If you study you eat. They go hand in hand. At least it did for me. I got my degree a lot later than most - age 49. I ate my way through college. Also burned up the MasterCard. Financed my entire education on it. I also got stinking drunk the night before graduation with the kids from my capstone finance class, fell off the curb at a Mexican restaurant, lost my car and had to have my husband come get me. My kids have the best time telling the story of their mother's graduation. Graduation day was outdoors, hot and sunny and there I was, in the traditional black cap and gown, hungover, head pounding, hanging on to a bottle of Avain and taking AlkaSeltzer. And horribly embarassed.
Uh - 2racingboys. I am sorry. This is supposed to be your thread about ponds. I'll knock it off.
This message was edited Feb 22, 2009 9:14 PM
New koi ponds ... advice for setup
Was that last year Snapple???? LOL!
IC-What kind of law do you practice? Is DH also Lawyer? It's funny to learn things about people after you already know them awhile. IC I think of you are intelligent yet still have a whimiscal side to you. Very playful and now I hear you have a law degree-it almost doesn't fit.
I do just transactional work, I work in the public sector (could not stand private practice). I agree, many lawyers are not people you want to hang around with, but there are plenty of really fun, genuine, nice people. The not-fun ones cannot separate their professional and personal lives - they are constantly in "lawsuit ready" mode. No one believes I'm a lawyer unless they argue with me, LOL, then my dark side comes out. My hubby does mainly corporate work, some trial work - he is also an adjunct professor and teaching is his real passion. We graduated in 2005 so have not been in the work force very long.
As an undergrad, I started out as a physical therapy major, then switched to speech pathology, then in the summer before my senior year I decided to apply to law school. I was interested in corporate & health law at the time - my goal was to move to Virginia (I like the climate) after law school. Well, then I met hubby who is from Iowa and we stayed here. I still miss the East Coast, even though I've lived in Iowa for almost seven years - a quarter of my life. I love having a nice sized yard though - I have plenty of friends my age who still live with their parents in New York because they cannot afford to move out, even though many of them make as much or more than I do here in Iowa. I could not live like that, I moved out when I was 17 to start college and never looked back.
Congratulations ic! Gutsy move.
IC: It sounds like your very diversified with all those different potential career options.
BTW: I didn't mean to imply all lawyers are a certain type. I actually have two friends who have law degrees (one is practicing) and both are gardeners. They are both very anal retentive gardeners (my joke to them) because I can barely pronounce a common plant name and they can tell me the latin plant name (and the genius and the species . . .) That is the difference in our gardening styles. We all think one another is crazy!
k ya'll got an update!
Now, this is NOTHING like some of ya'lls ponds, so please don't be dissing lol, but it's fine for us - for now. AND my backyard is a definite naked mud-hole, but don't diss that either. It's going to be COVERED with hostas.
We got the whole thing dug and stone set. I still need more though - a lot actually. All of this was 2 trailer loads. Luckily we still have a ton more at MIL house down the road. Yay for that.
Still need plants & filter spray thingy has been ordered. It looks unlevel, but it is not. It's because we have it on the side of the hill.
Kristy
once you have your plants in and the sound of water - it'll be great!
hopefully. Still is awful, doesn't look like much now but it will with time I know.
2racing: How many gallons in that pond? I like it a lot. You will be surprised how quickly that pond looks good in a few months. I will have to find some of my photos of my pond from last year. It quickly filled in.
Assuming we will be all negative - sheesh! LOL...I like it too : ) I'm jealous you can just go and pick rocks up from somewhere, I am going to need to buy mine.
I bought half a mountain. $$$$
Florida doesnt have rocks, just sand....each one here is $3.99, so I went with cement blocks and capper blocks.
Rocks are a premium here in Illinois.
We have friends sitting on quite a bit of acreage. We just ask if we can come over and go rock picking. I know we have picked a lot more than a pallet or two of rock.
