Saturday, May 15, 2010

Pond Revisited
















Yes, well I will be visiting the pond situation frequently.

I carried the large rocks I acquired from Miami in the rock yard up there into the side yard and placed them next to the pond.

Enough? No. But couple those rocks with some of the larger rocks I acquired from the side of the road near Superior plus the large rocks I have been unearthing for quite some time every time I plant a plant or dug out the holes for these ponds?

I just might have enough. Construction will begin tomorrow. Acquisition of the block I need for a retaining wall will occur tomorrow morning early and the cement. This is cheap stuff here. There will be block right next to the pond as well. I can put the rather large and heavy boulder that I intend to use as the final falls on the block instead of the plastic liner for the overhang that will have water pouring into the upper pond.

I really don't want to drive clear anywhere for any more rocks and I am fairly certain I can make this work. In fact, I have determined that if I have to, I can use ALL of the rocks I got from the side of the road near Superior. Why not? Sooner or later, I will get to go up north again in the semi and I can just stop on the side of the road again, using break time to do it, and gather up another trailer box full of rocks. No special trip in the car up there, mission will be accomplished. Getting a waterfall built is far more important right now than having rocks lining the sides of the ponds. The waterfall will create a cooling effect on the water, rocks sitting on the side of the pond will do no such thing.

Arizona Immigration SB 1070 - New And Alarming Information

http://www.wsbtv.com/video/23438021/index.html

Watch the video at that link. It's a news station out of Atlanta doing a story on the kinds of people that are crossing OUR border in ARIZONA. Names of people? From Iran; Yemen; Afghanistan; the Hezbollah; Egypt; Iraq; Pakistan and the Sudan.

Does ANY of this alarm you at all? Nations that sponsor or support terrorism.

THIS kind of reporting puts a TOTALLY new face to this border issue. Terrorists entering our country from what amounts to a virtually unprotected border? And the Feds KNOW about this? And have done virtually NOTHING to stop it?

Excuse my language before I even write it, but this is total BULLSHIT!!

Ponds




















Went to 3 houses. I had no desire to fight heavy, Saturday traffic all over the place, 3 was enough. The first house was absolutely incredible. They had a HUGE back yard filled with mature, very tall trees. The ponds were incredible as well - though they didn't do the work themselves. These were very rich people, very nice too, not dissing their wealth, but they were well out of my "league".

Not that I won't end up with a somewhat similar situation on my property - in about 10 years after the trees and plants mature, but I got some great ideas not only for ponding but also about trees. I had no idea an Australian Bottleneck tree could survive and thrive here. They also has very tall Ash - beautiful trees, only problem with them is they require a lot of water. The shade effect, though, is pretty awesome. I could see 3 or 4 of those bottle trees around my property. Mostly, my property has Sissoo trees, a very hardy tree that can withstand the Arizona temps since they do come from India.

I would like to now acquire some different looking trees - saplings - and get them going. I think those bottlenecks would be the perfect touch. They take years to grow, of course, but - you have to start somewhere. I got the Sissoos because they grow SO fast.

I am definitely going to take some of the seed pods on those other trees that are growing here naturally, plant them in pots and get a dozen or so of those going as well. Another tree I have growing has literally hundreds of pods on them right now, that will be a mess to clean up when they finally fall off of the tree.

I just got through putting in a request to SRP to show me the dimensions of the easement they have running through my back yard. Also asked what, if anything, I can do on that easement. I also asked if I can put a portion of a pond on there - well away from their underground lines. I will need that space to have the kind of pond I want. I imagine they are going to want to come out and look at the situation to assess the situation.

As for the pond I want, I am beginning to formulate in my mind how I want it. I will be in the planning stages of it for a long time, I'm sure. I spoke with some individuals today that had started a pond and then ran into a lot of problems. They had not researched everything out in advance. I am not one to jump into something like that without doing a LOT of research and finding out what other's had for problems. There really are a lot of things to take into consideration before taking the first shovelful out of the ground.

I was put at ease with the plastic liners they use - apparently they are so thick that they are very resistant to leakage. One pond setup had been there for 12 years with that plastic material and the owner said he hadn't experienced any leaks at all. Another had been there 15 years - though they used the rubber stuff - I think that's a lot more expensiive. What will put this project off for quite a while is money - I must be able to purchase the liner, pump and filter at the very least before even thinking about actually starting this project. Plus, I want to deal with SRP - a government entity - which will probably take quite some time. Add on top of that acquiring a LOT more rocks and yes, I figure the setup will probably cost at least a grand the way I do things - on the cheap. However, in this kind of thing, you simply must do it right at the get-go.

Then there were the complaints from the pond owners that said they wished they would have done things diffently. One person didn't want shelves in their pond, but another did. He said it's a pain to have to put the plants on top of things from the bottom of his pond and if he had it to do over, he would have definitely put some shelves in. I'm going to spend time talking to as many pond owners as I possibly can to find out what they think they did wrong or should have done differently. I have my 2 little ponds in the interim, I will enjoy those and not attempt to rush into this thing.

As for my 2 little ponds, I am definitely going to put 4 posts into the ground and shade the ponds with nursery grade screen material. It will allow some sunlight through - the plants need that - but it will really stop the heat from building up in the ponds. Another thing one guy stated was that keeping the water moving is very important. He says he moves about an entire pond's worth of water every hour. Mine are doing about 2 full rotations, so I hope not to have to worry about that.

I am considering a trip to wherever tomorrow morning for my rocks. Haven't decided on that yet, I may do it on Monday as well.

As for the temporary tenant? - totally changing the subject but a very important topic for me at this point in time - he is staying at least another week, possibly until the end of the month. Meaning tomorrow I will be handed another $90 - and yes, that $90 is also going directly to the power card to be loaded onto my meter. I have heard that SRP has different plans that somehow save money, I will be calling them next week to find out more. Actually, that info is probably on their website, I'll just visit there instead. I am also intent on reading this 10 page Arizona Immigration SB1070 bill today. 10 pages isn't that much and I want to edumacate meself as to what, EXACTLY, the thing says.

ben

Saturday

Yesterday, I came home to find one of my ponds half emptied. Upon closer inspection, one of the tubes had come out of the bio filter and had pumped the water onto the ground. The pump was clogged up (thankfully) or it would have pumped ALL the water out.

Fortunately no damage to the plants. I do not have a permanent setup with that filter yet and it will stay that way until I get a waterfall constructed. I do not need a giant waterfall and have no plans on constructing some huge affair, but I still need minimal amount of rock to do it with.

I'll be attempting to get the rest of the rock I need sometime during the next 4 days that I have off. Whether out in the desert, up in the mountains - whatever, I want to get on with this project already.

Currently uploading pics and such from my camera so I can empty it out and have a full card's worth of memory to take pics of the ponds I am about to go visit. The pond tour is today and starts in about an hour. I figure to see 3 or 4 of them and the possibly head east. I have not decided where, exactly, I am going to go to look for these rocks. Several options, none of them are close - perhaps I will be able to get some ideas from the pond owners.

Anyway, I have to keep this short, I want to get out there and get to looking before this afternoon - it's going to get warm and I have no desire to bake in the sun today.

G'day.

ben

 Sunday - early 20 minutes until departure time.  I don't much care for delivery on Sundays for it takes a while to get security to the ...