I've had my heart set on a Great Dane since I was four.... S/o and I were finally looking into adoption, and the first thing he said was 'No horses in the house!' :( So I went and got a Bullmastiff instead... :)))) Now, he says Capone doesn't even look that big to him anymore.... maybe I should start working on him again? We are looking for a companion pup for Capone... hmm.

update! All of the electric, and rerouting of duct work is done. Walls are insulated and sheet rock is up! Cabinet guy is coming Monday to make some final measurements and the walls should be ready for paint by then too. I am pretty sure I will be able to tackle refinishing the wood floors myself with a little help from my dad. YAY. I am celebrating that revelation with buying the lighting fixtures i WANT instead of the ones that my husband is trying to convince me are exactly the same and WAY cheaper. Double YAY. My old sink is temporarily hooked up, and so is the dishwasher! My new stove and fridge are plugged in and running. Once the walls are painted, I'm going to bring in a few card tables to use as countertop temporarily, and maybe we can have an occasional normal dinner again real soon.

Hi Jane, the upper smaller pond is called a bog and it's purpose is to clean your water and offer a naturalized setting. This is a good thing that someone planned that feature. Your iris as with most of the water iris can be on the aggressive side. I divided mine with a saw a year ago. You wouldn't know that today though. I have Gamecock and Yellow flag. Yellow flag are super water cleaners. My gamecock has never bloomed but I do feed them with the approved pond tabs so as to not upset the overall environment. Personally, I would wait to divide as you could still get some cold snaps and they might be too stressed to handle the cold under those conditions. Placing them in a water garden plastic container/basket would make the job of dividing in the future much easier. There are many bog type plants to choose from. I love parrot feathers. They like to float on top and koi like to eat them so it is better the two don't meet. In regards to water: You might check to see if there is a koi club nearby or a garden center with knowledge about water gardens and koi. Of course the internet is full of information and it can be like the wild, wild west. You will run into many differences of opinions. I ran into that and it was very disheartening and totally confusing. In the end, it's up to you to do homework on water chemistry and how best to maintain your pond. I only say this because of experience and I hope you understand. I would gladly tell you what works for me but our ponds and environments are very different. Sad experience tells me that stuff happens on Saturday nights when there are no stores open to get emergency supplies so now I have those things, just in case. At minimum, you should know how to test your water. The good news is your pond is established meaning you have all those beneficial bacteria working for you. That can take months to get going. The first year of a pond can be an adventure :( Barring an ammonia spike, the bacteria should be able to handle the majority of work. Prior owners said to just add water occasionally. That probably would be okay because of your total volume. Doing the whole chlorine removal probably isn't necessary unless you are changing out thousands of gallons. A couple of hundred gallons added to what you already have will dilute it enough, I would think. Looking to the immediate future, spring is coming which will mean a food change. Water warms up, bacteria get more active. I would imagine the number one mistake people make is overfeeding. When the water temp. is low, you might not feed at all. The fish's metabolism slows down and food won't process. Koi can live in iced over conditions with a small vent hole for gasses to escape. They can do this for a long time so don't feel you are torturing them. But then spring comes and they are hungry and you need to be careful with the type and quantity of food because they will make a lot of waste and your bio filter needs to warm up in order to process waste. Are your Koi more cigar shaped (male) or rounder (female)? Spawning season is coming and that affects water quality too. Finally, think long and hard about adding more fish until you feel really confident in your maintenance routine. You probably will have to muck out the debris on the bottom, old leaves and such. Does this pond have a liner? Cleaning it out is messy and exhausting. Your filter will need to be cleaned or backwashed and you should check all your equipment for wear and tear. Pumps do wear out mostly when you least expect it. Hopefully they left you some notes on the how, what, where for reference. Did the prior owners take care of this themselves or hire a service? I hope this helps a little. Have a great day!

SJ McCarthy, I had decided to do the floors in 3 stages, and I really wanted the room upstairs and steps down to the kitchen, done first - just to keep me sane. :-) So that is all I have done thus far. I had 4 quotes on the carpet, and this company was actually the highest quote. I was disappointed in that but kind of expected it as they have an excellent reputation. So, due to my budget, I had decided to go with a less-expensive quote. But before I had scheduled, this company's estimator emailed me and asked me to let her know if I got lower estimates and she would see if they could match it. Not expecting much, I gave her the amount of the next-highest quote, which was $700 less. She asked for and I sent her a copy of the quote, with all the company identifying information blanked out. And within 10 minutes, they beat that quote by $1. I was completely surprised! I had researched the price of this carpet (it wasn't inexpensive) and knew that was where they were coming in high - their labor prices were not off much from my previous quotes. And that is where they dropped their price - materials cost. So I learned a valuable lesson as well as FINALLY getting my new carpet in. My kitchen floor will definitely be Armstrong Vivero glue-down, and the company I am going with is actually the only Armstrong-certified dealer in the area. I was just more comfortable with that. I won't be scheduling that until after June though. I have a trip to Greece in a few weeks, just today put my car in the shop for some very expensive, unexpected repairs, and a few other large unplanned expenditures that has sidetracked my budget for a bit. The wood flooring in the dining and living room - weeeeelll.. I am TRYING my best to not spend a freaking fortune, but I have looked until I am blue in the face and found nothing I love locally (I have mentioned that I am picky, right?), but I DO love this: https://craftfloor.com/product/savona/ It's double what I had wanted/planned to spend, it's a direct order, but it's gorgeous, and it's exactly the look/color/finish/tone of floor I wanted. The company has been very generous and has sent many large samples. The only thing that gives me pause is finding a local installer that I can trust. So it will be a while before I get the rest done. I have no reason to hurry, so I am okay that it will be a bit longer of a wait. :-)