Bits & Pieces of Tuesday

Yesterday I got an emergency call to substitute teach; returned to 95 degrees inside the house so I whined for Margaritas. I did accept the challenge of our usual two mile walk before consuming my favorite refresher in order to truly justify the sugar. Dave's World Famous Margarita recipe has been tweaked; we're eliminating the soda pop, replacing with sparkling water and increasing the lime aid and triple sec. They were incredible.

As rewarding as it was to see students shiny faces and to view the gaping holes and new teeth proudly displayed by giggling first graders, I must admit the pleasant experience of yesterday only bolstered my morning today as I enjoyed the leisure that retirement holds. I am treasuring my time spent transforming Badboulder's thistles and thorns into pockets of flowering plants.

As I watered the Virginia Creeper this morning, honest to God this is true, a small frog hopped onto my bare toe. I'm a novice photographer and haven't learned to carry a camera, so alas, no pictures. A young frog represents success to me. For four years now I have engaged in saving frogs from the tadpole stage to maturity. As we continue to provide more boggy spaces the frogs choose to live with us among the boulders as opposed to hopping off in search of those greener pastures we hear so much about. A chorus of frogs serenade us as we sit on our deck evenings. I find one or two big bellied frogs each day sitting in the dense shade the water iris provide to that corner of our pond (otherwise those iris would be gone as they've never bloomed).

The frog encounter alone made for a wonderful Tuesday but there was so much more--our periwinkle blue wheelbarrows are full of orange marigolds, hot pink zinnias, purple morning glories and several errant tomato plants. There was time to paint a buffet cart and stain a table for our deck and best of all, I'm ready to share an iced cappuccino with David as the latest monsoon dumps sheets of rain on our new deck roof.

Retirement is grand!

FROM THE KNOTHOLE: Crowing about the croaking of cute little frogs jumping on her toes. Bragging about wheel barrows full of flowers sitting in front of our green gate. Singing the praises of the good life at Badboulder. Relaxing with an iced cappuccino on the deck under the new deck roof. Well, let me tell you, did Badboulderlady bother to tell you that it was me that made the case for a roof on the deck? In Arizona, every structure needs a roof. If the rain doesn't get you then the sun will. Without a roof, there would be very few days when the deck would be comfortable. Oh, hi Honey, may I come join you on the deck? Oh, look, it's raining. I just love the sound of rain on a metal roof. What did you say? Okay, smoochy-smoochy.

a parting shot from bbman: i would travel 5,000 miles to be home for only 5 minutes.

DIY Fish & Frog Pond

While we were constructing our own home there were periods of time when I couldn't contribute much to the process. Landscaping (keeping the chaparral cut) kept me busy; but local fish ponds were so much more appealing than brush cutting that I began to read Sunset articles proclaiming that fantastic ponds could be built in a weekend. We discussed and discarded the idea of commercial liners, bought Sunset's pond book and laid out the area. I volunteered to do the digging. Two summer vacations later, I had pick-axed the required depth through a decomposed granite boulder and we were ready for cement blocks. David laid the blocks for the rectangular 4 by 8 by 4 deep pond, holding a bit over 400 gallons of water, coated it with a masonry product, and I sealed with specialty coatings . After hearing stories about saving fish in the driveway during a raging monsoon storm, we created an overflow in our pond. The overflow has seen our fish through many a flooding rainstorm. We filled the pond to check for leaks and waited a month before subjecting any plant life or fish to any toxins the new masonry products might emit.

The pond has been a source of delight for me as we continued the long time-frame that the construction of Badboulder has taken for one person--David. We were the grateful recipients of twenty or so large fantailed gold fish and one huge Koi when a neighbor moved . Old Spot, the Koi, soon came to have his head petted while consuming his twice daily feedings of pellets. It was a sad day for us two years later when we learned the dangers of herons (guess it might have been a hawk). A horse training ranch 4 miles away boasts a "lake" complete with herons.

Through the years, I have rescued tadpoles from becoming crispy critters when their small pools of water began to dry. Frogs are such ingrates and usually hop off, but a few remain loyal to sit in the pond and be admired. We can now sit on our deck and hear nightly croaking from a bog that we recently created.

Our water lilies have been spectacular this year. We started with only two, gifts from a neighbor in return for a week's pet sitting. She also supplied us with water plants that keep our pond clean. Through the years David has re-potted the newly propagated lilies and we now have all our pond size permits.

Please enjoy these pictures.