No Rain Yesterday

But we are having a storm right now. I didn't accomplish a lot today but the farmers were active.

This art project/science experiment is sometimes too big for me now

Still, the spillway is filled, compacted, and ready for concrete. Cashmere has to be outside with her children anyway so she has gotten a lot done. There will be some interesting colors in a month or so. Three of the lilies were out this morning.

Still haven't mowed

Completely beautiful day. In the upper 80's, but it felt warm. In the back of my mind are tinges of fear at what the heat of summer could be. The heat lasted until 7:50 PM and then was instantly gone when a cool breeze appeared. It happens that way every day.

There is a red-winged blackbird nest with 3 blue eggs in what appears to be a pointless closeup of the reeds. I don't want to disturb them and can't get any closer.

The spillway is almost ready for repairs.
I'm exhausted.

So it's a waterfall again

The waterfall has been saved from immediate destruction. I removed half of the spillway and found that (as I suspected) the weight of the waterfall has settled the spillway so that although the top still drains toward the pond, the area directly beneath the highly porous concrete and rock spillway, drains back toward the shop, and this is aided by the corrugated tin base that the spillway was poured on top of. Anyway, Bill showed up in the middle my destruction and now sees the problem and that it is fixable. He said that he really wants to save the structure as a waterfall so we are going to cut out the tin that I have exposed, build up the area with dirt, and re-pour the spillway. It will always crack and water will always be getting under it, but this will minimize what runs back into the shop. I've been this sure before about other solutions, which failed miserably, for sure this time.

Buddy was so excited about finding the turtle that he searched the yard all afternoon. I thought it might be an ornate box turtle, but it really seemed exotic. The fluting on the back of the shell is not something I remember from the regular turtles here.

I wonder what it is

I was working on the new planter at the pond when Buddy went crazier that usual at the fence. I was thinking snake by his actions, but it was this very large (11" x 7") ornate box turtle (? maybe). Bill doesn't like turtles so I took it to the back pasture. If it is a box turtle, it was a male, but huge. Larger than any turtle I've ever seen here before.

Back to the planter.

1 3/10 inches of Rain last night

I get up early and go outside as soon as the shower is over and the coffee is done, and although for the past week there have been a lot of mosquitoes, (okay I'm lying, but there have been enough that I noticed them) this morning there were really a lot (many more than three and they were busy). I've not been bitten by one, but they circle around me like vultures and are starting to annoy the dogs. The point is that there are none at the pond. It is almost a pest free area. There is such a dense concentration of birds on, over, and around the pond that mosquitoes don't have much success expanding their numbers even if they do get past the fish.

I've been reading and watching the Memorial Day services on television and haven't been to the pond yet, but earlier I saw Cashlin and her mom on their traditional early morning walk.

Mr. Bill doesn't like ornamental plants, but -

I just asked Cashmere to turn the waterfall into a planter and she is already on the job. Bill is correct, a small diameter line right on the edge will aerate the pond better, which will ultimately keep it clearer than the waterfall has been able to, but he has constructed a Dr. Seuss machine held up by a pitchfork to get that done. So we have to change that, and (she and I discussed this), the next time her dad is gone or confined to the house for a few days we will re-plumb the water line out to the pond edge. I can't wait. The waterfall structure is actually much more perfect as a planter (just the way it looks, like a santuario) but I was determined to not be defeated by the leak.
So much for determination. After lots of money and all the energy I could find, the torrent of water laughs at me as it bypasses the pond and cuts trenches through his shop. I can't stand to be outwitted by a fluid.
Correctable though.

8 PM
A great storm just started. Tremendous lightning and rain but the hail is kind of disconcerting. In 2004 hail punched through the skylights in my living room and I still get nervous when I hear it starting. Even hard rain makes me jumpy.

The Heat is On

1/10 inch of rain last night. All of our recent rains added together and multiplied by 100 wouldn't make a humid day in most places, but here, the recent yearly precipitation amount is incredible. The plants (and animals) are adapted to feast or famine - they flourish when water is available and stay alive when it isn't, but they erupt when moisture does show up.

The pond is beautiful today and sitting in my yard is like being in the tropics.

The Heat is On

3/10 inch of rain last night

I've been the in the backyard since about 7, and the oriole is vivid in this light. He just landed on a branch about 15 feet away and as I moved the camera he was gone.

There was a large deer at the pond yesterday, but, once again, I wasn't prepared.

The waterfall has to go. It did serve me really well as a pointless diversion but has now become a menace to Bill's workspace.

1/10 inch of rain last night and another storm building