Happy Ponds- the upside of ponding

Or practice your cliff diving! Just watch out for the sharks below!

If water is not your thing..find a nice potted plant and practice your yoga!

End your day with a nice algae bath at the spa.

and a nice dinner...bugs of course! (creepy crawler on the rock above his head. )

Those were so cute. Nice to start the day with. Great shots and thoughts! I love your lilies too.

I went out to look over my water plants today, and found a bud about to open on one I have never seen before. It looks like it will be red or bright pink. I'm not sure if it will be a water lily or one of my lotus finally blooming. The green smoke has put so many blooms on the last few days and now this one. I'm excited. Here is the red bud. Will up-date when it opens.

This little frog was getting ready for a night of "bugging" getting just the right spot for anything that might fly by once the sun sets.

Gosh BeaHive - your pictures are precious. I love that last one, so clear & up close. What kind of camera do you use? All you pics are great - keep 'em coming.

I have a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H2 model. They have a new H50 which has caught my eye. it has a 15 x zoom ,The H2 has a 12 x zoom. Here is the link for more info

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Cybershot-Digital-Optical-Stabilization/dp/B000ENN9BK

I came upon your thread, and really enjoyed the photos! they tell such stories, love the frogs!
I was very surprised to find an unusual squatter in my pond at the beginning of the summer. He was very shy at first, but has gotten used to feeding time, and starts paddling around in the middle of the pond looking for a hand out. I suspect that he's decided to stay put since we're having such a drought this summer!

Won't turtles eat small fish? Maybe I should ask how big he is? Looks like a red eared slider--someone correct me if I'm wrong. He is a cutie. Laverne

Great turtle. Wish I had one, but that might not go well with the Koi.

It was cooler tonight so I was sitting outside by the pond talking on the phone when I spotted this guy
eavesdropping on my conversation. He made me smile. So glad my camera was outside and I didn't mind him listening!

This little guy was my morning greeting very early this morning. What a way to start your day!

He must have just "woke up" as he soon did his morning stretch!

Close by was his little friend..not quite a morning person. He was still a little blurry eyed.

I just noticed in this picture a reflection of his eye in the lower right of this photp. It kinda freaked me out there for a minute!

I see how hot you've guys been...I can absolutely sympathise!
Yes, he is a Red Eared Slider, and thankfully a vegetarian. I fed him some Papaya from the Papaya tree yesterday...I left it on the side of the pond and he dragged it into the water.

How big is your pond Beahive?

Rj

My pond is 3200 gals

nice, do you have a full size picture?

This is my pond from the summer of 2007 (1st summer)

what a great pond...do you have chairs by there?

And this shot is from last month. With all the growth it may be hard to make out the shape but I guess kidney bean is what it its called.

I know, mine is being engulfed by perimeter plants!
Beautiful looking..like the waterfalls..

I have my pink adirondack chair ..yes pink.. to the right situated at the end of the pond. I have seating in the gazebo for 4 and to the left of the pond I have a raised covered deck which can accomodate 10 sitting.. more if they bring a chair. LOL! My favorite place to sit is a large flat boulder (center left 1st picture) . Here I can feed the fish and converse with the frogs.

LOL, yes my garden throne while not pink is located next to the pond. I build a 750 sq foot deck that surrounds the house, with a tree in the middle of it, and a curved edge with the pond right off the edge, so there is an elevated view to the pond...love it..I can spend quite a bit of time watching the ponds occupants. This year I decided to put tropical fish in the pond, aka Tetra Albino Barbs, oh my ..they are so entertaining..and they love the turtle, so they pester him to death. when I want to find the turtle, I just look for the barbs. I use a large aquarium heater for the brief couple of cold months.
I've named the barb school "The Apple Dumpling Gang" for their crazy antics.

Sound like a great and active pond. With the cold winters here all my critters and fish go night night for many months and I miss their company. I was think of making a small pond on my deck with a heater so I could enjoy them in the winter as well. Will see what this winter brings.

I hear ya. I have one of those large cattle water troughs in my green house, I keep stocked with plants and fish. Sometimes in the winter I'll put my chair in there and hang out. The water trough doubles as the humidifier.

Here's a picture of Turtle and the Apple Dumpling gang

Just got to love them. Cute shot!

the little buggers don't lounge around...hard to get shots

You have a greenhouse rjudd! Lucky you, I can't think of a better combination than a greenhouse AND a pond together.
How big is the pond in relation to the greenhouse? Can you send pics of some of your plants and maybe some shots of the interior including the pond? Thanks.

I have some green house photos here..
http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/t/rjuddharrison/1826/
and this is the water trough in the green house.

For our nature lovers, I went to see our local bat colony exit from under a bridge last night, was rather an impressive thing to see. I captured some on video, and posted in a Houston Chronicle blog.
http://www.chron.com/channel/houstongardening/commons/persona.html?newspaperUserId=rjudd&plckController=PersonaBlog&plckScript=personaScript&plckElementId=personaDest&plckPersonaPage=BlogViewPost&plckPostId=Blog%3arjuddPost%3a17d4e3ae-cf88-44ae-b93f-da0ad1887f82

Very interesting. Did you bag some Guano?

No, Ieft it there.

VERY interesting pictures, thanks. I love the idea of the mosquito netting - now I just need a greenhouse to go with it.

Seriously, where did you get those light sticks? - I love those - must have. I've never seen them before - do you remember where you bought them? I too, have a hobby horse, but mine is upstairs on a landing visable from downstairs and upstairs. I bought it for outside but unfortunately it's made of paper mache - one of those beautiful 'critters' made in Mexico. I love it but it would quickly deteriorate outside - hope you remember where you bought the light sticks, I just love them.

They are actually meant for the underside of umbrellas. I bought them at a store called Big Lots, and as much as I've looked, I've never seen them again. I take a lot of LED lights, and make them into something more interesting. Nothing is permanent around the garden, and the lights are recycled into new lights as I experiment with new things. I've kept a record of some of them if your interested.
http://davesgarden.com/community/blogs/t/rjuddharrison/1992/

I don't mean to go off topic BeaHive.

When the Herons kept coming and snacking my fish, I put a decorative shop light over the pond suspended on a tall plant hanger pole. It's great at night because it's all black, and it's hard to find where the source of the light is. It works in keeping the Herons out. Now for the Racoons!

Thank you RJ - I book marked your link - you have really peaked my interest in creative lighting and some of your pictures are just beautiful. Truly thinking outside the box and I know I have lots of "good junk" in the garage that I'm looking at in a different light, pardon the pun. If you happen to see any more light sticks, please let me know where. I did check Ebay, no luck.

Beahive, I'm so jealous of your little frog guys - so precious. I especially love the picture of the little frog ready for a night of "bugging" as you say. Great picture. I'm going to check into that camera too. Fun thread, thanks.

Thanks, I will grab a few boxes if I ever run accross them again.

More frogs!

In the top center of this picture,lunch has arrived.

This one is all tucked into the water lettuce for an afternoon rest.

This is an Oregon spotted frog juvenile. He is hiding as the bull frog is their #1 enemy.