We got home from Arizona yesterday and while cleaning out the pond filter basket I saw something wriggling. It turned out to be a tadpole. There are tadpoles in the pond! In fact there were three tadpoles in the basket. Tadpoles means Frogs. With Rebecca’s help I took a picture: This is great news there hasn’t been a frog sighting since last September. A Frog in the Pond. This proves it I am an environmentalist. Do I have to buy a Prius? Is there a… Read More »Tadpoles
After two years the algae are back in the pond. The green colors are beautiful but the overall look is definitely worse and you can’t see the fish. I checked the UV filter bulb and it was still working. However Steve at PTF told me that the bulb can be glowing but not “UVing” (the verb form of UV). I ordered a new bulb and we shall see. For now we will enjoy the luminescent greens.
I have built a new bridge in the stream above the pond using Bamboo Pipes. Hopefully it will be more stable than the old one that you can see here. This isn’t my final bridge which I hope will be a stone arch that can take a wheelbarrow. It does indicate a bit about my personality. I take great pleasure and pride in making small improvements while still planning to make things perfect in the future. My old bridge was not a failure it was… Read More »A New Bridge
This photo was taken a few hours ago from my office window. If you look just to the right of Harold the Heron it appears that he may have a Great Blue girlfriend or boyfriend. One of Harold’s claims was that he could help to keep the fish eating herons away. This claim is now suspect. I did get a great picture though. Click here to see the last sighting of a Great Blue on January 4, 2009
To try and keep the great blue heron from eating all of the fish I enlisted the help of Harold the Heron. Harold in a “great” blue disguise. I bought Harold last summer from Malen Pierson a great found materials sculptor. He has been living by the side of the pond since. Now he has moved out to a more prominent position along with the umbrella and the bench. All of this in an attempt to keep the real great Blue away. The ever vigilant… Read More »Harold to the Rescue
Swallows return to Capistrano. And the Great Blue Heron returns to my pond. A medium sized one is lurking around the pond again this year. This picture was taken a couple of days ago after Missy scared him off the fence and he went into the neighbors tree. Here is a picture from last years visit. Last years visit was also in January. We are definitely a feeding stop on the herons migration route. Life is Good.
Last year Lillian bought three large polliwogs from Steve at PTF and put them in the pond. Over the last year we had heard croaking a few times and there were a few splashes that were bigger than fish would make. But no frogs had ever been seen. I assumed they had been eaten by the koi like everything else. Last weekend I was standing about 40 feet from the pond when I saw a 5″ frog jump out of the pond onto a rock… Read More »A Frog in the Pond
I liked Michelle “My Shell” so much that I named my new garden art using alliteration. I couldn’t get the double meaning thing to work. The heron sculpture is now Harold the Heron. Note his new location. See the old location We are going to try a few other locations and it may be that he will be a migratory bird. He might look good in the front yard for a few months. I would have to bolt him down out there since the little… Read More »Harold the Heron
Tropical Lily Clear Water Life is Good Maybe we need a UV Filter equivalent for our lives?
Last Friday I bought a sculpture for the pond area from Malen Pierson of Recycled Visions. The artist and the heron snacks This is a great “Great Blue” Malen’s Postcard One of the hopes is that this heron shaped art will keep the herons away from the pond. We shall see… Thanks to Malen for creating this piece of art that makes me smile every day and to Nurit for buying it for me for my birthday.