…we’re not there yet, but I have an apple tree back there that sorely needs pruning. And I have to do it before it wakes up.
That’s about a 30 minute job.
The koi pond is leaking, which is more than a 30 minute job, but I think I know where our problem is.
We don’t have a ‘firm’ edge: we have underlying HPDM liner that comes up over the berm and is pinned down by loose basalt rock of some weight. The plantings are just inboard of that edge.
There are a few exceptions. One notable one is what we call our ‘pebble beach,’ an area at the west end where we have simply thrown down river rock. I note the water stopped sinking with part of the pebble beach underwater, but still lower than the rest of the edge. I think, while the pebbles don’t individually weigh much, they also tend to travel down the slope independently, which our rocks don’t.
It’s my theory the mass of river pebbles has slid a bit and depressed the ground underneath—thus watering the surrounding shrubs, but also lowering the water level unless the topoff hose is running, which it isn’t, in winter.
So the leak’s been going on but was only turned up when the topoff hose was shut down for cold weather. And this spot is really suspect as our problem.
This means that before it gets warm enough to start the pond up again (the fish are slowly showing signs of waking) I’m going to have to get out there with a hoe and rake and haul enough of that pebble up off the liner that I can find the edge of the liner, and build up the earth that’s compacted and sunk there, thus raising the edge of the liner to equal the rest of the waterline.
Muddy, cold, and involving quite a few pounds of rock, a hoe, a wheelbarrow, a spade, gloves and rubber boots, a lot of hot coffee, and some bags of sand, which will resist compaction. This is not going to be a fun job.
Unless it’s the middle of summer, wading around in ponds and pools is not a fun thing. Toes crossed that the leak is easily solved.
We had two monthes with no rain last summer. I assumed that the water going down in the pool was due to no rain; not so. The inlet is leaking! It’s just a question of replacong the inlet and gaskets, but will entail crouching under the deck to fix. It has to be done before We can fill the pool, probably early spring before the rains start!
We have turned off the water in the bathroom sink. There is a pipe leak directly over my studio. I consider myself a fairly hardy soul but stop at a waterfall in my work area!
It’s always sumthin’ when you own a house!
Please excuse my spelling. Aloysius and Friendly had an encounter with tea and the delete button on my computer! Toes crossed that it will dry and start working again!
For underpinning, gravel then sand and water the sand in, perhaps?
Yesterday we had an upwelling of water in our side yard. Evidently we have had a leak in the water inlet from the main for quite a while, otherwise we would never have gotten through the caliche layer to find the leak. As it was the soil was soft and squishy and subject to liquifaction.
Surprise, surprise the pipe walls are only half the thickness required to meet code when the house was built 30 years ago. The pipes are failing now. I’ll worry every time the water bill is $1.00 more than I think it should be. And because the bedrock underneath this area is limestone, I’ve been having nightmares about sinkholes opening under the house. So much for having money saved to have the house painted this year.
I’m thinking that Tommie has the same thought that I do. On my end, the question is curiosity because of my ignorance: I’ve never dealt with a “water feature”.
Would pea gravel, rather than sand, work in this situation? Like sand, it won’t compact, but perhaps the edges of the gravel are just too rough for the HDPM liner, or will not produce a sufficiently even/smooth layer.
Because you will be mucking about in and out of the water, I’m guessing that you won’t be able to use a closed-cell foam pad to insulate/cushion yourself from the cold mud. Garden kneelers likely wouldn’t help, either.
Regardless, good luck, and I hope the hot coffee wards off the cold as well as possible!
I have a couple of apple trees to prune, too, and hope to complete that project this weekend. The temperatures here in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin (near Madison) have varied a lot this winter, but the trees are still dormant.
Once I figure out which limbs to prune back, completing the task takes remarkably little time, fortunately.
Ever made mocha by putting a package of instant hot cocoa in a cup and adding hot coffee?
I have a cappucino maker, complete with the steaming spout, so I use espresso, and add it to the cocoa mix, then the steamed milk. I don’t usually have whipped cream in my refrigerator, so I don’t make the cafe mocha quite like Starbucks, but it’s still pretty good.
How is the waterfall on the back corner of the lot holding up, the one with the little bridge that Jane put in? I know there was a problem with the water apparently splashing back under the waterfall and getting under the liner, rather than flowing down it. I hope it’s still flowing well and that the water isn’t sinking other than through normal evaporation.
