The 5 W's at Foxcroft

For the last several weeks I've been dealing with the 5 W's at Foxcroft they are:

1. WORK
Of course this is the first "W" it's all we know around here. I stained the boards in the pergola. I'm using the same old lumpy stain (Oxford Brown) that I've been putting on the house. I've also now painted the capitals above the columns in the same color as the bargeboards and rafter tails. Next will be painting the columns "Lambswool" same as the house window trim.


2. WISTERIA
For Mother's Day we bought Lisa two wisteria plants. 17 years ago we planted Hardy Chinese Wisteria at our previous house, but right when it got big enough to bloom, it became shaded by the corkscrew willow that we also planted. We put our "Kentucky Blue Wisteria" along the back two columns of the pergola. I hope it grows quickly.


3. WHIMSEY
We had a planting on the driveway blow down in big winds. As I started to cut it up I got thinking about using the branches to make a trellis along the back corner around the fish pool. First I did the part on the west side of the pool. I told Lisa what I was making was "whimsey."


Then I started on the south side. The neighbors behind us had a huge limb blow down out of a maple tree, so I sawed parts off it and used them too. Then I trimmed a little from our lilacs. Pretty soon I was going down into the ravine and getting scrub from down there:


Since this is a trellis we have fall clematis on it that we planted a year ago. I've also planted some fancy morning glories, and am training up the weed morning glories too. We also have some wild grape started on it as well.

When in the ravine I found some really nice virginia creeper. I cut a piece to wrap around and make a window:


This all lead to the next "W":

4. WEIRDNESS
I was confronted by another neighbor (not one who's property is adjacent to the trellis) that said I was building a fence in violation of the City's fence ordinance. And to top it off, what I was building was ugly and a fire hazard. I was quite taken aback by this but said I'd check with the owner next door and look at the fence ordinance. The house next door is currently for sale and has been empty now for over a year. The owners said they had no problem with what I was doing, and the city building inspector visited and said what I had was a trellis and not subject to the fence ordinance. The icing on the cake came several days ago when the leader of the City Garden Club visited to see if we'd be on their tour. She loved the trellis and said the current issue of "Horticulture" magazine had one just like it.

5. WILD TURKEY
Not the drinking kind, the actual large bird type. I saw what I thought were bags of garbage on the railroad tracks when going over the Melrose Bridge on my bike. When I went back to look I realized they were turkeys. There were two male toms in full display with about 6 hens feeding along the tracks. My guess is that they are getting all the spilled corn that falls off the railroad cars. Here is a pic I took of them.


Then Sunday I was walking my mower down the driveway to mow the bottom of the front yard. I saw something move in the hostas between our house and yet another neighbor's yard. (we share boundaries with 5 houses) When I looked back I realized it was a turkey that must have been sleeping/roosting under the hostas. It ambled back into Matt's yard for a snack under his bird feeder. I went and got a picture of this one too:

Cascading Beauty

I told Lisa last week that I had decided to not try to remove the limestone from around the pond and cement it all back into place. I thinking about how much more time that would take, and realizing that I need to get going on exterior paint and stain, I'd just have to call the pond good and work on it next year.

So Friday afternoon I bought two pieces of flagstone for the waterfall and started building. All I did was pile up some rocks and hide the hose. I started to fill the pond too. On Saturday morning I finished. Here it is looking up the path from the back porch:



Closer:


Closer:


Too close!


Back a little:


Other than the flags the water is running off, all the rocks were either buried in the pool when I dug it out, were on the neighbor's slag heap (the old man was a rock collector, when he passed the adult son said I could take whatever I wanted) or were ones we brought back from the "farm" in Missouri. In picture three above at the top right is a geode from the farm, and top left is a huge chunk of pink quartz with mica right below it from the neighbors. The rock with the holes in it that the water is running under was buried in the pond.

Laurel is responsible for the artistic arrangement of rocks on the lower shelf. She also is patiently waiting with a vase full of tadpoles to add to the pond.

1956 Yard Map

In going through "stuff" I found a letter that Bess wrote to her nieces in 1956 that came back to her somehow. The letter includes a lengthy description of her vegetable garden and a hand drawn map, complete with numbers and a list of items in the yard:


Our yard layout, the little red dots are flagstone walks to garden, garage, and shed

1. house
2. garage
3. tool shed
4. pool
5. driveway
6. turn around place
7. garden – mostly vegetables
8. raspberries – currants – goosberries
9. Sweet cherry tree
10. peach trees
11. peach trees
12. green gage plum tree
13. northern spy apple
14. apple tree
15. cherry tree
16. pine tree
17. apple tree
18. cherry tree
19. pear tree
20. apple tree
21. sweet pear tree
22. plum tree
23. plum tree
24. elm tree
25. red bud
26. magnolia
27. red leaf peach
28. golden rain
29. strawberries (150 plants)
30. strawberry pyramid

And how much is left today?

