The Weekend.

Ellie and her baby birds

Once again the hubster and I got many things done this weekend. We adopted three new chicks. A Buff Easter Egger born in February. This bird should produce blue eggs. We also got a White Plymouth Rock born in March along with a Speckled Sussex born in March. They are already in the coop having a great time with the rest of my girls.

Nancy is my bird lady, or rather a bird breeder that I go to; to get my birds. She showed me around her place and let me look at all of her adult birds. She had one White leghorn rooster that was the size of a Beagle. Only bigger.

She also had a three year old daughter with long shaggy hair that would go in and grab all the baby birds and place them on a running machine that was in the same room as the babies. Her name was Ellie. It was hard to watch little Ellie grab babies by a wing or a head and play with them as if they were little dolls. Yet Nancy assured me that she wouldn't kill them, she knows better now. You can tell this kid will end up becoming a Steve Irwin type that loves birds.

 I assume there were lots of killings before the age of 3? Nancy is passionate about her birds, and gets very excited about them and talks really fast. I was trying so hard to pay attention and once and a while I would get a tiny poke or a pull from Ellie. "Yes Ellie?" "I like your car!" "Thanks! you have good taste!" poke poke "Yes Ellie?" "What does tem-per-mint mean?" "uh..... it means.... uh..... ummm.... " meanwhile... Nancy hasn't skipped a beat and is throwing more birds into my arms to "hold". "Do you like this one? Here hold her for a second while I get this one"

 We were in Nancy's house and I was standing on what looks to be a nice rug... and there... goes a poop onto the rug...."oops that one just pooped" Says Nancy...casually. "I am so sorry!, I don't know... what....to... do about that" "Oh no worries, it happens all the time". Ellie comes running out with a squirt bottle in hand ready to clean up.

I came home with the three chicks.... absolutely drained. I was there for an hour. I was jammed with new knowledge but was exhausted from three year old Ellie, baby bird screams, and the constant push to look at an IPhone to see what these chicks would look like when they mature. I hate looking at Iphone pictures. I HATE IT! I especially hate looking at the internet on an iphone. It's not a computer, it's just too small. I have a dumb phone. I refuse to upgrade to the future.


So baby birds... check!

 Then we went to my mom's house to see a strange man. We went out to lunch and feasted. The weather couldn't have been nicer. I decided to pluck some fish from the pond. Check. Done.

We now have 7 Koi... swimming around on our front porch. Alive and well! They made the transport. Which means I can go and get some more. I think there are at least 25 fish to be plucked... or not plucked... we will see, I think my mom wants to keep the pond and fish. Which means it needs to be repaired. Which is not an easy task.

I also cleaned out the chicken coop completely. I even hosed it all down with a pressure washer. It is so clean I could sleep in there and that is saying a lot. (Chicken Coops can be notoriously disgusting).

I also went to watch a horse clinic this weekend at Snap Dragon Stables http://www.ridesnapdragon.com/. I finally got to meet Coelli Netsky. http://cnetskyequine.com/ . She is  a big deal where I live. She judges horse shows, and is a certified horse trainer.  I wanted to make my best impression on her; so... I dressed as a professional horse trainer. It did the job. I gained some respect, and hopefully have re-launched my reputation as a good riding instructor and horse trainer.

I'm hoping that my cartoons take off too. I havent' decided whether I will eventually make this into a book, or just do an illustrated novel like Robert Crumb. http://www.crumbproducts.com/ . I'm getting a lot of feedback from the cartoons on facebook. I would like to be the next american Norman Thelwell http://www.thelwell.org.uk/. I will never do it like him of course, but maybe with time I will get my own style. As I have mentioned before I love his work.

So that was my weekend!
Here are some pictures and maybe a cartoon if I have time.

Feasting with family.

James likes the strange man

James and Watts lounging and reminiscing about the old days.

Fish in the new pond!

Say hello to the new chicks. Mango, Spots, and Honky

a boy and his bird

My boy Watts (age 2) and his bird.

Ponds, Indoor water gardens, and Water features

This was the garden when it was first done- a strange man built this little path that wandered into a circle. He never came back to groom it. It became my secret garden.

