Ground Work

Rob really got into it when it came time to lay down the liner.

We're 98% certain the turtle's a girl. Her name is Tubby.

She seems pretty content with the pool Rob made in the blue storage bin, but she's vulnerable to raccoons, so Rob's been bringing her in each night to a similar bin in the shower. Not a great long term solution.

We decided to build her a pond along one corner of the house. Last weekend we dug the basic pond and laid the foundation for a cage that will go around it -- kind of like a chicken coop -- to keep raccoons and other critters from getting to Tubby. We used some of the old bricks from the fireplace that we still had on hand.

Rob's been watching Gardeners' World to learn how to make a pond. After we had the basic shape, Rob put in a special pond liner, which will keep the water from leaking out.

The pond needs a filter and Rob rigged the outtake hose so that it splashes over a rock. Hurray! Our own private waterfall. It sounds really pretty.

Tomorrow, the plants go in and then we get to work building the cage. Hope to have this done before the weekend is out. 

Turtle Watch 2015

The turtle took off yesterday and we couldn't find him anywhere. We thought he might be hiding in our vegetable garden, because the squash leaves make a lot of shade and the grey water keeps that area pretty moist, but I couldn't find him.

This morning, he was back sunning himself in the same place as yesterday, so Rob built him a really primitive pond out of some stuff we had on hand.  

The tub is what I normally store my knitting supplies in; the rocks are from the arroyo seco we've been building. (Hm. Should probably get some pics of that up here.)

He seems to really like where he's at, although we have to figure out how to keep racoons and cats from getting him.

Garden Guest

Rob and I always hoped our garden would be a habitat and I found this guy hanging out in the back yard this morning. Bit of a mystery as to how he got there.  Welcome!