Little Oasis On The Prairie ~ Part I

With most of our inside renovations being completed we have been focusing more on the outside of the house.  For the Victoria Day long weekend we decided to tackle some of the outside tasks.  Al rented a bobcat to level out our driveway and yard.  So nice not to have the ruts in our driveway that have been their for years.  I dug out my few perennials that were in the front of the house, mainly peonies and a columbine.  What a root mass one of the peony plants had...we had to end up digging it out and moving it with the bobcat.  Because our old pond was being filled in as we haven't had it running for a few years now, I set out researching container ponds for our patio.  Got some ideas and started making a list of what I would need.

Al and I have enjoyed going into town on Sunday's for breakfast.  So after breakfast we decided to check out the greenhouses and a few garage sales.  I was not only scoping out what I needed for a container pond but also plants for my patio planters.  Wow some of these containers I was looking at are sure expensive for the size of them....my container pond was getting smaller and smaller with each place we checked out things.......well we hit John's Garden Centre last on our trek.  Their supply of pond pants was fairly low as they were expecting a shipment in the next week.  Well I hit the jackpot with the lady in that area...she was very knowledgeable. After discussions with her Al suggested that he build me a pond for on the deck that would be larger than the container that I was looking at for $89 and in the end would cost $0 as he had enough stuff left over from when we built the deck as well as some liner from the old pond...so we set out to designing what we wanted. Al set out calculating the weight of the pond filled with water at different dimensions together we came up with a design that we liked and on Sunday he set out to build me a pond.

Step 1 Building & Installation of the Pond

 The triangular piece of plywood at the back is where we will mount the pump and filter.  We are planning on building a water fall to hide the pump and filter.

The Finished Product - Step One

It took a little bit of time to get both the pump and spitter working the way we wanted.  The pump hadn't been used for a few years, Al was a bit worried that he may have to buy a new one...but we lucked out once we realized that it was the clamp that held the hose on the pump that sucks the water up out of the pond was cracked....a quick fix and it was up and running.  For the Angel Spitter it was was a case of setting the pump in the correct place as the deep it was the less the spitter pumped out. 

A close up of our little guest.......

.....love how he looks soooo real!

Al sitting back, happy with his creation and relieved that everything is working.

Yesterday I spent the later part of the afternoon checking out the greenhouses that carry pond plants.  I came with a few ideas of what I want in the pond for plants and on Thursday or Friday I will pick up some plants and add them to my pond. A pond just isn't a pond unless there are fish.....so a couple of gold fish will be added to our "Little Oasis On The Prairie"

We are planning a quick trip to Flin Flon in a couple of weeks and I plan to pick a few shale rocks and maybe some limestone rocks to put on the top edge of the pond and I have found what I want to put on the sides of the pond...will look like layers of flat rocks but without the weight of the rocks...looks really natural too.  That siding will come in time as it is not an inexpensive project...good thing I don't need a lot or it might break the bank. hehehe

Stay tuned for more photos as we add to our the Oasis.


Corinne~

Happy Mother's Day

I couldn't have asked for a better "Mother's Day" this year.  Friday night and Saturday was spent at our daughter's house doing reno's -- painting walls in the kitchen and living room....tearing out old living room floor, putting in sub floor getting it all ready for the lamenent.

Friday afternoon my dear hubby bought us a new toy.....a Polaris Sportsman Touring 500 HO Quad.....oh what a nice machine it is.  It has a 2-up seat with lots of room so that the passenger doesn't feel restricted in any way.  So Sunday afternoon we geared up off riding we went.  First we headed to One Stop Convenience to fill up...good thing we ended up burning 1/2 a tank of fuel.  We had a wonderful ride on the trails around our place.  We seen 8 white tail deer in total, a heard of Buffalo cows and calves - no not wild buffalo but farm raised, a red tail hawk and a number of geese when we went to check out the road that is washed out.   Seen a lot of the devastation from the 2008 Tornado that went through our area....we seen areas that you wouldn't see unless you were snowmobiling or quading.  We got a little muddy and found that a winch is a good thing to have.....had to use it twice....

Ended the evening with supper with my kids and hubby....Chinese one of my favorites.  My son bought me a beautiful orchid too....it is full of blooms so beautiful.  Will try to get a picture in  day or so to post for you all to see.

It was a wonderful day.....

Corinne~