adventures of young and stupid birds and the new birdbath

life is hard at ten weeks old. too many decisions, too much confusion. feathers are growing in, and one can hardly fly. hence, this:

try:

try:

try again:

the birdbath serves its purpose:

still:

a smiling bird:

realizing predators might actually exist:

The Life Aquatic

In the Grand Plan we had imagined a water garden (or pond) in our small but cozy back yard. The sound of running water, aquatic plants and maybe a gold fish and later a koi or three. As we approach the one year anniversary as residents at City Cabin these were supposed to be some-day-in-the-future plans. But after the imaginations were shared with parents and in-laws we suddenly, and gratefully became proud water garden owners in December of last year. The ground was too frozen so we had to wait to dig in this spot:



But some rhubarb had to be moved first (some excellent jam/sauce also came of this).



There is a 35 gallon molded upper pond with 125 gallon lower piece. It looked huge inside a house in December and, as many guests to the house have suggested upon seeing the flat roof of our garage, it's like the hot tub that we really need. (note: we now have every pet possible except for a reptile and a dog. This one was just visiting)






When you dig, better know where the electricity to the garage is buried. With the help of a nicely-crafted scratching tool I can now tell you that the line is precisely 38 inches out from the wooden garden wall and 24 inches deep in the ground. This job was only fun for the photographer.



Then the real digging began. This space happened to be quite the archeological gold mine. In addition to rocks, cinder block and metal shards, we bagged this monster. The pronounced rebar growth suggests a great supporting role within its tribe.




After the digging was setting and leveling.


Chip out some wood to best create the pleasing waterfall sounds and better disguise the spout.




Somebody (Charity), check on the cats. Are they missing us? Didn't think so.




Add some water and level some more.







Admire the pond with dirt displaced. Let's pretend that heavy rain 6 days later didn't result in spillage, digging up and leveling again the upper pond.




We spread the dirt pile throughout nearby gardens and planted grass in its place to occupy the space until landscaping plans have been approved by the team. There is a great site (see Roseville, a mile north of 36 on Dale) for free compost to mix with our poorish soil. Grass began sprouting within 4 days of planting. As you can see, the sunflower seeds that the birds choose not to eat are also quite hearty.





We have had a 20 gallon indoor aquarium for around 10 years and have learned the ropes, often the hard way, with aquatic plants and creatures. Within a few days of establishing the pond we introduced the first plants.


And played around with leftover bricks for hydrological purposes.




Today we introduced the first residents. I wonder what it feels like to have the value of your life determined to be 26 cents? Your brothers and sisters may be fed to larger fish but these four are the pioneers of this ecosystem.






This guy or gal showed up the first night that the pond started bubbling, dipping his/her hand into the water of both the large and small ponds. I hope our new friends swim in the deep water tonight.

this is why the house is a mess

all we've been doing is gardening. this will probably end up being multiple posts on the same subject, as i realize i'm missing photos of a few things, but i'm not going to go out in the rain to capture them. that is for another day. let's start this thing, right?

BEFORE:

DURING:



(200+ leftover bricks--that's part of the next post):

scary hole to nowhere:


another shot of progress:





AFTER:

the butterfly garden

(plants in this garden include a black knight butterfly bush, red penstemons, dragonflowers, keys of heaven, monarda, and asters)


BEFORE:





DURING:

another angle:



AFTER:

the big shade garden


and

granted, this doesn't look very impressive. yet. about 1/3 of the plants were shipped bare root, so there's no foliage at all. they don't show up in the photos. total, there are roughly 80 plants in this garden.

(plants include astilbes, bleeding hearts, toad lilies, columbines, primroses, and cyclamens--i know the cyclamens will sprout only if i'm lucky, and only for the season. however, they came with the package, so why not try?)


BEFORE:

(it's hard work operating the camera. much more intense than digging up pavers and gravel and sand. i barely made this shot before i passed out from fatigue.)

DURING:





AFTER:

the vegetable garden (with some stray perennials)

and

and

this explains why the house is covered in a fine layer of cat hair, the cockatiel is lonely, and none of the grading is done.

Can't Get Enough of This

I thought that moving from a brick house to one primarily made of wood would give me a long and possibly permanent vacation from masonry. The vacation lasted exactly 11 months. Apparently water is as corrosive as advertised. While not the Grand Canyon some of these gouges were 2"-3" deep and made me feel kinda icky inside as I walked by before and after work each day.



Fortunately the trowels and repointing tools from jobs past were not lost in the move. The bucket is what all of the best masons use these days.


The previous house required a trip to a few different mortar outlet stores in search of a soft-brick-friendly-extra-lime blend. I enjoy home improvement work but that wasn't fun. The bag above is a standard cement patch formula from the neighborhood big box home store. At least so far this mix and cinder block appear made for each other. We'll see when the freeze and thaw cycle returns.



And this home has allowed me revisit another past hobby. In high school and college I gave a number of haircuts to brothers and friends. That was fun. Now this is fun. Thanks to my dad for the use of the big clippers.





The wires are not as close as they appear.



Can you tell that we were a little eager waiting for the plants to arrive?