It has been a very rainy Spring down here also. Our new puppy does not like to go outside in the rain to pee. We’ve had a few accidents. 
Journey from dining room to fish room.
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OP
OP
Well finally no rain today. I have to admit I did not mind a couple days off. Start grinding again today ... actually started a bit yesterday between off and on showers. Managed to till Linda's veggy patch yesterday and helped her rake it afterwards. It is now covered in a black permeable fabrin to help the soil warm.
Did water changes on all 5 tanks early this morning after testing them. All tests came back nicely so will go to a monthly testing schedule unless a problem crops up. We are developing a little confidence in our water chemistry. Not a lot, but a bit. Gave the 37 a thorough gravel vac. The BH Pleco is a poo machine apparently because he is the only change in stocking and the gravel was loaded. Over the past few days we have also removed more than 100 pest snails of various sizes. Removed all decorations and gave them a 180 degree water bath for 15 minutes. Also added 4 assassin snails to the tank. This is the only tank with the problem. I believe they came in on a couple of live plants and I made the pproblem worse by over feeding. Now on a two day be week fast and have cut back to once a day food. Had been feeding 2X a day and Linda's insistence. She is no longer insisting.
Linda picked out the fishroom flooring over the weekend at Lowes. She then dragged me down there for a looksee. Here is what she chose:
Using this will require that I lay Hardee board on top of the plank floor as a subbase. I am OK with the pattern, actually I really like it, but I am a bit intimidated by the job of laying it due to the irregular edges. In my younger days I could probably accomplish this feat in maybe three days. Now more like a week of work as the stooping and kneeling will be excruciating. The fish will be moved to the front porch I guess when I lay the floor. We will need to put some thought into this because although the porch is enclosed and insulated it is neither heated or Air conditioned. I think the floor will need to be a mid-fall job when the outdoor temps are moderate and the porch can be heated with a portable LP Gas space heater. I have two that I use in the shop when woodworking in the winter as needed. Both are adjustable from 4 to 9,000 BTU. The walls I am going with planks planed to 1/2-inch thickness then sealed with a pigmented shellac for a whitewashed look. The shellac is not 100% waterproof of coarse but should offer enough protection for my purposes. It is VOC free and a relatively green product. Will likely use butternut for the walls and am leaning toward a darker wood for the valences that will hide piping and lighting.
This is all for later in the season though. Today and tomorrow back to the pond as soon as it warms a bit, currently 36F outside. Should have the marble played and leveled by tomorrow afternoon. While I am doing that Linda will get a wagon full of compost to lay between the marble slabs. She has assumed the job of packing the spaces and has chosen Irish Moss as a the plant fo top the spaces.
I am actually looking forward to getting outside in the sun today with a nice fire and some manual labor.
Did water changes on all 5 tanks early this morning after testing them. All tests came back nicely so will go to a monthly testing schedule unless a problem crops up. We are developing a little confidence in our water chemistry. Not a lot, but a bit. Gave the 37 a thorough gravel vac. The BH Pleco is a poo machine apparently because he is the only change in stocking and the gravel was loaded. Over the past few days we have also removed more than 100 pest snails of various sizes. Removed all decorations and gave them a 180 degree water bath for 15 minutes. Also added 4 assassin snails to the tank. This is the only tank with the problem. I believe they came in on a couple of live plants and I made the pproblem worse by over feeding. Now on a two day be week fast and have cut back to once a day food. Had been feeding 2X a day and Linda's insistence. She is no longer insisting.
Linda picked out the fishroom flooring over the weekend at Lowes. She then dragged me down there for a looksee. Here is what she chose:
Using this will require that I lay Hardee board on top of the plank floor as a subbase. I am OK with the pattern, actually I really like it, but I am a bit intimidated by the job of laying it due to the irregular edges. In my younger days I could probably accomplish this feat in maybe three days. Now more like a week of work as the stooping and kneeling will be excruciating. The fish will be moved to the front porch I guess when I lay the floor. We will need to put some thought into this because although the porch is enclosed and insulated it is neither heated or Air conditioned. I think the floor will need to be a mid-fall job when the outdoor temps are moderate and the porch can be heated with a portable LP Gas space heater. I have two that I use in the shop when woodworking in the winter as needed. Both are adjustable from 4 to 9,000 BTU. The walls I am going with planks planed to 1/2-inch thickness then sealed with a pigmented shellac for a whitewashed look. The shellac is not 100% waterproof of coarse but should offer enough protection for my purposes. It is VOC free and a relatively green product. Will likely use butternut for the walls and am leaning toward a darker wood for the valences that will hide piping and lighting.
