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
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