Useless Conversation

[Sky]

Bees are awesome. I just found a bunch of iridescent green bees in my garden when I was weeding and turning the soil. Really awesome looking bees, and the Internet says they're pollinators. Didn't bother me, so they can live in there if they want.

[01101010]

Bees are awesome. I just found a bunch of iridescent green bees in my garden when I was weeding and turning the soil. Really awesome looking bees, and the Internet says they're pollinators. Didn't bother me, so they can live in there if they want.

Orchid bees? Those things are cool as hell.

[Chimpy]

Where Morat lives I would be highly surprised if swarming bees weren't Africanized honeybees.

[Torinak]

Or maybe mason bees? It's a happy time every spring when they start showing up.

We have a lot a bee-friendly plants in our yard, by design. We've seen as many as 9 different species of bees at once. Flowers on greek oregano attracts a heck of a lot of them, which is good because the plant spreads faster than most of our weeds do...at least it's tasty.

[Sky]

Most likely a Agapostemon. Seem somewhat solitary, only digging them up in 1s and 2s. Haven't seen more than 4 as I move along and they dig back in. Haven't found a nest, though not sure what to look for with this particular bee.

[Morat20]

Where Morat lives I would be highly surprised if swarming bees weren't Africanized honeybees.

If they were, they put up with me hanging around poking the wall pretty well.

[Signe]

I love those big fat bumble bees.  When I was a little kid, I used to pluck them off the flowers in the garden and chase my terrified cousin around with them.  One time he fainted.  Now I just enjoy watching without bothering.  We have tons around here.  Better than happy pills.

[Morat20]

I am learning a lot about bees. Like how to catch bees. "Access the hive, use giant vacuum cleaner to SUCK ALL THE BEES". Then place bees in approved bee container.

We're still at the "yanking bees out" stage (he just pulled the wall cut to yank bees out). No idea how many are in there or if they've built a large, palatial hive. There are a ton of the damn things yesterday. Just working in that corner of the garage to make sure the guy had plenty of access (we had storage shelves up against the wall he was going to cut into) tripled the size of the swarm hovering around my house.

It's pretty fun to watch, from the other side of a window.

[Yegolev]

I have some carpenter bees and they have to go.

[Morat20]

I have some carpenter bees and they have to go.

I'm just annoyed. I'm about to drop an awful lot for tree clearing (seven trees,. three of which are getting chopped. All of which are large trees.) and now this. It's going to be a pricey year on the home maintenance front.

[Yegolev]

Same here if I don't stop these bees from drilling holes in my house.

This weekend I learned some things about refrigerator repair, but the part won't get here until Thursday.  I almost got 15 years out of this one.

[Druzil]

I had carpenter bees a few years back and they wrecked part of our kids play set before I noticed.  It looked like someone just drilled a few perfectly circular holes in it, but then there was actually quite a tunnel system inside.  Would not recommend letting them stick around.

My weekend home repair chore was a toilet that was constantly running.  Found out that this particular Kohler toilet takes a non standard part that I couldn't get at the hardware store or on Amazon.  The Kohler website happily sold it to me though    So I'm also waiting on parts.

[Morat20]

Well bees are gone. Area sprayed to prevent them from returning. Attempting to locate someone to replace the soffit and drywall. With the siding down, it appears I have no freaking air vents in my soffit. The siding has the holes in it (so air can flow through) but no vents to pull air up into my attic.

Another chore to be added to my list...

[Samwise]

Since we're talking about backyards, I'll share my recent project:



This has been in the works for about a year and it's just over the last week or so that I've finally gotten it into an aesthetically pleasing state.  It's a raised pond, about 6'x9'x2', with a planted island in the middle.  Over the weekend I caught tadpoles and small fish to stock it with, and this week I'll be getting a shipment of native stream orchids that I'm going to plant on the island (which the raccoons have yet to molest despite it being prime bug-digging territory, so I think my strategy of having the pond act as a "moat" with steep sides has paid off).

I used to dream about having a backyard pond when I was a little kid, and even tried to construct one in my mom's backyard one summer using garbage bags as a liner (didn't work too well owing to the lack of sealant).  Having this finally come to fruition has been pretty incredible.

[Morat20]

That's pretty fantastic.

[apocrypha]

That's really nice.

[Nebu]

What a wonderful place to unwind after a brutal day.  Well done.

[RhyssaFireheart]

That's very cool looking, Sam.  Wow!

[01101010]

I'd be the curious type and NOT stock it with any creatures and see what I have at the end of the summer. Guaranteed to have something in there... but what?

But to each his/her own, and it looks fantastic.

[Rasix]

I'd be the curious type and NOT stock it with any creatures and see what I have at the end of the summer. Guaranteed to have something in there... but what?

Mosquitos.

[Merusk]

So long as the pump always runs you should be free of those.

[Samwise]

Thanks for the kind words, all.  Been a lot of work to get it to this point and I'm pretty jazzed that I get to spend the summer enjoying it.  :)

I did have quite a few mosquito larvae in the winter after it filled up with rain on its own.  Tossing a Bt dunk in there took care of that.     I'm not sure if there's quite enough water circulation/agitation to keep mosquitoes at bay; the waterfall splashes into a little pool on the island and it recirculates through the bottom through about a foot of gravel (the island acts as a giant bio filter is the idea) so the surface of the pond stays pretty calm.  Guess I could stop using the dunks and see how bad it gets; they're pretty easy to see long before they emerge from the water so I'd have time to monitor and kill them all before they started eating me.

The most interesting thing that has found its way there is this little yellow water bug that I haven't been able to identify.  About the size and shape of a water flea, but they pootle around in graceful curves, like they have propellers on them, instead of quick little jumps.  Really neat to watch.  Hard to guess how its eggs would have found their way there -- maybe on the feet of a bird?

