My painting shirt has a lot of flat black exterior paint spots now. We have made a lot of progress on the pond equipment house. I have been painting rafters, battens and trim on the water pump house. Our idea is to make these little structure look a little on the boring side so that they recede in the scenery. We’ll have to build a little fence to screen the gas tank or maybe have the tank moved.

Sealing the floor of the pond. In between rain days, we had just a small window where the floor was pressure washed, dry and ready for the black sealer coat. Our concrete is waterproof but it’s always nice to have a little extra control and it looks better. The sealer was also used to seal the top edge of the concrete. Eventually the pond edges will be covered with a wood facade.

Changing the trim color of the water pump house. I was a little worried how the black trim would work but I love it. The old brick red color competed with the maple reds and I’m pleased how the trees look against the new color. The roof has not been changed but some day it will be black like the pond equipment house. We are considering changing the house trim as well to black – so easily distracted…

Adding black battens to the pond equipment house. We added the black battens just for detail on the pond equipment house. I have asked a friend to cut out some other decorative details but I’m wondering now if I should just leave it plain? Or I could stain them the brown color so they provide a relief detail but don’t grab a lot of attention? Things can get a little silly around the equipment house when my wind chimes get hung. Haven’t ordered the polycarbonate panels but I’m not too worried if they are not in for week or months. We have a sliding barn style door on the back side but might need to weigh the bottom edge down a bit. It rolls very easily. The undersides of the eaves will have to be painted black to be less distracting. The pond builder said no one will notice but I’m very short and I am always looking up. Spray painting might be a quick way to finish the task.

Inside the equipment house. One profi drum platform has been built and the other one will need to be built next weekend. Once the profi drums are in place, we can work on the three bakki showers being housed inside this equipment house. Pond builder is thinking that we may need to have someone bend some steel for us to create a custom weir that spans the opening over the pond. Two of the bakki showers will empty into the weir…the third will be sent back into the pond under water or maybe the pond builder will think of some other unique way. There might be some electrical work to be done, not really sure. We have an outlet that an electrician converted for us which should have plenty of power but who knows.

The pond builder has suggested that the koi might be in the pond by May 15th. This is just a month away. We are getting close. Need to have some water trucks come out because it will take forever to fill the pond. My poor koi have been living in the garage for some time now. I’m sure they will love to be out in the real sunshine. That brings us to another problem, the site might be a little too sunny until the pergola is built. Maybe a shade panel will be good as a temporary measure.

While we continue to march on pond building, a new koi flew home from Hawaii. A female benikumonryu from Ozumi Ikarashi, about 20 inches. Taro Kodama of Kodama Koi Farms shipped it via UPS overnight and I was pleasantly surprised that it arrived in great shape. My heart did a flutter though as the delivery guy tipped the box 90 degrees as he was setting it down.

Cultivated and wild flowers are starting to bloom. Lots of color on the ground as spring progresses. The trees are about 80% leafed out (still waiting on the black walnuts) and the hay is growing quite nicely. It’s always a pleasure to walk around and find something new blooming. I would really love to find a pink lady slipper.

Kind of iffy on the sunflower project. Out of the 500+ seeds I planted two weeks ago, I did find about ten seedlings struggling through the grass. I went out and planted more sunflower patches and will cross my fingers.

I am co-chairing a koi show in Raleigh, North Carolina the weekend of April 28-30. 2023. If you are in the area, come visit – it’s free!