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Tag: bridge

  • Moonrise Viewing from the Pond

    Moonrise Viewing from the Pond

    It has been several weeks since I last crawled underground into the plumbing system of the pond to clean out the leaves. Autumn and the strong winds blew a lot of debris into the pond, and it seemed like a good time to empty the leaf traps and flush out the biologic filters. This afternoon is perfect for this job. The system is now clean, and I climb up the stairs from below the water level, out of the vault that sits adjacent to the pond.

    Above me is the half-finished gazebo, where I still have to install seats and finish the columns and walls. With my head just above ground level, looking east, the full moon is rising just to the north of San Bernardino Peak. The nearly completed bridge, waiting for railings, snakes across the pond surface. To my surprise, this camera phone (HTC Inspire) shot turns out better than expected.

  • Spring Landscaping

    Spring Landscaping

    There was a lot of work this year. First, we decided to extend the bridge to the other side, and that involved draining the pond somewhat. Also, for the platform above the vault, I finally got around to drafting the plans and getting the framing underway. Constructing the gazebo took some thinking and planning, but it’s turning out well. Then, I added a small lawn area among the gingko trees with shrubs as well.

  • Chinese New Year

    Chinese New Year

    Yesterday was Chinese New Year. Many of the plants in our yard are in bloom now, and all of it added to the atmosphere yesterday. We celebrated by having company over, and to finish off the evening, we had a dumpling-making party.

    I took a break from making the guqin and resumed this afternoon. Progress has been much slower than I had thought. This partly because I’m routing a lot more carefully than before (and at finer step intervals). I’m almost done hollowing out the top panel to match the convexity.

  • New Year and Friends

    New Year and Friends

    So, it’s the first Monday of the new year, and it will be nice to get back to a regular schedule. The last several weeks have been filled with a lot of activities.

    For one, my dad had a major birthday celebration. It started out on the Tuesday before Christmas, and we planned events that lasted until New Year’s Eve. We went out the first night for dinner, and then on Christmas, we took a family road trip along the California coast, first stopping at Andersen’s Pea Soup in Buellton. Then, we toured Solvang, walked along Montana de Oro beach, took pictures at the pier in Morro Bay, and ended the day in San Simeon. The next day, we had a private tour of Hearst Castle in the morning. It was nice not being part of the crowds in the other tours. We then took Tour 3 in the afternoon. That afternoon, we drove to Santa Barbara. On Sunday morning, we toured the old mission and the courthouse. Then, we went to the SB Orchid Estate before the highlight—the outlet stores at Camarillo. I got my exercise walking around the outside of the stores.

    On New Year’s Eve, a lot of friends gathered at Uncle Bing and Auntie Irma’s place. We planned to have another surprise for my dad. He was completely non-suspecting. It turned out well, and the 50 regular candles plus 10 trick candles were perfect.

    Yesterday, Ben Chen and his parents (Dr. & Mrs. Chen) and Dr. Zheng & Connie, and their son Boming came over for Sunday lunch. I was out in the yard cutting forsythia canes for the centerpiece when everyone arrived. We all had a good time getting acquainted and re-acquainted. Afterwards, we finished by walking through the grove of little citrus trees, eating kishu mandarins off the tree, and touring the pond and bridges.

  • Pond Construction

    Pond Construction

    After several months of work, the pond is finally done and filled to the right level. Everything seems to be working well. The only thing left to do is to perfect the level mechanism to autofill and to finish some of the edging detail where there is exposed liner.