Even though I live in an apartment complex, I’ve got a couple of trees I’ve been threatening to prune every time they hit me in the face while I’m going to get the mail. I’ve been thinking I’ll get some pruning shears and go out some night when the weather’s warmer. I’m only 5’4″ tall, and the limbs whack me in the face. Anybody taller than I am has to practically walk in the street to get past this one particular tree. I’m about to write a “health and safety” email to the apartment manager. Again.
Hereabouts, lower Willamette Valley, the officially auspicious day for pruning Rosacea (roses), one does know an apple is just a glorified rose-hip, is President’s Day. The idea is to cut them while dormant, far enough ahead of the sap running so the cut ends have some time to plug up, but not so far as to allow disease/fungi to get going before the plant wakes up and combats infection. It’s been a mild winter, so I’m thinking they might be awakening early this year. Maybe pruning a week or two early wouldn’t come amiss.
Oh, we are so far from spring here in New England! There’s another foot of snow predicted for Sunday/Monday (and if it cancels my Linguistics course for a third week in a row I shall go on a rampage against the weather gods: we’ve not met once). I too do pruning in late winter but the rose bushes are thoroughly buried and the apple trees up to their lower branches but barricaded by all the snow. Late March is my normal pruning time.
Here on the southern OR coast, the daffies and wild plums are blooming, and some of the other trees are thinking hard about sprouting. I’ve got GOBS of repotting to do (bonsai) and, of course, its storming again. We had an extra long false summer in January (we often get a week or so of warm dry weather that puts most of our summers to shame its so nice) so things are well and truly moving into spring mode.
I miss my wild plums…. sigh…
Are you guys noticing this (dirty rain)?
http://www.komonews.com/weather/blogs/scott/Mysterious-dirty-rain-falling-in-Eastern-Washington-Oregon-291091671.html
We’re getting dumped on now too, I’m not seeing it. The jet stream bringing this in is coming out of the southwest, a “Pineapple Express”. Kinda hard to see how a Kamchatka volcano could have been entrained. See the GOES-10 full disk here: http://www.goes.noaa.gov/FULLDISK/GWIR.JPG
Is somebody hunting wabbits? It’s been vewy, vewy quiet lately.
When I was a lad I learned about “Bode’s Law“. It was discredited when Neptune turned up in the wrong place, and some astronomers still deprecate it. The argument seems to me to parallel Wegener’s Hypothesis of Continental Drift. IMO, the oddities of Uranus, in particular its axial tilt, strongly suggest there has been a great disturbance in the outer solar system.
“The formation of the ice giants, Neptune and Uranus, has proven difficult to model precisely. Current models suggest that the matter density in the outer regions of the Solar System was too low to account for the formation of such large bodies from the traditionally accepted method of core accretion, and various hypotheses have been advanced to explain their creation.”
“It [the Nice model] proposes the migration of the giant planets from an initial compact configuration into their present positions, long after the dissipation of the initial protoplanetary gas disk.”
So this provides sufficient explanation, I think. The essence of the Bode’s Law is that it is based on “orbital resonances”.
And now for the punchline. The essence of a scientific theory is that it produce testable predictions. Well, Bode’s Law has! Anybody know a good way to prepare crow? 😉
“Using the Inclinations of Kepler Systems to Prioritize New Titius-Bode-Based Exoplanet Predictions
Timothy Bovaird, Charles H. Lineweaver, Steffen K. Jacobsen
We analyze a sample of multiple-exoplanet systems which contain at least 3 transiting planets detected by the Kepler mission (“Kepler multiples”). We use a generalized Titius-Bode relation to predict the periods of 228 additional planets in 151 of these Kepler multiples. These Titius-Bode-based predictions suggest that there are, on average, ~2 planets in the habitable zone of each star. We estimate the inclination of the invariable plane for each system and prioritize our planet predictions by their geometric probability to transit. We highlight a short list of 77 predicted planets in 40 systems with a high geometric probability to transit, resulting in an expected detection rate of ~15%, ~3 times higher than the detection rate of our previous Titius-Bode-based predictions.”
For us, it is showing that multiple planet system are about as common as SciFi writers have been writing about for years. Our Solar System isn’t so unique! And Bode’s Law is showing the way. 😉
Paul, thanks for the reference and link to the Nice theory of Gas Giant Migration. I’ve been looking for some more contemporary explanations than the traditional Inner/Warm Solar System= Rocky planet formation vs. Outer/Cool SS= Gas Giants.
It’s also nice to see that Bode’s Law is overall holding up too. It’s a very satisfying Law (I.e. easy to remember, simple and satisfyingly predictive).