Blog Archives
Short work on the pond
Posted by doggonedmysteries
I went to backwash the pond filter today. I turned it off, set the filter to backwash, turned it on and nothing happened. I mean nothing, zilch, zip, nada. Crap. I fiddled with the plug, turned the switch off and on, still nothing. Double crap.
I went inside to the basement and checked the circuit breakers. They were fine. Triple crap. Now, I had to drag DH outside. He’d just gone up for a nap. DH wasn’t happy. He fiddled with the plug, had me turn the switch on and off, and then was going to send me to check the breakers. I told him I’d done that already.
He knows electrical work but for him to do it, it isn’t easy. He checked the wire going to the plug and found a short he fixed that. However, we had to run an extension cord because there is also a short between the outlet by the waterfall and the switch on the side of the shed.
I love our pond but I have a feeling that if anything happens to the Koi again we will fill it in and turn it into garden.
Posted in hobbies, My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Fish, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Koi, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
Bullfrog flattened!
Posted by doggonedmysteries
No, it wasn’t Goliath. No, it wasn’t Bad Froggy either. It was one of the other three. How do I know? Goliath sat on the bench rock begging for worms after I found the dead frog in the alley. Bad Froggy is our only singer and I heard him later too.
The hadn’t-as-yet-been-named bullfrog was probably heading to the cemetery to hunt. After all, it was raining and the nightcrawlers were plentiful. I’d gone out there to pick up a few to feed the fish and Goliath.
I found his almost Goliath sized body in the alley near the cemetery fence. It was frogicide. It wasn’t an accidental killing. From the position of the body, you could tell that the only way someone would’ve hit him was if they’d aimed their car for it. A hit and run driver took him out. The poor frog never did anyone any harm. All he wanted was to fill his belly with worms on a rainy night.
Posted in My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
Bullfrogs can draw blood.
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Yes, I do think that most of the people around here are convinced I’m crazy. You should have seen the looks I got from a few cars that passed me tonight when I was picking up night crawlers in the alley. Hey, I’m a gardener. I also have fish and bullfrogs that love worms. Who am I to pass by the hordes of huge night crawlers that were wandering out onto the street because we had rain?
One person understood. A woman about my age pulled her car up even with me and rolled down her window. “For your gardens right?”
“Well, yes. And for the frogs and fish—free food you know. Commercial Koi food costs plenty.”
She pointed back down the street from the direction she’d come. “I saw a bunch of huge ones back there.”
“Thanks.”
She waved and headed on her way. I went looking for more night crawlers.
Goliath the bullfrog was pleased with my midnight snack offerings. Although, at one point, he thought my index finger was more food. Ouch! I actually bled. Ungrateful sod.
The Koi were happy too. I only gave them a few worms and then the rest went into the garden.
Posted in hobbies, Misc, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, bullfrogs, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Fish, frogs, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
Not duck as in dodge. I said Ducks.
Posted by doggonedmysteries
One must seek refuge in simple pleasures when the insanity gets too much. I did that today. I needed a stress reliever. Those who know me know I went out into the gardens and worked. There’s something soothing about digging in the soil and planting things.
I spent several hours weeding and planting. I took a break to feed the dogs and cook dinner for DH and me. Then I went back outside.
Speedy, one of our Koi had made a few spectacular jumps today celebrating the warmth. Therefore, at first, I didn’t think much when I heard a loud splash behind me. I turned to see if she’d jump again. It wasn’t Speedy this time.
My pair of mallards had returned. The female set right to the business of munching algae. The male played look out for her. I went inside to tell DH and grab a slice of bread for them. They looked lovely swimming around in the pond seizing pieces of bread that the Koi didn’t beat them to as it hit the water.
They stayed two hours. Then with a slight flapping of wings, they took off over the fence and were soon out of sight. I hope they come back tomorrow.
Posted in my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Koi, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
Ark too Brutus?
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Gavin and Patty requested the use of a raft to go out today. It might have worked except they have no thumbs and can’t hold paddles. We’ve had so much rain that I heard the stock prices on gopher wood jumped through the roof. I’ve seen pairs of animals strolling past all day. Ba dum dum.
