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Thread: I need work

  1. #16
    When you find something that you really enjoy you should engage as often as you can.

    While I will never build anything like this I am planning a major rehab of our little in ground store bought pond. I will be getting a nice load of the flat stone like it has around it now but do a better job of setting it all up. I can then put back the hose that ran a waterfall. The filter in the bottom of the pond pumps out a little spray shower and also can run around with a line for a waterfall. We have plants around this now including some small roses and other nice plants that are good cover for critters who drink from the pond. I also need to run a water line from the faucet manifold over to the pond so I can add water during dry spells. This will all be done on a Saturday. Once I have the rock the rest is easy.

    I also have to have a plumber out to fix one of the faucets that popped a few years ago when it froze up. I had not gotten under the house to cut off the water. I also want them to add a cutoff up inside the house under a sink in the powder room there. Then I don't have to crawl halfway under my house to screw with the water shut off. I also have to start doing a better job of keeping my birdbath by the feeders cleaned out and filled with fresh water.

    Deer like our yard and we see them every week or so. Sometimes they seem to hang around for a day or so. We have good safe cover when it rains and sometimes when it is raining there will be 5 or 6 up under the trees and azaleas. The Back hedge is about 15' tall at least and it hangs over the back fence and you can stand there in light rain and never feel a drop. The deer like that area.

  2. #17
    I aint done, but far enough along so you can see my plan. I think I will enjoy sitting on my porch with this.

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  3. #18
    2LT Mike Kelly's Avatar
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    You have a Bird Sanctuary like no other. If I was a bird, that's where I'd hang out. Where will the tadpoles come from?

  4. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Kelly View Post
    Where will the tadpoles come from?

    Good question. Do you know of any lakes in my area?


  5. #20
    2LT Mike Kelly's Avatar
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    There is a great big lake near you. Lake Hatwell near Taccoa. As a kid, the best place for us to find tadpoles was in our small pond or one of the many creeks that feed the pond. They came in all sizes. The big ones already had legs forming on them. We also caught crawfish out of these creeks. Small miracle today that of us kids every got bitten by a cotton mouth snake. Seemed like the tadpoles I remembered growing up liked the old country ponds and creeks where we played. We caught them with a small minnow net. Good times as a kid. As long as I had a pocket knife, flashlight & a bicycle without a flat tire, I had no money, no problems, & no worries.

  6. #21
    I don't intend to add tadpoles till Spring. I do hope to soon add a few mosquitofish which are tiny things that eat skeeter larvae.

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    Due to the lake and my ponds, lots of frogs are around. This year was especially good as to toads. Most have been eaten now, but there were many this year. Cats leave them be as they taste bad.

    I hope to find tree frog tadpoles. Those can be some odd looking critters. I'll try later to find some photos. You can buy them on line. A hundred don't cost too much, but probably I will get them from the lake.

    Every few years I order in Bullfrog tadpoles. I always have a few Bullfrogs in my ponds. They are kinda territorial, so most hop down to the lake after they are grown. It is funny, they tend to travel in a heavy rain. They give me a few tadpoles every year.
    This Tadpole Farm is not for them. They do well in the big ponds. My cat Devil is a bullfrog hunter, but not very successful.

    Look at these - $25 for one tadpole. I won't be getting these in.

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  7. #22
    Quote Originally Posted by Mike Kelly View Post
    There is a great big lake near you. Lake Hatwell near Taccoa. As a kid, the best place for us to find tadpoles was in our small pond or one of the many creeks that feed the pond. They came in all sizes. The big ones already had legs forming on them. We also caught crawfish out of these creeks. Small miracle today that of us kids every got bitten by a cotton mouth snake. Seemed like the tadpoles I remembered growing up liked the old country ponds and creeks where we played. We caught them with a small minnow net. Good times as a kid. As long as I had a pocket knife, flashlight & a bicycle without a flat tire, I had no money, no problems, & no worries.
    I was the same. Catching frogs, tadpoles, snakes, and crawfish was a natural thing. I guess I have never lost my desire for that. I have continuously kept an aquarium since 1970, and yard ponds since 1995, so I am a self taught expert.

    Where I grew up, there was the old nasty cotton mouth. Where were you raised?
    Here at the lake we don't have them (yea!!). In SC they stay below the "fall line".
    That makes me happy.

  8. #23
    2LT Mike Kelly's Avatar
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    I grew up outside of Union Point, Ga. Cotton Mouths & Rattlesnakes were the two to be on the lookout for. We had plenty of tadpoles as we seemed to have creeks/streams everywhere. Hard to believe that in all the ponds we swam in as kids, we never got bitten by a cotton mouth. My Dad killed many cotton mouths around our small pond. We saw one coming out of the pond one day at the dam with a catfish half-way in his month and slithering in the marsh behind the pond. He got away as we did not have our 22 rifle with us that day. It was a big one. As Boy Scouts we always camped near a pond/small lake. Listening to the crickets and bullfrogs all night was a beautiful thing. At night we all had for light were cheap flashlights and usually one Coleman lantern. Usually fell asleep about 1:00 am. Cooked breakfast over an open fire. I still have my Boy Scout mess kit. After I got married, my Bride & I did some rough style camping with the very basics. Cheap flashlights & one Coleman lantern, canvas tent and sleeping bags. I cooked breakfast over the open fire. I got an iron grate I used to put the pots & pans on while cooking. Cooked the coffee in an old aluminum percolator. Still have the iron grate, but have not used in many years as Bride don't like to rough style anymore. I guess you would call us luxury campers now. I still always build a fire every night and usually first thing in the morning. I have a coleman gas stove, but still cook a lot in Dutch Ovens now. I purchased a Flat Top grill last year which I am beginning to learn how to cook different things on. Still working on getting the flat top seasoned. Once that is done will cook many things, including pancakes without sticking.

  9. #24
    Nebraska is up 6-2 over Illinois. I am watching on the porch.

    I added some moss to my Tadpole Farm. It is looking better everyday. They sell this online for $8.99 for a small 6" piece. I have it growing for free in my shady yard.

    I mixed up a mild Miracle Grow blue mix in a spray bottle to keep it happy.

    You can grow this most any place. One way to start it if you don't have a yard full is:

    Take a patch and mix it in a blender with a weak Miracle Grow mix. Then you can paint it where you want it. It likes shade and moisture.

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  10. #25
    Never saw a poisonous snake where I grew up.

    I have lived in the charlotte area since late 1969 when I came for school. I see a copper head a few times a year but mostly black snakes and the little green snakes. We get toads and frogs around our pond a few times a year. They make all kinds of noise in the evening and as the sun goes down.

    Every year, sometime after the first few weeks of the year we will hear the first sound that winter is starting to melt away. In the park there are a few marsh areas where frogs and or toads will make a tone of noise. They come out after a few warmer and sunny days. Sometimes they are so loud that we can't hear each other talk. It really lifts the spirits. This year we heard them before the end of January. Typically it is mid to late February as I recall. When they were out this year we heard some people talking as they walked past them and they were asking each other what that noise was. Must have been transplants from some northern concrete jungle.

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