September 2022
We went to the refuge for the day. I planted more water lilies and then I came down with long Covid! I had rashes all over my face and body. The next day my joints were swollen and painful.
Here I am admiring the water lilies! The newly planted ones are at the further end of the pond.
These are the things I’ve planted in the pond:
- Nymphaea tina – tropical water lily with purple flowers
- Nymphaea daubenyana – tropical water lily with light blue flowers
- Nymphaea colorado -hardy water lily with peach flowers
- Nymphoides indica – tropical water lily, native to the Philippines, aka Snowflake water lily
- umbrella plants
- papyrus
- sagittaria – has white flowers that the bees like!
- mosaic plant
October 2022
Tonji is starting a new pond! This one is in my former riding area, where we have what we call the “secret pond”. It’s a secret because it is small and hidden by a lot of plants. It had a tiny island and was popular with the birds. However it got overgrown with plants. The new pond will be bigger, deeper, and U-shaped.
And this is what I think the pond will look like!
Monica and Kristian got to try out the new “glamping” set up! Kristian said it was very nice and was the best tent experience ever!
I am enjoying having the water plants in the ponds. I love to go and see how the plants are doing, especially since they are thriving at the pond! They are growing so much bigger than the plants at home. I cannot check the ponds without couple of dogs going in for a swim!
December 2022
We missed the entire November and managed to squeeze in a trip for the New Year’s eve weekend! It was our first time to spend New Year’s Eve at the refuge. The water lilies are amazingly beautiful! I planted even more of them!
I got to use my Burley trailer at the refuge. It has removable front wheels so that it can be used as an off road stroller. Barkley is blind now and I have been carrying him so that he join our walks. The front harness I was using was better than carrying him in my arms. This Burley trailer is even better than the harness because it’s so easy to pop him in and out of the trailer. It also rolls so amazingly well through the grass! It’s much less tiring than carrying him plus my camera and binoculars. It can easily fit Barkley, Momo, and my camera. It’s amazing!
It’s great that we are getting back into our groove and working on our refuge projects! Here’s a Mangkono flower looking very festive!
I will do monthly posts for 2023. I plan to keep up this blog. I think it’s a good way to keep track of all the things we are doing at the refuge.
Tonji and Sylvia's Wildlife Refuge 