I was a pondering a pond said he...
Did you know that Tampa is the lightning capital of the Northern Hemisphere?
(Click on links to view JPEG pictures! Hit the BACK button to come back HERE!)
We bought our house in December
1994. The first picture is how it looked once Jeff began clearing
out some of the mess that was here. The next picture demonstrates
the tropical paradise that it was becoming, in need of a pond. Not
just a pond - but a pond with a waterfall.
Being the kind of guy he is - he collected rocks. So many rocks (15
truck loads). He lifted most of these rocks by himself, he made a
little dolly to carry them. It was quite an undertaking. And
then he began to pile them, one upon another till he had a 8' high waterfall.
We scoured flea markets and yard sales and bought a pump. He dug
a large 8 shaped hole, put in PVC pipe, tested the pump and then couldn't
decide if he should go with cement or liner. Like I said - that was
2 years ago. Last month we finally got our pond, and it was so simple
and easy - now we have 2 - with a flowing stream connecting the two!
Two did I say - not really 2 but 5, because
we have 3 holding - isolation ponds for the plant life we get from the
local (privately owned with permission) retention ponds (did I say we, I'm sorry - Jeff gets. I can
assure you of this one thing, you will NEVER see me, Karrel, in retention
pond in Florida - coz guess what --- there are gators in them thar ponds!
And not just any gator mind you (we are reminded of that warm and fuzzy
little gator - the mascot of the University of Florida (go 'Noles!).
Cute green guy wearing blue & orange). Well this here picture
ain't a picture of him I tell you, this 14' fellow
was recently done away with by those 2 guys posing there with him.
Next month he will be featured on 5th Ave at Sachs as matching luggage.
Now there are a lot of these big fellows around here and I do not want
to end up being lunch (well maybe I would be dinner) for this handsome
fellows kin. But Jeff, I guess he figures - What the hey! So
we have water hyacinths and water lilies
(our most beautiful), pickerel weed, and any more species (who shall be
identified later) all for free, unless you consider risking your life to
Big Boy here a cost of some sort. (Wonder what his jaw span was???)
So on we go, our pond is now beautiful - as
is evidenced below. In order is the small pond against the fence
which faces due east. The stream flows from
the small pond to the waterfall
and large pond which sits in the southeast corner of our lot. Our
home faces west. So here goes guys (by the way
we have fish in there too!) We also xeriscape our yard, follow me if you would like to know more about that wonderful form of gardening.
