Ok, a couple of more pictures as soon as it get light enough to take them - then I'll add them to the web page. I'll keep the web page too, as I don't like how the images are going away on the system storage site. Someone asked me over the weekend where this all came from? I have no idea! I was cruising the web one day and ran into Tuck. I kept putting him off as his cost was like a luxury car payment - and the cost of the deck screws (let alone the material for the deck) has thrown me into shock at times. Ended up getting a really good deal on him from a wonderful company on the web. (Best service and nicest people I have ever dealt with and I own a retail catalog type company with what I think is good old fashion ma & pa kind of service. Some of you might be too young to know what I am rambling on about.) There are only a couple more turtle shots and a couple of 'grog' pictures. Other than cleaning up - maybe a few more bags of marble - this garden is 'mature'. To he honest, I am not seeing a lot of turtle statues that I already don't have :-) And, Mimi is serious about me expanding it, I believe. Beside, I promised the deck by the end of summer just past - so I am late - so it is going to take priority. I have to have it done by the time Oscar and Jake-Dude are ready to play on it in the spring. If anyone is bored and wants to spend a couple of days with me drilling and screwing a couple of few thousand (minimum) screws, is welcome to visit! Thank all of you for all the compliments! It really has been a fun project. I think when it is finally done I will break out the easle, canvas, oils and brushes and bring back a hobby I kind of stopped doing about 20 years ago. I am teaching Oscar to draw and paint and that is refreshing the old urges of creativity. This is an aspect of me that my wife has never seen creativity (other than inventing and/or bring specialty products to the market) from me. Hope she doesn't get scared when I turn a bedroom into a hobby room. Oscar and I sing a lot together. Some in our family think we should do a video and submit it to America's Funniest! My step-daughter (her mom) works for me and I "force" them to bring her to work for me to play with everyday so that she does not go to day care yet. I think it is very important for her to know that she has someone 'else' that loves her for whatever she is or is going to be, and will be there for her no-matter-what. I know her parent are absolutely there for her this way, but I hope I take care of some potential gap that might be in life in case her parents 'limit' or 'scare' her from having no secrets. She is a very advanced, but socialable, 2.75 year old. We are learning some Japanese together. As a Pappy I could blabber on as much as any grandfather, but I'll try to restrain a bit. Suffice to say that she is the most important thing in my life. Period!!! Finally, I have heard from a couple of people that turtles are a symbol of luck, though I can not affirm it. Does anyone know a little (or lot) about turtle culture or a place to go? I don't care whether it's a box or water or whatever - I care about what the historical culture is. Thanks! Sure am glad this site exists and the members are so wonderful!

Its awfully enjoyable...the main differences with a turtle pond a fish pond is that (unless you have a VERY well fenced in yard) you have to build a small fence around the pond to keep the turtles from leaving. You also have to take into account that turtles aren't the most gentle of animals on your plants - so you'll really have to pack a lot of plants in there to keep your pond looking nice. A lot of the commonly available turtles are highly omnivorous and will just tear apart any of the plants you put in there. Redear sliders (Trachemys scripta) and Painted Turtles (Chrysemys picta) are the ones most commonly sold (and the cheapest) and they both love to snip water lilies off...but if you've got enough you can make a very nice pond. I'll include a photo of an old pond I had that housed some painted turtles and a slider - the key to keeping the pond looking nice is to keep small numbers of turtles in there. My old pond was around 2500 gallons and it only had 3 turtles in there...to give you an idea.

Eric- Thanks. Great selection of articles and photos. Good luck with this. I really enjoyed reading it.

Last one has beautifully patterned eye. Nice pic of Clark Gable; some of the pics of that one I see seem almost contorted. Margo Reed Indeed has been a bit disappointing here as it blooms barely above the foliage.