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| The Newest Member of the Tribe Aurora |
Well, no more.
She's just a puppy but son-in-law Big Time fell head over heels for her, just as The WSO herself did. Now Little Bit was a bit shy at first. She's used to dogs, her grandparents in Michigan have Big Time's first dog, Regal and Auntie Nuke and The Sea Lawyer have two dogs, Bear and Kodi. So she's been around dogs but never a puppy.
Seems they have bonded nicely as it was Little Bit who gave Aurora her name.
So happy news there. Can't wait to meet my new grand-dog!
On the home front this weekend was the annual cleaning of the koi pond. Always a "treat."
Do you know what the bottom of a koi pond smells like after a long winter? Ever been around the tidal flats at low tide? Kind of the same.
Now the fish themselves go dormant over the winter months, they don't eat and they apparently sleep. A lot.
As we can't run the filter pump over the winter, it would freeze, the water gets a bit prehistoric by spring. So we pump out the old water and replace it with new.
Besides the fish having nice clean water to swim in, I get to hear my waterfall again!
During the summer, it's really pleasant to hear that in the night.
Truly spring is here!
Some random shots of the pond cleaning evolution...
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| The big speckled fish goes by "Leo" (as in leopard, due to the spots, okay, I'm not that clever!) |
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| The fish are back in their home after spending a couple of hours in a holding tank. (No, they didn't get to call their lawyer.) You can also see that our bridge has a corrosion problem. Probably time for a new bridge. |
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| The really big koi, the gold one, we call "Goldie" (duh). When The Missus Herself bought that fish, she was about three inches long. Now she's a whale! |
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| That pot contains water lilies, they will cover most of the surface by July, giving the fish cover and a nice place to hang out. |
No yard work is complete until the master quaffs a beer. As she didn't want one, I drank it.
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| Okay, it's not Halloween. But I love my pumpkin ale! |
Oh yeah, one more thing. I'm starting a gladiator school. (Just kidding!)
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| The Old Air Force Retiarius (Have net and trident will travel.) |
I texted that last shot to the progeny. The WSO came back with "Have you guys been drinking?"
My answer, "No, no, no. Well, yes. But only a little..."
It was a good day!
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| Little Rhody in the Spring. (See the airliner inbound to T.F.Green. See that Sarge needs a better camera.) |
I wondered about the over-wintering with the Koi. So, how big is the holding tank? And the question we're all wanting to know, is fish crap usable as fertilizer or does it just go down the storm drain?
ReplyDeleteLots of warbirds at the airport today. I need a bigger, better, faster camera also.
The holding tank is actually the molded plastic liner for our old, much smaller pond. It's good enough to hold the fish for a couple of hours.
DeleteOne or two of them like to jump out of the tank, fortunately no one has injured themselves yet. That's how two of the fish got their nicknames a few years ago, Spaz and Jumper. The first year Jumper jumped and was trying to swim away in about an inch of water which we'd pumped out of the pond.
Spaz jumped out three times yesterday. Hence the name "Spaz" as in "spastic."
Warbirds at the airport? Again? Nice!
That's a great post Sargticus!
ReplyDeleteAnd you just rekindled my desire to stock a few stock tanks with koi.
That's a neat story about Aurora. The love we humans give, so often freely and without hesitation, is a global force for good.
Thanks Shaun.
DeleteI recall you mentioned stocking some of your tanks with koi.
Aurora is a cute pup, The Missus Herself is concerned about the dog. She thinks the kids are overextending themselves.
She forgets all the stuff we did when we were young.
Some people may find it strange that you are excited to see a new "Grand Dog" I am not one.
ReplyDeleteWhy can't I get the song "Bridge over Troubled Water" out of my mind? "Like a troubled bridge over Goldie's water..."
Thanks Joe.
DeleteAnd now that song is stuck in my head. With the requisite change in lyrics, of course.
Seems you do a lot of work to enjoy your leisure.
ReplyDeleteIt's not as bad as I make it out to be.
DeleteWell then - my comment was lost! Hmph!
ReplyDeleteLooks beautiful Sarge. Truly! We've thought about putting in a Koi pond, complete with waterfall but...the work involved. No. Nyet. Nein. Jim did make a lovely fountain for our outdoor living room last year...that's just about enough for us.
Blogger will, from time to time, eat comments or send them along their way without so much as a "by your leave" to the proprietor.
DeletePonds are a lot of work but it's nice to have one. Fountains are awesome as well. It's the sound of the water, so peaceful.
It does look nice Sarge. I think I saw my first Koi in the Hawaiian Airport on the start of my magical journey with Uncle Sam. What a thing for a country bumpkin to be amazed at, but I was.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best things about being an Uncle (and to my very great pleasure, an "honorary or adopted" Uncle with the kids of many friends) is to remind them what we once did, and don't think the youth of today are going to be any different.
Re: magical journey with Uncle Sam - nice turn of phrase Ron. If (when?) I steal it I'll try to remember to give you credit!
DeleteBeing an uncle is almost as much fun as being a grandparent. I know I cherished all of my uncles (real AND honorary).
Puppies are always 'fun'... Housebreaking and X pairs of shoes later... :-) Nice job on the fish pond! At least you DO take care of them!
ReplyDeleteSo far this pup hasn't had any major mishaps inside. She likes to nibble though, we'll see how that goes.
DeleteThanks on the fish pond, as usual it was The Missus Herself's concept and artistic nature behind it.
Me? I pick things up and put them down...
Aurora looks beautiful.
ReplyDeleteShe's a cutie Lou!
DeleteSorry for the late entry, kind of a busy weekend... Aurora definitely has "the look" - (like Trix) I predict she'll find interesting ways to get into trouble and then sweet talk her way out of it...
ReplyDeleteAwesome Koi pond. That looks like a lot of work to keep it that nice. In abstract that's something I would enjoy, but living in the middle of the desert it would probably be kind of tough of jumping koi.
I think you're right about the pup, in other pictures she has this fun-loving, what kind of trouble can I get into look.
DeleteThe pond is a bit of a chore in the spring, keeping it clean once the spring thing is done is really a question of cleaning the filters in the pump and keeping a weather eye on the algae situation. It can get out of hand.
But it's a nice thing to have. (Jumping koi in the desert? That would be rough!)
If you don't mind doing a little work in lieu of the expense of replacing the bridge, I'd recommend a treatment of a product called "ospho" for the rust, then a repainting. When I worked on a commercial fishing vessel prior to my time in Uncle Sam's Big Grey Canoe Club, that was the product of choice for treating rusted boat parts prior to repainting. I've seen it in the local Ace Hardware stores in the Oregon Territory, so I would expect similar availability an the Ace Hardware stores in Little Rhody. Feel free to disregard this advice at your discretion. :)
ReplyDeleteI'll check it out Freddy, sounds like a better option than replacing the whole thing.
DeleteThanks!