August 6, 1999
Friday Evening
High Today: 94 degrees
Sunny. Hot. I'm tired of summer.

I think that says it all up there. I'm tired of summer. VERY tired.

We need rain very badly. I have noticed that the cotton in the fields is in a heavy wilt by lunchtime. As you drive down dirt roads, dust billows out behind you.

The irrigation pond down at work is the lowest it has ever been. Because of this I have been handed a very disgusting duty.

The submersible pump that pumps the water out of the pond to water all of the nursery stock has a wire screen over it to keep out dirt and grasses. However, the screen is not small enough to keep 1" long minnows from being sucked into the tubes.

This creates a problem when the little buggers go up the risers into the irrigation heads and they just don't fit through that little hole. So only part of them goes through. The other part, well, I have to dig out.

YUCK!

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August 7, 1999
Saturday Afternoon
High Today: so far only 96 degrees
Sunny. Hot. Humid.

Stuart acquired a small pond form approximately 2 feet deep and almost 5 feet long. If I had a camera I could take pictures but no dice. (whine)

He went and picked up a submersible pump and some hose last night. About $75 for both. He dug the hole this morning. That is a lot of digging right there. He ended up using the rocks that we both have been collection, him from the jobsites he used to be on with Primestar and me from trips to Pennsylvania, to make the waterfall and to line the edges.

It looks totally awesome! He did an excellent job. As usual. Need to get some more rocks especially some flat landscaping rocks to hid the rim of the form. I don't think I will be adding many plants to this one. It is right out at the front door and the sound of the water is really what I wanted. Maybe a water hyacinth or two. They aren't terribly invasive and don't take up a lot of room. Some Hornwort would also be gorgeous out there.

Now there is a sidewalk that starts at the front steps and curves around where the number 3 is and continues all the way to the edge (bottom left) and wraps around the side of the house. The Christmas gift from Stuarts parents.

The whole area in this picture is now mulched, bedded and landscaped. The number 1 is a Japanese Maple green cultivar that is quite larger than what shows in this pic. Between that tree and the front corner of the house I want to put a Bloodgood Japanese Maple. That would add an illusion of privacy right there at the front door without it looking like a jungle.

The water garden sits to the right and in front of the numbers 3, 4, 5. Pointing out to the right. We have also added lights on either side of the sidewalk, that run the length of it.

We really have done so much to this one area that I have to take another pic to fully show it.

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