it's already pretty hot in the sun. And the patio area is in need of a lot of help/dirt to level it out.

I'm sweaty but grateful for the grape arbour to hide under for a break.

#poolpond #backyardProject #diy #gardening #home

back around to the backyard and the #poolpond project. got one pad levelled and cloth down for the greenhouse (8ftx8ft). Now levelling the pad for the patio/sitting area and paellero / bbq spot (10ftx10ft)

#backyardProject #diy #gardening #home

Ban glyphosate. Period.
#poison #honeybees #insects
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/08/260804034638.htm

success!

checked on the pandemic pond this morning and even though it was hot yesterday it is still nearly full!

Very little evaporation loss! Looks like that woody debris on the edge of the water was the culprit.

Woot! IT troubleshooting skills for the win. 😝
#poolpond #pandemicpond #pandemicpond #pondlife #gardening #home #diy #IT #TroubleShooting

The best part of this article is the sub heading says the quiet part out loud. Finally.

“'We’ve got to stop burning fossil fuels,' says one wildfire expert”

Thank to that Wildfire expert for saying it, and the CBC for putting it (almost) where it deserves to be.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/science/wwa-study-climate-change-wildfires-9.7297131?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub

#canpoli #cdnpoli #carneycons #climateemergency #bcwildfire #drought #wildfires

No further updates yet this morning but this CBC article has good details on the initial attack yesterday evening. Two residents were evacuated immediately by firefighters, the rest are on alert.

The fire is near BC Hydro high voltage transmission lines so the wildfire crews were not able to start on the ground until BCH shut down those lines. Until then, helicopters bucketed the fire.

Wind conditions were also favourable.

Hopefully they’ll have it under control today if the weather continues to cooperate. The CBC article includes a map that shows the fire in relation to downtown Vancouver, but doesn’t point out the location of the Burnaby oil terminal even though it is almost exactly halfway between the two.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/metro-vancouver-wildfire-belcarra-park-anmore-9.7297912

#bcwildfire #canpoli #cdnpoli #climateemergency #endfossilfuels #transmountain #tmx #alberta #abpoli

Homes now on evacuation alert in Anmore north of Vancouver.

#bcwildfire #canpoli #cdnpoli #climateemergency #endfossilfuels #transmountain #tmx #alberta #abpoli

Mark Carney: I don’t care about Climate Change, I’m building another oil pipeline to Burnaby. Canada Strong!

Mother Nature: How strong exactly? Hold my beer.

(A wildfire has broken out on the north side of Burrard Inlet, about 7km northeast of the Burnaby oil terminal, the terminus of the Transmountain Pipeline. It is currently 1.5ha and out of control but updates often come slowly on the web. News reports are that a few homes have been “tactically evacuated” and more evacuations may come according to Metro Vancouver government.)

#bcwildfire #canpoli #cdnpoli #climateemergency #endfossilfuels #transmountain #tmx #alberta #abpoli

https://wildfiresituation.nrs.gov.bc.ca/incidents?fireYear=2026&incidentNumber=V11470&source=map

Um. Dear UK folks… what in the ever loving heck is this?

I thought BBC was a public broadcaster?

#payforaccess #bbc

This is so incredibly good it deserves to be reproduced in full: 😆 🔥 😆

“Carney pointed to a map of North America, half of which had been accurately but artistically burned away.

“It is our intention for the pipeline to cross over Saskatchewan and British Columbia, but if they prove too charred already then I plan to divert the pipeline and profits through the Northern states, as part of my next round of capitulations to Trump in CUSMA negotiations.”

Danielle Smith, smiling so wide that many in the audience naturally assumed she was thinking about forcing trans children to dig the pipeline infrastructure themselves, stated that she fully supported the project being moved up before her province was so full of smoke it couldn’t exist anymore.

“This is a great day for Albertans, and none of the rest of you traitorous fucks,” Smith stated, flipping off any reporter who looked like they were from east of her province. “The sooner this gets done, the sooner I can start looking for new ways to hurt endangered wildlife and complain about how no one ever gives Alberta anything.”