This is all for later in the season though. Today and tomorrow back to the pond as soon as it warms a bit, currently 36F outside. Should have the marble played and leveled by tomorrow afternoon. While I am doing that Linda will get a wagon full of compost to lay between the marble slabs. She has assumed the job of packing the spaces and has chosen Irish Moss as a the plant fo top the spaces.
I am actually looking forward to getting outside in the sun today with a nice fire and some manual labor.
OP
OP
GRrrrr ... Finished laying the marble slabs for under the pergola at the fire pit end of the pond yesterday. About 12 hours of hard manual labor, for an old guy anyway.
What do you think Linda? "Do not like it" says she. "Me either", says I.
Wrong material for the area it is. Did not really notice until it was complete. Marble just does not fit the rustic, somewhat unorganized and informal pond. My body kept urging me to like the marble. My bones kept telling me to talk Linda into loving the marble floor. Honesty won the day and the marble had to go. Spent two hours removing it. I will of course find another use for it, perhaps as a topper on a wood retaining wall, or as steps to the mail box, or a short planter wall at the tee in the driveway, or, well something. At a later date.
Anyway, Thursday I will head to Curtis Lumber and purchase pressure treated lumber to frame a deck for gazebo. Maybe get enough to frame a deck for the pergola too. Curtis is a touch more costly than the big box lumber yards but they are locally owned so get my business when realistic. The deck floor will be rough cut lumber, 1 by 6's I had milled last fall. They came from some poplar trees a local tree service cut . They were free except the cost to transport the logs to the sawyer. Poplar is a good choice for a lot of projects. It is underrated as a hardwood. Comparable in cost to pine, at the sawmill.
Wasted two days of work and am pretty bummed about it. I need to stick to working with wood.
Rehomed the guppy babies last night to a nice couple. Nineteen in total. Still have about 15 Dalmatian Mollies to rehome. Two people supposed to be here today for some of them. We are keeping two. The fat Belly Molly dropped a litter sometime in the last dozen or so hours. Linda has them in a net on the side of the twenty. They will go to the 20 after she is sure she has captured them all. Linda has captured about 12 so far. She is unable to let them fend for themselves in their home tank. Hopefully that will change.
Rain today so after getting the PT lumber, I plan on an easy chair day. Perhaps an extra game of Scrabble, but mostly I plan on reading a good book.
What do you think Linda? "Do not like it" says she. "Me either", says I.
Wrong material for the area it is. Did not really notice until it was complete. Marble just does not fit the rustic, somewhat unorganized and informal pond. My body kept urging me to like the marble. My bones kept telling me to talk Linda into loving the marble floor. Honesty won the day and the marble had to go. Spent two hours removing it. I will of course find another use for it, perhaps as a topper on a wood retaining wall, or as steps to the mail box, or a short planter wall at the tee in the driveway, or, well something. At a later date.
Anyway, Thursday I will head to Curtis Lumber and purchase pressure treated lumber to frame a deck for gazebo. Maybe get enough to frame a deck for the pergola too. Curtis is a touch more costly than the big box lumber yards but they are locally owned so get my business when realistic. The deck floor will be rough cut lumber, 1 by 6's I had milled last fall. They came from some poplar trees a local tree service cut . They were free except the cost to transport the logs to the sawyer. Poplar is a good choice for a lot of projects. It is underrated as a hardwood. Comparable in cost to pine, at the sawmill.
Wasted two days of work and am pretty bummed about it. I need to stick to working with wood.
Rehomed the guppy babies last night to a nice couple. Nineteen in total. Still have about 15 Dalmatian Mollies to rehome. Two people supposed to be here today for some of them. We are keeping two. The fat Belly Molly dropped a litter sometime in the last dozen or so hours. Linda has them in a net on the side of the twenty. They will go to the 20 after she is sure she has captured them all. Linda has captured about 12 so far. She is unable to let them fend for themselves in their home tank. Hopefully that will change.
