Signs of Summer

We have lived here a little over 7 years .... the previous owners built a fish pond. It is lovely and we get tons of enjoyment out of the fishies.



I wished this jewel, Siberian Iris, bloomed all summer but I enjoy the flowers while they last.


Fish Frenzy Feeding


CIMG5962

These 2 GrandDogs (Oreo on the left, Tippy on the right) like to eat fish food or catch fish


Three (3) shot span of the pond

Here Fishie, Fishie

The little fishies are happy with the weather ....... they're hoping that it stays warm and no more frozen, cold, icy layer on top.




Some food makes them really happy.



I've been breaking the ice and let me tell you it's hard work.

We did have a fatality .... poor old guy .... he had a good, long life.

The alligator can't wait to get back to the pond with the fishie.

Just a few weeks ago the grass was white and the pond was frozen solid.

NOTE: In the winter they sleep and stay on the bottom of the pond. We don't feed them. I only started breaking the ice when temperaturs started warming up. There's no way I can break the ice during winter .... freezes several inches.

Landscape So Beautiful

Hello ............ this is our home in the spring of 2002.




We moved here in 2002 and for 6 years I've hated the landscape. Since I'm not an outdoors person I just kept saying .... "next year we'll do the landscape work". Then in Dec. 2007 we had a water line break which caused water to leak into our family room. The water line broke out next to the street. There's nothing like not having water over the Christmas holiday ....... yes there's nothing like it.

The broken water line was under our concrete sidewalk ..... So bright and early Dec. 31 (our 41st wedding anniversary) the plumbers were able to fit us into the schedule .... we spent the whole day together. If you're interested the whole story is further down in my blog.

So my saying "we'll do the landscape next year" ....... that year arrived 2008. I wanted to get rid of everything but DH loves those Christmas trees (as I call them) so we kept them. Our SIL, Shaun, did all the work for us .... aren't we lucky. YES.

River rock we love so he brought in 6 ton and covered everything. Did you notice how I changed the layout with that nice curve.

The we shopped for some plants and a huge pot of pre-planted flowers. We spent 3 hours planting day lily, hosta, oriental grass, creeping jenny, portulaca and some nice decorative rocks.

We had tons of Iris in the front too .... so I had Shaun move them to a little corner garden with Mickey & Minnie Mouse in the backyard. I do hope they survive.



We also have a very large fish pond in the backyard .... compliments of the former owners. It was so overgrown you couldn't see the water or fish (koi and gold fish). So DH tore out a lot of the old plantings ... now we have a nice view.


The pond has a beautiful waterfall but unfortunately it's in the shade and difficult to get a photo.



This is a Siberian iris (thanks Vicki). It grows inside the pond and returns bigger every year. I think this year we'll have to separate it after the season is over.




That's all folks .............. have a GREAT summer.