#carney #canpoli #cdnpoli #abpoli #climatechange #bcwildfire #endfossilfuels #traitor #theAmericanFascist #trans

https://www.thebeaverton.com/2026/08/carney-vows-to-fast-track-west-coast-pipeline-before-entire-west-coast-burns-to-the-ground/

We’ve decided where the greenhouse and patio will go in the backyard. (Delimited by the four cement pavers on each corner.)

The greenhouse will be 8ftx8ft on the right near the sheds.

The patio area will be 10ft by 10ft with a 6ft gap between it and the side and back fence so there is room for the garden boxes and to move between.

Also decided that the trailer will move back to its spot in the front driveway as it is much easier to access and move in/out from there and takes up far less room.

Where the trailer is will be a little green area, maybe a wildflower patch? with a tree and the chicken coop.

Will start leveling the two squares nicely tomorrow and put down fabric and stone.

I am not going to build the greenhouse. Hoping my extremely skilled FIL might do that part for us. He built a greenhouse for his yard that is beautiful.

#poolpond #backyardProject #diy

ooo. I have a new top candidate for cause of accelerated water loss. Cedar chips.

I checked the whole perimeter of the top pond after the system filled and all was good there. But then I did a check of the bottom pond, which is steeper on the edges and harder to do, so I do it less lol.

Right away I found a problem. The flat stones had slipped slightly into the water (likely due to animal visitors over the winter). Edit: just saw a black (invasive) squirrel on the sidewalk near our house! First time. I wonder if he is the messer of flat stones and stealer of fish from the bottom pond!!

Once I reposistioned them, I realized there were a lot of cedar wood chips that had also slipped down, particularly near the skimmer box and were --- HALF IN AND HALF OUT --- of the water.

They were waterlogged.

This is bad.

Dry wood chips outside the water is obviously fine.

Wood chips floating on or sunk under the water is fine.

Any mass of woody material chips, sticks, logs, or even small gravel on the edge of the water, will act as a siphon. They suck up the water and then give lots of surface area for it to quickly evaporate. It has been a rainy July so the woody debris may have already been wet and not evaporating much, but it has been dry for a few days now, and hot the past two. Any siphoning/evaporatoon action would be supercharged.

In the case of gravel, the surface tension between the rocks can cause the edge of the water to creep uphill and also reach the top of the gravel, enhancing evaporation.

Today I found a whole mass of cedar and dirt along the edge of the pond under the flat stones on top of the liner. It was near the skimmer, likely from the gate work.

Bad news.

So I scooped it all out and up onto dry land, and to make sure woody debris can't get to the waters edge under the flat stones, I added some drainage rock along the edge. This should keep the dry and wet zones better separated!

That was just the near side edge of the bottom pond. I haven't checked the far side by the fence.

I might do that tomorrow, but there has been a lot less disturbance there over the past year, so I doubt it will need much help.

I am pretty confident I found the biggest culprit. If my hunch is right, Ill know later today and tomorrow if the water remains relatively stable. It will be hot today so there will be evaporation, but it should not need an emergency fill tomorrow.

Fingers crossed!

Bonus #poolpond content lol. The milfoil is looking very hapoy. It has settled in and the leafy fingers are vertical poking out of the water which is a good sign that they are continuing on happily in their new location. yay!

#pandemicpond #pandemicpond #pondlife #gardening #home #diy #IT #TroubleShooting

i think the reason I have enjoyed building and maintaining the ponds so much is because they are kind of like a computer system.

Most of the time they work fine, and when they have issues, which generally manifests as "I'm losing water", it is for a clear reason.

But like computers, getting to and identifying that reason, and fixing it, is the challenge.

Over the past few days, the #pandemicpond has been losing water at an accelerated rate. In the summer, it should be able to go at least 2 or 3 days before needing a top up due to evaporation.

But these past few days it has been very low after just a day.

There has to be a leak/escape of water somewhere.