Rain today so after getting the PT lumber, I plan on an easy chair day. Perhaps an extra game of Scrabble, but mostly I plan on reading a good book.
OP
OP
Well after the marble fiasco I got lazy. I did pick up the PT lumber and I did frame one of the floors, the one for the gazebo. It was a fast simple job that I thought would be therapeutic after having to tear up the marble. It was not.
Then it rained Friday and then scattered showers on Saturday. So, nothing more was accomplished outdoors. I have a framed floor sitting near the pond. Actually, a skeleton as it has no floor deck. The waterfall is half complete because I decided to existing liner is not long enough for the new height and small pool at the top. The new liner is supposed to be delivered Tuesday. Frankly our beautiful pond area looks like it was hit with a tornado. I keep telling myself once the liner arrives it will be beautiful again in short order.
On a positive note the Flad Lillies that I layed into the bog to over winter have begun to grow, the red floaters we put into a tote in the basement are doing well, as are the Cana and two other unknown marginals that we brought into the house. In fact all the pond plants we chose to save are doing very well and can be divided. This will triple our marginals at no cost. The sand cherry, butterfly plant and various ground covers have also begun to grow around the pond margins. The weeping cherry is budded as is the weeping willow and smoke tree. The fire bushes on the new last year retaining wall are also in bud. The rose tree and miniature roses have survived as has the Floribunda. The Forsythia is in full bloom and the daffoldils and tulips have emerged. So, all in all, if I overlook two days of wasted labor, a ton of rain, and a feeling of getting behind all is actually good.
Yesterday we broke down the decorations in the 37-gallon tank and tried our hand at an actually planned out aquascape. There is more to this process it seems than there is to landscaping a yard. The space is limited of course but the real issue is vision. Despite our having spent a lot of time on and around lakes and streams we never really observed the growing things except as they pertain to angling. Today we are going to hike up to Fishbrook pond atop Mount Erebus. It is about an 8 1/2-mile hike and very steep. We will bring a lunch and a couple of light weight rod/reels with 4-pound test. While there we will observe the plant life, tree falls and rock formations in anticipation of building a large, to us tank.
The week ahead is to be chilly, low 50's with wind during the day. Good weather for outside construction so I should be able to finish the floor decks and get the waterfall up and running. Linda will be spreading compost on her gardens and laying out some new walkways for the marble slabs. She says she can make the marble less formal with some weathered wood, moss, thyme and perhaps baby breath or another low spreading plant.
I think the most important thing people can do when retired is not laze around. That changes retired to just plain tired. I am in my 17th year of retirement. Although I can no longer put in 9 hours of work followed by a few a hour of piddling around the homestead I do try to make certain I keep pretty busy on things I enjoy. We did the travel the USA thing in an RV for quite a few years. When the plague struck re rehomed ourself right back on our little plot of land and decided to spend our twilight years at home. So we went from adventure to homebody and have never looked back.
I guess a little philosophical mind wandering now and then doesn't hurt. Anyway, I look forward to the hike today and wonder how these old bones will hold up on a trail I once found easy.
Then it rained Friday and then scattered showers on Saturday. So, nothing more was accomplished outdoors. I have a framed floor sitting near the pond. Actually, a skeleton as it has no floor deck. The waterfall is half complete because I decided to existing liner is not long enough for the new height and small pool at the top. The new liner is supposed to be delivered Tuesday. Frankly our beautiful pond area looks like it was hit with a tornado. I keep telling myself once the liner arrives it will be beautiful again in short order.
On a positive note the Flad Lillies that I layed into the bog to over winter have begun to grow, the red floaters we put into a tote in the basement are doing well, as are the Cana and two other unknown marginals that we brought into the house. In fact all the pond plants we chose to save are doing very well and can be divided. This will triple our marginals at no cost. The sand cherry, butterfly plant and various ground covers have also begun to grow around the pond margins. The weeping cherry is budded as is the weeping willow and smoke tree. The fire bushes on the new last year retaining wall are also in bud. The rose tree and miniature roses have survived as has the Floribunda. The Forsythia is in full bloom and the daffoldils and tulips have emerged. So, all in all, if I overlook two days of wasted labor, a ton of rain, and a feeling of getting behind all is actually good.
