Morning Temp of 18 Degrees Equals Ice on the Koi Pond
The water filter broke through the morning ice and made a ring of open water in the Koi pond. The fish were moving very slowly under the ice with temps in the high teens.
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Noreen
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Noreen
Fleeting Thoughts:
Memories define us. Memories deliver us. Memories are who we are. Memories are not just about what we have done, but point us to where we are going in our lives.
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Noreen
A gray dark day with wind gusts of…
A gray, dark day with wind gusts of 35 mph. A perfect day to kick back and be thankful we had such a great week for the yard work and the porch rehab we had gotten done. A few sprinkles, but it would be nice to have a shower of rain to wash off the winter dirt.
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Noreen
Never Looked More Inviting
Spring floods have been dealt with and the carpet and all the fixings are back in the garage porch ready to be enjoyed throughout the rest of the year.
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Noreen
Thinking Back
It’s a sunny 64 degrees this afternoon and I am showered up from a morning of raking gardens and now am enjoying a can of Coke. It truly tastes like a treat.
Thinking back to last year on this day, Dennis and I would be returning home from the Mankato hospital with me having a new left shoulder that was 24 hours old. My, oh my, what a year I have had. In these last 12 months the left shoulder has healed, I had a lot of visits to the dentist, needed repairs on a torn retina in the left eye, and am encouraged in the mobility I am having since this January with the new right shoulder. Sweet!
Looking to the West with greenery being nonexistent.
These last several days Dennis and I have found ourselves in the thick of spring. Just seven days ago we were getting eight inches of heavy snow that did melt within several days. The sun coupled with low humidity winds did a great job of reminding us that perennials can pop up and out quickly. When we looked at the gardens, it was just one huge mass of grimy thick layers of Oak and Maple leaves that could be peeled off from the area, much like peeling an onion.
Could I man Dennis with a garden rake in order to help with the flower gardens? Not so much. I had a good blueprint in my mind as to where the plants were patiently waiting to be uncovered. I just could not risk having size 11 shoes snuff them out before they were given a chance. For me it was the best treasure hunt after a long winter. We decided I would rake the leaves out of the gardens onto the lawn and Dennis would mulch them with the riding lawn mower.
Grandson Jake’s garden is as far to the east that I have planted flowers. Jake was taken in an accident when he was 16 and Jake’s dad asked us to take the items that were given in memoriam to the young hunter, and thus the garden, including the flag that Jake loved when he moved to Minnesota from Alabama. Would it be our choice of a flag to fly? No. It will be replaced with a garden flag in time when it becomes tattered. Grandparents do what they can with family requests.
Good job done and Dennis is heading
back to the barn in the far back.Though it took me three days to complete the raking, we are very pleased as we can now sit back and watch the plants as they appear. There is rain coming for tomorrow and that would just be the frosting on the cake. Each spring, as the snow is disappearing, Dennis and I do think on the amount of yard we have to take care of. It is just about an acre and a half that is kept very tidy. We thought about purchasing the vacant blue house to the east of us, but as long as someone comes and mows the grass several times a year it does help keep the neighborhood looking good. There will be a time when the far large car garage won’t be needed to store the mowers and the snowblowers. For now, it sure has been a handy building to keep extras, and who doesn’t need what I refer to as a “panic area”? Don’t know where to put it? Put it in the panic area until more can be decided.
A bit bleak now but sun and rain showers
will make a huge improvement.As the temps get warmer I will be checking out to see what can be done to fill in the bare spots in the flower gardens. Winter kill is not uncommon, and though the labels tell us that plants are safe for Zone 4, I have found a few of them can also be mislabeled.
For as much enjoyment that we take from our yard and garage porch, the bit of work and exercise it takes is just what we need to stay independent, happy and content. Dennis is an early riser, and when I am awake enough to look out of the east window of the house and see him sitting in the rocking chair in the porch, it automatically brings a smile and I can’t wait to fill my coffee cup and join him. Breakfast comes a bit later, and if we can help it, nothing serious happens until after twelve noon. This is the life style on Stauffer Avenue. Thinking back I never thought much about retirement while I was working. I had no expectations. This is just plain sweet.
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Noreen
The 10th of April and the Koi are now in their pond
Enough of the Kois’ winter home
Here we are the 10th of April and the Koi are out of the horse tank where they have been since late October of 2013. This is later in the spring than usual for them to be released. The Koi go dormant when it is 40 degrees or less and they need no nourishment. All winter their time is spent in the bottom of a 100-gallon horse tank in our garage with just a water pump putting oxygen into the water. Dennis may have put in a few food pellets from time to time as this was the first time Megan and Nicholas’ Beta fish spent the winter here on Stauffer Ave. Who knew when Dorothy the fish won the heart of Megan and Nicholas five years earlier she would now be swimming with the big guys in our pond. Dorothy had been living in a gold fish bowl on the kid’s dresser enjoying temperatures that were most likely about 70 degrees year round. We had no idea if Dorothy would make it in the pond during the summer of 2013 and the odds of her surviving the winter was slime to none. What a strong little bugger.
They began as two inch Koi and now the comparison of the size of the brick tells me that they like their home.
