Island Building

While looking at the ephemeral puddle down in the dried mud of our pond, I had a chance to take a long look at our "island".

A sorry sort of island, to be sure, with only a shallow puddle along one edge of it.  Still, once those magnificent winter storms arrive, it will be a true island once again.

So Bruce, I, the dogs and Max the Cat spent Saturday and Sunday afternoon sprucing up the rocky pimple that is our island.  All of the top-growth of the willows and cottonwoods that took root over the years has died over the summer.  So we began cutting it down and removing the dead branches.  Much better.

Bruce then hopped on the Kubota and began scraping the dried muck from the pond bottom to the base of the island.  The plan is to both widen and heighten the entire area.  Originally, we built the island from a load of large rocks that we bought and had hauled in.  We added some soil, but much of the rock was still exposed, with spaces between the individual boulders.  This weekend, we worked on adding soil to the top and sides.  Hopefully this will help the future trees survive more drought.

Island building is a lot of fun.  It's like being a kid and constructing a fort or a tree house or a house under a table with a sheet draped over it.
















It's creating a new world.  I love this!