou and I are glad to have some time off from painting.  His back ( several herniated discs) and my artificial knee are acting up.  It is true when they  say 'Old age ain't for sissies.'

I AM A PAINTING MACHINE!

     Whoever thought painting the railings green and all the pickets or whatever you call them white (both of us) should have had their heads examined!  And whoever thought of staining the deck Alligator Green (me) should have been committed!  The bi-color railings took twice as long but really looks sharp.  The staining was a pain in the buttooski!  I swear I dropped one drop of that stuff in the lake and you would have thought I was CEO of BP!  It made an oil slick!  Lou spent the entire day telling how much the EPA was going to fine me if they found out!  Well, after that I was so careful not to pollute our lake that it took me forever!  The deck of the little dock didn't take so long because only a 2' X 6' area hung over water.  And the stain on old wood looks more alligatory than the stain on new wood so now we have multiple shades of green.  Then we thought of painting the two walkways connecting the three docks grey  which came out nice and broke up ALL that green. 
     Now, everyone knows that you cannot put yucky old furniture on a new dock right?  So Lou spent three days painting furniture!  I was busy staining all the little edges of the boards on the refurbished dock slowly and carefully.  Then I had to repaint all my birdhouses which had come off the railings so the railings could be painted. The last piece of furniture repainted was my tea cart which had been placed along the fence line hopefully but futilely put there to slow down the dogs.  Little Tucker (the neighbors dog) comes outside about 3 or 4 time a day.  Each time he does, he races to the fence between our properties, barks or rather yaps his arrival, and there commences a race back and forth along the fence.  Our 5 and little Tucker  just a runnin and a barking for about two minutes then little Tucker prances away, his work done!  Now our five dogs when bored will line up along the fence line and sit and stare and wait for hours for little Tucker to make his appearance.  What is really funny is when our are in the house and Tucker makes his entrance.  Five dogs go through two doggie doors at record speed.  This is a 9" X 18" doggie door folks and sometimes they go through two at a time.  Now four of these dogs are under 20 pounds but one weighs 60 pounds if she weighs an ounce and she goes through that door like a hot knife through butter and sometimes with a little dog under her belly!  But I digress.
     The fountain is in, the newly painted furniture is on the refurbished dock.  The lighthouse is in the corner though not yet electrically hooked up.  So tonight while we sat relaxing on the dock, Lou says, "Too bad the lighthouse isn't bigger.  It would look cool out on the edge of the dock."  Do you know where this is leading and why we should not talk to each other at the end of the day?  So I say, "Well, you could build a bigger one."    We still have the new dock to stain!  But tomorrow we are going to take a break....at least from paintbrushes.  I might talk Lou into getting the compressor out to reattach the birdhouses with his  air brad gun, and a couple of pickets Bear loosened as he likes to use them as back, head, side scratchers. And I need to give five dogs flea baths.  The interior of the house needs a thorough cleaning but the weather is so nice that as we are outdoors until sunset and if we use low lighting and do not look down when we do come in, you could hardly tell.  Thank goodness we don't get much company!  So how big do you think the lighthouse should be?  Night all!
     

Decking!

