thanks guys! Barry, yes I admit, I have become obsessed with ponds! This makes 2 or 3 depending on how you look at it. I have 2 preforms, but they are joined together..so is that considered 1 or 2? I don't know, lol. But they just werent enuf for me. Workout? LMFAO!!! Thats a good one! I'm too lazy. I just love to dig :) But, thank you :) I'm leavin the butt kickin comment alone, lol! SJN, I WISH I had some frogs and toads! I havent been able to get my butt down to the creek to get some. DH said the spot he knew of was too grown over now. Argh. Hey, the less clothing the better. Normally I am just in a bathing suit top and shorts. Last year that's how I dug all my beds. Got a good tan! Outdoor showers are cool things..If you do it I hope you don't get stung by any bees or wasps..ouch! lol. Thank you very much EL, I am proud I did it all by myself, I can't wait till it's done. If it doesnt look good at the end..I'll tell everyone DH did it not me, LMAO!!!! Shawn, the fish love it! I can't wait to see it finished either! Been searching craigslist every day to try and get some free stone..no luck so far. I wanna know why stone is so dang expensive? Collielover, the digging took me aprox 9 hours..maybe 10. I took breaks to jump in the pool and have drinks. DH did the cooking & watched the kids for me, but of course they couldn't NOT bug me, lol. I told DH I coulda set up a carnival out front for them, and they'd still bug me every 5 mins,lol. I didnt do anything in the house I was so busy outside..of course noone else did either. Wed night I came in, and said "This place is a disaster, it's terrible" DH said "Yeah but the pond looks good" lol Theresa, I was gonna email you today..was a lil worried you hadnt been on in a couple days & you didnt answer my email I sent the other day. Glad your here! Hope all is well! Yes, I am going to keep the ponds seperate. DH wanted me to connect them and everyone wanted a long winding stream connecting them..what do they think I AM???? LMAO! I dont know if you can tell, but this one is in front of the other ones..really just in front of the larger preform the fish were in before. I really wanna put the lotus into that larger preform, I just cant lift the damn thing. I never shoulda sunk it into the ground. Wanted to put the whole tub into the pond, I dont want to transplant it right now, I am scared it wont bloom if I do. And I def dont want to kill it! I need to give you back a bunch of it! Eventually I will just fill in that pond with compost & manure I guess about 8" deep or so? And put the lotus in there. LOL, I'd have room for more if DH would get his crap outta the yard, lol..that's not selfish is it? AT least my stuff is pretty :) Thanks again everyone :) So glad I have you all to share this with.

Hope all the boys with their injuries are getting better. Yes they will always call and sometimes if the child acts funny they will really make your life miserable. You would think that boys never have accidents they way some of them can act. I was always at the school for some bruise or another with my two and they usually did it to each other, lol. They fought all the time and still don't get along. John says his oldest boy was always good. He said when they went to someones house they could have a box of toys right in front of them and they wouldn't move from where he told them to sit unless he told them it was ok even if the other person told them it was ok to play. I told him thats because he trains us all like the dogs, lol. He makes you want to mind him, lol. I often wonder if my boys would have been different if I had met him sooner. It has surely helped with my daughter. She acts very different around him than she does with her father and he will do anything in the world to please him. I thought he was going to faint when he heard her back talk her father on the phone once, lol. He just expects you to behave and thats it they do it, lol. Even my boys don't act up in front of him. His younger son got arrested once and sat in jail 3 days and wouldn't call and tell him until his brother found out and called us, lol. He would have stayed there forever rather than tell his father he got in trouble. He gets this look on his face and it makes you stand up straighter, lol.

Holy Moly, after I posted this I went back outside and found more on the arbor. Yay, now I have them blooming on both the arch and the arbor! Shawn, they are amazingly easy. All I do is water every day, when I have banana peels, I do like Karyn said and chop them up, and put them in the pot. I WAS watering every day..now it seems..since the arch fell down, and I couldnt rig it to be like it was..the pots the passies are in are now shaded. They stay moist longer, and the leaves don't wilt anymore in the midday sun. So I think a little trick here is to have the base shaded so it stays cooler and moister. GG, thank you..That swing was my grandfather's. The squirrels ate the covering and awning part. It was his favorite place to sit, and after he passed I asked if I could have it. I finally got it here this spring, I just havent gotten around to reupholstering it yet. And that chair, o thats my fav..the cushion is up there cuz it was wet and needed to dry. I love that chair, but the puppies decided wicker tastes very good, and is fun to chew on. They ate one arm, and the middle support on the bottom :( That, I can't fix, but I hate to get rid of it. Theresa, seems the BES Vine takes forever..I am still waiting on the first pod to ripen. TD is doing great..I still havent gotten any seeds from the first spike..I am nervous I am going to miss them all and not get any! Not having luck with the cuttings. I am gonna try calling you at about 12:30. Kristy, the tall plants are what Theresa was referring to, Thalia Dealbata. Lol, I was just looking around yesterday, and decided I need dirt too. Plants really do help clear up the water. Karyn, It was funny, when I first sniffed it, I couldnt tell what it smelled like, just that it wasn't good, and was "animaly" lol. I plucked one and brought it in the house, and made everyone tell me what it smelled like to them. You should have seen their faces, lol..I know they were all expecting to be smelling something good! Thank you everyone, :)

Thanks, guys. We love the setting. To us even the houses scattered on the small hill are attractive; looks like a village we saw in Switzerland. And it can't be built up like a bird colony over there because of lot restrictions, so it should stay that way. Loralee, we hope 6 wks. You can move in if you like to cook! labradoodlelady: The master bedroom, dining room, living room, kitchen and deck all have this view. Downstairs in the walkout basement the office, rec room, and guest room do. We made a very open floor plan so you really see this from every room in the house except the guest bath, powder room, and the laundry. I'll post some sunset pix when I'm there for a really gorgeous one. Thanks again, all. We're building a small house on a small lot, but to us the view makes up for it.