I also recently (about 2 weeks ago) changed the inlet at the top of the bog barrel to shorten the pipe and make it not stick up as tall and ugly.

Like computers... "have you changed anything recently" is a top contender for the root of the issue.

Shortening and dropping the height of the pipe increased the flow without having to increase the pump power. But that could have also caused a minor overflow on the waterfall, or raised the level of the top pond to where it might be overtopping somewhere non-obvious.

I suspect this increased flow is the main issue.

However, like all IT issues, you should cover the easy stuff first. I checked all the piping from the barrels to the waterfall to make sure there were no joints leaking or drips down the pipes.

All seems fine there. I also did a check around the perimeter of the pond to look for overtopping. Nothing there at low levels, but I have to check again when the system is full.

I wanted to cut the hose down further anyway, so I have done that. Was able to remove over 4 feet of pipe. The height hasn't changed though so the impact on flow should not be large.

Then I checked the pump itself, cleaned out its filter bag, strained the skimmer box and put it all back. Nothing untoward there either. Basically just regular maintenance.

A thought occured to me though, the main overflow for the pond is behind the skimmer. If it rains a lot or I overfill the system, it overflows there into some rocks and drains out under the garden to the sidewalk.

I wonder if when the new posts and gate were installed, the level of the overflow dropped slightly. This would give less leeway (freeboard) for the pond before it gets too low. 🤔

Re-raising the overflow would be tricky. And best done after the rains return in fall. But it is something Ill have to consider if today's investigations don't fix the issue.

I just finished refilling the pond (overfull oops... typing too much)

Time to check for overflows and seeps around the edges.

#pandemicpond #pondlife #gardening #home #diy #IT #TroubleShooting

This is important. A UK Appeals Tribunal (correctly imo) identifies Zionism as racist, ideological, and imperial as its purpose is to displace an indigenous population.

This also implies it is, at the very least, the framework for genocide, be it cultural, or physical.

Hope @mgeist @GeoffyPJohnston take this to heart.

#palestine #israel #zionism #racism #gaza #genocide

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/uk-appeals-court-upholds-anti-zionist-beliefs-protected-under-equality-law

Gawd. So now Elon’s incompetent company is going to be the first private company to “unintentionally” pollute a celestial body other than the Earth.

Brav-fricking-O

https://www.youtube.com/live/9J9-U307w7U?si=hx6hahGGsfIEXtNM
#spacejunk #elonmusk #spaceX

ruhroh!

Someone isn't pleased with Wab!

😂

Once again the petulant Fascist American Administration does the thing that mostly hurts Americans because big mad for fake things.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/world/article/us-to-close-winnipeg-consulate-spokesperson-confirms/

#canpoli #cdnpoli #theamericanfascist #usa #mbpoli

Bummed that I can’t attend #fediCon2026 this year but wishing all attendees a great time and much interesting conversation and presentations!

It’s really wonderful to see the community growing and reaching.

#fediverse #mastodon #fedicon

https://fedicon.ca

“In a related story, Prime Minister Carney’s planned press conference where he was looking forward to ordering the WestJet flight attendants back to work has been cancelled.”

😂 😂

https://www.thebeaverton.com/2026/08/canadians-relieved-they-wont-be-forced-to-fly-air-canada/

#carneyCons #airCanada #Westjet #labour #workersrights #fairpay #airtravel

one more!

we have had this tall lilly on our outside deck for 5 or 6 years.

it is also tubors so we split it into 3 clumps.
#pandemicPond #PoolPond #diy #gardening #pondlife

finally, we had a small hasta underneath the rhododendron that needed a new home as it was being out competed by two others.

So I removed the whole thing but was surprised to find that it was essentially only growing on top of the fabric! Amazing it was doing as well as it was.

I left behind I little baby it must have just propagated this year and split the rest of the tubar up into 3 to plant in the bog filter. 2 are visible in the picture in the orevious post, this is the third, beside the tall plant and with a new hasta we bought this year.

#pandemicPond #PoolPond #diy #gardening #pondlife