It started when I went to "Don't go near me Amy's" house with my best friend Claire when I was around 14. We were in her back yard and we started to dig a hole because we were bored, and we also had no life. Dang it. We were nerds.

The hole got pretty big, and we liked doing it. The next day we were at my house. I asked my mom if we could dig a hole. Our yard was un-groomed, was a real ugly mess and had a lot of dog poop in it. My mom was fine with it and told us "to do it over by that "shrub" over there". Claire and I got to digging. By the end of the day we were up to our waist's in a hole. Now what? Do we just fill it in or... what?

We got my brother to help us with the hole to even it out and get around tree roots and by golly we had ourselves a 4' deep 12'x6' hole. I researched ponds and found that we needed sand, and a PVC liner. I did the math and figured out how much sand we would need to put in the pond.

I was failing math, and it showed when I got home from school and the pond was filled completely with sand. The dump truck had come and just unloaded the amount I had asked for. I only needed 2" everywhere. I was dumb.... it was another two days of shoveling sand.  (If you have a 4'd x 6'w x12' L hole with a shelf that is 2' high all around the edge and want to coat every bottom surface with 2" of sand, how much sand do you need?) This could totally be a math question on a test. I think I ordered 1 ton of sand. I think I needed about 25 lbs. durrrrrrr...

Anyway, by the end of the month we had a nice pond, and some fish. The pond helped make our terrible looking yard into a little Eden. It became the focal point, and that "shrub" turned out to be a flowering dogwood. Who knew... it just never got enough sunlight to bloom because of the weed trees that was blocking the sun. I think it also likes the pond.

Anyway, fast forward 18 years, two pond liners later, and 4 total clean outs.... the pond is still there. It is my pond. I once got off the bus from school and would clean out the filter and feed the fish, I spent hours with it. Now it is a swamp with very large fish in it... the pump is pathetic and my mom has just informed me that the water level has dropped a good 9". There is a hole somewhere. Wonderful news.

If you want to get me ticked off tell me something that I love is broken or about to get replaced with something sucky and I will go on a rampage of evil thoughts and have spontaneous outbursts. I turn into a special needs child.

It has taken me about two weeks to calm down enough to write this segment.

It has been decided that the hubster and I will be taking the fish and will fill in my beloved pond. I am beside myself. It has to be done though because my mom is too old to take care of it or fix it. It is just a burden to her now. I'm not around, the pond has to go.

Anyway, knowing how depressed this made me feel, the hubster went out and found a round tub in our yard left by the previous owners. I mentioned that I really didn't want an outdoor pond because of all the upkeep it needed. I have always wanted an indoor pond.

Our front porch is perfect. It has a cement floor, and is surrounded by windows. I drew up the designs, and sure enough the hubster made it happen in less then 2 hours. Crack goes the whip or in this case, no crack at all, he did it all by himself.

This weekend we are going to go and rescue the fish from the death pool, and say goodbye to my childhood happy place. I would also like to add that this pond added value to my mom's house... my mother is a stubborn little moo that wont move from a house that needs a young happy family in it. Instead, the house will rot with everything else in my past. Sorry couldn't help that last paragraph, I have to vent a little!!!! Remember... I'm special.

Here are the photos!

This was my vision for the indoor pond. Those are logs that will surround the tub with a base put on top and some rocks and some AstroTurf. 

The process: The tub from our back yard

The base which will hold a waterfall and some plants.

The hubster building the base and playing some lacrosse while he thinks.

The pond with the logs and rocks.  I still need to move the rocks, paint the wall, add some Astra turf, get the waterfall and pump installed, the fish, and some plants. It always looks rough at first. 

My childhood pond. Say goodbye to my tranquil life before.

Can you see the fish?

This is the same garden as the one at the top of the page, when left to it's own devices. I would have to take a weed whacker just to find the path. Nature hates the labyrinth path.

A strange man playing with a boy in our yard. It was my secret garden photo.

Colonel Mustard, the escape turtle. He was very old and smart! 

Colonel Mustards house in our back garden. He hated it.