Driveway

This post is a bit dated but here are some photos of the driveway being paved this fall. How nice it is to drive on asphalt rather than dirt :)

and MORE Pond Construction

Dirty water pumped out -- looks like it's a go for filling after work today!

my croc is sitting there as a scale reference :)

from the dining room window

Willow inspects from the sunroom

Pond Construction Progress

rainy window view

filling with water to clean the rocks

4 hours with 2 hoses to fill it completely

Pond Construction, Continued

Hole perfected, plumbing in place, underlayment down, liner in place, and now waiting for 2 palettes of stone to be delivered later today. That's when the real fun begins!

I still had time to plant a few pots for the front porch this weekend :)

the falls filter leveled and slightly tilted forward

another falls view

the skimmer with pumps inside

underlayment and skimmer

underlayment down and liner ready to be placed 

just some of the mountains of materials

lava rock for the filter media

UV light in place

I think it looks like a military weapon!

using the backhoe to carefully move the liner
to the pond location -- that sucker is heavy!!

underlayment

thanks to several friends and family: the liner is roughly placed!

now ready for rocks and adjustment!

Pond Construction

Last year we constructed our dream home, and this year we are working on our dream landscape. Jim has been busy moving topsoil and grading the lawn, and we have also been busy getting our new koi pond up and running.

Last fall I drew up the plans and conferred with Rich from Hahn Ponds about what we need to order. Hahn's is an amazing place, and Rich is extremely knowledgeable and helpful. A few weeks ago we finally dug the hole, measured multiple times, and then tweaked our order with Rich. Now we have all the equipment sitting in our garage, ready to be installed --- hopefully this weekend.

I am so glad we waited until now to put the pond in rather than rush it last fall. We ended up moving the location to the other side of the sunroom where it will be right in the heart of our outdoor entertainment area and visible not only from the sunroom but also from the dining room and the man cave/garage. I started by laying out a garden hose and playing around with the placement, and once we settled on a plan (the capacity ended up being the same as was our original plan) Jim used paint to outline it and began digging with the backhoe.

Then there was rock removal and fine-tuning the levels, from the deepest areas for protection from predators and winter ice, all the way to the shallower edges for marginal plants. Now we are ready to place the underlayment and liner, and set up the skimmer and filter. This is so exciting! Both Mom and I have had ponds for several years, so we both know what we liked and what our dream pond would be, and this IS IT.

Our goal is to have our fish out of their winter troughs in the garage and into the sunshine and fresh water by the end of this memorial Day weekend. Landscaping the pond will take all summer and even years to come, but that's the easy part :)

let the digging begin!

Jim is in his glory when he is using any piece of equipment

lots of rocks to move

Bumble investigates

Willow checks it out

smoothed and leveled

Bum making sure the levels are level

man cave door

Rich and his employee cutting the liner

some of the "parts"

Happy New Year!

We met our goal of moving into 1776 before Thanksgiving, and we couldn't be more thrilled with the house. Of course there are odds and ends that are still in progress - like the fact that we still do not have internet!!! (My Verizon rant I will save for another time, but trust me when I say that they are the devil) but we are living comfortably and our animals are living in their new barn (I will save my Parco rant for another time, too. The barn is beautiful but the "2 1/2 week" construction time was closer to 3 months, and it still isn't 100% complete). Jim and I look around and marvel at the fact that we live here.

Dream
Vision
Plan
Action
Reality

It all happened!! And it is just like we dreamed and envisioned it, only possibly better. Mom moved in the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and is loving life. Her dog Tops made the adjustment well, despite his age and lack of vision. My pups are happy as clams (we have officially fallen head over heels for our new girl Willow) and my goaties have finally settled. The brutal cold caused by the now famous "Polar Vortex" made for some challenges, but all is well, thanks to blankets and heaters.

Apollo the kitty had a bit of a time adjusting, and disappeared a few days after arrival when he was spooked by the installation of the back door on the barn. The temps plunged below zero, and I was sick with worry. We knew there were a couple of potential scenarios: coyote snack (there have been lots of tracks around 1776), a "helpful" neighbor snatched him, he froze in the ungodly cold, OR he headed back home to his goat shed. Jim suggested that he made the long and dangerous trek back "home", so I set out to see. Being the "expert" tracker that I am, I noticed a neat little indent in the goats' hay in the old shed which looked like a nest, while the rest of the hay was all scattered from where they had been walking. I put out food, and I put a few strands of hay in front of the kitty door to see if it was being used. The next morning on my way to work I saw some food had been eaten and the door was used ----- I was so excited. I searched and called but no kitty, BUT I put Mom and Chandler on it, and they caught him! He was so happy to see his family, and so purrrry and sweet. He has been residing in our basement at 1776, but he is a true outside kitty, and we plan to re-introduce him to his new digs this weekend when the weather is more mild.

There are folks who think having a cat live outside is cruel, but that is not necessarily the case with proper care and the right cat. Apollo was from a feral family of cats in a Buffalo warehouse that my husband once owned, and we tried to make him love life inside our house, but to no avail. He loves his goats and is bonded with them, and he is a master hunter. He is housed in a barn with his own beds and unlimited dry food and wet food each morning. He is fully vaccinated and neutered, and he is parasite free. He has the best kitty life, and he serves a vital role of rodent control officer. The basement is not for him.

~ photo by Chandler ~

Loose Ends Abound

Some photos from the last 3 days ... we are still moving in Saturday, believe it or not! Stressful, exciting, exhausting, amazing, unbelievable. Did I mention exhausting?

~ brackets are in place - still need stone and columns ~

~ adding the brackets ~

~ red bar stools from Pottery Barn arrived! ~

~ railings are in and so purdy ~

~ Larry and his dad, finishing up ~

~ pendant lights ~

~ where or where is our mason to finish the stone?? ~

~ pieces coming together amidst the chaos ~

~ barn as seen from dining room windows ~

~ another barn shot ~

~ our excellent electricians ~

~ view from the kitchen ~

~ minus stone and columns but still so handsome! ~

~ barn as seen from driveway ~

~ cupola came today! ~

~ toilets are in ~