My parents used to have a small weekend place in PA when I was growing up in NYC. I loved to go out there! Our lot backed up to just woods and then a few miles away there was a peat bog. It was so much fun to go around there. Definitely tons of rocks! Same thing when I lived in MA, tons of rocks. I remember digging fence posts at a place where I boarded my horse, tons and tons of rocks.
Elizabeth - where did you go in PA? NYC isn't all that far from here - about 3 hours.
A place called "Eagle Lake" near the Poconos. It was closest to Gouldsboro. I think the drive was about 2 1/2 hours. I've been having a really bad case of "missing the East coast" these past few weeks!
Dont know where Eagle Lake is, however the Poconos really are not that far and I do like the hills. Every once in awile we will venture to NYC, which is always fun.
We go on rock hunts too, it is so much fun:) Best right after the farmers burn the fields and the ditches, usually around Easter here. It is 3 hours away, where I grew up but it is worth it. My dad lets us borrow his truck and it turns into a family roadtrip.
Almost all the rocks on my pond I got for free. I'm getting more rock this spring! There is an old farmhouse foundation that a farmer said I could have. It is a stacked rock foundation and it will be great for the pond and landscaping!
Is spring here yet????
thanks guys. I've been away a few days getting these wisdom teeth taken care of. All's well now, cept fer lookin like a watermelon. :(
mothermole - the pond is 100 gallons with plant edges which I like. Can't wait to get everything going. Dh has been looking at a small light to put in there to have a nice glow in the evening.
ya'll are really going to hate me for this, but we got all this stone free. Yes, free :D. All we had to do was go get it. Dh changed landscape contractors for his building at work and the new company's plans were to pitch the rocks so we got them. Dh said 3 other guys were arguing with him because they wanted them but guess who won? Boss man. :) We got 5 trailer loads full & stacked it all at dh's moms house down the street. We're bringing them down here gradually. Dh also made me stepping stones with larger ones going up the hill. I'll post a pic soon.
2rb'S....free stones...I can't believe it! The ones here you have to buy ($3.99 and up, each) and they are the smaller than a football.
I take one rock from every place I visit and put it in my suitcase,lol. I have one from Ohio, one from MD, one from NY, one from Vail, etc... At that rate, I'll be senile before I every collect enough,lol.
Only $3.99-that's a good price for my area. They charge by the pound here. When one of my neighbors moved she said I could divide up plants or take what I wanted before the new neighbors move in because the property was covered in snow when they bought it. I took a ton of rocks from her rock garden in her yard. I'm sure it looked weird to the new owners seeing all these weird spaces. I don't care for the new neighbor anyway . . . (that's me justifying a little . . .)
Rocks are sold by the price per lb for a pallet here, with a pallet averaging about 800 + lbs. Rocks vary greatly in price per lb. The stone I chose was pretty cheap stuff by comparison - 19¢ a lb. All in all I have brought in about 10 pallets. I wish now I had chosen some of the more expensive stuff, not based on looks, but based on the ease with which you could lay the stone. The smoother and more uniform in thickness the easier it is to work with. I nearly killed myself trying to adjust and level some mighty rough stuff. I would not attempt working with that type of stone again. Some stone I rejected and they took back because it had no flat side. The "good stuff" would have one flat side and one uneven side. Be choosy rather than cheap when getting rock. BTW I was working with all "flag stone", no boulders or river stone.I personally laid every piece of stone you see and a lot you don't. The front flag stone path shown below.
The back koi pond and conifer garden.
Snapple your stonework is amazing! I'll be happy if I can just get a few rocks level near my pond when we build it. I definitely don't think I would ever be able to level an entire walkway.
Thanks for the compliment ic and yes you could.
Snapple, that looks beautiful! What a great job you did!
I'm blushing. Thank You! Any determined woman with a sledge, a wheelbarrow and a shovel can get it done. ;>)
Snapple your brick/rock work looks great. You forgot to mention "patience" with regards to the brickwork. I lack that except when planting.
Funny that - it's a task which forces patience. It doesn't matter whether you have it or not - it happens!
that stonework is definitely amazing!