The neighbor’s bulldogs Diamond and Brutus ordered snorkel gear although Brutus really wanted a boat. Cleo, the standard poodle across the street, rented herself out as a squirrel canoe. The two toy dogs next door stepped off their porch and almost drowned so Gavin lent them the raft.
The Koi are touring the neighborhood and the bullfrogs are using in the magnolia tree as a diving board. The daffodils want water wings. Did I mention that we’ve had a lot of rain?
Posted in Dog related, Misc, my garden, Weather related, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Fish, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Koi, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pet humor, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
Two weeks in the garden
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Yeah, it was worth the wait…
Posted in my garden
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
Goliath wanted squab for dinner.
Posted by doggonedmysteries
Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know all about Goliath. For those of you who haven’t, Goliath is one of the four bullfrogs who live in our pond. You can tell which one he is because he makes the other three look tiny. There are a couple of pictures of him on ‘our garden and pond’ page.
Goliath spent last summer begging worms off me. (Actually, he stalked me for the worms that I dug up for the Koi.) Like a fool, I spoiled him by giving them to him. For the past week, we’ve had some nice weather but not too many insects around which means the frogs are ravenous.
I was sitting out on the back steps enjoying the birdsongs and the sounds of the fountains and waterfall. Two mourning doves sat on a wire above the yard. A robin was busy taking a bath in the little pool at the top of the waterfall. When he finished the two doves flew down to stroll around the pond. They patrolled once around, a second time, and on the third lap, I heard a loud splash. The doves flew up from the far side of the pond both were in a panic.
Curious I walked over to the edge of the pond and there sat Goliath on top of a lily pad pot. A couple tan tail feathers protruded from his mouth. If ever a frog could, he had a ‘rats, foiled again’ look on his face.
Posted in Misc, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pet humor, Pets, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
Let the gardening begin!
Posted by doggonedmysteries
We had a gorgeous day with plenty of sun and the temperature in the mid fifties. I dug out my leather work gloves—oops, going to need to shop for new ones, mine are full of holes. Oh well, I tugged them on anyway and began the slow process of cleaning out the garden beds. I cleared over half of the pond garden, backwashed the filter, and added some fresh water to the pond. After three hours of work, I took a short break and brought the dogs out for a romp.
I didn’t do much work on the side garden today since we do have a little bit of snow left in there. However, I did drag out the rake and cleaned up many of the seed pods from the sweet gum tree. At least those that were in the grass. They look like teensy hedge hogs. I did an hour of the rake, stoop, and pick up dance. I have a ton of those seed pods in the side garden I need to remove yet but I’ll do that another day. It was more important to get the ones up from where we walk. Those suckers hurt when you step on them, even the dogs hate them.
I hauled a garbage can outside the fence and began to clean up after the slobs who litter around here. I swept up glass, picked up paper litter, plastic cups, and bags, filling a large dog food bag with the detritus from the litterbugs. That alone took me two hours. Yes, a whole two hours wasted cleaning up other people’s garbage.
Where was DH? He was keeping the dogs company watching the TV. It was a darned shame too, because he missed seeing the Downy Woodpecker feeding on the suet, the Cardinals taking a bath in the top of the waterfall, and the Black-capped Chickadees watching me from the fence.
Posted in My blog, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
Dreaming of spring on a cold night
Posted by doggonedmysteries
We had some sunshine today and the temperature inched above 40 degrees. Gavin and Patty made full use of the yard, dashing about and pretending it was warm.
2 a.m., I took the dogs for their last out of the night. It’s getting danged cold out there. I’m tired of the cold, of being stuck in the house, gray and dreary days. I don’t want to wear a heavy coat, a hat, and gloves. The dogs are tired of it too. Both were quick going about their business.
I want warm nights where I can sit out by the pond listening to the crickets and frogs sing in chorus. I dream of digging in the gardens, the scent of flowers, and the sound of song birds.
