Weekend projects

High 57 F
Low  40 F
Rain 1.35"

The fish pond has had no fish in it for several years but it is home to many frogs and currently all sizes of tadpoles.  Some are plump and bigger than your thumb and others are just tiny in size.  I mentioned to the EM (Equipment Manager) that it would be nice to have the water running and the fish swimming and my daughter remarked that it was the one 'blight' in the garden.  She is wrong, there are many but this is a major one.   The problem is the ledge which surrounds us and attracts lightning which burns the line out.  The wire has to be run from the garage to the pond and that is about one   hundred and fifty feet and goes across the driveway and through the 'Pink Chimes' (yes, I am liking that name) border.  Not an easy task to dig it every few years and replace it.  I had some work obligations this weekend and came home to find a 'moat' across the drive and men hard at work running new wire.   Since the pond hasn't been in service, the Iris pseudacorus has run rampant and needed to be pulled out and thrown in the compost.  The two clumps visible in the first picture must have weighed in at several hundreds pounds including the water they were holding.  Not easy to pull out!  I also didn't get pictures of that since the men were ready and the camera was in the house.  It took three of us plus the tractor to haul them out and then away! I can see why it is on the invasive species list although it is a pretty iris.  The new wire was inserted in a pipe for protection from the elements and the shovels.  The job is not yet complete but I hope there will be some fish swimming in the pond in the next couple of weeks. I hope to be able to sit on this bench, coffee cup in hand, under this crabapple and watch the fish swim while the water trickles down these rocks.  Do you have a water feature in your garden?  Is it a place you sit to relax?