     Last week while hubby was awaiting the sandman he came up with a real brainstorm!  Rather than carrying each 12' decking board down, scribing the needed cut, carrying it back to be cut and then carrying it back to be screwed in place (my idea), he thought to screw down a run of 12 footers, run a chalk line down the secured boards along the center 16 footers, saw them all, move the other halves of each board to its respective position on the other side of the center boards and Wallah!  We save a lot of time and energy.
     Well, this worked perfectly!  And by days end we were done and believe me it looked so great!
     Putting together the supporting structures for the demolished old dock was a piece of cake now that we were pro's.  This time we came in a little under 12 feet wide so laying the decking took little effort except where the center side posts were positioned.  We had decided to leave them above deck level by four feet and utilize them as posts for the railings. The challenge came when the deck board which alligned with them needed to be cut.  One option was to cut the board so it butted against each post. This would leave 4" short on the outside edge on each side of the post. It would have been easier and afterall it is only a dock but yours truly rarely chooses easy.  I decided that I wanted to cut out the centers of the deckboards at the ends and slide the board down over the posts!  This involved yet another power tool (Yes, in the garage), a coping saw or jigsaw depending on which school of carpentry you attended.  Hubby thought I had gotten too much sun but I went about measuring and drawing and he humored me and cut out my holes.  Of course it didn't quite fit the first time but with just a minor  expansion of one hole  it slid into place just as nice as you please.  He has to admit it was a good job and I ran for my camera and snapped a picture.
     We had talked about a gazebo type structure for this dock but as we toasted marshmallows that night we decided it would  really be an extravagance we really didn't need  since we had a perfectly good screened in porch thirty feet away! We talked about the need for waterproofing the whole thing and it was at this point that I suggested since we needed to pressure wash the older structures first, it might be just as easy to paint the railings and posts green, the spindles white and the decking a grey stain before waterproofing.  Is there a stain combined with waterproofing?  We do not know but if there is we will check it out at Lowe's.  Hubby agrees that it would look sharp but quite an undertaking.
     The next morning we pick up 2 gallons of primer sealer and more screws.  We really went through a lot of screws on this job!  I commence a-painting while he commences railing placement.  He is using the railing we took down from the old dock and amazingly it is fitting with only minor adjustments.  He is as much of a perfectionist as I am, but his language is much more colorful!  He is making a few attractive upgrades too but some existing structures with which he is trying to incorporate  are less than "plumb." That means straight up and down,  and boy are the not "plumb!"  I remind him it's just a dock, not our livingroom, and he reminds me of my little cut out slide over the posts thingy I insisted on.  I quietly go back to painting.  He less than quietly entertains me with colorful language .  By the end of the day he has completed the railing with a few spindles short and I have completed painting about  25% of the spindles.  He reminds me that I am only doing primer sealer coat so I am actually 12 % done.  He then tells me that as  soon as he finishes the carpentry work he will give me a hand and working together 5 hours a day we should finish it about two weeks!  That would be with painting the railings. I think we should stop talking to each other at the end of each day about what would look nice!
     But after dinner we go down to admire the days work and...He says,"Maybe we could run a connecting walkway between the two docks at the deep end. "And I say ,"Sure!  And then we could fence the whole thing in and make it a Koi Pond!"  We can still laugh.  This is a good sign.  But the he says,"You know, we could put a  fountain in there between these two docks.  We have that pond pump we still haven't used because you fixed the old one."  I have to admit this seems like a great idea and not too much work, just piling a few concrete blocks we have laying around with no particular use.  It would be relaxing to have a water feature down here.  Goodnight George....Goodnight Gracie!
  

Wow! What a job!

     The supporting  structure of the new dock is almost done!   Putting up the sixteen foot  2 X 6 at the front was the most  difficult as we had to work from above because the water was 3 feet above our heads.  And let me tell you this was a heavy board!  Lucky it was a short day due to rain, which means only six hours!
      Oh, I almost forgot about the days fly in the ointment... well, make that the first fly.  While we were arranging the loose boards we had placed on top so we had something to work from, someone dropped the drill in the water.  I won't mention any names but I will say I was glad it was not me.  But I had the honors of diving for it and that took fifteen  minutes because I am rather buoyant ( Is that where the term Bubble Butt comes from?)  Hey, but thanks to Craftsman the drill still works!  And one of life's little lessons...Hubby accidentally dropped a screw into the lake and I complained about the high price of screws.  He miraculously found it.  And shortly after yours truly dropped two!  Open mouth insert foot...or the crow I had to eat.
      The second came from the demolition of the old dock.  The stairs  were impossible to unscrew so with that 200 pound crowbar (well, it felt like 200 pounds at the time) the two of us totally wrecked the joist hangers. And let me tell you getting that set up out of the water was no picnic!  If we were  not on such a tight budget  I would have sailed that puppy out into the lake!
      By the way, no further sign of the otter so maybe he/she was just scouting out the appropriateness of the unusual den area.   And the seat belts came for the car.  We installed the carpet in our spare time last week but still have not finished work on the dash and that work is easier without the seats in. Oh,  and the parts to convert to power steering also arrived.  That can wait!  The antenna has not yet arrived, but was shipped today.  Attaching that to the radio is part of the dash work still undone.
     Now, back to the planning.  The finished measurement of the newly constructed dock is sixteen odd feet by twelve foot nine inches!  They  make twelve or sixteen foot boards.  Twelves are too short, sixteens a lot of waste and extra expense.  So to cover up our short-sighted error, we decided to run two sixteen foot deck boards up the center and run twelve footers perpendicular to those center boards after we cut them all in half!  Six footers would save a  lot of sawing but they do not make six footers.  How rude is that!
     Just had to take a break to go out and retrieve my camera.  I left it on the railing...in the rain..hope it survives.  It was only a light rain.  While I was out there I thought I'd take a picture of my night blooming cerus cactus.  Have missed every bloom so far as I have been to tired to go out after dark.  As  it turns out I was still a little early.  I will have to try and remember an hour from now.  While I was out  there I did see one of the little screech owls that  nests in our owl box every year.  She/he is two months early to nest yet but I am glad to see they are again in the neighborhood. We haven't seen them since the babies fledged last spring.
     Okay, time for milk and cookies.