I wasn’t up for any huge projects this weekend, so I decided to just “putter”. I still got a few things done, though, and spent a lot of time either messing around with the pond (I found and fixed the low spot this morning), or just watching…stuff in the pond.

Friday after work, I still needed topsoil because Buchheit still had none, so I braved the new Walschwitz. I got four bags of topsoil, but more importantly, I got a huge philodendron Prince of Orange…for ten bucks. I was looking at them, trying to find a price, and the cashier said, “Those are ten dollars, ma’am.” I thought, “No way!” but I love-love-love Prince of Orange even if I don’t know where the hell I’m going to make it fit. I got it to the counter, and lo and behold, it rang up for ten bucks…as a sansevieria. Far be it from me to correct the Walton family, so I have a $40 Prince of Orange for ten bucks.

I didn’t take pictures because the lilies are under water in the pond, and the iris and grass are still hanging out in the water garden until I figure out where they’ll live, but C gave me some pond plants. Made me seriously consider a bigger water garden in a sunny spot, but I have other projects to finish first. Aaaaanyway…

The only planting I did on Saturday was to move what’s left of my last attempt at “fancy” agastache. I stuck it over in Sara-Flah’s flowerbed, next to the Monarda fistulosa. Probably won’t live, but I gave it a shot.

In the recently vacated spot where the orange agastache had been, I planted the volunteer that came with the weigela outside the bedroom window. I’ve come to the conclusion that this is Virginia Sweetspire. I’d thought maybe summersweet, but the flowers droop, and the leaves look more like sweetspire, so that’s what I’m going with.

I have two bales of straw sitting on the goddamned patio, there are cat beds everywhere, and a bath mat, also on the patio, plus a chair with a plastic bag of straw that was supposed to be mulch, but ended up as a cat bed. Where does Onje sleep? In my goddamned flowers, crushing them.

My first Missouri sundrop bloom. Photo does not do the gorgeous electric lemon yellow colour justice, and the blooms are much larger than common evening primrose.

We mowed the lawn last night, and I startled this huge magnificent spider out of hiding. I made sure he was safely out of the way before I continued mowing. I don’t know who he is…Hogna, maybe?

Pond stuff! I thought Cletus had flown the coop, driven out by the bullfrog ladies, but I saw him yesterday, and again today. He was being shy yesterday, but I took a photo anyway.

Big Bertha Bullfrog is still there (getting more used to me, too), and Michigan Jane Frog spent the majority of today, perched on the water hyacinth.

I don’t know who this little lady is; she’s new and hasn’t given up her name yet, so now I have three bullfrog girls.

Polly-wolly doodles! These little dudes hang out in the sun on the sides of the pond liner. I have a lot of tadpoles; all sizes from itsy-bitsy to nearly ready to grow legs.

I was sitting next to the pond, watching the polly-wolly doodles on the other side, when I discovered that we have a new pond resident…a BEBE TURTLE! I think he’s most likely a painted, but haven’t got a good enough look at him to be sure. I have no idea how a bebe turtle got in my pond, but he obviously figured it out because I saw him yesterday, and again today. Bad photo, but best I could do under the circumstances.

Worse video. OMG, he’s so cute; his shell is 2.5-3″ across. I named him Tiny T.

Since the pond is playing host to a turtle, I decided it should have a basking log. This is the piece that I was going to use in the 55g, but it was too big for the look I wanted. It’s tethered in place with the fishing line I finally found.

I also finally got my pond island cut out, and the holes cut for the pots, and the rocks clear-coated and attached. It looks weird now, but it’ll be nice once it’s got plants in it. Oh, and I repotted the taro that I’d intended to put in the pond; it didn’t seem to like the mixed soil, so I just put it in some Miracle Gro organic choice. The pots are soaking in those blue buckets of water right now, preparing to go in the pond. For now, though, here’s the island.

Oh! I almost forgot Nessie! I watched two of these creatures, swimming around the pond. At first, I thought they were hellgrammites, but they’re the larvae of some kind of diving beetle. A bigger one, I’d guess; the larvae are about 1″ long.