If you look real close...

....you will see one of our new pond residents. Mr. (or is that Ms.???) Turtle is sunning him/herself on a rock. Ryan and KatieBug were trying to come up with names for them...I call them Turtle, both of them! They are so skittish that getting a picture of them is almost impossible. To take this shot I was standing in the house with my arm stretched out the patio door as far as I could stretch it, good thing I managed to get him in the shot, when he heard the camera shutter he was in the water faster than fast...some day we hope they will get used to us and be as socialable as the Koi, who allow me to hand feed them.

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Progress....we are making slow but sure progress on the retaining wall, the weather and grandkidlet baseball/softball schedules have prevented us from getting it completed in a timely fashion, but hey...I would rather be cheering on the kids than hauling these heavy bricks anyway...the project isn't going away and it will be done soon so we have split our priorities for now. Such is life!

Last wknd...things moved right along, it was fun to see the progress

As of yesterday, this is where we are...
begining the second layer and loving how it has changed the look of our property.

Yesterday (the sun was out, it was a beautiful day!) we spent the day helping our kids get their pond in - lots of digging and laughing and leveling and more digging and *some* grumbling and discussing and laughing and leveling and....finally at 6 p.m. it was ready for water. The filter works (no leaking) the waterfall works (no spilling). Hip Hip Hooray, Success! So, the water is curing, we took pond plants and some pond water up earlier today to get their eco-system started and by Tuesday it will be ready for fish. A trip to the Koi gardens...can't wait!

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I will leave you with this pic of our Master. He misses his daddy so much when his daddy isn't around...and when his daddy is around he is like a little shadow. I call this pic "Like Father, Like Son" they laid on the sofa like this for the longest time...Ryan watching the basketball playoffs and Akria sleeping...oh the life of a cat, er, I mean our Master. Ryan left last Tuesday, Akria has been howling his head off calling and looking for him...it is hilarious and sad at the same time.

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