The rocks are in!

I had a ton and a half of large Mississippi river rocks delivered by Certified Products, Inc. last Monday and we bit by bit worked on washing them and placing them and finally finished this morning.

For my 6 year old nephew who insisted on putting the larger rocks in a circle the day he helped me pick them out, I did keep some of them in a circle.

To completely finish the project, this summer I plan to kill the grass and weeds and then plant various bulbs around the dry pond and the mulch the area all around the pond.

We had extra rocks so we used them under our bird feeder (which was original sand when we moved in until the weeds took over).

Also, I finally got my herbs planted.

And here are some pictures of the beautiful flowers starting to bloom in my yard and in pots.

Big Front Yard Project–Thank you Dad and Paul!

So I have this vision of mounded areas with a dry pond between and a bridge going over it with flowers of course, and a bird bath, and some lawn art.  So I set aside today to start that project. 
10 cubic yards of plant starter soil arrived about 8:00 a.m. from Certified Products Inc. in New Berlin, WI.  I had hoped that he would be willing to drive on my lawn to dump it in the spots I wanted it but it had rained too much in the previous days.  So he dumped a pile on the driveway and a pile on just off the driveway.
I managed to move 30 wheelbarrows of dirt before my dad arrived at about 10:30 a.m.  That was also when my husband finished work (he worked from home).  So with their help (and they were a huge help), we created a masterpiece.  We managed to get it all done with the exception of putting the rocks in the dry pond.
So without further adieu, here are the before and after pictures.


For those interested in the plants, on the larger mound (closest to the driveway), I planted Astilbes (Mighty Pip and Mighty Red Quin) and Periwinkle along with some woodland wildflowers.
On the smaller mound, I planted St John’s Wart, Creeping Red Sedum, and again some woodland wildflowers.  I’ll share pictures as they come up.

My husband says I have too many pots.

He may not realize I still have five more to bring out.

At the farmer’s market yesterday I couldn’t resist these double impatiens and geraniums.

I also couldn’t resist this unique vine plant which is a black eyed susan variety.

I added a bay leaf tree to our kitchen window sill.  The pepper plant we bought at Sam’s club months ago is starting to produce new peppers.

Our ferns are coming back.

As I may have said in a previous post, all of our hydrangeas came back.

My Mom’s spring bulbs

(Scroll down to see the pictures from our birding excursion at the Horicon Marsh.)

Bird watching at Horicon Marsh

We have tried to make our yard such that it will attract many species and have been successful.  Our regular birds include about 2 dozen species and we have recorded close to 4 dozen different species in our yard at one point or another.  But today we decided to expand our bird watching to one of the best bird watching areas in the state, the Horicon Marsh. 

I took along a tripod and my dad’s Tamron 500mm mirror lens and so got some really close up pictures.  With this lens you have to manually set the shutter speed and so I was experimenting with different shutter speeds to better be able to pick the right shutter speed.  Hence, some of the pictures are a little washed out or a little dark.  It didn’t help that the sun kept coming out and going behind clouds so the lighting was constantly changing.

Enjoy!

A Whooping Crane (This was taken with my used (but new to me) Quantaray 70-300mm lens.)


Sandhill Cranes having a little too much fun (these pictures are just a bit blurry as I wasn’t using the tripod and trying to brace myself on the door frame of the car)


Great Blue Heron


Great Egret (the first two were taken with the Quantaray 70-500 lens, the last taken with the Tamron 500mm lens)


Geese by themselves are so numerous that I don’t normally take photos of them, but who can resist babies.


Synchronized Mallard Ducks


American Robin guarding eggs or babies (the often overlooked bird)


Yellow Warbler


I believe this is a Yellow-rumped “Myrtle” Warbler


A trip to Horicon is never complete without swallows which are very abundant.  Here are tree swallows.  The pair in the second picture seemed completely unconcerned about our presence as we walked by them on the trail.


Barn Swallows never sit still so it can be a challenge to get photos of them.


My best guess on this bird is that it is a Franklin’s Gull.


Common Tern – These were fun to watch fish.  They would hover about 10 feet above the water and when they saw their prey they plunged into the water.  They were also noisy birds.


Black Tern


The American Goldfinch


Red-winged Blackbird (another abundant species at the marsh)


A complete surprise to us was the painted turtles and the number of them.  There were over 75 lined upon the shore and on logs, not to mention at least one poking his head up from under water.