A finalized picture of the new patio. While it took about 15 bags of sand to get a 1" deep layer in the 6X8 box, it only took two bags to fill in the gaps.

(click photo for larger image.)

I just read a passage in Weird Minnesota (Mark Moran et all) about a plague of locusts averted when a strong frost wiped out the eggs. It got me wondering if the rising temperatures over the weekend were the spark in the boxelder bug powder keg that's left many Twin Cities houses and business fronts coated in a teeming skin of the small black and red-striped beetles. Fortunately, unlike locusts, these native insects are unlikely to wipe out our crops or cause blood poisoning in livestock. The only real damage involved is the nuisance of cleaning up the thousands of brittle insects carcasses.


Finally polished off the patio blocks. Had to add a bit of color to the first set I poured out over three weeks ago, as the rain was already fading the red and turning the surface fo the brown stones to salt-and-pepper. Also added a coat of sealer to cure and weatherproof. Hope to get the sand packed in by Wednesday.

The other weekend big project, replacing the West pond basin, is at least half finished in that the pond has been drained, the plants, frogs and fish fry relocated to the East Basin, and holes punched in the bottom. Over the week I'm planning to take out some righteous IT-related rage ("you did WHAT to your work computer?") on the unsuspecting rigid liner with an axe and sledge hammer. But not tonight. Tonight's' my anniversary, which I PROBABLY would have remembered on my own, even if my beautiful Irish wife hadn't taken it upon herself to casually remind me for the last month and a half.

Her: Isn't it amazing we'll have been married for two years?
Me: It sure is.
Her: Two years as of five weeks and three days.
Me: Wow, I didn't know you had it down that far.
Her: Has it felt like two years?
Me: It sure has.
Her:
Me: Uh, I mean, NO, it hasn't.
Her:
Me: I mean --

At any rate, here's some fall color from our jaunt out to the Forest Lake/Wyoming side of the Carlos Avery WMA.

Click the thumbnails to see larger versions.

After what felt like a week of rain, clouds, and cold, Apollo's chariot made its appearance bright and early this morning. I couldn't have asked for a nicer day to end the weekend; clear skies, and temperatures hovering in the upper 60's! Took advantage of it to re-screed and lay as many bricks as our stash of concrete would allow.

I think I'm finally hitting my patio-laying stride, which is rather sad as I only have about 3 feet to go. Instead of just randomly placing the blocks I've worked them into what I think of as a 'Lake Superior' pattern, with brown as the lake and streams and red as the mainland and islands.

Found each form takes about 1 1/4 60 lb. bags of concrete, and about 1 can of color. Since I'm doing approximately half red and half brown, that means mixing the cement, color, and water in separate tubs, then transporting them from the tubs to the work site in small containers. Care has to be taken to pour the cement carefully (the colors look shoddy when mixed), and to make a red run and a brown run when leveling and smoothing the concrete, being careful to wash the trowel between each run.

The color washes pretty well out of decking, aluminum siding, and dried blocks, but not so much when it comes to clothing. This means that in addition to the cement ($2.35 a bag X 14), sand ($58 so far, though it turns out I bought more than I needed), the form/mold ($12) and the cement color mix ($4.50 X 6), I need to replace a pair of loafers ($20), pants ($25), a shirt ($20), and socks (depends on how you divide them I guess; $1?) which means this project is going to cost me a grand total of approx $208 by the time I'm done. That's not counting the time I've put into this project. I have no idea what to pay myself for manual labor.

Not bad when you compare it to paying professionals, or even the kid next door to have it done, but how's it compare to buying the patio blocks pre-made? The patio blocks I saw ranged from around $2 each to around $4, so let's average and say $3. At 7 blocks to a set that would make $21 a set. That would have made around $252 for the blocks, plus $58 (when you factor in that I'd still need to screed a 1" layer of sand, and, being a patio rookie, I'd still screw up and buy too much) which puts us at around $310. Looks like even with the red-splotched shoes and Dockers I saved. Just not by much.

In other news, yes Virginia there are still frogs in my pond. You'd think that with the average temp dropping below 50 some days (and below 40 some nights,) they'd start burrowing in the mud around the banks, but I counted at least six Green Frogs sunning themselves in the shallows this morning. Hope they're not getting two comfy, as the project I have to take on next weekend is going to involve draining the plastic pond and smashing it into small enough pieces to cram into the trash bin.

Seems that when I added on the second pond basin and the stream to connect the two basins with rubber liner I forgot to take into account the fact that the sun heats the plastic basin to the point where it expands and contracts on a daily basis. Alone, and in a bed of sand, you'd never notice this, but try to couple it with a non-conductive rubber liner and no among of sealant, self-expanding foam, or bolts will keep a watertight seal.

Which means you're going to have leaks.

Which means adding more water via a hose on a timer on a daily basis. Which not only flies in the face of water conservation, but costs money, and forces the filters and the fish to cope with a daily influx of the brown rust crap from our water table. While I'm not exactly giddy about the prospect of rebuilding the first basin, it will give me an opportunity to excavate a deeper stream for my goldfish. If they continue growing at this rate, they'll certainly need it.

Seems to have been a good year for native gardening; the Harebell's still blooming, the Pasqueflower is thick, and the stand of Swamp Milkweed flourishing by the driveway is almost as tall as I am. We've also got a transplant from Long Lake in Stillwater (I've included it to the left), some sort of rush-type plant with grass-like leaves and five balls of green spikes on each stalk.

Anyways, we're planning on a quiet evening and maybe a little archery practice here.

In the insane rush to get this year's chunk of pond garden finished before the snow flies, we've started building a raised patio up above the waterfall. It's not a huge in area only about 8'X7', but that didn't mean it hasn't been a process.

So far, the area's been weeded, excavated, the pipes and cords run through aluminum pipes, the dirt screeded and packed down with a makeshift tamper, the screeder (a 2X6 mounted to a 2X4) raised to allow for 1" of sand. The sand (we needed about 20 bags for the area) was dumped in bag by bag, screeded, packed, and screeded again. Each rainfall (we've gotten three since Saturday; a bad one Saturday night that wreaked hell in Rogers), required an additional packing and screeding.

The cement had to be mixed in two basins; one for red (with ash for texture) and one for gray (with sand for texture), and was then poured into a random stone mold, which I picked up at Menards. The section you see was about a bag and a half. The black feeder pole you see was shoved in while the bricks were semi-hard.

Saw massive flocks of American Goldfinch over the weekend. Both feeders were filled with the smallish yellow birds at some points, with others queuing up on the pole or in the branched of the potted palm. I'd assume this indicates a good deal of them banding together to head South, and that soon enough we'll only be seeing the smallish bands of year-round resident finches making their rounds of the feeders.

Area wildlife spotted the last week:

• Red-shouldered hawk
• American goldfinch
• Monarch butterfly
• Red-bellied woodpecker
• Hairy woodpecker
• Black-capped Chickadee
• Nuthatch
• Gray Squirrel
• Eastern Chipmunk

Flowers Blooming in Pond Garden:

• Showy Goldenrod
• Daisy Fleabane
• Harebell