Yesterday we broke down the decorations in the 37-gallon tank and tried our hand at an actually planned out aquascape. There is more to this process it seems than there is to landscaping a yard. The space is limited of course but the real issue is vision. Despite our having spent a lot of time on and around lakes and streams we never really observed the growing things except as they pertain to angling. Today we are going to hike up to Fishbrook pond atop Mount Erebus. It is about an 8 1/2-mile hike and very steep. We will bring a lunch and a couple of light weight rod/reels with 4-pound test. While there we will observe the plant life, tree falls and rock formations in anticipation of building a large, to us tank.
The week ahead is to be chilly, low 50's with wind during the day. Good weather for outside construction so I should be able to finish the floor decks and get the waterfall up and running. Linda will be spreading compost on her gardens and laying out some new walkways for the marble slabs. She says she can make the marble less formal with some weathered wood, moss, thyme and perhaps baby breath or another low spreading plant.
I think the most important thing people can do when retired is not laze around. That changes retired to just plain tired. I am in my 17th year of retirement. Although I can no longer put in 9 hours of work followed by a few a hour of piddling around the homestead I do try to make certain I keep pretty busy on things I enjoy. We did the travel the USA thing in an RV for quite a few years. When the plague struck re rehomed ourself right back on our little plot of land and decided to spend our twilight years at home. So we went from adventure to homebody and have never looked back.
I guess a little philosophical mind wandering now and then doesn't hurt. Anyway, I look forward to the hike today and wonder how these old bones will hold up on a trail I once found easy.
OP
OP
Fishbrook Pond was a lovely outing yesterday. The lean-to is in rough shape from what I remember but it has been a dozen years since we have hiked up there. The dogs loved the walk up, but like Linda and me, were less boisterous on the hike back. Much harder to walk downhill than uphill on my legs and lower back, Linda's too. Although we keep active with some physical labor, we are not what we were, and I feel it this morning. Cooked hotdogs and had a side of pasta salad for lunch. Did a little fishing after gigging some grubs from beneath a log. Caught a couple of very small trout, 8 inches or so. Released them as is our norm although I am not against the occasional bread and butter trout sandwich mind you.
Anyway, one of the main reasons for the hike was observation. It is funny how much detail one can find when actually looking. Watched the behavior of what I believe are fathead minnows as they zoomed about the shoreline amidst the downed branches and exposed rocks. Saw how plants were intermingled and how different they are near a spring as opposed to still backwater and wetland. Watched trout surface to what I think was a Caddis Fly hatch, (could not get close enough to observe but the time of year is correct for this pond). We spent about 2 hours hiking up, the State lists the trail as 8 miles but if you know the arear it can be a 6-mile walk. Visited Herm the Hermits cabin site on the way down so it was more like a 3-hour trip back. The cabin is gone, and I do not know what happened to Herm, He was in his 40's when I was in my 20's so I would guess he has left the mortal coil. Anyway, there are some minor remnants of the cabin, but it has been demolished and toted away for the most part by DEC I imagine. Herm was a character I used to enjoy visiting with my friend Mark in my more adventurous days. Herm lived alone and spent his time on Sleeping Beauty Mountain for the most part. Would see him at the local Ft Ann pub every once in a bit too. Learned a bit of woodlore from him and now wonder what happened to him.
Our observations gave us some ideas for the big centerpiece tank that is in our future. Need to do some thinking and learning about water movement and then trying to make it work in a 48-inch glass box. Of course, will also need to learn more about the fish we choose for such a tank for obvious reasons. From what I observed we will go for a tank with a calm surface and gentle flow close to the bottom. Study, study.
This morning did a WC on the 37, 9 gallons out and 9.5 gallons in. Our fish friends seem well adjusted and are doing what fishes do. Removed another dozen snails, seems an endless task but do not want to use chemical, although some mornings it is tempting. All five tanks were fasted yesterday so Linda boiled up some peas and carrots to give everyone a treat. She feels guilty about fasting the fish.
