Mr. Bill's Pond

The Garden and the Guard Dog

The garden is amazing. I have never watered anything regularly or sufficiently before and had no idea where that could lead. Although the photos aren't good enough to show them, the plants are packed with tomatoes and peppers, and seem to grow more every day. Kind of exciting to watch.

And watching everything, all of the time, is one of my favorite creatures, Bill and Linda's guard dog. He is a great little dog and not overly destructive (it really doesn't matter if he steps on a plant, he isn't heavy enough to crush one.) The only bad habit is that he is so fast he occasionally picks off a baby bird and so the adult birds attack him non-stop if he isn't standing by one of us.

Why Bill has a Beware of Dog sign

Canna's and other things

Tomato side of the garden

Pepper side of the garden

Happy Birthday

The pond is 4 years old this month and has become much more that we ever thought it would be. For one thing, it is much more work. I think that I kind of imagined a little bit of work during the first part of the first year, then years of morning coffee, surrounded by large, nice plants that take care of themselves, watching animals that only do what pleases me. I was mistaken. The leisure times are nice but infrequent. I have never actually sat and finished a cup of coffee because there are too many things that need attention - weeds, grass and other organic debris that just seem to churn up out of the ground, as well as ornamental plants that need water or food. The rocks seem to move a lot also. Either Bill's grandson moves them, or they are running to escape him, either way I have to put them back in place.

All in all, it is the neatest project I have ever become involved in and as we gain the upper hand it is becoming more like a living sculpture. We actually can see a future where the pond is a contained oasis filled with plants that are beautiful and smell great, and where we will be able to relax and enjoy each other and our friends. Then again, this is just what my sister and I think about and plan for the place. Bill and his friends already enjoy the fishing and have never really seemed to care what it looks like.

I would do it again, but would probably hire more heavy equipment. That was entirely too much shoveling.

Interesting shadows

a "dark and stormy" evening

I like the way this is growing in

End of the day

07/27/04

Although I'm sure I'll be changing it forever, the majority of the irrigation route seems to be in place. I still have that problem with flooding Bill's shop, but that could also be from the rain. I probably have traumatized the plants and stunted their growth for this season, but if I quit lurking in that area they should recover. The Aloe plant started growing as soon as I left it alone. We still have at least 60+ really hot days left, and this is also a rainy season so far. (There is always a season where the potential for rain is greater, but for the past 10 years ours has come and gone and left only a few drops. I guess arid plateau is a real description.) I'm going to back off from large changes for a while and let these consolidate. The area should look really nice by the end of the Fall.