All for nothing

     About eight years ago I built a small reflecting pool, with added dye to make the surface black, aiding in reflecting the trees above it.  The first photo shows it last year..
     The last two years the pool had a mysterious leak, as it was erratic, and it never dropped more than three inches in this 12-inch-deep pool.  This spring I discovered two holes chewed by rodents near the top in one side of the rubber liner.  Figuring this might be the source of the leak, I reworked the liner to raise it up above the water line.  That did not help, and I could not hear or find any other leak after filling the pool.  So, I figured I must have a leak farther down.  Thus, I had to take out every one of the dozens of rocks, then look for the leak.  Nothing.  Then I put the rubber liner back, holding it up with a few rocks.  Next, I filled the pool with water.  No leak!  Baffling!  Finally I emptied the pool again and replaced all the rocks, trying to raise the liner higher than it had been earlier, as that might have been the problem.  Sure enough, no leak, problem solved.
     Now, I am looking for a way to recover the ten hours I wasted "solving" a non-leak.

Can't wait to get out there

      I have a nice view of what I call my Williamsburg Garden, and the back of the property behind it, every time I sit down at my kitchen table.  Especially at breakfast, if the sun is hitting several spots in the back yard, I feel as if a giant magnet is pulling me outside.  I just can't wait to get out there and pull weeds, water plants, pick up sticks or debris...anything.  Just do SOMETHING, the "magnet" seems to be telling me.
     The first photo is the view from inside the house at the kitchen table.  The next two were taken outside last fall just after I removed the grass, which constantly died from excess shade, and replaced it with Climacium americanum moss.  I found it in a woods a few miles from here at my friend's place.  It is generally doing well, except for a spot that gets a bit too much sun.  As the trees grow, that problem will subside.  The last photo shows the garden a few years ago when grass was there.
     The flowers are wax begonias, treated here as annuals, though in the tropics they grow as perennials.

Different year, different appearance

     This photo of the patio was taken recently.  Some changes are evident from the photo heading up the blog, which was taken in 2015.  The changes are due to some bad winter weather.  First, it was fifteen below zero (Fahrenheit, or minus 27 Celsius) with no protective snow cover, which damaged many perennials.  Second, it warmed to 70 degrees (22 Celsius) in February, which stimulated growth of hostas and other perennials.  Third, that was followed by hard freezes which damaged or killed the new tender growth.  Thus, the hostas in the RR tie planter, behind the white begonias, are much smaller this year.
   The rose begonias on the left side of the patio are also smaller this year, due to several days in May in the 90s right after planting.  They were badly burnt and never recovered fully.
     The bricks in the patio are reclaimed street pavers, originally used in the city of Milwaukee in the early 1900s.  Most of them are rounded at the edged, caused by hard wagon wheels and horseshoes cracking off pieces over the years.  I collected 5000 of them in the 1970s.
     The dark green plant in the foreground of the blog page is Plectranthus coleoides "Nico Foliage."
     I can only hope for a better winter coming up.

A less brutal job

    
     After replacing 60 railroad ties, I had to relay some of the antique pavers I use in pathways.  As they weigh only eight pounds, it was much easier than laying the 180-pound ties.  I have about 3-4 inches of torpedo sand under the bricks, and I use finer mason sand between the bricks.  I separate the bricks by about a half inch, and the sand level is recessed about a half to three quarters of an inch.  That gives it a three-dimensional appearance, which I prefer.  The bricks are a bit over a hundred years old, and I picked them up for free when a street was being repaved in 1973.