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Friday 11th 55F/13C [8.20] Heavily overcast. A dry morning with rain later. A rather cool 19C/66F in the room.
Up at 7.30 after an odd night. I struggled to get to sleep. Got up to take off a jumper. Because it felt too cold at bedtime. I slept better after that. Perhaps I should have a minimum temperature for the heat pump to work on. I haven't developed a proper strategy so far. Just heated or cooled the room briefly. Usually aiming for 22C/72F.
Now autumn has arrived the house walls are much cooler. Which means I am radiating more heat to my surroundings. Regardless of the air temperature in the room. Normally I'd light the wood stove and burn a couple of logs. The stove would continue to provide warmth long after it had died down. Thanks to the soapstone cladding. While the heat pump is either on or off.
I could have a ride this morning.
The fish are more obviously active now their greenhouse shade net has gone. The Canadian Pondweed [Elodea] is growing like mad. No other plant I introduced lasted for long. The fish seem to like brushing through the Elodea and graze any algae build up.
The plants are at their thickest where the submersed filter pumps water upwards. I had imagined it would prefer still water. Not according to the dense growth reaching up to the surface. All around the maximum flow. I don't have a fountain. Because I can't stand the sound of the water constantly falling back onto the surface.
I tried all the options but even the near silent bell fountain was irritating. So I use the filter pump with the shortest possible exit pipe. To minimize surface disturbance. I can then see the fish and depths of the pond much more clearly.
I often wish the pond were larger than its 1500 liters. I was limited by the width of the double doors when I was staring at the Cemo/Chemo catalogues online.
The 1500 liter, industrial fiberglass container only just fitted through the open, greenhouse doors on edge. Even then I had to lay lengths of timber and old cushions. To allow the taper sided pond to sit more upright. As it slid in with hardly any room to spare. Working alone as always.
I badly wanted to protect the container from cosmetic damage. The sturdy plastic container was no lightweight! It is reinforced. To carry and store heavy industrial components and liquids.
I sank the pond to what I felt was a comfortable depth in the greenhouse floor. Though it required lifting my herringbone brick floor and then lots of digging. Before laying sand and fine gravel for the pond base to sit on as evenly as possible. A lower depth might have put myself or visitors at risk of falling in! So I kept it at knee height while seated. A perfect choice in retrospect.
Cemo are in Germany. I had to wait while they produced another batch of their grey plastic containers. Then collected my pond from the Danish distributor in my little, car trailer. Drawn behind the Morris Minor. I avoided the motorway on the way home!
Meanwhile, the large, parabolic, fiberglass dish pond out in the garden. Has filled to the brim with water lily and falling leaves. It is impractical to add fish. Due to the limited depth and constant overload of falling debris. No doubt a heron wold soon find it.
Just as one did in my big pond in the corner of the garden. I had to rescue the huge bird from the protective net. After it got under the net and ate my entire stock of 8" long goldfish. Its viciously sharp beak making holes in my hands and wrists. During the dramatic rescue! It had got itself well tangled!
9.30 I'm going for a ride. It's rather cloudy and breezy but I'll still enjoy being out. Away from the damned computer!
10.00 Off we go.
13.30 Back from a 56km ride. Taking in several charity shops. I bought two spotty mugs. Because they were fun and will reduce the pressure to wash up so often. I had to fight a headwind all the way home. It had tried to rain all morning but held off.
I saw a superb custom car. Which looked like it was based on a 1940 Ford Deluxe Coupé.
Steady progress on the new rail track. I took a few photos with my phone. This one is in the open countryside between villages. Tiny Hønnerup is the nearest. I am standing on the new bridge over the railway. The motorway is just to my right.
The roads were quiet and the traffic well behaved. Except for one brain dead/ drunken/ drug addled/ immature/ mentally retarded/ registered blind/ senile/ sociopathic/ Ovethi van driver.
Who brushed past me. Inches from the end of my handlebars. As he entered a village with a 60kph/40mph speed limit. At high speed. On a blind bend. With only one vehicle approaching. The car just behind him could give me the legal 1.5m spacing. Because there was no more approaching traffic.
There are some people working on the overgrown garden. Of one of the abandoned properties in our hamlet. The IC motors of their tools are whining loudly. It sounds like more than one. I wonder if this means somebody has bought the place? Or it is just being tarted up for rental.
Dinner was cheese on toasted rolls with tomato soup! I haven't had soup for ages. I used the whole tin.
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