I can tell the dogs want spring too. I can see the dreams of dozing in a patch of sun warmed grass in their eyes.
I heard a tiny snatch of a songbird’s song this morning. Tulips and daffodils are pushing through the mulch. Can spring be far behind?
Posted in Dog related, Misc, Weather related, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Spring, Writer, Writing
Warm enough today
Posted by doggonedmysteries
The filters thawed at last. (Although, which you will see shortly, not without a minor mishap.) I was able to back wash them and add fresh water to the pond. The Koi are happy and it was warm enough to have three bullfrogs hanging out in the water this evening. I do wish this weather would continue, but it’s January and it’ll never happen.
Early this morning DH managed to catch that I’d left the filter on rinse yesterday instead of remembering to put it back on filter. (Things like this happen when I try to multitask too much.) Yesterday the still frozen filters weren’t even trickling so there was no water loss until today when they began to thaw. Fortunately, DH caught my mistake before the water level went down more than an inch. However, scrambling to correct that and get the hose in the pond to add water exhausted him.
The filters are functioning. The waterfall is falling. The fountains are working…all is right in the garden. We’ll wait for spring to find the leaks in the waterfall. For now all we can do is try to keep everything operating as best as we can.
Posted in My blog, my garden, Weather related
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Fish, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Koi, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
Cold spell damage repairs on the pond
Posted by doggonedmysteries
That long cold spell we had did some damage to the waterfall and froze the filters solid. The weather is supposed to be (hopefully) warm enough to thaw things. It looks as if I have a lot work ahead.
The top of the waterfall is a manufactured piece of fiberglass and cement. I need to locate the leak there and fix it. The two filters are solid icicles so I have to wait for them to thaw. At least the fountains are running and the pond didn’t freeze solid.
I figure, according to the weather reports, that I have three days to get the work done. Once I get the filters and waterfall working properly it can get cold again.
Just in case I can’t get the filters working, if the freezing damaged them, I did look at some new ones online today. There are ton of them out there and most of the new ones have a built in UV light that is great for killing algae and preventing algae blooms. We will go for one of the ones with the UV light if we need a new filter.
Posted in my garden, Weather related
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, Craft of writing, Dead, Disability, Doggoned, Family, Fiction, Fish, Gardening, Gardens, Home, Koi, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pond, Ponds, Writer, Writing
The week in review
Posted by doggonedmysteries
This has been a long week. Very cold weather and now today, more snow. Dang, we were just getting to see some grass peek through the last dumping of snow we got. The furnace has been working overtime keeping the house warm. Eeks! We have frigid weather and another inch or two of snow predicted for this weekend. Take note people, with this surge in cold weather stocks in long underwear companies should rocket. Hurry up spring!
Meanwhile back at the pond, the waterfall is frozen but the fountains are running. We need a few days above freezing to thaw the filters and the waterfall. There’s no ice on the pond, due to the cattle trough heater, but leaves clogged the basket on top of the pump, thus the frozen filters. It took me two hours to get the fountains flowing. Ah, wet hands and frigid weather, what a lovely combination.
Gavin and Patty are as sick of snow as we are. Neither one wants to be outside long. Our normally quiet dog barked when she saw some people outside today. It seems that Patty has taken to complaining to the neighbors about the weather.
DH had a bad week. We’re hoping next week will be a better one for him. He’s going to skip his Avonex dose on Monday. We’ll see how that goes.
Here’s hoping for warmer days, melted snow, and DH feeling better.
Posted in Dog related, Misc, my garden, Writer, Writing
Tags: Author, Beads, Bones, books, Books on writing, Bull Terriers, Care giving, Caregiver, Coffee, comedy, Craft of writing, Crafts, Dead, Disability, Dog humor, Doggoned, Dogs, Family, Fiction, Home, Humor, Life, Love, MS, Multiple Sclerosis, Murder, Mysteries, Mystery, Novel writing, Pet humor, Pets, Pond, Ponds, Rescue Dogs, Snow, weather, Writer, Writing
Doggonedmysteries 