I got an Internship at a Refuge! (HUGE DUW)

[JLC]

You are a 22 year old with a vision! That's amazing work on that pond already! You deserve to skate it after all that back breaking bucket work. Can't wait to see the finished product (please take pictures along the way...and keep copies...this sort of stuff is GOOD on the resume!). Big hugs on your dedication to the refuge and it's critters.

I totally second what Jo says here!! Awesome work on that pond!! I think a waterfall will be very good for it. It definitely needs some sort of circulation of the water to stay healthy. Probably some sort of filtration as well...I'm not sure how outdoor ponds work.

Keep up this sort of hard work, and you'll earn a great deal of credibility with the "powers that be" and in the future have a lot more influence on other positive changes needed there.

(SUPER-cute fawn, too!! What a little heart breaker!)

[NotAnotherHonda]

thanks guys. i know it sounds weird, but when i wake up at 7am (which, ask any college student on his day off from classes, is UNHEARD OF haha), i think of the people that support what im doing and it really helps me get out of bed. that, and toasters strudels.

[Phreak]

If someone said to me wake up early and you can spend a day helping animals I would be up and out the door by 7!

p.s. Now I want toaster strudels

[jamesw]

Gonna need to be some tree clearage for basking, but its lookin real good!

[NotAnotherHonda]

thats gonna be a little difficult, as all the trees are probably 20 yards tall, but ill see what i can do. good lookin out

[jamesw]

Wont need to cut them down, just some limbs, it will give them basking light, and keep leaves out of the pond. The down side may be algae growth promotion.

[NotAnotherHonda]

nothin much goin on today. finished up cleaning the pond, skated it for a few minutes, and raked raked raked. my next, and probably most painful task will be weeding...lots of weeding.



so many leavesssss


you can see where i started weeding, thats about an hours work..nothing but vines that never enddddd



and heres a squirrell that i think we are letting go soon...just hanging out.


hopefully ill get more done on friday. ill need a hatchet...and gloves. whew

thanks for looking.

[Phreak]

Cool! When i was scrolling down I only saw the top of the squirrel pic and was like Yeah let him go hes drowned!! But its ok now I've figured it out

[bc30629]

I wish i could do that

[NotAnotherHonda]

update

today i weeded. the one thing i have been dreading since day 1. armed with a hatchet, i went to work.

went from this:


to this:


and finally:


oh man, what a relief.
the turtles will now be able to walk around without being caught up in all those vines. i tried to pull them up from the roots, but realistically, i know that it will take weekly maintenance to keep this thing from going under.

ill be going to home depot this week and getting some cheap, native plants that i can plants around the pond and landscape, as well as some rocks to make the waterfall.

oh, and im going to try to make a cheap, floating island in the middle of the pond...maybe tied down to a cinderblock or something, so they turtles can feel safe, yet still bask. any ideas?

oh, and i found this frog- released him in a lake down the road. pretty cool looking.


thanks for looking.