I know I will move mine around a bit as we go, but it works for now.
I know the flatter the rock the better it stacks. These are flat on at least one, even 2 sides so I think they are ok.
Snapple, your gardening and lanscaping skills are amazing!!!
ok folks, been to this amazing place in south Memphis today - Trees by Touliatos & got some stuff for the new pond. Neighborhood was SCARY but awesome nursery!
Dh was talking to some guy there & said he was ready to start on another one! lol Of course I want to get this one right first. Hopefully we are on the right track.
Here's what we got:
1 Hardy water lily (gosh, I didn't know these things were so expensive! $35!)
1 Horsetail Reed
1 Louisiana Iris - needs dividing I think. There is like 8 or 9 in one 1 gallon pot
4 Duckweed
2 oxygenator bundles - neat looking things
2 water lettuce
Salt level test kit
fish salts
microbe-lift
scottish barley bales
and the boys were excited to get 4 small sarassa comet fish (various colors) & a little snail they named "Slippy". lol
we got extra duckweed to grow ourselves in 5 gallon buckets.
louisiana iris pot was full! I'll read up on how to divide. I'd like to start another pot.
Lord knows I've got plenty of clay!!
the hardy waterlilies are small but seem to be growing pretty good. Hope we get our 35 bucks worth! lol
wish I knew the color but the tag just said "hardy".
Racing-wait a little longer and people here at Dave's will start dividing plants and will send them to you for postage. Those lilly's grow fast. Replant them in generic cat littler (Wal-Mart) that is 99% pure with no additives-it's clay. Add some pond tabs or similar plant fertilizer for the pond and you will be good to go! FYI: Lowes and Home Depot and Menards sell packaged plants for ponds and sometimes very cheap. They aren't "fancy" to people who have been ponding a number of years and want exotic plants BUT they all grew for me and they were cheap.
Post pictures in another month so I can see the progress of the plants!
I am going to dig through my pictures from last year and try to find something to post for you.
Also, btw, common MINT and WATERCREST from the supermarket can be added to your pond. I did this last year and it was great-it filled in quickly and looked and smelled great. I used the mint for a Mojihito (spelling??) party and I never ran out of the stuff and it looks great in my stream.
Here's another shot of my fish and some plants. I can't wait to see how the pond is doing when I return from vacation next week. A lot of the plants were really taking off prior to my leaving plus I started one of the lotus' I bought from the TWL co-op and dug out my bog and filled it. Maybe the lotus can be put in the bog when I return. I hope so!
Linda - I remember reading about the kitty little thing. Will try that.
I did buy a couple of plants at Lowe's last wee in box packages.
Cattails, orange canna and something else.
Don't remember. lol They were like 8 bucks, but no growth at all.
They are growing a little bit now that they are in the water.
We will install the lighting tomorrow if it's not too cold. Dh hates working in cold weather. lol
I will take pics when the water clears up a bit & to show progress of the new plants.
Thanks everyone for helping me get started on this! I really appreciate it & I will remember that Linda when it comes division time for Dave's folks! lol
Now I'm anxious to see what all dh had in mind as far as 'another' pond. lol
We shall see!
meant to add - if anyone does iris divisions any time soon - I need some tips.
I've read on it a bit tonight, but still don't know the 'right' time to do this. Seems like some say early spring while others say fall. Is it after flowering this spring or what? I've never had any kind of iris so I have no idea.
also so meant to ask ....
plant fertilizers.... I read somewhere (don't remember where - I just googled) & it said to fertilize every 2 weeks.
Is that true? I thought it was every month during growing season or is that just for regular garden plants???
The people at the aquatic place I got the plants from said they were fed with time released fertilizer tablets and then we feed again for plants in potted clay. A care guide sheet they gave us says to use liquid fertilizer or Microbe-Lift/Ensure for plants potted in aquatic media or gravel.
I don't know. I guess I'm confused on how & when to fertilize & with what. lol gosh
Maybe I need to do more homework! lol