1. house YES
2. garage YES
3. tool shed NO (our garden is here)
4. pool YES
5. driveway YES
6. turn around place YES
7. garden – mostly vegetables NO (Sold in early 1980's)
8. raspberries – currants – goosberries NO (our garden is here)
9. Sweet cherry tree NO (our garden is here)
10. peach tree NO (swingset)
11. peach tree NO
12. green gage plum tree NO (tree house)
13. northern spy apple NO
14. apple tree NO
15. cherry tree NO
16. pine tree NO
17. apple tree NO
18. cherry tree NO (limestone patio)
19. pear tree NO
20. apple tree NO
21. sweet pear tree NO (crabapple)
22. plum tree NO (maple tree)
23. plum tree Sort Of (We cut down the original in 2005 it was growing sideways out of the hill, a sprout from the roots has come back)
24. elm tree NO
25. red bud NO
26. magnolia NO
27. red leaf peach NO
28. golden rain NO
29. strawberries (150 plants)NO
30. strawberry pyramid NO

Items of note:

• Most of the path stones are around, we've moved them some. The line to the garage is now sidewalk, I know the flagstones are underneath the cement.
  
• I'm very curious about what the red letters are.
  
• None of the three enormous walnut trees that dominate our yard today are marked. They lie roughly between 13 and 2, between 6 and 23, and at 28. I would trade at least two of them for half the fruit trees listed...
  
• None of the lilac bushes along the southwestern edge of the yard are listed.
  
• Bess lists the front dimension of the lot as 125 feet. In the letter she says she has all but finalized the purchase of a 25 foot wide strip of land north of the driveway that ran along the northwest side of the lot. That must have never been purchased because last night I stepped off 125 feet from the eastern corner of the lot and ended up all the way down across the neighbor's driveway. The house north of ours was the last one built in the neighborhood in 1968.
  

Carved in Stone

Lisa hit me with a moment of clarity on Sunday. She looked at the back corner where pond excavations continue. Last fall I finished digging out the 1933 cement pond that had been completely covered and hidden. This spring I have been digging back three feet around the pond so that I can control rainwater run off and divert it around the pond. I will use retaining wall blocks and try to build an integral bench into one side by reusing some of the cement blocks I recovered from the Front Street house that was torn down.






Anyway, as I've been digging I've hits lots of rocks in the dirt. I took a bunch of those rocks and washed them off. I told her my plan was to build a waterfall at the back of the pond and hide the retaining wall with the stones. I got a pump to place in the pond to take water up behind the rocks and recirculate it. She cocked her head and looked at me and said, "You want to build a grotto don't you?"


I hadn't really considered that, but I should have. Grottos have a mythical place in my memory. One of my grandfather's friends, Matty Hatz, spent years building grottos in his backyard and elsewhere. I vividly remember his waterfall when I was a child. In the town park in my grandparents small town is an enormous grotto statue that Matty built too. At my grandparents' church is a grotto that a local woman built after taking her ailing daughter to be miraculously cured in Lourdes, France.

In our neighborhood growing up was a sign in a house on Summit Street advertising the World's Smallest Church Grotto." Sadly I don't think it is still there.

But perhaps the most striking memory is looking at old photos of grandma's. Being farmers during the depression they hardly ever took time off, but if they did take a trip it was always to the same place, the West Bend Grotto. Officially known as the Grotto of the Redemption, it is pretty amazing. Started by Father Mathias Dobberstein (another "Matty") in 1912 he worked on it until his death in 1954. His assistant and also another priest continued work. The grotto today draws 100,000 visitors a year, not bad for small town Iowa. Lisa and I finally made it there in 1993 on RAGBRAI.

So on the small chance I run out of other projects here I can always keep expanding a grotto around the pond.

My brother, Jim, told me last year he wants to build a grotto in his backyard too.

The Fish Letters #4

December 5, 1933

My Dear Miss Fox:

Yesterday afternoon we shipped your entire order of remedies, accessories and three pair of Zebras. The weather is quite favorable for shipping tropical fish at the present time and we sincerely hope that they reached you in good condition. We included an extra pair of Zebras on the order as a replacement for the one which you lost on the previous order.

The small transparent creatures which you discovered in your aquarium are possibly Fresh Water Shrimp. They are not harmful to the fish or aquarium. Ordinarily fish will destroy them.

Bettas are usually very fond of live food and it is possible that they may attack the snails for that purpose. If they continue to bother the snails it might be advisable to transfer the latter to a small bowl with a couple of plants and a leaf of lettuce, temporarily.
The Edison Heater should not be immersed below the point where the rubber connects to the tubing, although it is water tight it is not advisable. You could, however, put it about a half inch above the rubber lining. The heat will be well distributed as the heating elements are clear down at the bottom, therefore by immersing it a half inch or so more it will not change the temperature very much. We sincerely hope that you enjoy the aquarium and collection of plants and fish thoroughly and it will be our pleasure to have the opportunity to serve you again.

We are sending Mrs., Schroder, of Iowa City a copy of our catalogue which we are sure will be of interest to her.