After Dennis had netted all the fish out of the horse tank we could not believe that we had lost only two fish during the cold winter. Dorothy plus the Koi make eleven. When we have been to nurseries that sell Koi and we tell them that we have Koi that are over 10 years old they begin asking us questions about how we keep the PH level in the water at the correct level and whether or not we use additives. Dennis fills the horse tank and the pond with city water and lets it sit for 24 hours and in go the fish. The fish are fed twice a day with as much food that the group can eat in five to ten minutes. No fuss and no instructions manuals – we just enjoy having them in our back patio area. It may be the luck of the draw or perhaps people think having a fish pond is harder than it really is.
In time to come when the threat of freezing night temps are over we will have plants around the pond that will cast a shadow for the fish to swim through. Dennis uses bricks and rocks to make areas in the pond for the fish to hide or to swim through. No one likes to be exposed 24/7.
At any time sitting on the back patio the sound of the water in the pond can take one into a short time out or even find the head dropping as a nap is creeping in. Total relaxation here on Stauffer Avenue.
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Noreen
It’s ‘Spring Season’ On!
Prep work for the Koi pond.
It’s “Spring Season” on! Our morning started out with coffee cups in hand enjoying the sunny breezy morning. Several days before I had retrieved the table from the potting shed for the back patio along with two chairs to enjoy just such a morning as this. Right off the bat there were chilly temps that were forecast to reach a possible 70 degrees for the warmest day since November of 2013. We had waited for this type of morning for a long time.
Before long, hubby Dennis had the sump pump installed in the Koi pond that is on the west side of the potting shed and began pumping out the melted snow. Our Koi that have been in a horse tank in the garage since late last fall will soon be swimming laps outside. It doesn’t go as quickly as it may seem. Thin sheets of remaining ice needed to be pitched out onto the patio. As the sump pump did its job, the thick muck on the bottom of the rubber-lined pond soon smelled like silage from a farm silo when it is dislodged. Dennis filled the pond with enough fresh water to brush the rubber as clean as possible as the sump pump had one more go at getting the pond empty. The snowball bush farther to the east was given a lot of water that included extra fertilizer from the pond’s standing water.
A few coffee breaks ensued as we planed for all that was needed to get organized. Dennis had the water filter pump stored during the winter with all that it takes to keep the water moving 24/7 once the Koi are in the pond. The water needed to be pumped through the filter process a good 24 – 36 hours to allow the chlorine to dissipate. By noon today we deemed it had been a good morning and we went on to fill the coffee cups one more time to enjoy hot buttered toast for a noon lunch. Life on Stauffer is sweet indeed.
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Noreen
Fleeting Thoughts:
A quart of milk is not only $2.88, but also requires having several hours to make the four-block trip. The sun brings people out to chit chat in the grocery aisles. One would think they had been snowed in all winter.
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Noreen
A New Season with New Zeal
Not all accomplishments come with fanfare that includes certificates. Today was the culmination of three years and three months of work to maintain mobility. Oh yes, I cheated the kids out of finding a nursing home that would contend with me. It started in January of 2011 when I fell and injured my left shoulder to the degree that it took two years of muscle strengthening before I could have surgery. I am right handed and I knew during those two years that my right shoulder that had arthritis damage was taking the brunt of day to day living.
It was a red letter day in April of 2013 when I finally became a candidate for successful reconstructive surgery. Again the right shoulder and arm stepped up as the period of time for zero activity of the left arm and shoulder was followed by weeks of physical therapy.
As anyone that loves to be outside and tackle projects, Dennis and I rebuilt a portion of our garage in the fall of 2013. Priming and painted were good exercise for the new shoulder to rebuild muscle mass that had become weak. As the fall wore on, the right shoulder caused the aspirin bottle to rattle more on a regular basis than was usual and customary. Just a freak event of lifting a coffee pot took the right arm to a screeching halt. Tests indicated scarring that the rotor cuff had been tearing away bit by bit for some time and the coffee pot finished it off.
Surgery of the right reverse shoulder procedure went well in January of 2014. Today, my physical therapist gave me my walking papers – not with a written certificate, but with a huge hug. After these last several years I am free of shoulder pain and I have very little restriction. It’s not advised that I run a jack hammer and there shall be no splitting of wood. I can live within those perimeters. From this time forward during this summer season the lawn raking, grass mowing and gardening will continue strengthening muscle and tissue.Dennis has made the comment that this has got to come to a halt. Two titanium knees and two new shoulders is enough. I second that. I am very thankful for the skill of surgeons and therapists. I am also thankful that my heritage has given me a huge amount of determination aka: stubbornness. Life on Stauffer is truly sweet.
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Noreen
The interim is the hardest to contend with…
The interim is the hardest to contend with. Eight inches of snow from two days ago has melted and the mud on the bottom of my shoes tells me to stay away for a bit. If the trees are slow to budding all we need do is to listen to the birds in the early morning and they for sure will let us know they are not putting off celebrating spring. The trees are alive and the music is fantastic from multiple types of birds. Right on schedule our pair of Thrush birds are beginning to make their nests in the braces of the awning that spans the west side of our home. They are the happiest homemakers. I have noticed that the wisps of the Black Walnut trees are perfect to intertwine with the materials that they gather. Life is good here on Stauffer Avenue.