I'm positive that salamanders will show up at some point, since I've found them hiding under rocks in my front yard after rainstorms.  Once they find out there's a year-round source of fresh water in the back yard I expect there'll be one in every nook and cranny.  Given enough time odds are good frogs would have found their way there on their own, but I'm impatient and want to hear ribbits this summer.   

[01101010]

Thanks for the kind words, all.  Been a lot of work to get it to this point and I'm pretty jazzed that I get to spend the summer enjoying it.  :)

I did have quite a few mosquito larvae in the winter after it filled up with rain on its own.  Tossing a Bt dunk in there took care of that.     I'm not sure if there's quite enough water circulation/agitation to keep mosquitoes at bay; the waterfall splashes into a little pool on the island and it recirculates through the bottom through about a foot of gravel (the island acts as a giant bio filter is the idea) so the surface of the pond stays pretty calm.  Guess I could stop using the dunks and see how bad it gets; they're pretty easy to see long before they emerge from the water so I'd have time to monitor and kill them all before they started eating me.

The most interesting thing that has found its way there is this little yellow water bug that I haven't been able to identify.  About the size and shape of a water flea, but they pootle around in graceful curves, like they have propellers on them, instead of quick little jumps.  Really neat to watch.  Hard to guess how its eggs would have found their way there -- maybe on the feet of a bird?

I'm positive that salamanders will show up at some point, since I've found them hiding under rocks in my front yard after rainstorms.  Once they find out there's a year-round source of fresh water in the back yard I expect there'll be one in every nook and cranny.  Given enough time odds are good frogs would have found their way there on their own, but I'm impatient and want to hear ribbits this summer.   

Wait, are these the mystery bug you have: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBXrcLNCsio

If so, I'll be over tomorrow with a net. Those are gold for feeding aquarium fish.   

[Samwise]

Wait, are these the mystery bug you have: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBXrcLNCsio

If so, I'll be over tomorrow with a net. Those are gold for feeding aquarium fish.   

That might be it -- I think mine are smaller (unless that's a REALLY good camera, hard to get a sense of scale), but otherwise that looks about right.  I've raised daphnia before for feeding fish fry but I remember them as moving more jerkily and being more whiteish/clear in color.  Probably just a different species.

IIRC daphnia eggs can go into a state of diapause and dry out (similar to sea monkeys) so that'd explain how they could have made their way into the pond on the wind or as a hitchhiker on a piece of rock that I put in there or something like that.  Neat!

[Morat20]

So bees gone, and I'm gonna say hives grow fast. They had a pretty sizable home already under construction up there -- and they've only been swarming a few days. 400 for removal + spraying the area with chemicals to convince the bees they couldn't remove to stay away under pain of bee death.

Gonna be another 400 to repair the soffit and drywall (plus another patch of garage wall the previous owners clearly taped over a large hole then painted over that).

So 800 from random fucking bees. Now to choose between two tree trimming companies -- 700 dollar difference in price, but the more expensive company seemed more professional and skilled (and had plenty of reviews on places like Home Adviser and such), the other seems a husband wife pair with 'references available'. While they seemed nice, I'm not sure 700 bucks in savings is worth the uncertainty. I'll check their references though and see what they think the timeline is.

I expect the real difference is the more expensive one is a crew of five or six that'll be done in a day, and the husband/wife pair is probably just him and one other employee and it might take them several days.

[01101010]

That gives me a fantastic idea... a handyman service called "repairs? hold my beer." 

[Cyrrex]

Samwise has the blue lagoon in his backyard, while I can barely keep up with mowing my damn lawn.  Feeling a bit inadequate.

Looks really nice, though, I'm jealous.

[calapine]

I can only repeat what the others said: Awesome work!


If you like some fauna in your pond you could consider toads. Our swimming pond was rather smallish, but that didn't seem to faze them, they thrived over several years. They do croak of course but IMHO that improves the garden atmosphere..

The tabpoles that follow are very cute, when they are bigger they start "nibbling" on your toes if you let the feet hang in the water. (I am not making that up!)

Creating a creek is another option. Especially good if you have Goldfish as the turbulence increase the amount of oxygen in the water. Filled with larger gravel or stones the creek also works as a water filter.

[Druzil]

Samwise has the blue lagoon in his backyard, while I can barely keep up with mowing my damn lawn.  Feeling a bit inadequate.

Looks really nice, though, I'm jealous.

The grass is always mowed in VR.

[MahrinSkel]

The grass is always mowed in VR.

I am stealing that line.

--Dave

[Merusk]

Samwise has the blue lagoon in his backyard, while I can barely keep up with mowing my damn lawn.  Feeling a bit inadequate.

Looks really nice, though, I'm jealous.

The grass is always mowed in VR.

Until some fucker decides that VR is better as a Virtual World(tm).

[Mandella]

Samwise has the blue lagoon in his backyard, while I can barely keep up with mowing my damn lawn.  Feeling a bit inadequate.

Looks really nice, though, I'm jealous.

The grass is always mowed in VR.

Until some fucker decides that VR is better as a Virtual World(tm).

What? There isn't a VR Mowing Sim yet? Game Devs, get on that!!

And also envious of that nice backyard pond -- I know it took a lot of work.

[Signe]

That pond is so pretty, Sam.  Gratz on achieving a childhood dream!

[Yegolev]

What? There isn't a VR Mowing Sim yet? Game Devs, get on that!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW0V2RRL0ZI

[Cyrrex]

Well, you can kind of mow the lawn in Minecraft in VR.  And squaring the edges is really easy.