For His Service

I so love watching the fish and frogs in the pond.  We can see every pebble ..every fin.    ... every splash. A great day to relax on a Sunday...

 I put in the pond 7 years ago.  I hadn't had it drained and cleaned all the way down until this weekend. All the fish were removed, the rocks were pressure-washed, and the liner was scrubbed.  Then, everything was placed, back in place...refilled... and it is just beautiful!   It wasn't without incident.  Yesterday tornadoes touched down less than 10 miles from our house and we received 3 inches of rain..some of which went under the pond liner...oops... because there was no water in the pond, the water wasn't pushed away.   Slowly, it will go back into the ground. the pond before the storm hit... The pond...after the storm hit... see the huge amount of water in the background Leucistic robin (partial albino robin)..isn't he pretty... The crystal clean pond... All clean.... ready for spring.................. and many bird and frog friends...

 draining the pond...looking for turtles What a day!    5:30 am.. 6:00-leave to see Surgeon.  7:00- waiting for Surgeon  7:30- seeing nurse for surgeon. 8:00-seeing NF specialist.  9:00- see surgeon.  9:30- they take photos of his tumors. 10:30 arrive back home. 10:50 leave to go get a friend's cat to take to the vet.  11:00- 12:00 at vet... Then off to take the cat to another friend's house.  Off to shop for groceries.  Home for lunch.   See spots that make me worry about the turtles (think it is just growing spots/ any experts out there?)  Drain the pond .... to try to catch the turtles to look at them.  Caught one... Clean pond.   Clean filters....  Refill pond.  Get shower.  Drive to pick up my son's friend...  Make gluten-free pizza. Clean kitchen.  Catch 2nd turtle. :) (She looks fine)... Blogging... off to run 6 miles in the am... but first...thank you for prayin...

That is one thing I have going for me....... I don't give up easily!  So far...the bird netting has kept the heron out!  I ordered a fake/floating alligator (not my favorite decoration).. for the pond as they SAY ..it will keep herons away.   We shall see.  In the meanwhile, I will keep an eye on the pond..and for the feathery thief! This is what the fake alligator looks like.. maybe it will trick him...

See the lack of fish??? They are in there..under all of the lily pads...scared out of their minds. The heron is messing with my peaceful retreat!!!...and I do NOT like it one bit! Do you see the bridge to the right? A great blue heron thinks it is his personal porch.. and the buffet is set before him (the fish in my pond).  I have tried adding twine to two metal poles...criss crossing to keep him out.. did NOT help.  Today, I added 5 foot tall  bird netting. I hope it keeps him out and I don't actually catch him.  If I do,...maybe that will "learn him".  LOL..... upclose shot of the netting...

Great Blue Herons are beautiful, yet pesky birds. ; especially pesky when they are eating the .....goldfish out of my pond and they are scaring the turtles.   I already had a 3 sided fence up to keep the turtles from roaming the yard, as the forth side is the waterfall/ stream entrance.   The big stinking bird flew onto the bridge and jumped down to feast upon my well-loved fish.      So, what do I do?   I took some ugly twine to create a roped area off of the bridge so visitings herons will no longer have access to a free meal.   Well, we will see if it works! My pond .. bridge he uses to have a feast!  

Here is one of the visiting turtles The fish don't seem scared of the turtles Today the turtles came to play.  If all goes well, they will be visiting our pond until late September or early October.  So far...so good.  They seem to be enjoying the large swimming area, but I have't seen them go on the land area I have for them.  Which ever turtle ventures out first will have first pick from the fresh vegetables I planted just for them.   They ate raw chicken and some veggies before coming today.  They haven't seemed to both the fish much.   I will keep you all posted!

This sounds like the name of a kid  hurt on a playground...(red-eared sliders).. lol...but it is really a cool little turtle.   My friend is having me keep her 3 red-eared sliders during the warmer months in Georgia (April- October).  The three turtles will get to enjoy our large pond, which is new for them as they have been kept in an indoor aquarium.  My oldest son helped my husband put up a fence around the pond yesterday.   Apparently, red-eared sliders tend to run away if they can...  So, soon....we will get to watch them lay out in the sun...and slide into the pond if they are scared.    They will be here later this week.  I will post pictures of them in the pond then.