Today's chore, when the temp rises a bit, is to finish the deck framing and raise about 9 inches above the ground and level it. I will also install some conduit through the joists and pull sone 12/2 WG wire so that Chris can tie it into the box he attached to the basement wall. This will feed both the gazebo and the pond pumps. We use solar for lighting at the pond. The gazebo may well wind up being the pop-up we used last year, although it will sit on the deck. We develop a "fun" budget the first of the year based on what we want to do. We did not anticipate a fish room when we did the budget and that has dented the fun fund pretty deeply. Wood is not a major expense for us but the electrical, tanks, extra plumbing, and various pieces of equipment are all undefined expenses. I am not whining mind you just being my normal fiscally responsible self. We have zero debt and no interest in accumulating it to save a year on an optional building project whose only real function is decoration. Our pond area is relatively bug free and we rarely use it during rain so a screened building is a luxury that can be put off a season if we so choose. Linda will be reworking the budget as soon as I give her the numbers for both the outside and the Dining room becoming fish room.
Anyway, time to do some stretching and movement to loosen up the moving parts that were shocked into use yesterday.
This photo is not mine. A friend sent it to me a couple of years ago. Yesterday we packed our old Minolta SLR and did not bring anything electronic. This is where we picnicked on the pond yesterday however.
Anyway, one of the main reasons for the hike was observation. It is funny how much detail one can find when actually looking. Watched the behavior of what I believe are fathead minnows as they zoomed about the shoreline amidst the downed branches and exposed rocks. Saw how plants were intermingled and how different they are near a spring as opposed to still backwater and wetland. Watched trout surface to what I think was a Caddis Fly hatch, (could not get close enough to observe but the time of year is correct for this pond). We spent about 2 hours hiking up, the State lists the trail as 8 miles but if you know the arear it can be a 6-mile walk. Visited Herm the Hermits cabin site on the way down so it was more like a 3-hour trip back. The cabin is gone, and I do not know what happened to Herm, He was in his 40's when I was in my 20's so I would guess he has left the mortal coil. Anyway, there are some minor remnants of the cabin, but it has been demolished and toted away for the most part by DEC I imagine. Herm was a character I used to enjoy visiting with my friend Mark in my more adventurous days. Herm lived alone and spent his time on Sleeping Beauty Mountain for the most part. Would see him at the local Ft Ann pub every once in a bit too. Learned a bit of woodlore from him and now wonder what happened to him.
Our observations gave us some ideas for the big centerpiece tank that is in our future. Need to do some thinking and learning about water movement and then trying to make it work in a 48-inch glass box. Of course, will also need to learn more about the fish we choose for such a tank for obvious reasons. From what I observed we will go for a tank with a calm surface and gentle flow close to the bottom. Study, study.
This morning did a WC on the 37, 9 gallons out and 9.5 gallons in. Our fish friends seem well adjusted and are doing what fishes do. Removed another dozen snails, seems an endless task but do not want to use chemical, although some mornings it is tempting. All five tanks were fasted yesterday so Linda boiled up some peas and carrots to give everyone a treat. She feels guilty about fasting the fish.
Today's chore, when the temp rises a bit, is to finish the deck framing and raise about 9 inches above the ground and level it. I will also install some conduit through the joists and pull sone 12/2 WG wire so that Chris can tie it into the box he attached to the basement wall. This will feed both the gazebo and the pond pumps. We use solar for lighting at the pond. The gazebo may well wind up being the pop-up we used last year, although it will sit on the deck. We develop a "fun" budget the first of the year based on what we want to do. We did not anticipate a fish room when we did the budget and that has dented the fun fund pretty deeply. Wood is not a major expense for us but the electrical, tanks, extra plumbing, and various pieces of equipment are all undefined expenses. I am not whining mind you just being my normal fiscally responsible self. We have zero debt and no interest in accumulating it to save a year on an optional building project whose only real function is decoration. Our pond area is relatively bug free and we rarely use it during rain so a screened building is a luxury that can be put off a season if we so choose. Linda will be reworking the budget as soon as I give her the numbers for both the outside and the Dining room becoming fish room.
Anyway, time to do some stretching and movement to loosen up the moving parts that were shocked into use yesterday.
This photo is not mine. A friend sent it to me a couple of years ago. Yesterday we packed our old Minolta SLR and did not bring anything electronic. This is where we picnicked on the pond yesterday however.
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