Yours very truly,

WILLIAM TRICKER INC.
J.T. Charleson (signature)
Manager
JTC :JB

The Fish Letters #2

November 20, 1933
Miss Helen Fox
315 Golfview
Iowa City, Iowa

My dear Miss Fox:-
Your letter of November the 15th and valued order was received for which please accept our thanks.
We shall comply with your request by sending the aquarium, the stand, plants and the accessories a couple of days ahead of the fish. The fish you have ordered will live peaceably with one another. We have a nice supply of Black Hybrids this Fall and are including a pair with your order free of charge.

An aquarium, in which tropical fish are harbored, should be covered so we are sending you a glass cover to use on the top of your aquarium, the price of which is 65¢. We shall refund you the $2.35 as soon as the jug is returned.

On our heaters, we have changed from the original Watchman Model and are using a thermostat heater made by Edison Electric. We find it much more satisfactory and although this heater sells at $8.25, we are including this with your order. I am sure that you will like it very much and if you are well pleased with it, we wonder if you would wish to pay the difference. Our aim is to please you and we would appreciated the opportunity of hear from you at your earliest convenience.
Very truly yours,

WILLIAM TRICKER INC

JT Charleson (signature)
Manager

Jtc/ac

---

Sold To
Miss Helen Fox
315 Golfview
Iowa City, Iowa
INVOICE AND NOTICE OF SHIPMENT
Your Order Was Shipped Today By Express NOV 28 1933


1 #120 Eureka aquarium with Imperial stand 24.00
1 1 ½ gal. handy aquarium 1.25
1 Coll#34 E 3.15
1 Watchman Model heater 6.00
1 Four inch net (Tropical) .35
1 Spirit four inch floating bulb thermometer .35
1 Lb. dried shrimp .75
1 Tin Fish Vim .20
1 Tin Tonic .25
1 Tin dried Daphniae .20
1 Tin Hygiene .25
1 Pint Turk’s sea salt .35
1 Pint German fungus cure .35
1 Ounce bottle C.D.T. .40
1 Each of pink and blue chemical shells .20
1 Pair dwarf Gourami 2.00
1 Pair Angel fish 2.50
1 Pair Zebras 1.00
1 Pair Silver Barbs 1.25
1 Pair Mex. Swordtails 1.25
1 Pair Betta Trickeri 3.00
1 Pair B. Cambodia 2.50
1 Pair Betta Cyana 5.00
1 Pair Black Hybrids n/c
DEPOSIT ON INSULATED CAN 2.35
$59.55
1 Glass cover .65¢.

The Fish Letters #1

In honor of what would have been Helen's 98th birthday today here is #1 in an occasional series I'll refer as the "Fish Letters." Helen and her mother dug a fishpond in their back yard in 1933. Last spring I found where it was and started to excavate it back out. It had been filled in for over 40 years.

Since the upstairs attic was their archive, (with 1200 sq ft of space nothing was ever thrown away) I found among all the papers a series of letters dealing with fish for the pond. Here is the first one:

October 21, 19933

My Dear Miss Fox,

We do not ordinarily advise that the goldfish or fancy goldfish be placed in the same aquarium with the tropicals. Goldfish require a cooler water temperature than tropical fish and also more water per fish.

Tropical fish, which have asterisks in front of their names, are not scrappy and will live peaceably with others, providing that the temperature of the water is maintained at 72 to 75 degrees. We therefore, do not recommend that you keep the two varieties together. Keep them separate.

At present, you could obtain an excellent pair of Calico Veiltails at $3.00 per pair, Japanese Veiltails at $3.00 per pair, Veiltail Moors, Medium at $3.00 per pair, Veiltail Moors, Large at $5.00 per pair and Lionheads at $2.00 and $5.00 per pair.

We trust that you will be in the market for some of these beautiful fish and may we have the opportunity to serve you.

Very truly yours,

WILLIAM TRICKER INC
J T Charleson (Signature)
Manager

jtc/ac


And like so many other companies I've looked for in the history of Foxcroft William Tricker, Inc. is still in business! The patch I put in the bottom of the pond last fall seems to be holding, maybe I'll order some plants from them. We did put in two goldfish from the local pet store, one survived the summer, but I haven't seen him lately in the tank in the basement...

Progress: Porch, Puddles, Pond

I was gently reminded by my most faithful reader last week that it really had been a long time between posts. In spite of little reporting progress continues.

Since we expanded the back porch this summer I needed to make two small columns to place at the corners to attach the railings to. Using the same construction method as the original columns that support the porch roof, I created two boxes 30 inches tall. These will go over the 4x4 posts I attached at the corners of the frame. The railings that ran between the house and the tall columns will fit in there. I have also started to strip the paint off those railings and will get them ready to paint.

Last Sunday I broke up the concrete pad that was at the foot of the porch in order to pour new and be able to build steps back up to the porch. A major reason for all this porch work was that the pad had dipped in the middle and rain water collected into a giant puddle at the foot of the porch steps. With proper slope we should be able to get rid of that problem. Pete stopped by last night and our plan is to dig out and pour a new pad this weekend.

I was looking through Rowan's pictures from her digital camera and selected these to show the pond. These were taken when we had emptied the girls' swimming pool into it. The hole in the bottom still needs to be patched so water has slowly leaked out. I'll get that done this fall too.