Jackmani Clematis…

This is the third year we’ve had our purple clematis growing on the tree at the head of our pond. It is loaded with blossoms and buds. This happens to be my favorite clematis although I do like all the others. I love the deep dark purple.

       

Around the yard…

The other evening we were skyping with Andy and he asked if I could walk the laptop around the house. It’s been four months since he’s been here and he wanted to see if anything has changed. Unfortunately, there are still boxes waiting to find a new home. As I said in my previous post, we have a few projects started, and I need to put a huge shelf together before I can put the boxes away. I suppose I could do that tomorrow too…hmmm, my to-do list is getting kind of long.

Anyway, I thought Andy might like to see what the yard looks like at this time of year. The plants are quite a bit bigger than they were in June, and the pear tree is so loaded with pears that the weight broke some of the branches, so I think that poor tree is in for a severe pruning after harvest. The goldfish in the pond keep having babies and they grow really fast. It’s hard to believe that the fish in the pictures are this spring’s babies. I didn’t get the huge white fish in the picture, but I think there might be a koi in there.

Patio…

One of our projects this summer is to try and finish connecting the pond to the pergola. With all of the projects we have started, it’s been a little difficult to concentrate very hard on any of them. I think I’ve pretty much burned David out with all of the ideas I have.

While we were at the cabin, Barb and I got to talking about our unfinished projects and she suggested that David and I work together on one project and actually finish it. WOW, what a concept, unfortunately, for us it sounds much easier than it really is. I see other people start a project and work, work, work until it’s finished. Then they get to enjoy it!!! So, even though I’d really like to have the basement finished, that we can do when the weather is less than ideal, where as the patio has a time and weather limit. I figure we have about six weeks to get all done. It certainly is attainable, but, well, you know, things come up. We have the circle laid out, the fire ring in with the first ring of granite in. The second ring of granite has been started, but I had to stop so more sand could be wheeled in. Our neighbor Ed was kind enough to help out with that, and he and David were able to get most if not all the sand spread out. Then I had to work a couple days, and then it started raining and has been for the last three days. At least the sand is good and packed down. Hopefully the weather will be good tomorrow and I can lay more granite. After the granite is all in, we will pour cement, put some aggregate in and voila, it will be done. I will believe it when I see it. I took a few photos of work in progress.

 

Pretty flowers...

We have fishies too...we started out with 15 and now have at least 18 I think. They went and had babies...how cool is that?

Pretty water lillies. We have pink, yellow, white and peach.

Waterfall in the making...

This is the beginning of the waterfall for our pond. Yes, that is carpet my husband is laying down. He dug out a bunch of dirt, put patio blocks on end for the sides, then layed the carpet and then the liner. Next will come the flagstones for the waterfall, and rocks and boulders for the sides. Actually the liner and some rocks are already in place, but I don't have a picture of that...sorry!

Pond...

My hubbin is doing such a fabulous job on the pond...I am just SO impressed. I had an idea of what I wanted it to look like in my mind, but I just couldn't figure out how to get it that way, so I described it to my hubbin and told him to just 'go for it'. It's not even finished and I LOVE it. We have two ducks that stop by each early evening. They stopped to day, during the day, while my hubbin was working on it, and they just flew in and plopped in the water. Cool! We also had a Heron fly over and take a little gander at the pond. He didn't land in the water, but he did hang out on our roof for awhile.

Rocks...

My hubbin is ordering more rocks today. More rocks, can you believe it? We got two loads last year, and ponds just take way more rocks than one would think. This time though, we'll be getting a few large ones and the rest will be 6"-12" or so. There is a lot of filling in to do, and if there are enough, I have a few more places around the yard I can use smaller rocks.
Hubbin rearranged the pond liner some and put more water in so now it looks like we'd envishioned. I think the ducks approve!