I'm going to start writing about what I'm up to around the house. One, it will get me writing. Two, it will show people that a "fixer-upper" is more than what it appears. Three, maybe this will get my friends to begin to update they're blogs.
This weekend, I decided it was going to be pond and bees weekend. The pond is a little 150 gallon water feature in my backyard. It stopped pumping water this past week and that made me very sad. Sadly, it has slowly been dying a sad death.
I bought myself a pump to empty the pond. That pump was cranking through the water quickly, then I read a little bit in the instruction leaflet. "Pump will not work if water is 1 foot deeper than the inlet." About 5 minutes later, the pump began to have issues. The water just reached that 1 foot mark and I had about 4 inches of water left. I tried and tried to get the pump to work. Nothing.
In that time, I found out something else very interesting. My pond/water feature has a water filter. That really surprised me. Off to Home Depot to buy a new filter. (Note to readers - The pond had been running for almost 2 years without a filter change.) When I arrived, the water feature isle was around the corner. Amazingly enough, there was not a replacement filter for my set-up. (I sometimes hate when you can't get something a few years old.) I grabbed and purchased a new filter and a few of the filter clothes so I don't get caught for awhile.
Back at home, I check to see if the filter fit. Check! I then place the entire pump assembly in and turn it on, Churg, churg, churg. I see water coming from the top fountain portion but not the waterfall. I drain the pond to the last 4 inches again. I pull apart the spigot and associated other pieces. They got a good scrub down, get placed into the water and turned on. Churg, churg, churg. Water is coming from both the fountain spigot and the waterfall. Viola, it lives. I point the spigot out of the pond form and it spits out another 2 inches. Only two inches left.
Now onto the bees. I have had a bee hive in my wall since I moved in. Last year, it appeared to be small. This year, the bees returned and multiplied. They didn't bother me, so I let them live. They don't appear to be Africanized. They are just the standard honey bee. Well, a neighbor came over to my home and complained about the bees. He was worried that the "mean" bees that live in my wall might sting his chihuahuas. As a home owner, I must now do something about them.
Now, I've seen "Billy the Exterminator" on TV and I've done my research online. I've tried a number of sprays, had part of the bee hive empty out in my kitchen and they appear to use the spray as a sort of bath. They don't like it, but they keep coming back. I'm almost to the part of the bee hunt when I need to open my wall and see what's going on. If I do this, I'll empty out the hive and spray everything down. Oh yea, my outside wall is brick. Yep, I'm going to make the bees very angry inside my home.
Tomorrow, I'll try to get the pond back in functioning order.
