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Something Wonderful: I Built a Wildlife Pond – here’s what happened

I confess I am coming close to the sin of Envy when I think of Americans who have even a little bit of land.

Then again. . . .

Meanwhile, out in God’s water feature. . . .

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  • Snakepit Kansas December 16, 2022, 2:43 PM

    One of these days, some whale is going to get tired of tree huggers trying to touch them and bother them and will just chew one of those MFers up for fun. I was diving one time in Anilao Philippines and me and another guy came upon some sea turtles about 20 feet down. We got half close to the turtles and one looked at me with this unapproving FU look. He did not want one more diver to try to ride him. I left him alone.

  • AbigailAdams December 16, 2022, 3:50 PM

    Hi Gerard, Just repent of your envy and carry on. This morning I watched a gigantic yacht make its way through the Ballard bridge and I was way envious. Not for the yacht, as it turns out, but for the freedom of having it on the water. I would have liked to be doing exactly what I imagined the people on the yacht were doing and where they might be going. It was sleek and pretty and I’m sure their coffee was better than mine, too.

  • Pebo December 16, 2022, 8:54 PM

    I am fortunate for the past 23 years to have a little over an acre in a somewhat still rural setting to the east of Tampa. After getting the house completed I rented a small excavator and built about a 4,500-gallon pond for the water pigs (koi). This does require a good bit of ongoing work to maintain something in the way of decent water quality with a submersible pump, DIY bubble bead filtration, and UV light for algae control. It was about 3 years ago, puzzled when I saw a strange critter crossing the road nearby. Sitting on the porch later that Saturday night in the dark I heard the distinctive sound of otter teeth crunching through fish bone. The call of the wild had come home.

  • Steve (retired/recovering lawyer) December 17, 2022, 6:51 AM

    I couldn’t help but wonder as the video played and the existence of a mysterious “girlfriend” was revealed, whether the auteur of this otherwise quite interesting oeuvre was intending to do something about the human species and its care, feeding and reproduction. When I encounter such paeans to the natural world, I am always reminded of the koan involving trees falling and the resulting sound. If there are no more humans to observe, appreciate and even make a record of the natural goings-on, what will it matter? Will the adopted cat take pains to tend the pond? Or the dog we see lounging about? Humans were created by The Creator to tend the magnificent garden in which they were placed. Without humans, the most magnificent garden is bereft of any meaning, the “human extinction movement” notwithstanding.

  • Casey Klahn December 17, 2022, 10:02 AM

    The unholy reality is if you make a wet area on your land, now the gubmint has an ingress into your business. They can “protect” the area because: EPA. If a farmer has something wet like that, when the gubmint isn’t looking he’ll fill it in with dirt.

    • ghostsniper December 17, 2022, 12:34 PM

      12 ga
      The best solution for many problems.
      Last year I installed (24) 10″ x 14″ signs ( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0089OYASM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1 ) around the perimeter of our property. Trespassers beware.

      Also last year my 105lb wife of 38 years installed a decent fish pond in our side yard. About half the size of the one in the vid. But much more refined. Did I say that she did it all by her lonesome? Dug the multi-depth hole, installed the liner, the pumps and filters and all the hoses and wires. She also hauled hundreds of rocks up from the stream that crosses the rear of our property some 200 yards away, uphill, that now surround the pond and create the waterfall in the 2 levels of the pond.

      She got an early start in March when it was still cold and the ground hard to dig. By mid summer it was completed and several frogs had taken up residency to keep the immature basses company that she had purchased. There’s a dozen lily pads and many flower and shrub arrangements around the pond and the dragonflies and hummingbirds stay occupied there. This is by far the largest and most complex outdoor project she has ever taken on and I am amazed about it.

  • John Venlet December 17, 2022, 2:23 PM

    The results of this pond, and the resulting increase in wildlife, nature, does not surprise me in the least. Having just a few acres, with almost 300′ of frontage on a blue ribbon trout stream, we see the results of what we call “trout hotels” in a matter of hours, sometimes. What we do is drop some new woody debris in our crick. These can be recently trees, or specific hides we have crafted ourselves out of branches, weeds, etc. which then strategically drop into the crick. After we do this, we check on them a few hours later, sometimes even sooner, and most times we’ll find a trout has taken a liking to what we’ve put in the water, and adopts a new place to hang out. It’s actually pretty cool.

  • Anonymous December 17, 2022, 2:36 PM

    “I confess I am coming close to the sin of Envy when I think of Americans who have even a little bit of land.”

    we rent it with tax from the state.

  • Dirk December 17, 2022, 2:47 PM

    Here in Oregon, the State considered the surface water in the ponds theirs. Few years back a fella dug a pond, trenched his creek to fill the pond, then trenched the other side, back to the creek. So he used creek water on his property to fill a pond on his property, then returned the creek water.

    My recalection was he even had proper permits from the state. Long story short he was arrested for using the water to irrigate his garden.

    The state us3d satellites to monitor him. My concern is this, is a law use to be referred to as “ The Walmart Standard”, in a nut shell no observation devices not available to the common citizen Could Not be used to surveillance, without a search warrant.

    I have always agreed with the spirit of this case law.

    Anymore satellites are us3d daily to surveillance all of our properties. In fact building departments routinely use current satellites coverage to search for anything taxable. New buildings, stream modification.

    This is bad law.

    • ghostsniper December 17, 2022, 6:39 PM

      Trees is the keys.
      You can barely see our house on google maps because of all the trees.

      • Dirk December 18, 2022, 9:42 AM

        Ghost, maybe, but the seats, are capable of IR, another abuse.